The Livewell Q&A #2

I have recently been suffering from a bit of writer’s block, so I thought I would throw it to Twitter to see if people had some questions they would like answered. The responses varied greatly from serious/insightful, to downright ludicrous. Luckily this week, the queries were more of the serious nature. I will try to do my best to answer them to the best of my abilities, hopefully you find some information that you can use on the water, as well as a little humor. Do you have a question you would like answered? Ridiculous or not, send it to me via Twitter: @dropshotbob or for questions that cannot be contained by 140 characters, by email at niftybob20@gmail.com

What's the best way to learn how to use a baitcaster reel?

If you are new to using a baitcaster, now is definitely the time to do so. Unlike back when I was younger, the technology available in these reels is absurd. Back in the day when I was young (it wasn’t THAT long ago), I was struck by how many of the pro fisherman were using baitcasters. As a simple Minnesota kid who grew up fishing panfish, with bass as a fun afterthought, I somehow knew that if I got myself a baitcaster setup I could catch the same sized fish as the guys I saw on the Bassmaster trail on TV. When you are young and don’t know any better, you don’t realize that the reels you can afford are a far shout from what the pros are using.

Anyways, I am 14 and finally saved up from mowing lawns around the neighborhood to take my bike the two mile ride to, what I think was a Kmart at the time, to purchase a $26 baitcasting combo made by Shakespeare. Now what I am going to say here is not a knock at the company that made this setup, but an example of how far the technology has come. This reel was the most horseshit thing I have ever used in my life. You could say, that it might have been just a newbie trying a baitcaster for the first time, but you would be wrong. I still have this reel, and it is still a colossal piece of carp.

Flash forward not even two decades and one of the cheapest offerings from Shimano offers: “With 6.5:1 gear Ratio this reel is designed to fish many different style lures from Worms, Jigs, Spinnerbaits, and fast moving Crankbaits. For fishing those baits Caenan is packed with 6 shielded stainless steel ball bearings for smooth fishing. Casting this reel is amazing with its VBS braking system and comes with Shimano’s Lo-Mass Spool for easy start up inertia making casting even the lightest baits easy.” I don’t think the most high-end offerings back when I bought my first baitcaster had half of these features.

Back to the original question, first find a baitcaster reel or combo in your price range, then it is all about practice. The first step with a baitcaster is setting the tension knob. When you are starting out, this should be tightened to the point that whatever you have on your line is barely falling down when you hold the rod up and press the casting lever. The anti-backlash magnet, if it is on the reel, should be set at its maximum. Then practice your casting in your yard. Yes, it seems weird, but you will get over the fact that your neighbors think you are weird in a few days. Decrease the anti-backlash as you gain confidence with the reel, and then the tension knob.

Now that you have it on the water, there are two very important things to know when fishing with someone else or around other boats. The first is how to pick out a backlash, which can be found by searching Youtube for videos like this: Backlash The second trick, is six simple words that you need to memorize. No matter how long have you used baitcasters, you will end up backlashing them at the most inopportune times, be it excitement or carelessness, just be ready with the quip, “First day with the new reel.”

I just like to bobber fish. What's the best way to catch fish on a bobber?

Wow, this is the most vague question of all. This is the fishing question equivalent of, “What is the best way to cook a steak?” The proper way for me to answer this question is, it all depends. Granted you will get that with a lot of questions you ask involving fishing. This is mostly due to fisherman being very knowledgeable about a certain species and has nothing to do with that fact that we pull a lot of this stuff out of our ass as we go.

Well, since I put this question out there as a panfisherman myself, I will answer it for panfish. It all depends… In all seriousness, I wrote an article about this a few years ago that can be read here: Panfish Bobber Basics While it may seem when you walk down the fishing aisle at your local sporting goods retailer, that there are entirely too many options available, I guarantee you that they all have a specific use.

Not trying to be too vague I will sum it up with, you need to have 3 different bobber types for panfish. 1. A round foam float. Weighted or un-weighted is entirely up to you. Weighted floats cast further, un-weighted are more sensitive. What isn’t up for debate is that when you are fishing shallow aggressive fish, the popping sound these floats make will draw fish in from a distance. 2. Slip bobbers. This can range from a Thill center float, to your standard slip bobber dependent on what your plans with the float may be. These work great as they allow you to fish shallow to as deep as you could want. 3. A Static position bobber. This is summed up as a bobber that is pegged to one position. While one of the round foam floats would meet this definition, I like to think of this category as the stealth bobber. A Thill shy-bite or one of the slip bobbers with the spring at the bottom are great for this. They excel in shallow, clear water as they do not spook fish are very sensitive to bites.

