Fishing Day Two with David and Jeff 8/23/2020

Since my guys showed up a half hour early yesterday, this morning I hit Mazurik's an hour early, so I had time to get things ready and wipe down the boat. It was too hot yesterday when I got home and I neglected that task. I had a brand new bottle of Lucus Spray Mist in the back compartment of the Ranger, but when I pulled it out, it was empty. Arrrrgghhh! It must have had a leak in the cap and emptied itself as it laid on the bottom of the box. I had enough for one or two squirts, which was what was probably still in the spray-nozzle hose thingy. I sprayed the towel with it, so I could wipe the windshield off at least. lol

Anyway, they showed up even earlier than yesterday, so we hit the water in the dark...at 5:35 to be exact. The eastern sky was just starting to lighten as we arrived to our spot that we fished yesterday. The Ulterra and the baby ETEC were deployed and set in motion to move us from west to east at a speed of 2.5mph.


The winds were light out of the southwest at about 7mph, the air temp was 68 degrees, and the lake was quiet. The waves were 6 inches or less. We used our phone flashlights to see the dipsey rods after we got them set out.


After about 15 minutes into the troll we were able to see well enough to put the Off Shore boards out too.


We set out the program we had yesterday, but this time we used all Bandits:
Bandits behind boards with 2oz weights clipped on at 50' and then let out to a total of 113, 117, 120, and 130 feet, before the board was put on.
Colors that caught were Green Clown (had two of those out and both caught), Chart/Black Stripes, and Buck Fever.


Dipsies were set on the 1 and 3 settings.
The 1 settings were at 54 and 64.
The 3 settings were at 75 and 100.
3 spoons and 1 black/chrome Ripplin Redfin.
They all caught several fish.


The bite was a little more steady this morning than it was yesterday. We had 10 by 7:15 and then our limit of 18 by 8:30. Yesterday, it seemed like the bite shut off at 8am, but this morning it kept going....yay!


This morning was a fun adventure. It was more relaxing for me, and I'm sure for them also, since they already knew the routine and how to work with the equipment. They did a great job getting fish into the boat and were once again rewarded with a nice cooler of walleye to take home. Today's fish all averaged just a little bigger than yesterday's too.


They are already planning on coming back in the spring to fish with me, and that makes me happy. :)


Tomorrow's trip is with three fellas that came out a few weeks ago, but got blown off, so we're going to give it another try. We won't be launching until 6:30 (hopefully), because one of them is driving in from the Cleveland area, so it will depend on traffic on a Monday morning.


Stay tuned....


Capt Juls

Yesterday was the first time this season we actually got to see the sun rise over the horizon.Took several pictures of it.Always enjoy seeing your photos of the sunrise.No wonder you take them.Great to hear the bite was better today too.

great to read your reports.
Can you tell me, why do many people run 50' of line, then weight then the rest of line to get to depth with the stickbaits? Isn't it the same if the weight is 6 feet in front of the bait, then the same length of line to board?

thank you,
Rickerd

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rickerd

great to read your reports.
Can you tell me, why do many people run 50' of line, then weight then the rest of line to get to depth with the stickbaits? Isn't it the same if the weight is 6 feet in front of the bait, then the same length of line to board?

thank you,
Rickerd

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The quick answer is that the Precision Trolling Data app has the info for the weights used at the 50' mark and then let out another distance to reach a requested depth.

If you have two lines with identical weights, and one is put on at 6 feet and one is put on at 50 feet...and, then, both lines are let out to say a total of 120 feet. The one put on at 6 feet is going to be much deeper than the one at 50 feet, because the weight will be dropped further with the 6' lead than with the 50 foot lead. Make sense?

Whats your opinion of the depth difference, in the trolling app at 2mph. 50/50 on the bandit says 29ft..........now if the chart I have is right 100 on a 2 oz at 2mph is 23ft by itself......now add the bandit 6ft behind the weight???????

I would guess they are close at 2mph to the same but at 6ft you don't need to unclip them.

It does seem that with the 2oz at 50/50 every .25 mph effects the total depth by about 2 ft.......would you guess with the weight at 100 thst would share the same pattern or gain more due to the extra outage

Quote:

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Originally Posted by branhamautomotive

Whats your opinion of the depth difference, in the trolling app at 2mph. 50/50 on the bandit says 29ft..........now if the chart I have is right 100 on a 2 oz at 2mph is 23ft by itself......now add the bandit 6ft behind the weight???????

I would guess they are close at 2mph to the same but at 6ft you don't need to unclip them.

It does seem that with the 2oz at 50/50 every .25 mph effects the total depth by about 2 ft.......would you guess with the weight at 100 thst would share the same pattern or gain more due to the extra outage

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I don't have an opinion....that made my head hurt. lol

I find it best not to overthink this stuff, and just try different things until I find something that will get them to bite and duplicate it. It can change from day to day, so you have to keep trying stuff and changing from day to day too.

If you like the 6' lead and it works for you....keep doing it.

Juls, will you be using the 50+ Method with P10s when the water cools or stick to the 20/20 25/25 leads?

Thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bankangler

Juls, will you be using the 50+ Method with P10s when the water cools or stick to the 20/20 25/25 leads?

Thanks

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Depends on where the fish are hanging out. If they come up it will be the shorter leads...if they don't, I'll keep doing what's working until it's not working anymore. ;)

There's no right way or wrong way todo this stuff. The PTD app gives you a great starting point, but creativity should not be overlooked or tried at any given time.

The only wrong thing you can do is not pay attention when a fish hits, and not duplicate what you caught it on.

I don't know how many people I fish with that can't remember what settings are on what rods at any given time....even when they have been setting them the same for hours. lol

Have read several extensive threads on cranks and weights on OGF.Seams that its difficult to get a concensus on how deep the crank is going due to so many variables.Then you take into account of where you put the weight on the line too.Last season was the first time I even tried putting a 2oz weight 50ft behind crank and putting out to 150-180 total line.Some days they caught pretty good,but using it for first time was worried about using two boards per side due to possible tangles.
I agree with Juls,when it comes to trying to figure out depth of these cranks.You are probably in a range of depth you want lure.Have several at different depths,see what catches and reproduce that lead.
Have also read that another factor that catches fish with cranks is the vertical movement of crank in water as it moves up or down with changes in speed.That is a factor when making S turns or 180 turns.Or speeding up or slowing down.Fish will strike lure as it rises in water.

I hear ya juls. I only take my friends fishing and I want to get a small dry erase board and write the leads on it so they can quit asking me. Lol. 3 hrs in and still asking what’s this one set at?

To keep track of my leads I write it down with a pen on masking tape and tape it to the Styrofoam above the reel.Been doing it for many years and the foam has not gotten too beat up.I'm constantly changing leads and if someone else is helping,they know how much line to put out.I always take the tape off at end of day.The wilderness rods I use are $20 each so I think it is worth catching more fish.Some rods I have are over 20yrs old and still functional.If I change the lead I write it down on the tape and put it over the original tape.Some days may have one piece of tape or on others may have 8 layers of tape.