Fall & Shallow water fishing
Magic8Ball
Posted 10/6/2011 11:07 PM (#519662)
Subject: Fall & Shallow water fishing




Posts: 90


Location: Ohio

I have a local lake that the fish basically move into 10 foot of water along a really jagged edged weed bed

How would I go about trolling this? if the edge of the weed bed was fairly straight I could troll it easy but it is shaped really weird and if I go in a little to far I will snag up every lure I have out in the weeds

 

I also plan on casting this lake by putting the boat in the weeds and casting out to the deeper cleaner water with bulldawgs and reeling towards the weeds, does this sound like a decent plan?

How do you guys fish weird shaped weed beds in the fall/winter since the fish move shallow?

I want to try and catch my first fall fattened muskie and I know how to catch a few in the summer but the pattern has moved the fish shallow

Thank You very much for any help

Outfirstsuicidebaits
Posted 10/7/2011 3:31 AM (#519666 - in reply to #519662)
Subject: RE: Fall & Shallow water fishing





Posts: 24


Location: St.Cloud		not all fish move shallow you can still catch them deep but if you can find a spot from 6 to 10 feet were the weeds are more scattered and have pockets try casting in to thoughs. trolling can be tough if u want to stay close to the weeds. I would hold my rod and manuver the boat at the same more likly using a bucktail of some sort. if it gets snaged rip it throu. good luck
Guest
Posted 10/7/2011 7:51 AM (#519676 - in reply to #519662)
Subject: RE: Fall & Shallow water fishing


inside out casting will be your ticket
Magic8Ball
Posted 10/7/2011 12:58 PM (#519737 - in reply to #519666)
Subject: RE: Fall & Shallow water fishing




Posts: 90


Location: Ohio

Outfirstsuicidebaits - 10/7/2011 4:31 AM not all fish move shallow you can still catch them deep but if you can find a spot from 6 to 10 feet were the weeds are more scattered and have pockets try casting in to thoughs. trolling can be tough if u want to stay close to the weeds. I would hold my rod and manuver the boat at the same more likly using a bucktail of some sort. if it gets snaged rip it throu. good luck

 

Trolling a Bucher Bucktail, will that ride right under the surface?

The weeds in this lake are pretty thick and there is about 3' of clear water depth between the tops of the weeds and surface of the water, well some places the weeds come clear up to the surface

tuffy1
Posted 10/7/2011 1:09 PM (#519739 - in reply to #519737)
Subject: RE: Fall & Shallow water fishing





Posts: 3242


Location: Racine, Wi		You could run blades over them for sure. Just keep the line going out (or add a little weight in front of it) until you have it running maybe a foot under the surface at speed (depending on how fast you're going, either the weight (faster) or just long lining (slower speeds) will work). It will drop a little if you do S turns, but shouldn't get in the weeds. Spinnerbaits would also be good for this and for staying weed free.

Also, short line trolling would rock as far as a trolling approach goes when you're up tight to the weeds. Get going 4-5 mph with 2 baits off the corners of your boat, and put 5' or less of line out on the inside and a little more (7-10') on your outside rod, then just snake troll it. Helps if you map it out with a GPS if you have one to anticipate any turns that are coming up. You'll have to work hard as you will get baits in the weeds, but you'll get bit too. The fish hit HARD when doing that too, so it's pretty fun.