Bobbers are a great way to suspend a bait in front of fish without sitting over the top of them and risk spooking them with the shadow of your boat. I use them often as there is no end to the tinkering you can do with a bobber setup, plus there is nothing better than watching one slowly disappear beneath the waves.

How do you usually fish the Lindy Watsit jig for ‘gills? Vertical jigging, under a bobber, or tight lining?

Bluegills are at the same time the easiest fish in the world to catch, and the most finicky. The Watsit grub evens up the score for fisherman. The times they are downright suicidal and are willing to hit anything in the water (including the moles on my back when swimming) anything you put out will work, however, when they get picky (which can happen at almost a moment’s notice) the Watsit grub really shines.

Generally, I fish the Watsit as a slow-fall bait. I pair it with a jighead that will allow the fall rate I want depending on how shallow I am fishing it. A 1/64, 1/32, or 1/16 ounce jig matched with one will offer drastically different fall rates. But the plethora of ways this bait can be fished opens up a whole new level of opportunities. For sunfish, I tend to cast more than anything else with the Watsit. While this technique works great, when the fish shut down a little, I will also try variations such as floating them under a bobber for shallow fish or drop-shotting them in deeper water. When the sunfish are deeper, dropshotting can be deadly for the big bluegills, though many other species of sunfish (specifically green sunfish and pumpkinseeds) tend to stay shallow in the weeds throughout the open water period.

Since I am without a boat right now, where are some of the best public access fishing spots in central Mn?

Being somewhat new to the Central Minnesota area, I was at first disheartened by the lack of shore fishing spots. My brother went to SCSU and often complained of the lack of fishing opportunities in the area. I soon learned that there was a ton of locations in the area I could hit without having to bring the boat. What my brother did not understand, is that most (not all) of the shore fishing spots in the area are river-based. Your species preference may have to change if you only want to fish from shore, but there are a lot of fish that are more than willing to put a bend in your fishing rod if you aren’t picky.

Without a doubt, one of the best areas to hit is the entire Sauk River Chain, this includes the entire Horseshoe Chain of lakes. While it may seem as though much of the area is locked up by private owners, one just has to drive down any of the county roads in the area to see that there are plenty of areas available for anglers. Whether it be road right-of-ways, or a plot of public land adjacent to part of the waterway, there is always a willing catfish, walleye, or other fish ready to put on a good fight.

Coming in a close second is the Mississippi River. There is no shortage of places to toss out a line along its banks. That being said, I would concentrate on the dams in the area, which are plentiful. Beneath the University Dam and the Sartell Dam, there are no shortage of species of fish to catch. The only inhibitor is the flow of the current, the higher the flow, the less likely you are to catch fish.

Preferred/best line? For panfish, walleyes, northerns? Trolling v jigging or casting?

In the modern day and age, there are a multitude of line options available. For me, however, there are two line options I use: Superlines and Copolymers. Superlines are what I have rigged up for bass, northerns, and muskies. Copolymers are for everything else. Trolling vs jigging it doesnt matter to me, it is all species dependent.

Trolling and casting for bass and muskies, I like to use 85 pound braid, while for bass, I will only use 50. Panfish, I use 4 pound copoly year round. Walleye, well who cares, walleyes are worthless bottom feeders that dont fight.

What are some good artificial lures/baits for targeting panfish during spring and summer?

For openwater panfish, there are two types of artificials I like to use: plastics and crankbaits. Plastics are for when I need to slow my presentation down and crankbaits are for when I am searching for fish.

There are so many plastics available on the market now that it can be a bit of a task in itself just trying to pick out a few to try. However, if you focus on two aspects of panfish plastics It can make your search a little easier, these are color and size. As far as color goes, I tend towards bright colors when I am fishing in dark water or plan to fish at dawn or dusk. Natural colors are for clear water and when it is bright out. Size is dependent on a few different things. One, is what kind of panfish do you plan to target. Obviously crappies have larger mouths than sunfish, and green sunfish have larger mouths than bluegills, so you want your offering to match. The other way to narrow your choice down is time of year. Fish are much less likely to bite a larger offering early in the year due to their metabolisms being slower. My favorite is the Lindy Watsit grub because I can get sizes from 2.5” and smaller and they have colors that can match almost any forage.

