Hummers showed up on Sunday.
About 65-66 degrees for the general population of crappies to begin spawning. Some may begin a couple degrees earlier and those are generally larger, older fish. And they like slightly deeper water for spawning.
We had similar water temps on Friday but the lake shot up over two feet in a day so our fishing was definitely tough. We did find fish, but they were in areas we didn’t figure them to be in for a couple weeks. A couple of our fish were really nice…13″.
We’re going to see what tomorrow offers.
Those are a couple dandies gim!
Never complain about rain. More is always better then less.
Unless you’re the poor soul with a river running thru your living room.
I hear ya’ll. If I had me way we’d get maybe an inch of rain every third night. Just a nice gently all-nighter. Start at about 9PM then end about 4AM.
I don’t think your tiller will be in action for a while, eh?
We’re almost at two inches for today alone now. When it rains, it pours.
I’ve got two pair already here at home. Hungry devils too. The jelly feeders go out tomorrow.
I’m interested in painting lures. Can I use vinyl paint on a crankbait and put a clear coat over it? I would want to start with just using a paint brush before spending a bunch of money.
You’ll want to use an acrylic paint. That vinyl paint has a solvent base and it’ll eat up or melt the plastic in the blanks. You will want a sealer over the acrylic. Some use diamond plate, I use Seal Coat. Search the names on line and you’ll find sources for the sealers.
Orioles were reported in Bloomington a few days ago. I’ve had my nectar/orange feeders out since Tuesday, but no action other than finches and sparrows yet.
I have a 14′ extendable pole with a simple tip-top on the end section. There’s a simple line winder on the handle end. $3 at a garage sale. I always thought it would be great for dipping into tangles and submerged trees where a cast would be a nightmare. We were talking about using it just the other day while we fished and came on one such situation where it would have been helpful [maybe]. I think I’ll toss it in the boat tomorrow.
My last check from this morning was at .94″ and its still raining. There must have been heavier rains north and west of Roch as the lake is up 6″ already this morning and will probably go up another 6″ by the time this blows off of us. Not good for the stellar crappie bite we’ve been on lately, but great for the lawns and groundwater recharge we need. We’ll see how this extra water affects the fishing in the morning. At least there was no thunder and lightning with this system. Boy does that mess with fish.
I have a 7 foot “light” action with a fast tip and it handles a Rapala #4 ultra light shad bait just fine, where as my 7 foot ultralight/fast will not. Too soft for any decent hooksets.
A bunch of years ago the DNR stocked some muskies in a local lake. I guess they did it three years, maybe a year between stockings. It didn’t take. The some muskie organization stocked with dnr supervision. That didn’t take. I thought the world was ending when they started this stuff. After some research I figured what the heck, if they get settled they might be something else to catch. I did in fact. A 19 incher. Now a guy never hears a peep about muskies there.
In talking with the dnr one day I was told they prefer soft rayed fish, like suckers, and there’s no shortage of those in this lake, but in the end, I never noticed a decline in any of the panfish. Honestly I think they’re harder to get stocked successfully and most people get too worked up over seeing them stocked. I know I did. And for what?
We got about 3/4″ out of last night’s weather. A few lightning shots and claps of thunder. The weather service had storm warnings for 60 mph winds, hail, and all, but we had a nice rain without the drama.
I did the first mowing as soon as I got back from fishing yesterday. We’re supposed to get more rain tomorrow so I might go out and toss some grass seed in thin spots of the lawn just ahead of it. If it materializes.
We ate our first Asparagus last night at dinner. The onion plants are in now.
We’re headed for the Amish gardens this afternoon. I’m leary of planting tomatoes yet. Or the pepper plants. This spring’s weather has been unpredictable so I’ll likely wait a couple weeks before those go in the ground but will probably buy the plants today and repot them to larger pots tomorrow. I’ll wait a couple more weeks for the carrots, beans and lettuce.
Cutting back this year. Only ten tomato plants.
We fished for about 5 hours this morning and easily took over 100 fish off our jigs. 51 to 53 degree water temps. The fish were being caught about 3 and a half feet deep under a float, jig and plastic. They absolutely murdered it on the hit. Didn’t matter if we were in four feet of water or over 30+ feet of water…. 3-1/2 feet down was magic.
Relatively calm winds this morning until around 11:30. Plenty of sun too. The fun part of the morning was the sunfish bite. I’ve never seen so many 9 to 10″ sunfish in a morning. The higher the sun got, the better they hit.
Pretty much a catch and release day and it was fun.
Round them up and drop them off in Gaza. Tell them as long as they have the answers they can put it right to work there.
This last event here in Rochester left us with about .6″.
I wonder if that’s the same size as a lucky craft b.d.s. 1? It sure looks similar.
The length that’s listed for this particular bait is just a hair under 2.7″ and .7″ from side to side at the widest.
I really haven’t paid a whole lot of attention to the retail market and what size the retail baits are. I know this bait will run at about 6 feet max.
This is my first year painting lures.
What a frikkin rabbit hole this airbrushing is. lol
I enjoy it. I’m not so much a detail guy as I am a color guy. Some of these guy that are experts at it can paint up lures that look like they’d flop if you touched them. I ain’t that kind of guy. lolk
The one in the center, left column looks like a river runt. In older models the did use the brass brads for eyes.
The Lazy Ike and the Lazy Dazy both used the metal lip to re-enforce the thin leading edge. The lure you show has the blades in the center of the body and Lazy Ike offered nothing like that. Lazy Dazy does show a couple models with a spreader and trebles in the center, but nothing that has screws to support the hooks or blades from that location.
I know I have come across a couple lures that look like the you show as a Lazy Ike but I don’t think its that. I’ll check a couple other refence books later.
Do you know the brand of that crankbait mold?
Not a mold.
https://store.do-itmolds.com/2-5-squarebill-unfinished-5-pack.html
I just did some of these too. I used the hypershift colors that go from pink,purple,violet, to gold so it changes from tequila sunrise to green/gold.
The back is a thin black on the couple baits I painted like this and a hypershift/clear top coat sprayed over it so these light up like yours. Actually, I sprayed the whole baits with the top coat. Out in good sun and turned they are all over the place with color, but as you know, where the colors are darkest the shift in color is more dramatic.
We maybe watched the same video to get the Tequilla Sunrise pattern? I chased the blue down the sides a hair further than the video’s, but like the video’s end result better. Next time.
The river?
That’s a cool mount.
The red one in the upper right is a Hot Shot…. c.1950. Pretty tough shape to have much collector value.
Try it, but be aware that fluoro lines sink so if you’re wanting to use a float there’ll be issues between the float and your rod tip when you go to set the hook.
For all of my general panfishing I use Trilene XL 4 pound, clear. If I think or know that I will be doing any vertical jigging I bring a rod spooled up the Clam Frost Braid in 4 pound….wat better than fluoro.
Jimmy – How long of leaders do you normally run on these setups? do you have a Swivel on the other leader end, of just a loop? What Lb. and brand leader material are you using?
12″-14″. 30 pound Not Too Kinky, titanium. Barlowstackle.com. Yes, a small barrel swivel on the line end of the leaders.
