Post by ranger681 on Sept 28, 2013 10:30:59 GMT -6
So I just returned from a fantastic fishing trip in Door County. Left Tuesday morning and fished until noon on Friday. Camped at Peninsula SP during a period of light winds, NE changing to SE by the week's end. If you viewed my Facebook photos, you'll see foggy mornings and mild conditions overall. All of this made for an adventure I had seldom experienced.
I was after a 6 lb or better Smallmouth. I have been trying all year to get one, and I had come close at 5.13 lbs late in May. But then the fish were shallow; now I figured they would be deep and getting ready for winter. So I started looking for deep flats adjacent to the deep steep drops into the main lake depths. If your are familiar with Sister Bay to Ellison Bay you will know that this area is full of 30'-60' flats with long points and humps (Three Sisters) that drops off to 100'. So how do you locate tightly schools of SM in an area the size of Kimberly? Road hunt.
I just started idling around in areas that had varied contours and watching my electronics. It wasn't long before fish started showing up. It seemed like the magic depth was 25'-50'. Where ever I had that type of slope, I found schools of bass. During the course of the week, I probably found twenty schools.
Interestingly most were 12"-15" and most likely males. I must have boated 40 in that size range. Even though a six-lber was not amongst them, I still managed a fair number of 2,3 even a couple of 4+ fish.
Every one was on a drop shot rig with a 1/4 to 1/2 oz weight. The best bait was a Yum Dinger 4" Junebug. I hit upon that bait after locating a school of hundreds of 13" bass near a channel marker in 36' of water off a 20' hump. I literally tied off on the buoy and vertically jigged, catching a fish on every cast. Given so many fish, I tried every drop shot worm in my boat. If I didn't catch one on that bait, I threw it away and tried another type or color. I managed to figure out what worked and what didn't. Not much didn't. (Stay away from TRIGGER) What I did notice is that the larger profile SenKo style worms caught larger fish. I just didn't catch as many.
I hope everyone who loves smallmouth fishing gets a chance to experience a fishing trip like this. Door county is a fabulous fishery. And the best part is you have it all to yourself. Love it.
Steve
I was after a 6 lb or better Smallmouth. I have been trying all year to get one, and I had come close at 5.13 lbs late in May. But then the fish were shallow; now I figured they would be deep and getting ready for winter. So I started looking for deep flats adjacent to the deep steep drops into the main lake depths. If your are familiar with Sister Bay to Ellison Bay you will know that this area is full of 30'-60' flats with long points and humps (Three Sisters) that drops off to 100'. So how do you locate tightly schools of SM in an area the size of Kimberly? Road hunt.
I just started idling around in areas that had varied contours and watching my electronics. It wasn't long before fish started showing up. It seemed like the magic depth was 25'-50'. Where ever I had that type of slope, I found schools of bass. During the course of the week, I probably found twenty schools.
Interestingly most were 12"-15" and most likely males. I must have boated 40 in that size range. Even though a six-lber was not amongst them, I still managed a fair number of 2,3 even a couple of 4+ fish.
Every one was on a drop shot rig with a 1/4 to 1/2 oz weight. The best bait was a Yum Dinger 4" Junebug. I hit upon that bait after locating a school of hundreds of 13" bass near a channel marker in 36' of water off a 20' hump. I literally tied off on the buoy and vertically jigged, catching a fish on every cast. Given so many fish, I tried every drop shot worm in my boat. If I didn't catch one on that bait, I threw it away and tried another type or color. I managed to figure out what worked and what didn't. Not much didn't. (Stay away from TRIGGER) What I did notice is that the larger profile SenKo style worms caught larger fish. I just didn't catch as many.
I hope everyone who loves smallmouth fishing gets a chance to experience a fishing trip like this. Door county is a fabulous fishery. And the best part is you have it all to yourself. Love it.
Steve
