Pacemaker Fishing Forum

ok, here is the deal

fished a jig n pig

3 bass on the  left point facing the drain

all were caught in 4' of water or more

all were drop strikes or one hops

i threw w/o succes at the bubbler

i swam the jig shallow w/o success

i dropped it shallow w/o luck

the fish were pulled down and less than active, which is counter-intuitive  to the steady wind

i worked around to the back of ernie's cove and got two on the drop where all the current from the lake was pushing in the triangle at the storm outlet

i worked on to ernie's bend, convinced by now that the fish were holding on grass edges w/ deep water access

i started graduating along the curve, dropping a cast every few feet, looking for a pod of feeders set up on the sweep of the wind.

i finally got bit, about where i should have, but i wanted to step along the way so i didn't miss them, as well as gambling that i might pick up a stray.

once i got hit i stayed on it, as experience has told me that the fish tend to gang somewhere in this area.
each day it is a matter of finding that zone.
throw five feet off and they arent home.
i got bit again.
a half a dozen casts later, one more. ten more casts w/o luck and i stepped on around

i got some fast, running bluegill bites.
i kept feeling my way to the tree but couldnt sell any more.
i went back to the active area and picked up one more.

curly came around and said the top end was dead.
i turned around and worked back around ernie's cove, but couldnt draw any strikes, even though i self -centeredly got back ahead of curly to try and wax the productive areas. (heck of a thing to do to a guy that vouches for you)
i rationalized that were we throwing different baits.
he was ripping a jerk bait, instinctively playing to the wind ( or so i imagine )
ordinarily this would be an excellent call on his part, but today was an "out-of the-box" mood for the fish.

i stayed with the black on black jig n pig
day after day, the J&P will produce fish.
in a 365 day year, these baits will outscore and outweigh about any bait on the market

if you dont use them, don't be afraid to try.
one of my best pals told me, you must learn to use this technique.
i had zero faith in them,-- until i started catching fish.

i throw w/ a pal on the river...
he has eight rods laid out on the front of his ranger
J&P, craw papi's, senko's , a spinnerbait, a frog, a crankbait:you name it. if it's not tied on , he has four of them in each color below deck.
this dude is a floating bass pro shop ( and a fine and generous fisherman too )
but the point is, at the end of the day, we are often almost equal, and he is in the front of the boat.
i am steady throwing J&P's, he is changing baits and rods every 5 minutes.
twice i have gotten the heavy fish for the day

i go back to the drain area.
curly goes over the horizon to beach
i pitch 30 more times, and scratch out three more fish.

if u want bit, throw a jig at that drain until you cant stand it
you can almost always get a few on the drop or the one-two hop.
they will watch a jig fall five times, or ten, or even fifteen and then bite it
they dont think like we do

bill dance say a lunker bass has a brain about the size of a thimble

so here we are, three hours and ten fish later.
i think about hanging it up for a while.
i think about drop shotting the rock pile, but am too lazy to put the rig together

i picked up some big gamakatsu ewg weighted hooks recently

should i fluke them deep and slow?
then i think of purpleworm's texas rigged beaver tails
up to now i have been throwing the beaver's as jig trailers
i rig the sweet beaver on the ewg weighted hooks.
i head for curly's rocks

i start getting drop hits right off
the heft of the sweet beaver plus the weighted hook makes for an easy toss
the beaver takes twice as long to drop as the J&P
i hit six or eight almost on successive casts.

then i catch walter, the 12 pound catfish, for the third time in a week
today he is tired, and comes in like a log.
this also shuts the action down

newly confident, i work the beaver counterclockwise around the perimeter.
nothing, nada, zilch, negative, dead water

i make the turn at the back cove ( which has no wind at all on it, hmmmmm.....)
and dont get bit again until i drop the outside edges of the grass with wind blowing into them.
i pick up three strays b/t the point at the head of the rear cove and the  main tree, as i move toward toward ernie's.
ernie appears and we talk fish.

i dont get bit again until i am back at the drain, where i get three more on the drop

so i havnt thought about it, but that amounts to about 25 fish in five hours, or an average of one every twelve minutes of fishing, although they came in bursts with long dry spells b/t.
that is a solid score for a tough day on the water, doing what i call "scratching them out"