What a unusual spring! It has been a tough bite for me for the most part of my “spring fishing” but i have managed to find a couple good fish on just about every outing. the bites have been far and few between for me but the size has been exactly what were looking for.
I have been targeting eyes with crank baits for the most part of the spring. i was pulling cranks earlier than i ever have on pool 4 but with the high water temps the fish have been aggressive enough to chase down a crank up to almost 4 MPH in recent days. i usually target eyes in shallow water 12 FOW or less but this spring i have also had good success in deeper water from 17-24 FOW . these fish have not been tip towing around either they have been crushing my baits! I have been doing alot of “running and gunning” hitting areas that are holding fish or known to hold fish giving spots a few passes picking of the active fish and then moving onto a new area to find more active fish.
when trolling up stream i have been trolling from 1.5 to 2.5, going faster in the back channel areas and slower in the main channel areas. when trolling down stream i have been trolling fast and deep. We have been trolling up to 4 MPH over main channel areas of 17-24 FOW.
Though trolling cranks has been my go to technique this spring, fish have been coming on any presentation you throw at them. if you are going to be hitting the river in the next few weeks go with a technique you are confident with and you should find some fish. Pulling live bait rigs has been a successful technique for some also dragging jigs over shallow sand and pitching plastics is putting fish boat side. as we shift into warmer weather the crank bite will get better as well as dragging live bait.
here are two of a hand full of fish we caught friday trolling cranks. The larger fish was 28″ and Jes’s PB eye! the fish we caught on friday all had their feed bag going on several of the 20″ fish looked as if they were still pre spawn, the fish are getting their feed bags going and the bite should get real good, real soon.
