Good bite / Good Deed!!!

On saturday, a couple friends of mine and I decided to fish the Vermillion River for walleye. With a bite to the air, we pulled his hand made cedar strip canoe off of his truck and put in.

The walleye and sauger were biting very well! However, they were biting short! In about an hour and a half we managed 20 fish! Nothing to brag about, with the largest just pushing 17 inches. We missed easily 5 x what we caught.

My first query, I would like to hear everyones techniques for short biting fish. Stingers, dorsal hooked or threaded minnows? Or is there a sure fire way, I’m not aware of?

The good deed: When we were pulling the fine crafted boat off of the truck a gentleman was pulling out of the river. He over heard our discussion regarding legal preservers etc and if we had enough. In the end, not knowing us from squat, he borrowed us an extra vest ,telling us to simply bring it by his place on our way out!

Besides all of the other pleasantries exchanged and given to us from other fisherman that day, I was very happy to see this form of comradery amoungst fisherman! It was a fine addition to a wonderful bite!!!

Thankyou to the kind gentleman who offered his assistance! I’m sorry, we didn’t even get your name!!!!?

Good luck and keep the rods bendin’!!!

Jim W

short biting fish…

a common problem………. there are a number of things you CAN try…..

for one.. try using lighter jigs.. sometimes this can be an option, but often you are already using as light as you can in the current your fishing…. but a lighter jig allows the fish to “suck” the bait in easier…..

you can also switch tactics… in the fall particularly blade baits and jigging spoons can be effective….. and when they are being subtle on jigs they will NAIL the others and with the trebles involved you seem to get solid hookups and not as many misses……

you can also switch to live bait rigs.. particularly 3ways… these allow the fish to easily slurp up your bait…….

now why did I leave trailers hooks for last? well not because thats the BEST solution… they sure CAN work…… but they are quite the crippler of fish too… if your going for catch and release I would NOT recomend them… that light little trailer hook has a nasty way of finding its way into gills, gullets, and even eyes……. yes, you will hook more fish…. but for sure you will damage more of them too……. I guess its up to you, but I dont use them anymore…… I go with the other options……. and I cant look down my nose at others for doing what I did for years…… I just finally realized that the game should not be played that way……

River eyes,

Great ideas! Those did cross my mind, but now I will definitely try incorporating different tactics!!! As far as the stingers, I agree. One of the guys with us, did tie one on. I noticed a couple of the smaller fish getting gilled!!

ALL were released, hopefully to swim another day!!!(and get bigger).

Jim W

oh… a couple of other things that I would be remiss in pointing out…

1 buctails… for some reason a plain unbaited bucktail during cold water will trigger “larger” fish to inhale it….. dont know why, but Ive had great luck dealing with a “short” bite by switching to bucktails….. maybe it stops the little fish which very often ARE the short biters…..

2. Ring worms… the same is true for ringworms and I would also add super-doos…… when fish hit these they seem to slurp em up good…..

so now you are totally confused right? dont be… just keep it simple…. you were cathing them good on jigs… TRY some of these other options but drop em quick if they dont work, or quick switch to something else….. its great if you have someone else in the boat who stays with the same old tactic.. that way you can compare….. sometimes at the same time you switch the fish turn off just like a switch…. and you are sitting their thinking they dont like what your using……..

Hi Jim, thought I’d add my two cents in about stingers. I use them when I’m jigging. I have had very little problem with the stinger getting deep into the fishes mouth. when hooked by the stinger, it’s always in the lips, and when I”ve got one hooked on the main hook, the stinger is usually hanging to the side, I can’t think of the last time when the stinger got in the gills. good fishin’ . Jack.

Jim,

One thing that can work alot of times is to tail hook the minnow. It will cause the minnow to move and squirm more and possibly entice that better strike.

Bear

Try slip bobber rigging with a #8 or #6 Gammakatzu! It is a blast! I use a 1/8 oz. egg sinker, a swivel, and about 2.5′ of line to the hook. Use a Thill center slider bobber, size small, and let the rig float, occasionally jigging it back to the boat. Hook the minnows just below the dorsal fin. This presentation is deadly down there. If you are above the tressle, you can use two rods, one a bobber, and vertical jig with the other.

Tuck

Above meaning “Up river of” the Tressle. The railroad tracks end the “Boundry Waters” area of the Vermillion. Once you go under the tressle, inland water rules apply.

Hope that’s better…

Tuck

Well, I went with a smaller jig this time. Majority of my fish were significantly larger! The largest was just under 4 pounds. Very good bite, just before dark and into dark.

Thanks for everyones ideas!

Keep the rods bendin’!!!

Jim W