Crankbaits also come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but luckily, there aren't a million for panfish. I group these into 3 different categories. 1. Topwaters, these are scaled down versions of bass topwaters that are deadly on sunfish throughout the open water period. 2. Peanut baits, likewise, these are scaled down versions of bass crankbaits and are great for searching slightly deeper water (4-10ft) for panfish. 3. Stickbaits, these are also miniature versions of the larger stickbaits that walleye and smallmouth fisherman use. They are good for covering a lot of shallow water over the tops of emerging weeds (1-5ft). Rebel Lure company and Bomber make a ton of offerings in all three of these categories.

Do you ever troll for panfish? I've heard it can be effective, but never have tried it

Trolling for panfish can be very effective, especially when the fish are spread out. This technique allows you to cover a lot of water with both your bait and your sonar. If you keep marking fish, but cannot get them to commit, change up what you are trolling with.

When they are aggressive, crankbaits work very well, but plastics and lindy rigs are also very effective. I like to slow troll plastics over suspended fish and will use the spinner for fish that are hugging the bottom. Let the fish tell you what they want.

Thanks for the questions everyone, keep 'em coming. Hope to make this a weekly/biweekly thing, but I need your questions to keep it going. I will draw questions from a hat for this week's prize and the winner will be notified via DM on Twitter.

The Livewell Q&A #1

           I have recently been suffering from a bit of writer’s block, so I thought I would throw it to Twitter to see if people had some questions they would like answered. The responses varied greatly from serious/insightful, to downright ludicrous. I will try to do my best to answer them to the best of my abilities, hopefully you find some information that you can use on the water, as well as a little humor. Do you have a question you would like answered? Ridiculous or not, send it to me via Twitter: @dropshotbob

From Aaron: Best/favorite emerging weeds for early season panfish?

            As the ice leaves the lakes there are varying stages of weeds that fish will prefer. Some of this has to do with time of their emergence and some has to do with the location of the aquatic vegetation. Right after ice out, almost any green weeds you find will have fish near them. Two of my all-time favorites are Coontail and Curly-Leaf Pondweed, because of how quickly they green up in the spring, often when there is still ice on the lake. Curly-leaf pondweed is an invasive species, however it has been around so long, few people realize it anymore.

            Later in the spring, panfish will begin to hang around areas that have lilypads starting to bud up from the bottom, but this is more due to that fact that lilypads grow in dark-bottomed areas that will warm up faster than the rest of the lake. During the spawn, crappies will hang around in hard-stemmed bulrush provided it is at the correct depth.

 Curly Leaf Pondweed

From Blues and Baseball: Gummy worms vs real worms, thoughts?

            Umm? Ok, I will bite. I have never been a huge fan of nightcrawlers as bait. Too messy, their guts get everywhere, and while I will use them if I need to, it isn’t very often that you can’t catch panfish with artificials. While I am sure I have tried gummy worms or those haribo bears at some point in time (I like to tinker), have you ever had a wet one in your hands? One drop of water and they turn into something so slimy an eelpout would be proud.

            When I was younger, I begged my parents for one of those Creepy Crawler kits for years until they finally caved one year at Christmas. While most little boys wanted to make things to freak out their sisters or kids at school, I was busy trying different colors and shapes to make fish bite. Wish I could find another one of those machines today and change the molds so I could pour some new plastics for the tackle box. Side note: sadly they never got me my own Easy-Bake Oven, so I had to settle for sharing my sister’s.

From Aaron: Preferred jig and bait combo for early season panfish? Or just trying to match the insects/baitfish?

            Bait? We don’t need no stinkin’ bait! Truth be told, I can’t remember the last time I purchased bait for panfish. If you are on spring panfish, you shouldn’t need anything more than a handful of different bobber styles (more on that in a moment), some assorted jigs (hair and plain), and some plastics. There are a variety of plastics available on the market today. My personal favorite is the Lindy Watsit Grub, aptly named because no one really knows what it is supposed to look like. While it looks like something that would come out of someone’s Creepy Crawler set after a half dozen beers, these plastics are just plain crappie suicide! Jig size is generally dependent on how deep you are fishing, but I rarely use larger than a 1/32^nd ounce in the spring time.

