Reservoirs- Structure Hit Spots

 RESERVOIRS: Buck Perry’s Structure Fishing Facts To Help You Lick ‘Em! (1987)

 

Lowland #3-type reservoir, with detailed areas labeled (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) to indicate various type structure situations (potentially good areas for the fish).

A good "structure situation" can be made up of many features ( structure, breaks [1] breaklines [2] ), but in order to be productive, they MUST be related to the deep water in the area. 

In other words, they must be connected in some manner to the deep, or deepest water, in the area being fished. The fish must have a visible path ALL THE WAY in their movements and migrations from the deep water (their normal sanctuary from an ever changing environment),  to the shallows and vice versa. There may be many "structures, "breaks," and "breaklines" in any body of water, but only a few may be so related to deep water that the fish will use them.

Area 1 - DAM

Area 2 - SIDE FEEDER STREAM CUT THROUGH THE FLAT

Area 3 - SUBMERGED ROADBEDS

Area 4 - HUMP

Area 5 - CAUSEWAY

Area 6 - FENCE/HEDGEROW

Area 7 - ROCKY REEFS

Area 8 - SADDLE

Area 9 - BARS

[1] - a "break" is any anomaly attached to the bottom that acts as a roadmark for fish the move about. It can be anything from a rock to a sunken boat, but the fish see it and know it's there, keeping them on track. 

[2] - a breakline is a measurable change of depth. Picture the lines on a hydrographic that illustrate the depth changes of the bottom. That is a breakline. 

Fish Attractant Scents

(been saying  this about oil vs. water based scents for a long time.)

MAKING SENSE OUT OF FISH SCENTS 

Facts  About Fish Attractants

Fish scents took the fishing industry by storm back in the 1980s. Fisheries biologist Bob Knopf wrote numerous articles on various scientific topics of interest to fishermen, including the effectiveness, and limitations, of scent products. The following excerpts from this 1987 Fishing Facts article still pretty much stand to this day nearly 40 years later.

🎣 First and foremost, for a scent to work, THERE HAVE TO BE FISH IN THE IMMEDIATE AREA. If we fish in nonproductive areas, the best of anything won't help us.

🎣 Secondly, there are simply times when the fish are so inactive or turned off that the best angler using the best technique will have a tough time catching them.

🎣 Lastly, there's a lot of confusion on fish scents. Two key factors determine a scent's effectiveness. 

1. First it must contain substances that smell attractive to fish. These substances will be even more efficient if they stimulate the fish to become active and feed. 

2. Secondly, once the scent smells good, it must also disperse in a manner so that fish can smell it.

🎣 Here's where a problem occurs with some scents. Some scents are "oil-based." They do not mix in water. You can test to see if a scent is oil-based by dropping some on the water surface. If it floats, as an oil slick, it's oil-based. If it spreads out as a cloud it's water-soluble, which is what we want.

🎣 Oil-based scents work only once the fish takes them into their mouth or touches them. These appeal to the fish's sense of taste which will usually cause the fish to hold a bait longer, allowing more time to set the hook. They can't, however, be smelled at any distance by fish.

Photo: Ray Hansen with crappies from the same Fishing Facts issue, and sporting a Berkley hat. Berkley was at the leading edge of fish scent research back then, and is still a leader in that area today.

Fish The Hot Spots

 TYPICAL HOT SPOTS

The fine drawing by Wiley Miller, following, shows typical hot spots - places where big fish are caught on nearly every lake. You will want to save this sketch and refer to it again and again - it contains most of what you need to know to find the fish. Finding these spots, however, is a different matter…

Feeder Stream. In spring fishing, this water is often a few degrees warmer than the lake just after the ice is out, when the lake is 39 to 45 degrees. Then, too, moving water has more oxygen than a newly thawed lake. All species will be attracted. Walleyes will run up the stream early, if the stream is available. This feeder stream may be small, shallow, swift or slow, but in the early season it's a fish magnet.

F & F-1 common drop-offs may be near shore or not. Often too, at the weedbed edge. Fish will NOT be all along such drop-offs. They will identify with some break on the drop-off. You will have to fish the entire drop-off by drifting, trolling, or casting until you hit a fish or two.

Then mark that exact spot. Mark it well.

E. Weed beds. To date we haven't said much about these because most fishermen have always camped on them, fished incorrectly and got nothing. We had to break this habit. Now we can ease you back in, the right way, and we will.

C. Vertical Drop-offs. Generally these look simply great and generally these produce almost nothing-some exceptions of course, but FEW.

C-1 Break on Vertical Drop-off. Can be good. It will have well-defined boundaries. Only by catching fish will you find it.

