Summer is here – what’s working??

gimruis wrote:

Thanks. I normally do the skipping thing with the wacky and I’ve had good luck with it. I’m just trying to find another plastic to throw at them. I fish a fair amount of tubes but normally not under docks.

If you want a bait that skips incredibly well and catches a ton of fish on Docks. Get you some Lake Fork ring Fry. By far the best skipping bait that I’ve found. Plenty of weight to get it really deep under dock. Rig it Texas style with the hook point embedded into one of the Ring ribs. About as weedless as you can get. I like to fish them on a 5/0 hook with some type of a pin to help keep the bait from sliding down the hook. My go to hook choice is a Mustad KVD grip pin hook. Just a FYI the ring fry also make a excellent follow up bait to use after a miss on a frog in the slop.

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Fantastic, that looks like a good option and I will give it a try. At this point I’m going to have like 4 plastics all pre-rigged to skip under a dock lol

gimruis wrote:

Fantastic, that looks like a good option and I will give it a try. At this point I’m going to have like 4 plastics all pre-rigged to skip under a dock lol

That’s never a bad idea. Throw them all and let the fish tell you what one they like best. Report back and let us know how all the various bait choices go.

fishthumper wrote:

That’s never a bad idea. Throw them all and let the fish tell you what one they like best. Report back and let us know how all the various bait choices go.

Do you usually encounter picky fish under the docks? Seems to me like they aren’t that picky. As long as the lure is presented in the right spot, they’ll take it. Doesn’t really seem to matter what the lure is. With water temps being as warm as they are this time of year, I think shade under docks on a sunny day might be a good tactic.

Here’s that tournament on WB. Caught a ton of fish but only one really good one. Seems like weights are down overall in tourneys this year. Not terribly surprising with all the pressure.

Nice, 3rd place with BB and 2nd overall thus far is quite good.

gimruis wrote:

Nice, 3rd place with BB and 2nd overall thus far is quite good.

Unfortunately the last two didn’t go so well. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out the fish remind you you dont!

mahtofire14 wrote:

Unfortunately the last two didn’t go so well.

How many more events are there before the championship event?

One this saturday which I have to miss unfortunately and then another one two weeks later. I’m still in 2nd in points but will probably drop a spot or two after this weekend. Have to be top 6 to fish the championship.

gimruis wrote:

<Do you usually encounter picky fish under the docks? Seems to me like they aren’t that picky. As long as the lure is presented in the right spot, they’ll take it. Doesn’t really seem to matter what the lure is. With water temps being as warm as they are this time of year, I think shade under docks on a sunny day might be a good tactic.

You are correct in that with dock fish its more about getting the bait in the right location than about what type of bait. That is the reason I like the ringfry so much. I feel like I often can get that bait into places I can not get other baits. But that said they are still fish and they often prefer one bait over another. With the recent warm weather you are correct in that the dock bite should be a great tactic. I’ve got away from fishing docks much at all the last few years. Not because they don’t hold quality fish, but because I dislike some of the hassles that come with fishing them. Unhappy home owners, Snagged hooks, and broke off bass just to name a few. There is without a doubt that on some days on some lakes it is by far the best tactic to catch good bass.

I did some bass fishing this morning, primarily dock skipping. I tried several types of plastics. Honestly they all seem to skip pretty well based on the profile/shape and I caught fish on every type I tried. I finally settled in more with a stick bait that was wacky rigged because the water is very murky and I had a neon green color which seemed to stand out a little better. Caught 22 largemouth in about 4 hours. I didn’t get any giants though.

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I got a couple dock skippers too, neko-style… that time of year I guess!

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Very slow weekend for me. Friday only got 2 bass. Saturday about 9 bass with wife. We stayed out until the rain came on Sunday better day but hard to pattern they did not want a craw on a jig head so the wife started using wacky worms we found the 4 inchers to be the best I did get 1 23 inch small mouth that was fun together 20 bass total not on the weed edge about 3-5 feet in the weed edge and very spooky fish

mrpike1973 wrote:

23 inch small mouth

You got a 23 inch smallmouth?! Holy hannah I’ve never heard of one that big around here.

