Newbie Needs Some Advice

[Adam P.]

First I would just like to say hi to everyone on here. Second I have a tournament the 2nd weekend in Sept. and have found some nice groups of smallies but have thrown everything at them, and I'm still coming up empty . If anyone can give a rookie some pointers that would be great. Thanks

[motocross269]

What lake??? How deep of water??? Water clarity..etc.  Not trying to find out where your spot is, but need more info....Of course you cant go wrong with tubes, drop shot or fluke...If the water is really clear use Flouro line.
If you know the fish are there the trick is finding out what they are eating and "Match the hatch" so to speak.  You've already done the hard part by finding fish the rest is gravy...

[Adam P.]

 Of course, It's hard to answer a question like that with out the details. Lake-It is Sturgeon Bay, Door County WI , The depth- is 10'-20', Water clarity- is clear to a slight stain. I know there is good numbers of smallies on the spots cus I spotted them with my aqua-view. I been using a drop shot and tubes and the fluke a little, along with jerks and spinner baits but just can't get any thing to work. Ask anything you need to know to help me out.

[Duke]

I would have thought jerkbaits: is calm enough to throw a pop-r? Are you using Gulp! baits on your dropshot? Might be a good alternative.

[motocross269]

I forgot...Welcome to GLB......I have gotten a ton of information from this site.  There are alot of great anglers on this site and all of them are happy to help out where they can.
Keep changing your presentation and retrieve speeds..you probably just need to change something a little bit. 
Some days it is tough...My fishing partner yesterday basically kicked my butt.  I tried matching everything up with what he was doing and I couldn't get it done.  That is the great thing about fishing though there is always another trip (god willing) to turn things around in your favor.

[Adam P.]

I thought of using a topwater(pop-r,spook) but the winds have been pretty good each time i'm out and I didn't know if it would be noticeable enough. I have been using every thing from berkley gulp to poor boys to robo worms. I haven't tried the gulp gobys but did put in a order for some they just havn't come yet. Do you think it could be my line on my D-shot rig and tubes I've been P-line Flouroclear 8# and 15# on the spinner baits and 10# on the jerks.

[Adam P.]

Thank you for the welcome. I hope I obtain some information from more seasoned anglers than myself.

[Genie]

First things first ... if you can see them, they've already seen AND forgotten about you.  Try backing off and making long casts.  Start the retrieve as slow as you can stand it.  If nothing takes, start speeding up a little until you are reeling it in like a spinnerbait.

Do this with a few different types of baits that cover different layers of the water column and they will tell you what they want.

[McCarter]

Try something different than tubes and drop shot baits.  You could be fishing a spot that sees a lot of fishing pressure and not even know it.  Think outside the box a little.  Figure that most guys will be throwing tubes and drop shot baits to these fish.  they could be burned out on seeing these presentations.  Try using a shakey head with a small 4" finesse worm.  Or a football head with a 4" or 5" hula grub (spider grub).  Or, if the wind isnt too bad, throw a wacky rigged weightless senko or any stick bait out there and just let it slowly sink to the bottom.  it might seem hard to wait that long especially in 20 feet of water, but trust me, they see that bait as soon as it hits the water and they will watch it all the way down.  Dont be surprised to see multiple fish racing towards your bait.  Slow rolling a spinnerbait works well for me when other tactics fail.  Im not saying its  a good pattern on Belleville Lake ( hint, hint ) but im not saying it isnt either.

Show em something different.  If the fish are there, they will eventually bite. 

Sounds like your using the right line.  8 lb flouro, even if its just flouro coated copolymer, is a small enough diameter to give your baits a natural action and not show up too well in the water.

If all else fails, let me know.  I will send you some magic goby baits!

McCarter himself

[Cheetam]

If you can't finesse them into biting with the tube, dropshot, etc, try ripping a crankbait or big spinnerbait through there.  Something with enough weight to make LONG casts (like a 3/4 ounce ledgebuster or even 3/4 ounce or bigger ratltrap...).  I personally have a 3/4 ounce ledgebuster that I modified with two small willow blades that I can throw a country mile, yet, I can burn that thing as fast as my reels will let me.  Sometimes NOT letting a smallie have an opportunity to look at your bait soak is just the ticket...

Oh, and Welcome!

[Adam P.]

I'll will give these a try as soon as I can get back out there. If things keep going the way they are I'll need some of those magic goby baits. Thanks again, all of your help is really apreciated.

[MIBassKid]

Ripping jigging spoons also might be something to try out.
-Kid

[joshimoto son]

I just fished with a big stick from over your way. Donald Hewkins, he and I were talking about fishing that stuff over there. This is the information I picked up from him.
They use jerkbaits to "bring them in" so to speak, and then throw a tube at them once they're fired up.
He also mentioned water temperature is key. That the water will keep "folding over" as the water closest to shore warms up, the colder water from the main lake will come in do to natural convection. That is, heat always flow from hot to cold. Take it from me I have an Engineering degree in heating and cooling.
It might be a timing thing.
I also agree with Genie, making long casts.

