Fishing gurus, experts, or just hacks like me???

[dpear]

I'm busy hunting but after my visit here now it's obvious few are willing to chat.Here's a thought-do any of you trollers focus on 'water movement'?
For that matter,how about some trolling pics here when you start getting em?I'm bored so post something dammit.
By the way,a friend went to an area I recommended on a river system(water movement)in Canada last week with jigging blade baits and scored some biggies.See,a few things i say may have merit.
He also caught a 52.25 on a Medussa a couple days ago in the same area.Sweet!
WAKE UP out there.

[dougj@wiktel.com]

Yep!

Starting to get some trolling. I key in on areas with no water movement, but that's just me!

Good luck with the cridders, I'll keep the fish occupied till you get back.

DougJ

[JBlanck]

I just got back from the first real fishing trip in the new boat. The club had an outing on Deer Lake. No trolling but got a couple small ones to slime the boat. Planning on trying to troll a little on Green Bay next month. Otherwise, a couple fall weekends on Vermilion to target some pigs. Still some time before ice so hoping to get out as much as possible. Looking forward to the photos of the pigs from LOTW.

Jeff

[dpear]

Well another classic SoDak waterfowling morning.Instead of kids today,my buddy Argo Man and I took an 89 yr oldtimer.We had a limit of geese and ducks in less than an hour.Old boy(as if I'm young)sat on a bucket and shot his geese but struggled a bit hitting ducks.Great time!
Yeh,Doug,get some big ones!Post some pics as well to keep this place rolling-about the only fishing site I visit anymore.
As to water movement,I troll little so better keep my mouth shut but,especially on the Woods,I'm thinking water movement is what makes many spots 'good' even though we often don't recognize it.Points and saddles for instance.Few would be worth much without it IMO.The movement seems to consistently make those spots 'busy'.
Jeff,congrats on the new boat.Us old guys with older boats could use a ride once in awhile,hint,hint-as long as we fish your spots.

[JBlanck]

dp, the guy you took hunting...was his name Herbert? I've seen a guy named Herbert that reminds me of you so I figured maybe you two got together. Check out some video clips of this guy and let me know if it's your friend.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QsFYCVjp0M

Your welcome in the boat anytime. The spots we'd fish are all your old spots, though, so don't hold that against me.

Good luck in your "off season".

Jeff

[fishwizard]

I admit I check this site just about daily, and it is too bad that it can often go a week or more without new postings. Especially disappointing knowing the knowledge base that reads and comments on stuff here when anything is posted. Still a great site, no doubt. I'm still holding out hope for a trip to Frankies this fall and would like to have pics of big fall piggies to post. They certainly wouldn't be caught trolling, but fishing the same shorelines and structure, that would be for sure. To each, his own.

Southeast facing rock shelf points with lots of open windblown water surrounding them. Those are definitely some of my favorite spots in the fall.

Until then, I’ll have to occupy myself with watching my Huskers welcome themselves into the B1G with a win over those “stinking Badgers” this weekend. Go Huskers.

Ryan

[dpear]

Doing OK Jeff-slowly.
Was away attending the funeral of a good friends 16 yr old son.Man does that put a lot of things in perspective.On topic,while awaiting the start of services a screen was showing pics of his life and a few were very familiar muskie scenes.A couple were of him holding muskies and if memory serves,I think they were caught on surface baits.Was tough on this old man.More later.

[dpear]

When I mentioned creative minds I frankly didn't expect to hear from Jeff but.....
I think we've got this discussion rolling a bit now.I've taken the liberty of contacting Frankies uncle Viktor from 'Badass Baits' about this and he and his staff are on it.Here's a short blip on Viktor and his crew.This shows their seriousness and their 'warm up' activities before starting each shift.
http://www.badassoftheweek.com/leonov.html

[JBlanck]

When I mentioned creative minds I frankly didn't expect to hear from Jeff but.....I wonder what he meant by that...huh.

Tim, that would be fun to cast also. The faster you go the farther to the side it goes. Could be pretty cool. The closest I've come to that concept is while working a Jackpot. You see a weed on the surface that you want to miss and you twitch the Jackpot with your pauses short, loooong, short, loooong, short, loooong and you can let it coast and move it to the side a little. Kind of fun to do when things are slow.

Speaking of slow...how ya doing dp?

Jeff

[dpear]

One more darn thing-for you scientists.Does moving water resist freezing cause it's warmer?Friction?

