Frustration update

So I’m hooked. I live in St Cloud, and since the September full moon I’ve been burning the candle at both ends…running up for the (early) night bite, driving home around 1-2 a.m., getting up to work. Repeat the process.

I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t catch fish. Almost all trips have been solo (I had a buddy out for one trip, posted about it in the weedlines/frustration post). Other than that, I’ve been alone. Doing lots of experimenting, finding some fish some nights, few fish others, but some nights lots of fish. Still no tried-and-true pattern, but it’s been a lot of fun. And addicting.

My first point: fishing alone is frustrating. With only one line out, it’s tough to narrow down lure preferences efficiently. A few nights, I’ve learned quite late that some particular color in some particular size/shape is what they want. Change to that lure, and I’ve got a consistent bite on my hands. Alas, come 1 or 2 a.m., I’ve got to get home to sleep (I’m a teacher…tough to show up at 8 a.m. in front of a room full of gremlins if you’re running on less than four hours of zzz’s).

Next trip up, that lure isn’t what they want. Frustration ensues.

I have learned a few other things: 1) For me, Rogues are by far the best bait this year. Way outproducing HJ’s or SR’s or anything else, 2) speed has been very critical but not necessarily consistent…some nights, when they’re smacking, I’m getting them up near 2.5 mph (with few coming at slower speeds), but others I’ve gotta go sloooow…1.2 or so, 3) deeper is better than shallower…I’ve seen tons of boats come and go fishing the shorelines and shallow reefs, while I’ve done well in the 9+ range, 4) I’ve got a TON to learn, 5) it’s uncanny how much color can matter (gold/black Rogue will do WAY better than gold/purple rogue, or vice versa, and 6) with a 90 horse 2-stroke, it takes some creativity to get the boat to troll down to slow speeds.

I’d also like to thank all who post on here. I try not to ask for anything specific, and i try to share (in a general sense) what’s working form me, but I’d be nowhere near as effective as i’ve been without the help y’all who have shared your experience and expertise. And, since I’m nearly always alone, you’re welcome to share the frustration with me…as long as you’re willing to get off the lake at a reasonable hour.

Thanks, y’all!

I wish I could be so frustrated!

The Full Moon Cometh

And I will be there to welcome it

I hear ya man, most full moon bites I end up fishing alone as well and feel your frustration of constantly changing lures and adjusting speeds to find what they want. Definitley makes for some long nights.

Sounds like you are at that point now of just having to keep putting time in on the water. I think a person can read all they want on line and else where but nothing beats time on the water for figuring out fish. Next year you will be better at it than this year. The following year there’s a good chance you’ll be telling yourself why the heck didnt I do this last year.

Enjoy the nights and take something from every night if you caught fish or not.

Wind, speed and S turns can sure make a difference in how a night goes up there to. Have had a few nights watching the guys that have been doing this a while put one fish in the boat after another working the same areas while I could barely catch a fish. There can be a lot more to it than just getting the right lure and running a spot.

Carmike,

Let me know if you have an open seat sometime. I have a place on the south end. I end up fishing by myself as well at times because my friends tend to back out too often!

Oh for sure. Our boat is up on the northwest end…if you still have yours in the water, we could just fish wherever the waves were biggest.

And thanks for the advice, Mike, regarding S-turns. I have tried them a few times, but they haven’t outproduced going in a straight line. I’ll definitely keep it in my bag o’ tricks, though.

As temps drop I think those S turns become more critical. Keep trying them. had my share of nights where you could predict who was going to get hit depending on which side of the boat they where on and the way the boat was turning.

I have an opinion on s-turns. Yes they can work great. But try to limit them to areas where there is very little boat activity. On the crowded weekend nights it’s hard enough to keep track of what everybody is doing based on nav lights alone. I can’t tell you how many times I have had to zig when anouther boat zagged only to have them zig directly into my trolling path after adjusting my direction. It’s can be a cluster fudge out there some nights and the s-trollers can make it almost impossable to enjoy the night. Some thing happens trolling for salmon on the big lake in a crowd. A couple of degrees can make a huge difference when you are a half mile away. When you get a s-troller in a crowd its hard to tell what the heck to do to avoid issues. P.S. if your lights don’t work right – get off the lake.

I love the S turns, I have a couple spots on the lake I fish where I do overlapping figure 8’s along the flat and that seems to work great because I can cover most of the flat. I also GPS every fish I catch so when I find where I have picked up the most fish after 4 or 5 passes I will go back and work the area in a tighter pattern.

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As temps drop I think those S turns become more critical. Keep trying them. had my share of nights where you could predict who was going to get hit depending on which side of the boat they where on and the way the boat was turning.

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The weird part is how it was always your side of the boat that night you were running my boat. What a night. Flat calm, caught some nice fish, I had too small of line spooled and lost $100.00 worth of cranks then changed a flat tire at 4AM. A night I won’t soon forget. Oh, and the fog driving home made for a very long trip for a tired boy.

Pm sent

Well they sure were snapping last night…caught the majority of my 25 or so fish (I eventually lost count) over sparse weeds and rock in 8-10 feet, but also caught some up shallow and, after hearing some excellent reports from others on this forum , found a couple out on the deep weedlines, too.

I also lost at least 15 fish last night, so I had somewhere near forty strikes fishing by myself. Not too shabby!

I had a LONG lull last night after the wind picked up. My major problem was that I was trying to troll into the wind, and the surging boat speed was definitely NOT what they wanted last night (other nights it’s been key, so who knows). Ended up throwing out two anchors, the trolling motor, and one cinder block to keep the boat slow enough while going downwind, but when I figured that out, it was lights out.

what was the water temp?

i am now Equally frustrated…. two days on the pond… Eleven fish

Fishing long hrs in the wind

Yeah, that wind got pretty brutal (last night was worse by a good margin, though). Water temps were around 44 for me.

I talked to a few other guys who really struggled over the weekend….I don’t know how fast they were trolling, or if they’re boat was surging too much, but I do know they were fishing over bare rocks with little to show for it. One boat got three fish total, the other two. I was over rocks and sparse weeds and it was lights out.

Last night was OK….but the wind got very nasty out of the south/southeast. I ended up getting 8 in two hours, and I missed two. Got two on deep weedline, the rest over–you guessed it–sparse weeds and rock. Had to get off the lake because the boat was filling up with water and the bilge wasn’t working.