Casting/Drifting this time of year???

[Gobucks8100!]

What are the chances that they hit a harness/nightcrawler/weight forward spinner this time of year while drifting? Anybody do that when they are tired of trolling?

[sherman51]

just about a month from now we have had great luck drifting weight forward spinners in deeper water near the reefs. but that was years ago. but with all the eyes in the lake now it should really up your odds of getting fish.

[itsbob]

Not very productive casting or dragging harnesses before water temp reaches 52°.But using jigs and jogging spoons will produce now.

[Gobucks8100!]

What weight jigs typically work best on calm days? Rough days? Thanks for the insight guys.

[itsbob]

We would get an assortment of 5/8,3/4 and 1 oz hair jigs.Favorite colors are purple, green and black.Also get jigs with a small stinger treble off jig hook.

[sherman51]

We would get an assortment of 5/8,3/4 and 1 oz hair jigs.Favorite colors are purple, green and black.Also get jigs with a small stinger treble off jig hook.

this is great advice for jigging the reefs. but you might want a set of medium drift bags, if it's windy you can run 1 off each end of the boat to slow it down so your drift isn't too fast, but some days it may only need 1 bag, or even no bags. it's much better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them.

the weights recommended here will cover most water conditions. I also like purple for jigs and all my other lures. One of our best spoons is a Dreamweaver I think the dm in purple alewife. another color I like in dingy water is one that has chartreuse. that color stands out better than most in dingy water. he mentioned black and green and I agree with him as these colors show a good background on the off-colored water.

good luck with whatever you do. but the jigging season will only be getting started this time of year.

on a side note, I would get trolling bags as they can be used for both. but most drift bags I've seen aren't nearly as durable as trolling bags. plus I have never seen a drift bag with a way to tie off the back of the bag to the boat. when trolling with bags the really need the back end tied off to the back of your boat to give you better control at these slow speeds. don't let the bags back far enough to interfere with the fishing. I tied mine off to my front side cleats then tied the backs off to my rod holder bases. but I could have tied them to the back cleats.

I have a new set of 36" bags I bought to have a spare set. they are heavy duty and if you are interested you can message me your phone number and I will text you a couple of pictures. I will let you have the set of 2 bags for 90.00 shipped to your door. of if you just have any questions just message me and if I know the answer I will try to help you.

[BILLY JOE]

have used erie dearies in April before with good luck towards the end of jig bite usally have a couple people casting them and others jigging

[West Basin]

No matter how you are fishing, the main idea is to keep the bait in the 'fish zone' (where the fish are in the water column). Fishing jigs you are going to be on or near the bottom. No wind or light wind means slow drift, so ligher weight jig. The faster you drift, the heavier the jig needed to stay in contact with / near the bottom. Have an assortment of weights, 1/4 up to 1 ounce. You can tell on any given day by being able to feel the jig hit the bottom. In various colors, but don't go crazy with dozens of colors. A few colors that cover the color spectrum are fine. Walleye don't "look" for a lot of different colors, they resond to the basics and more to the pattern. Whatever general color and pattern is easier for them to see in various water clairities. The most important thing is to keep that jig near the bottom and giving it the action they are most responsive to that day. Same with drifting with "mayfly rigs" and weight forward spinners (Erie Dearies, etc.). Keep those lures in the fish zone. The longer, the better. Faster the drift, the more weight needed to keep the lure in the fish zone. Or, let out more line. Generally you want the lightest lure you can get away with. Once you are able to keep the lure in the fish zone, then you can work on the action and color. Change up action and color if you aren't catching.

Early season, which is now through a good portion of April. you can also anchor on medium wind days when it's a bit too fast a drift to fish jigs well, and even on calmer days. Cast and reteive, or you can even use vertical jigging, especially when the water is still real cold, in the 30's. You can also use your sonar better to see fish in the vicinity of your lure, and can even watch the walleye react to your lure.

And, a "stinger hook" is nearly a must. Very often early season the walleye are lethargic "biters" and you have a very minimum time to set the hook. Most of the early season walleye you will catch on jigs will be with the stinger hook.

[Gobucks8100!]

Great info! Thanks for all the help guys. Do most of you tip the jigs with live shiners, gold minnows or nothing?

[itsbob]

I think it's about 50/50 with half using minnows on hair jigs and the other half nothing.The problem with using minnows on hair jigs bouncing off bottom is the minnows keep falling off.But on jigging spoons I think most use minnows.