New Water...Going in BLIND!!!

   Today was a day for trying new water! I had received a tip earlier this spring about this lake so, we were game to give it a shot! This new body of water, that shall remain nameless, of course, has no information on it what so ever. There are no lake maps, water clarity, weed grow, history...nothing! ZERO. ZIP. NADA!
   The day started with my ignition switch not working so, Shawn had to drive. Off to a great start, right? Well, we arrive at the landing and the fun begins. This "public access", if you want to call it that, is washed out and, is basically a steep drop from the bank to the water's edge. Looking very sketchy! Getting the boat in isn't that big of a problem. It's getting her out that is! After some debate, the decision is made to go for it.
   We are on the water. No issues but, we want to be off this lake before darkness can wrap us in her swaddling arms. Man, there is cabbage weeds everywhere is this lake! Smiles all across the board! We found an inside turn on a break line of cabbage. Let the casting commence! I decided that I was going to go with live bait and Shawn wanted to pitch Micro Spoon & Jigs Luv Nubs. We always switch it up when fishing new waters. It's a good way to find fish fast. With Shawn working plastics and myself, a slip float, jig and crawler chunk, we are both hitting fish. Small bluegills, small bass, and a few decent perch. This was the theme all over this lake, every single spot! We did manage 2 nice bluegills, 8" fish.
    One last ditch effort was conceived before it was time to get off the lake. Lets have a look for some deep water. We are both in ice fishing info gathering mode now. Shawn with a watchful eye on his Hummingbird found 20, almost 21 feet of water and some fish! It's Northland Buckshot Rattle spoon time! We tipped the Buckshots with Luv Nubs and started vertical jigging over the fish he located. Bam! 12.5" perch! I follow up with a strong 11" perch! Both fish released and this spot now resides in both our handheld gps units! Darkness is closing fast and its time to go. That damn landing will be put into submission. Yeah, we made it out. No problem. Still nerve racking though.

OH YEAH! Tested the new GoPro Hero2 in the alley since we didn't get any fish worthy of filming! LOL! Two monkeys in the zoo!

A little "plastic practice"

Hey all,
 Another week has gone by and we have been looking forward to another visit .
 As I had mentioned in my last post, Patrick and I were going to act on the dreaded "hot tip " for local crappies and bluegills.What I had not mentioned is that also last week Patrick and I have joined forces with a fantastic company, Micro Jigs and Spoons .com.
 This will NOT be a shameless plug for the company, as I wouldn't use or vouch for something I don't believe in, I'll save that for those snake-oil salesman out there.
 BUT, I did have the opportunity to actually use them as they (Keith Pace, owner) had sent us a plethora of plastics (when is the last time somebody used the word "plethora" in a fishing blog?).These baits were the only baits in my boat so I had to get to learn them or die trying.Here's how it went on a day by day rewind ......
 DAY 1-As per my usual , I trolled near weedbeds and points until I came in contact  with my first fish, a 12 inch crappie. Now I'm excited, 5 minutes in and I'm on fish.Anchor down, I fan cast my point working this 1/8 oz. jig and STB grub with a variety of drops, retrieves and pauses, no more fish.
 Deciding to down-size my jig (1/32 oz) and plastic(1 inch Luv-Nub) to slow down the drop rate, my 3rd cast, a great 13 incher.
 AH HA!! now we're dialed in, 45 minutes later and no more fish.
 I decided to up-size again going heavier and larger and let the jig fall deep into the weeds, only to find another crappie waiting on me!!Long story short the fish had moved deeper into the weeds as the sun came up and I proceeded to catch another 12-15 crappies.
 DAY 2-Now that I have the previous days knowledge with me I can just go and hammer the fish, right?Wrong! Fished same area as previous day and nothing doing .I'm off to troll again.
 Finding a mid lake hump with plenty of weeds,  I started circling it and a solid 9-9 1/2 inch "gill".Anchor down, fan cast , nothing.Change color and down-size ,boom another gill!!Next 4 casts...crappies!!
 Again a little adjustment to the drop rate of the bait and location change produced numbers.

 Tally for the day, 15+ crappies and 6-8 gills in roughly 2 hours.
Day 3 and 4- As I had mentioned earlier, Patrick were going to investigate a" hot tip".We met up with  buddy of ours south of home and we all jumped in his boat. As we got to the "spot on the spot" he had mentioned he was using crawlers and leeches only, and catching some big gills and a few crappies.
 We anchor down in 12 ft of water and our buddy drops down with  a jig and leech, and in 2 seconds.."there's one"!! This sequence repeats itself quite often and Patrick and I are slow out of the gates with our plastics, being outfished 5 to 1 conservatively.But instead of being frustrated, it forced us to keep changing colors, body styles and shapes. you see, with our friend still catching fish, we knew they were down there and active so we had to keep changing.About 45 minutes in, Patrick started catching fish,a gill, then a crappie, then a gill, then a crappie.I was staring to get more fish too, as time went on, Patrick was using a little larger plastic than I, and he was into a few more crappies, where I was using small plastics and turning on the gills. After it was all said and done plastics were outfished overall, but made a huge comeback once we got dialed in on what they wanted.Roughly 60+ fish were caught that night with 15 ish crappies and the rest gills.(Oh, and Patricks fave..1Bullhead)
 The next day we all used larger plastics and boated another 10 ish crappies and 20+ gills before the weather drove us off.

The photo above shows some of the hot plastics we used this week by Micro-Spoons and Jigs.The 2 on top produced mostly crappies(roughly 2 1/2 in ches long), the next 2 closer to the middle produced a nice mix of crappies and gills ( about 1 3/4 inches long),and the bottom 3 produced a majority of the gills( 1-2 inches long).In the past week  these baits produced ALOT of panfish..Check them out and tell em Shawn sent ya, Good Luck on the water!!!
                               Shawn

What Crappie weather

Hot weather, rising water temps and insane algae bloom has made some of the smaller lakes around here pea-soup green.Although it isn't my favorite conditions for fishing slabs, the show must go on, as we are Chasing Leviathans...I have had the opportunity to FINALLY get caught up with the honey-do's, I have gotten the chance to get out a little more and get back on the trail of the panfish and a few walleyes.
 The last week has found the mornings after panfish and nights for the walleyes with mixed results.
I have had some consistent action on the crappies working deep in the weeds with small jigs and plastics,but the size has been inconsistent and the Bluegills have been closer to the outer edges.
 Walleyes have been consistent trolling stick baits on shallow sand flats but seem to be a little more aggressive late into the night and makes for a long day!
 I received the dreaded " hot tip " a couple days ago from a reliable source , so I have convinced Patrick we should make the trip for some "bull" Gills  and heavy walleyes this weekend and make a day of it.
 We will let you know how it goes and throw in some pics so you can tell us if it was worth it.Let us know!!
 Here is a thumbnail sketch from this week, I hope you enjoy it.Good Fishing to ya!!