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since the jig bite has been next to impossible. Skipper9 you've mentioned casting/drifting spinners or Mayfly rigs. Do you use lindy rig style weights, egg, bullet? are you attaching weights within 1-2 feet of harness? Anyway, not sure where I would begin to fish for them. I'll look to call you here in the next day or so.
Anyone else have experience casting/drifting instead of going directly to trolling after the jig bite?
Egg or inline, 1/2 to 1 oz. and drag some bottom bouncers with crawler harnessesQuote:
Originally Posted by bdrieck
I agree with bdrieck. It's a easy way to catch eyes dragging a worm harness with either a bottom bouncer or any type of weight on the bottom. It all depends on the wind\drift. Most days the drift is good but sometimes you need to adjust the size of lead used to keep in close to the bottom. Most days on the lake i have a bottom bouncer on the bottom and a erie dearie out for suspended fish. The erie dearie isn't on the bottom though. I adjust how much string is used to keep it suspended to where you are marking fish. I've caught many eyes like this. i just find the right depth and put it in a rod holder. I always tip with worms or leaches.
Tbiser,
Do you run a leader between you bottom bouncer and harness? If so how long?
I run 24 to 36 inch worm harnesses on bottom bouncers and 18 to 24 inch on casting rig..
I agree. It also depends on the drift. If its a fast drift i use a shorter length with heavier weight. If you have a sock it will help on controlling the faster drifts. We fished last week and caught more drifting than jigging. Because of the weather i don't think the jig bite will be as good as years before.
I'm a fair-weather fishermen these days. I'll be waiting for the water to clear and warm up. But when I did fish early in the season, the best success I had in muddy water was drifting or trolling with a flatfish (anyone remember those?). I'd use an oz. or so of weight, about 3 feet of leader, and tip the treble hook with two small pieces of night crawler. I used size f5 or f7. Try different depths until you find the area producing bites. Jigging it sometimes triggered bites. (when you jig a flatfish, it stops wiggling and rides up). Slow drifts worked best. I didn't have a GPS then, but I would guess the speed was 1.5 mph or slower. The wobble/vibration of the lure attracted fish in water they can't see in. Close to, but not right on the bottom usually worked, but sometimes suspended well off the bottom was best. I don't see why that still wouldn't work now.
- Cast Party