Fishing Reports?

[West Basin]

Has anyone been out? I know weather hasn't been good but somebody on here ought to have at least a second hand report?

I'm stuck at home with a boat 2-3 weeks behind launching (winter stored up at the Lake). "It is what it is" so I'm not upset (much). Somebody with a trailered boat been fishing?

[Ronald]

We been going out of turtle creek and it been great and crane creek

[branhamautomotive]

Trolling still remain very good, the last couple days was harder of course. Jig fishing iff the reefs is on fire. Limits for both techniques for 3 and 4 man limits in under 2.5 hrs

[liketohuntlovetofish]

I came up Saturday with my 8 and 10 year old to jig fish. I have a depth finder only, not a fish finder, and I use a hand held gps to find reefs/cans etc. Got nothing at crib reef and two at turtle before the wind got too bad to be out with kids. I’d love some tips on getting into all these limits, but I can’t do it with $600 fish finders. I’m pretty limited to drifting a runabout. There was a bass boat next to us at turtle that got their 3 man limit, but they were there sun up to 3:30 that said.

[Joedog]

No need for expensive electronics to jig fish I don't pay much attention to mine fish seem so close to bottom it hard to pick them up on a graph. It's more bout feel and technique I fish with blade bait and imagine I'm bouncing a ball on lake floor as I drift along with drift sick. Trolling electronics are vary important for finding and how deep run your baits .

[dgf2250]

We’ve participated in the jig fishing off turtle creek the past two Saturdays. The first week, were out front at 8 am, but could not get vertical. I had two 18inch trolling socks and got educated on the difference between trolling socks and drift bags. Slowest we could get was .8 to 1.2 mph and all our jigs were 1/2 oz and a couple 3/4 oz jigs. We came home with two fish. The second week, I added a 60 inch trolling sock, and we used 1 oz jigs. Speed was still .6 to .9. For this second trip, I used a Garmin LiveScope. What I observed was even with the 60 inch sock out and one oz jigs, the jig was still 20 ft away from the boat at the point it was contacting bottom. I could see the fish approach and pass my jig. Meanwhile guys on low profile boats around us were killing it. We salvaged the day by trolling. The livescope clearly showed crazy numbers of fish on the bottom and we got them trolling bandits 33-50 back. I have come to the conclusion that you need a drift speed around .3 to .5 to effectively jig and in a higher profile boat, you might need not one, but two 60 inch socks in the 15-20mph winds we had the past two Saturdays. There are enough boats out there that it’s easy to see what the guys who are catching fish are doing and mimic that. I dont think our problem is with the jigging mechanics, I think speed is our issue. I’d say fishing in high winds was culprit if I had not witnessed guys catching fish all over.

[branhamautomotive]

Some days it's all about the bounce and speed of drift when jigging......to big or to little just doesnt work.

But feeling good contact with bottom is important.....so if drifting to fast it makes it hard or the need to weight up

[liketohuntlovetofish]

I understand being in contact with the bottom and how the speed can impact things, but are the walleye on the reefs, off just off the reefs, etc? I’m from Columbus so I come up a few times a year and never feel confident making the right choice for location. I always feel like guys on here are exceptionally successful and share a lot of great info, but not enough for an occasional visitor to get the “two hour limit”. It definitely doesn’t seem as easy as “14 FOW in front of wild wings”. I’m greatful for the info, but feel like I’m missing a lot of something. I mean, I got limits 20 years ago with my grandpa and all we did was float out to the Catawba market bouy... and biologists are saying it’s better today than then, so I’m missing something more than luck.

That didn’t sound so whiney in my head. More like pleading for help ����

[Prkr314]

[QUOTE=liketohuntlovetofish;67860]I understand being in contact with the bottom and how the speed can impact things, but are the walleye on the reefs, off just off the reefs, etc? I’m from Columbus so I come up a few times a year and never feel confident making the right choice for location. I always feel like guys on here are exceptionally successful and share a lot of great info, but not enough for an occasional visitor to get the “two hour limit”. It definitely doesn’t seem as easy as “14 FOW in front of wild wings”. I’m greatful for the info, but feel like I’m missing a lot of something. I mean, I got limits 20 years ago with my grandpa and all we did was float out to the Catawba market bouy... and biologists are saying it’s better today than then, so I’m missing something more than luck.

[liketohuntlovetofish]

There's only 2 things that matter when jigging for walleye...1st there's no such thing as drifting too slow, get your drift speed as slow as possible. 2nd you need to be in slightly stained water, not too muddy or too clean. 3rd you've got to be where the fish are heavily concentrated, when you see boats netting fish after fish jump in right behind their drift...they love that! 4th when all else fails purple will never let you down. 5th gotta keep your jig close to the bottom or you can't snag them...it takes no talent to jig walleye, my 6 year old niece is great at it, 98% are snagged with your stinger hook. 6th if you stop by the fish cleaning station before you leave, oo and ah about someones catch and they'll be so eager to brag about how they got them, they'll tell you everything you need to know. 7th your too late, everybody's starting to catch sheephead and white bass...got maybe another good week of snagging, get your trolling gear ready!

How about time of day. Is fishing daybreak that important?