Good luck and welcome to the board!

joshimoto son

[Slipkey]

Adam,

I used to drive up and fish there quite a bit when I lived in Chicago.    Fished the Sturgeon Bay Open every year for about 5 years and paid for my vacation on a couple of those.  It's an awesome fishery but tough this time of year.  Depending on where and what type of structure you are fishing, aside from what's already been mentioned, there are a few presentations that can be really good on Green Bay this time of year:

1)  Carolina Rigs or Split Shotting - Watermellon or Green Pumpkin lizards and flukes work well also crawfish plastics in watermellon.   I can't get bit on a lizard on Erie but they seem to like them up there. The rig is a good choice in Little Sturgeon or Riley's where you're dealing with weeds.   I know the fall S.B.O. tourney has been won on the Carolina Rig more than a few times...

2) Topwater-  If you're fishing in Big, Little Sturgeon or Riley's Bays (The boulders around the point on Rileys can have some big'uns, don't be afraid to pull out the topwater baits - Pop-R, Spooks, and Minnow Baits - and stick with them for awhile.  There can be some really nice topwater fishing when it slicks off or when you're in a wind break.

3) Football Jigs - I fish these more in the early part of the year up there, but a football jig with a crawfish imitator can tear them up - the hula grub is good too as suggested above but not quite as subtle when they are spooky.

There's a ton of good advice above.   I fished there last summer on vacation and caught some good fish on the drop-shot with a goby, but they still seemed to like the crawfish-type presentations more.   

Good luck!

[Adam P.]

Thank you again to everyone for the advice, especially Slipkey you really know my own back yard.I fished the Spring SBOBT for the first time this year and did poorly due to a mistake I'll never make again(try and fish bedding fish when your in the 172nd boat in the field). But I am only 17 and I have plenty of years too learn from my mistakes(I just wish I made less of them).This will also be my first time fishing the fall tournament.

[djkimmel]

Ah... the old SBOBT. Been there. A little different over there, but also the same. I don't know that there is any spot on Sturgeon Bay that hasn't been fished a gazillion times (okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little... let's just say only a bazillion...)

What I have seen work in Sturgeon Bay is ripping jerkbaits - long, HARD rips with a long pause. Great when it works. Deader than a doornail when it doesn't. And then, (having got my butt kicked on the only really 'secret' spot in big Sturgeon Bay that I found using St. Clair trickery only to have a one-eyed Indiana boy clean my clock on it when I went there in a fall tournament out of dire need) a small, thin brownish tube fish very slow and patient on the bottom... probably got my butt kicked becuase I don't like fishing small or slow!

I caught fish off that spot easy at first because no one seemed to be around. I have to think, having seen many other Sturgeon Bay anglers do the same thing, that slow, small 'natural' finesse baits still work over there when the bass are feeling the pressures the feel over there (if you ever fish the SBOBT, you'll know what I mean...)

I would have to think the latest Erie craze of Berkley Gulp! drop shots would work there too since the setups are somewhat similar (try the 3" smelt... but don't say you heard it from me!!! I'm sworn to secrecy... shhh). I have not had the same stunning results yet myself as some anglers have had, but I'm not fishing a ton this year and I'm no Clapper/Balog/Trombly/Johnson.

Okay, I made the Johnson one up to see if anyone was paying attention, and I left off other names too... like my bud Ben Felton of benfishin.com. He is the latest 'believer' in the Gulp! stuff. Not sure if I'm supposed to share that or not?!? Oh well.

I found that all of the Green Bay bass in the fall seem to like a good, strong morning bite and then get real finicky later in the day in general, so try the same spots early and see if you notice a difference. Plenty of anglers catch plenty of bass over there, so I'm sure you can too. And welcome, we need more fishing reports from over there to spruce things up around here. One of your brethren - Chris Johnson of fishcrazygs.com guide service is an advertiser on here.

[Mojo]

Welcome to GLB - settle in for a great group of friend and liars ! Everyone has put good words to you, but I learned if tubes and drop shot arent working, and you have rocks, try a jig . ..... s...l...o...w.....  slower ....

Didnt work ?? Maybe the shad  are maturing and its time to rip a jerk bait 3 - 4 hard rips after a LONG cast and let it sit for 15 seconds, then rip it again. I would to hear from you guys on your opinion on live pointers from Lucky Craft versus the 100 series Lucky Craft versus Rapala X-Rap ?

Last thing is work your most confident technique, mine is drop shot. I switched from goby to 2" Canadien Mist or Pumpkin / purple flake tubes on a drop shot rig and had a great run, then when that shut off I switched to 3 - 4 inch Berkley gulp shad minnows and crushed em. Seemed the contrast colors of black and white worked best. The solid colors do not.

PS: McCarter has got the market cornered on drop shot gobies - love em - they are fish catchers period. PM him to get hooked up. Good luck.