Water Temp: 69
Clarity: 8-10'
Weeds: Cabbage in 9-12 feet up to surface
Weather: Awful (Sunny, Windy, and HOT)
I rarely post in here because I dont like littering the forums with Skegemog skunk stories but I actually moved some fish this time and have a question on deeper fish.
Fished all morning and into the afternoon spending most of my time fishing the shallower weed line. Decided to move out deeper off the break. On pretty much my first cast after moving out I raised a good sized fish in about 18-20' of water and it came back on the following 2 casts after that. 20' of water isnt all that deep in general but that lake doesnt get much deeper than 25' so I consider it deep for that water. I was fishing a bulldawg pretty slow so it could get down deeper. I saw the fish following about 10' behind the bait 8' or so down as I brought the bait up but as soon as the bait got higher in the water column as it got closer to the boat the fish backed off. I pretty much ran out of room with the bait as it got too close to the boat. I couldnt keep it that deep without slowing it down too much. The first time it came in it backed off before I even started the figure 8 so I only went around once and casted back. He came right back in again and I tried to speed it up at the end and tried to figure 8 as deep as I could reach but he just backed off again. The 3rd cast, I just left the bait down there and tried to jerk it fast basically jigging it since I didnt have much line to work with but the fish just turned away and left. Ended up moving 2 other fish in the next 30 minutes or so but neither one would eat. Very frustrating weekend of fishing…
Anyways…the fish wasnt very aggressive but was obviously showing interest following to the boat on 3 straight casts. What was I doing wrong and how can I get a fish like this to bite? Everytime the bait got up above 5' of water the fish completely lost interest in it and if I left it down I couldnt work it fast enough to keep it interested without running out of line and its borderline impossible to move the bait fast enough in a figure 8 when your rod is completely under water…
It was nice to see 3 fish on that lake but at the same time not being able to get them to eat was even more frustrating than my usual no fish seen days out there…any advice?
That is a tough one Matt. We will all have the same trouble with Hamlin. We moved fish deep with dawgs as well and they peeled off before they got to the boat. One thing to try is pull them deeper and verticle jig. But the weather didn't help you. I do NOT fish clear water during blue bird days. The last time we did was on Lower Crooked and we had like 6 fish up in the morning and they all peeled off short of the boat. Im going to be fishing a Bondy more and more in clear water right down on the bottom in plus 20 feet. Im sure Will has a trick or two for this type of situation. Possibly slow rolling a huge spinner bait right down on the bottom as well. Mike
This is why I am trying to remake dahlbergs double wubble… I have that happen a LOT up there, and haven't been able to do much. I have immediately moved the boat out and made longer casts to try to keep the bait down longer, and they still come all the way to the boat and peel off. I imagine there isn't much you can do, but it does keep you coming back!
Another thing to consider is that a big fish can move 10' up without much effort at all, so maybe faster and higher as apposed to lower and slower???
I have always heard that as well. Faster in clear water. However if they don't want to come up they wont . Most likely these are not active feeding fish but still 
Bondy does well in clear water "deep" fishing right on the bottom. I really think his methods are just touching the tip of what can be accomplished jigging deep edges. We need some radical slashing jig that just screams eat me .
I always sell out and just use planer boards and troll. I can run a diver down 12 feet right off the weed line and scream it past that fish at 4 to 5 mph with the boat 75 feet away. That is the beauty of planer board trolling in clear water. However if Im going to troll with boards up there I just leave that lake and go over to Elk or to Torch cover lots of water.
Here is a bluebird day, gin clear water Elk Lake fish caught using planer boards. Michelle had to hand line this fish in the last 30 feet as it came on a 30 foot slider. I should clarify something I said earlier. I dont cast Clear water on bluebird days unless I absolutely have to. Ill troll with boards first or move to a different lake. Mike
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"MattG_braith" said:
Wow that is an Elk lake tank. That is what I bought that set of magnum slashers at the banquet for. I plan on doing alot more trolling up there on those hot sunny days this summer instead of beating my head against the wall casting on Skeg all day while getting torched by the sun.
2007, September . really a nice day out there with clear skies and a little breeze. That fish was out over 45 feet of water and took a 10 inch lure on a 30 foot slider with 3 ounces of weight 6 feet ahead of it. We are going there again tis fall and to Torch. Mike
"Kingfisher" said:
We are going there again tis fall and to Torch. Mike
Yeah, I will be hitting it hard up there this fall as well. I plan on setting up the little boat I use to troll better since right now it just doesnt work well but Im also just stupid enough to try casting Elk when Im feeling squirrely…
What worries me is that with the super hot weather so far this year the water temps are going to rise too high too soon and kill most of the summer…
"MattG_braith" said:
[quote="Kingfisher"]We are going there again tis fall and to Torch. Mike
Yeah, I will be hitting it hard up there this fall as well. I plan on setting up the little boat I use to troll better since right now it just doesnt work well but Im also just stupid enough to try casting Elk when Im feeling squirrely…
What worries me is that with the super hot weather so far this year the water temps are going to rise too high too soon and kill most of the summer…
There is nothing stupid about casting Elk. 😀
There are several good areas up in Elk Rapids,the bay there lots of weed line. Also the south end has some nice weed clusters in like 10 to 15 feet. Way up on the northwest corner is a rocky point which is sweet. Need a fast boat though to run and gun. 😀 . Small boats dont do real well on Elk and Torch unless you have good weather with winds under 20 mph. You need any help setting up your boat let me know. Check out our Starcraft Saturday. All tracks. It is a very versatile boat. Mike
I give all the credit of this fish to Matt who let me know exactly where they would be. This fish came out of nowhere and killed a bulldawg next to the boat right where he moved fish yesterday.
We fished together on a dark cloudy morning Saturday and didn't move one fish. Matt made the adjustment on a bluebird day and moved fish. I followed up and got lucky. Wish i could have fished longer but I had fuel pump troubles with my boat and spent 2 hrs drifting across skegemog trying to get my motor running. [smilie=brickwall.gif] At least I get to shave my beard.
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I have to stop pulling out tiny fish from Skegemog. We seem to contact/miss the big ones and every sub 40 fish hits like bricks. I guess that's why they're still alive in there.
I plan on doing alot more trolling up there on those hot sunny days this summer instead of beating my head against the wall casting on Skeg all day while getting torched by the sun.
Dude you just figured out where they will be on Bluebird days and what they'll be after. Moving 3 fish in a 45 min window in the same area is huge. It's just a matter of time before you stick one. I did and I wasn't doing anything different than you (except for using my killer dawg)
Awesome man. I wish I would have had Monday off work and could have joined you for one more shot at it out there. I didnt want to leave Sunday would have stayed out longer on Sunday but the wind pretty much blew me off the lake. I could barely stand up without falling in the chop was so rough by early afternoon.
2 of the 3 fish I saw were smaller ones like that one so maybe that was one of the ones I saw. Its only a matter of time before you get a pig out there. We have seen some good ones so I know you are close to a big one and I know I am closer to getting one period but at this point I will take a 18 incher…put another 16 hours of work on that lake and still nothing to show for it. I dont even want to think about my total skunk hours out there.
I think I just need to get one of your deadly dawgs and I should be good.
"MattG_braith" said:
[quote="Chris Musselman"]Haha just make it a black pounder, that way we can catch one of the hogs. (you said you were done buying baits)
Yeah…I did say that…but just one more wouldnt hurt right?
Michelle and I said that about 400 lures ago. Im sorry to say You are addicted ha ha ha .
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