Sunday 3/21 what a cluster

[dgf2250]

Thank you for the report and nice job boxing nine fish on what was a tough day. Cold water fishing is much more difficult than summer fishing. If I follow the report correctly, there was a cluster of boats jigging in 34fow? And they were hammering the fish? I always thought jigging was mostly targeting spawning fish on the reefs and shallower water. IÂ’ve never heard of this deep water jigging and want to learn the basics to use as a fall back strategy if the trolling isnÂ’t working out on a given day. First question is whether this is really a very cold water tactic I.e. water is so cold you fish same way as you were ice fishing? Second question is if itÂ’s best to spot lock. I imagine itÂ’d be tough to stay vertical in deep water without heavy weight. IÂ’d love to fish this way with my ice fishing sonar if itÂ’s effective. IÂ’d love to fish this way when I think fish are in a small pod and itÂ’s too difficult to stay on them by trolling. I enjoy jigging, so if thereÂ’s a way to deep water jig, I want to know when to do it.

[Ducker]

Some were spot locking and jigging vertically, not sure what kinds of jigs they were using, but they looked small. There were 5 guys in a boat and they were making drifts. I think they were using blade baits and casting a shot ways and retrieving it slowly bouncing it off the bottom. They were fishing off the Lee of the boat. I don't know for sure, you might want to pose the question on the forum.

[dgf2250]

I pretty sure the jigging was their Plan B since there were not many suspended fish to catch on the troll, they reverted to tactics that are the prime tactic on inland lakes and rivers which is to work the bottom with jigs. These guys that are skilled at catching walleye inland have an advantage over those of us that rely on suspended fish and trolling when the bites tough (in my opinion). I think the most useful piece of information is you saw some guys managing to entice the negative bottom oriented fish to bite and that IS good to know and take note of on those days where you can’t get a program going but see a lot of fish near the bottom. Something else to try on a tough day.