The last month the bite has been tough for me and I haven’t been able to get out much. So the last few times out I basically said F it, I’m going to figure out this dumb dropshot mess. Started slow, but each time out it got better, culminating with me sneaking out on the lake last Thursday for 2 hours and catching about 15 fish with it. Bites came on the Berkley flat worm and a senko wacky rigged on the dropshot rig. Even got a video made on it. If a total dropshot hater like me can do it, so can anybody else.

Yes nice fish but could tell it was older and skinny.

mahtofire14 wrote:

The last month the bite has been tough for me and I haven’t been able to get out much. So the last few times out I basically said F it, I’m going to figure out this dumb dropshot mess. Started slow, but each time out it got better, culminating with me sneaking out on the lake last Thursday for 2 hours and catching about 15 fish with it. Bites came on the Berkley flat worm and a senko wacky rigged on the dropshot rig. Even got a video made on it. If a total dropshot hater like me can do it, so can anybody else.

Ya The dropshot does take some time and work with to get good at and have confidence in. Like most techniques it has its time and place. I do think like other techniques that fish are starting to see it more often and may be getting somewhat conditioned to it. I still catch a ton of fish on it, but probably not as many as I once did. Then again, I’m also throwing it less often as I’m also trying to learn a few new techniques.

fishthumper wrote:

Like most techniques it has its time and place.

There is a Bassmaster Elite event on Lake Oahe in Mobridge, SD next week and I’ll bet that the majority of anglers there will be using a drop shot as their primary technique. They will basically be watching their electronics for hours on end. Its going to make for extremely boring entertainment on camera.

It’ll still be good entertainment because they will be catching big fish. I also love to watch how they work finesse baits. I get more out of that than watching a guy chuck and wind a crankbait. It also get’s the guys to talk about their techniques.

Ya, that next event on Oahe will be interesting. I think the bass world is going to find out yet again how good some of the fisheries are here in the North. I have never fished the lake but know a few have, and they say there are some big fish to be caught out there. It will be fun in that there will be a lot of guys who have little if any experience on that lake. on some of the other locations some of the fishermen have years of experience on.

I’m gonna guess 18-21lbs a day should keep you at the top of the field at Oahe. There’s a lot of fish in the 3-4lb class, but not a lot past that.

There are going to be some big fish caught. A 7 lb smallie came out of there last year.

I’m a SoDak native. The River is great. Lake Sharpe is really good.

I believe the winner averaged 20 pounds for 4 days during their last event on Lake Oahe. That one was in Pierre though. I am not sure if the smallmouth are generally bigger or smaller or similar sized near Mobridge. Someone might tag into a 6 pounder there but I am with Brandmoney on this one, I think 3-4 pounds will be the norm. It’s not going to be even close to the slug fest they just had on the St Lawrence.

gimruis wrote:

I believe the winner averaged 20 pounds for 4 days during their last event on Lake Oahe. That one was in Pierre though. I am not sure if the smallmouth are generally bigger or smaller or similar sized near Mobridge. Someone might tag into a 6 pounder there but I am with Brandmoney on this one, I think 3-4 pounds will be the norm. It’s not going to be even close to the slug fest they just had on the St Lawrence.

That’s one of the best if not best fisheries in the country. Anywhere would have a problem having similar numbers.

The last tourney they had here was during the part of the year where it wasn’t ideal conditions. Many anglers have said they wanted to come back for this part of the year and they opened a part they couldn’t fish last time which I’ve heard holds many of the bigger fish. I think it’ll be a lot better than the last time they fished it.

On Wednesday and Friday night, I caught ’em pretty good skipping a jig under docks on Platte. On Thursday morning didn’t even get a bite doing it on Sullivan. I did have success doing it on Sullivan earlier in the week but only fished a few.

Fished with long-time IDO “Lurker” JW today on a lake known for largemouth and smallmouth near the Canadian border. Cold front, wind, rain felt more like Fall, but we found some good ones. 73 water temps, fish caught in 3-5 fow on jigs, topwater and a few cranks…

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Got in to a few of this today. 21 incher. Mille lacs was puking them out at a decent rate today

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Bearcat89 wrote:

Got in to a few of this today. 21 incher. Mille lacs was puking them out at a decent rate today

Glad to hear that! I’m hoping to be sick one day next week and spend it healing myself at Mille Lacs…..Maybe even pull a spinner or two around for those nasty gold things.

Bearcat89 wrote:

Got in to a few of this today. 21 incher. Mille lacs was puking them out at a decent rate today

I can see arcs on the sonar too!