[dpear]

This goes into the 'for what it's worth' bucket.
Yesterday I had a long but interesting discussion with a friend I hadn't talked to in quite awhile.This guy is 'A' rated and spends most of his time fishing 'gin bottles'(clear 'trout' type waters).The subject of LOTWs and increasing water clarity came up and the discussion got very interesting.Again,for what it's worth,here's a couple points we agreed on if the clarity trend continues:
1.Trout water tactics(depth,lures,structure,weather,'light' conditions etc)will become more important.
2.Secondary and particularly non-traditional structure will become more important.
3.Trolling will become more than just a Fall tactic.A couple things here really got me thinking and now that I have Frankies old Alaskan,complete with top(sun screen),I may have to sit back,sip non alcoholic mint juleps and troll more mid days and during ''high skies'.Not a bad deal for an old man anyway.:-)

[musky1969]

And probably not another musky boat in site!!!!!! The new frontier

[dpear]

This goes into the 'for what it's worth' bucket.
Yesterday I had a long but interesting discussion with a friend I hadn't talked to in quite awhile.This guy is 'A' rated and spends most of his time fishing 'gin bottles'(clear 'trout' type waters).The subject of LOTWs and increasing water clarity came up and the discussion got very interesting.Again,for what it's worth,here's a couple points we agreed on if the clarity trend continues:
1.Trout water tactics(depth,lures,structure,weather,'light' conditions etc)will become more important.
2.Secondary and particularly non-traditional structure will become more important.
3.Trolling will become more than just a Fall tactic.A couple things here really got me thinking and now that I have Frankies old Alaskan,complete with top(sun screen),I may have to sit back,sip non alcoholic mint juleps and troll more mid days and during ''high skies'.Not a bad deal for an old man anyway.:-)

I knew the above comment was in this thread somewhere.(2008)
Was I right?Ask one of the best Fisherman I know who trolled most of the last few days with success.
Water temps hitting 90 on the surface?Rapid build up in temps as well?
Think about deeper,cooler, current etc.

[dpear]

Hi Tim.Exactly!Tweaking to improve 'operation' is a necessary part of the surface trolling scene at this time for the most part.Creative minds haven't 'gone there' yet and what a shame it is.The 'ultimate edge' and yet few tools to explore it fast and efficiently.
Anybody out there trolling existing salt water 'squid type'/sailfish type baits at high speed?
Anyway,thanks for the input Tim.

[JBlanck]

Caught one once on a smaller "local" lake that has a prominent milfoil weedline. We had a Rapala Shad Rap straight back off the deeper side of the weed edge and a smaller planer board up over the weeds with a Super Topraider about 15' behind that. We zig-zagged on and off the weed edge and it hit when the surface bait went a little slower while turning back towards to the weeds. There was actually discussion about putting the lure right up next to the board in case the fish was attracted to the planer board, but we talked ourselves out of it since the back end of the planer board sinks a little when pulled. We tried a Thunderhead since it throws so much water we thought it would over rule the planer board attraction but we had trouble with line twist like you get from trolling a bucktail. I still like the idea but it would need some sort of keel weight at the line/leader connection to let the swivel work out the twists. Casting took over before I could get much further into it. I've thought about it for the times we are eating a sandwhich on LOTW. Great way to keep the chances of catching fish higher.

Jeff

[Tim Kelly]

I think a mod like this might be quite effective?



If it works like I imagine you could obviously put an attachment point on the other side of the face, so you could run it on either side of the boat.

[dpear]

Nah,forget it.

[dpear]

Location,location,location.Whether real estate or fishing it's obviously key.Many of us are wondering where the 'bigs' are located this year and I can now answer that ? with respect to one at least.Yesterday I was headed from the Angle to Warroad in the batmobile.Maybe about 45 minutes into the trip I see a huge white raft of something ahead on the horizon.As I get closer I realize it's pelicans,comorants and gulls and they apparently have found a big mess of baitfish.As I'm going by about 80-100 yds away I'm astounded to see a 'big' explode out n go completely airborne apparently chasing one of many bait fish also flying out trying to escape.
I'm stunned and stop a minute or 2 but no repeat.As I'm sitting there I look around and there is no land in sight in any direction.I think about punching in a waypoint but then I realize heck,no problem,I can find this spot by dead reckoning.If interested all you need to do is head SW from Garden Island til the western shoreline is no longer visible.Travel about 11 minutes more at approximately 35 mph and look for the white raft on the horizon-voila,there you are,you've found a 'big'.
Good fishing.

[dpear]

So I travel to New Mexico to chase the mighty Wapiti and what do I run into?Muskie addicts.
They have one lake with Tigers but they have the 'bug'.Bad.Spent too much time talking baits,not bugles.

[dpear]

If all surface water is trying to reach sea level due to gravity,should we be thinking about 'gravity' a bit?

[dpear]

Never happened.

[dpear]

Behemoth Bay.

[dpear]

Speaking of Frankie,is it coincidence that his name keeps popping up in our language?
'Frankly';'Frankness',etc.
I mean you don't use 'Dickly';'Dickness' etc.
Is it fair?I don't think so.
On the other hand,face it,he IS an adverb whereas since I'm often told I'm a 'Dick',I must be a noun-that is,a unique entity.
There now I feel better and can go hunting.