            As for bobbers, there are a few styles you are going to want to have with you on the water. One of the most versatile is your average round foam float. These are available in both weighted and unweighted. I like these for when the fish are shallow and aggressive. Cast it out, and pop it back to the boat. The gurgling and popping sound the bobber makes dragging through the water, calls attention to your bait for fish that are roaming. When fish are little more skittish, I like to use a very thin pencil style bobber with a spring. This bobber won’t call attention to your offering, but it won’t spook fish that are in shallow, clear water. The third option is a slip bobber. I go to this option when after cold front when panfish push back out to that first break due to fronts coming through in the spring. My favorite is the Wobble Bobber, as every little ripple in the water makes your bait dance around.

From E. Rolf:  What's the best way to jig? Does the movement even matter that much? Or is it all about the bait?

            The best way to jig is whatever way made a fish bite last. This may sound really obscure, but it is true. Change your jigging motion often when you aren’t getting bites and remember what you were doing before you got bit. The movement of your bait does matter a lot, but only if you can duplicate it. Save the bait for roughfish like walleyes.

            Serious question for you: Do you know what your bait is doing down there? I like to put every jig/plastic combo I plan to use through my “testing tank”, which is a fancy way of saying an old cheese ball container full of water that I keep in my basement. Make sure to keep the lid on when not in use though as dogs seem to enjoy finding a way to knock it over otherwise.

From Clarence: What is your number one secret for catching cold-water slab papermouths?

            There are two things I do every spring to target big fish. The first is to upsize. Big fish want big meals, have you ever seen how big the mouth of a 12” crappie is? While I keep my jig head size small in the spring, I have no problem attaching a 2” plastic to it to target only big fish. Likewise, you needn’t only use jigs for spring panfish. Crankbaits and stickbaits are awesome fish searching tools in the spring and target for bigger crappies and sunfish.

            Number 2, is to not go too shallow when the crappies are spawning. While there are a ton of fish to be caught up in those shallow bulrushes, often the bigger fish will spawn deeper than the majority of the rest. If the multitude of crappies is in 2-3 feet of water, try backing out to 5-8 feet of water. The fishing won’t be as fast and furious, but the average size is going to blow away anything you are catching up shallow.

From Josh: Is it true you are more likely to catch fish drinking Schmidt's w/ wildlife cans than w/o?

            Absolutely! Even better yet is when you pour your beer from a wildlife can into one of the Schmidt’s collectors mugs with fish on them. That gives you double the luck! There are several different kinds of luck out there. There is Beginner’s Luck, Dumb Luck, Lady Luck (this is why my fiancé always outfishes me, I swear), Dammit Luck (this is when something goes incredibly wrong and you are just due for having to deal with that problem) and Luck Charms. The wildlife print cans fall into Luck Charms, in that they make no difference, but if you somehow believe that it is working and you get confidence from it, then it is doing it’s job.

            I was on a trip for a photoshoot somewhere in northern Minnesota a few years ago, and when we got out of the truck at the hotel, the driver stepped on a horseshoe. No kidding, there was a horseshoe just lying there in the parking lot. He took this as a sign that the fishing was going to be great the next day, while it was fantastic, the belief in the luck was more important than the random horseshoe. He actually kept the horseshoe around for several other trips, until he left it on his snowmobile trailer one day and lost it. Coincidentally, his next trip (Devil’s Lake) was a complete disaster for him from the fishing perspective.

From Aaron: better practice to improve a fishery. Slot size or reduce limit?

            That depends entirely on the species and the body of water. While I am a huge fan of slot limits as I feel reduced limits put a target on a lake; slot limits on popular lakes can have an adverse affect, especially during the heat of the summer when fish mortality rates rise exponentially. All in all, I think the Minnesota DNR does a good job with what they have to work with, I just wish there was more of an emphasis on trophy panfish vs letting people keep them for a meal.

From Josh: When ice fishing, if your buddy is out fishing you 5:1, is it ok to puke in his Sorels? And: When running from the CO is it best to zig zag, run a straight line, or just trip your buddy?

            You must be from Stearn’s County… #GoHuskiesWOOOOO

            Seriously though, send me some more questions. I get bored on nights the Wild aren’t playing, and I seriously doubt this rain will ever stop. Next time I put out the call for questions, I will pick a random question to send some assorted tackle.