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
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 1/32nd 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 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.
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