Newbie here

[mam1208]

This is my first year jigging and i need help please. I went out last tuesday, wed, thur, and friday and caught only 1 walleye --yes 1 walleye. I fished crane creek shore line, A can, B can And everywhere in between. I have a new lowrance fishfinder/GPS unit, new poles, and probably every hair jig and blade the happy hooker sells. needless to say I can't sleep nights reading and seeing all the walleye that is being caught. Does anyone have any ideas on how to better my chances on that wonderful lake. GPS coordinates on that good fishing hole --something , anything--HELP

[assassin]

Mam- The best thing for you to do would be to go back thru the posts on this board and pick a charter like skipper 9 or one of the other guys who not only share info but are willing to teach. It can be frustrating to have a boat load of new stuff and not know how to use it. Learn from those who know and see how easy they make happen. In the end,you will save $$$ and be much happier. Good luck

[gregnwtf]

Sounds like you are doing much running around looking. Walleye this time of year, start early morning in 10-13 ft on the first shelf break. There are alot of reefs to pick from but a few in close to work over. Gradual changes is depth is sometimes plenty of change to find the fish. Shallow early morning then move out some if you are away from the reefs, say 16-17 ft. K-can, Locust, toussaint, Round, Crib and Cone are very good reefs. Spawning fish in shallow are not normally seen on the fish finder. Hugging the bottom. If its calm, a 1/2 oz jig should be plenty. I will throw a 3/4 oz purple flash 80% of the time. Minnows early in the season and as the water gets 50 deg ( true temp ) or higher I go without minnows. Other good colors are Black n purple, green, blues and the various purples are plenty to have in your box. Put more towards your technique and make sure you have a good rod and line if you are having trouble feeling the tick. Different lift drop, cast the swing and hop back, cast in front of the drift and hop in place as boat drifts over the spot. Casting in front of the boats drift is a good way, sometimes a hard popping action produces. You are trying to piss them off by hopping the jig in place. Like a 6-12 inch hop at most. They hit it on the fall so watch the line and feel for any change. You may feel a bite as if the jig is rolling over a couple rocks, set the hook.Once you start getting fish, watch the depth and look at the gps if the depth is on a certain part of a shelf on ledge near a reef or part of a flat.
I have even started in the shallows of 6-10 ft before sunrise, before heavy boat traffic, then if it gets too busy out deep and nothing happening, go shallow again. This should help as I try to fish areas with a method , not just stop anywhere. " That looks like a good spot over there ". Joke for the day. Good Luck !

[CAPTBRIAN]

I think greg nailed it for you the only other thing would be as suggested call one of the captains whose boat is in and go with them. Most of us will do walk on trips if we have an open date and post it on here. Next time you see that make the call.

[gregnwtf]

I only have 3 open dates for April, so if you feel the urge to fish during the spawn let me know. Gather some friends for a day of jigging and learn the ways to jig and leave the rest up to the fish. I may try to put two small groups together but I havent pushed the walk on charters yet. 30 ft Sportcraft for 6ppl. All gear provided.

[spoontang]

spoontang & Alumacraft Fisher,
I have an Alumacraft Navigator 165, so pretty much the same length as your boats but has a little wider beam. It has a 90HP Optimax. I fish Erie approx. 12-15 times a year. I feel comfortable with waves up to about 3 feet, after that the boat gets tossed about quite a bit because there's not much weight to it. The advantage of the light weight is you get great gas mileage on the lake and it is easy to tow. Have fun and good luck fishing this year.
TheBigE22

Thanks for the feedback. I have now run mine twice and am imoressed so far with the quickness of it and the efficiency. It planes in about 5 seconds and that is great compared to my 32 SeaRay that takes quite a while. I plan to run the heck out of it and when weather looks foul, untie the big boat.