Other Coded Spots have fish potential and are typical of spots on most lakes in most states. They illustrate a principle. A little imagination and logic will transfer them to your lake.

Uncoded Water - Empty! Except for roving schools of white bass, stripers, crappies, etc. Even these will be governed by undetected structure of some sort.

Suspended Fish-Experts know that Kentucky bass and some other species do suspend-Walleyes do too, at times, though not often. But again, suspended or not - they relate to structure.

Weed Beds—On some lakes weeds are structure. Gravel patches or other breaks in Weed beds are fish magnets. Cannot tell it all in one article a book could be written on weed fishing—and weed fishing generally is not the best. However, at times it's well worth a good try.

A & A 1 Underwater Points often, NOT always indicated by shoreline projections. Often these points have surprising potential. Your LO-K-TOR will sometimes surprise even the local guides, and your fish will surprise the local experts.

B-Sunken Island: almost always good at spots-sometimes on cloudy days fish will roam all over them.

B-1 Sunken Island approach: we put this in as an example of small spots that MAY hold the school while the rest of the structure is empty.

C. Vertical Drops comment as above.

D. Boulder or Boulder Patch: fish, after migrating, may hide under these.

E. Weeds: too big a topic and too complicated for now.

George Pazik, 1970

PANFISH: Double Jig

THE DEADLY DOUBLE JIG RIG…Game Plan For PILES OF PANFISH

Tips from Spence Petros for using this technique to cover water (troll) and locate schools of panfish. Just as effective today as it was back then.

Fig. 2

FIGURE 2 - When trolling to find panfish, floating markers are a big help. A marker is thrown - "A", soon as contact is made with a good-size panfish. Troll back and forth through the school as shown. Often the school will move - "B". Troll around marker in widening circles. If contact is made again, toss out another marker.

MORE TIPS

👉 I generally troll to find panfish. And if a concentration can be pinpointed, casting will then be in order. Trolling covers far more territory than casting; plus, it allows much better control of your lure's speed and depth.

👉 Since I'm always trying to stack as many factors in my favor as possible, a double jig rig is used. This setup allows me to test different colors, sizes, dressings and actions, plus it produces quite a few doubleheaders, which are always extra fun.

👉 If I'm searching for a mixed bag, a crappie-type jig of 1/16 to 1/8-oz. will be used on the short line, while a smaller, bluegill-type offering (nymph, wet fly, extra-small jig) will be tied on the longer line.

👉 A split-shot above the three-way swivel replaces the jig weight if a second fly or nymph is used.

👉 Clear-water lakes usually mean a little deeper presentation, especially when the sun is bright.

👉 In clearer lakes, particularly when some sun is out, white or pearl plastic bodies with pink jig heads are top crappie colors on jigs. Under reduced water clarity or light conditions, chartreuse, yellow and lime get the nod.

👉 For numbers of the sunfish family, dark colors like black and brown best imitate the forage they stuff themselves with much of the year.

Fishing Facts, 1986

Weeds for Bass

 Rules To Help Find MORE BASS

The year was 1986, and Babe Winkelman was releasing his new book, "The Comprehensive Guide To Largemouth Bass," one of my favorite reads at the time (and recommend). Fishing Facts published a short article based on a chapter in the book, excerpts highlighted below. 

👉 The most important things to learn to recognize are different species of weeds and different holding spots in the weeds…You don't have to become a junior scientist to recognize a few common weed species. Each species is different in its appeal to bass. Each species presents different opportunities and challenges to you. Get to know them!

👉 Don't limit your fishing to emergent weeds that stick up above the water.

👉 Submerged weeds often grow in clumps or beds with many potential sizes and shapes. There are different locations in and along a bed that bass will use. 

👉 Bass tend to concentrate along surfaces - the front edge, the back edge, and the top of the weeds. While there might be fish deep in the middle of the weeds, they will usually not be the most active fish, so it pays to start your search on the front, back, and top edges of the weeds.

👉 There will be variations in the shape of the weeds, and these can be crucially important. A point of weeds sticking out into deep water will often hold bass. An inside turn or little concavity in the weedline will often hold bass. Irregularities, either holes or dense clumps within the weed bed, attract bass.

👉 Here's a hint that will save you lots of time when looking for fish. Bass will either be on the inside turns or on the points; they usually won't be holding on both types of cover at the same time.

Suspending Fish

 BUCK SEZ: Structure Fishing Basics

Understanding “Sanctuary, Suspension, and Structure,” Part III

Figure 6 shows a side view of a section in a lake. I have placed the fish in their deep water sanctuary; in this case, suspended as shown. I have also placed one of those invisible breaklines we have talked about in earlier study. It could be a breakline of water color, oxygen, light, current, temperature. etc. In this case the breakline is caused by thermocline. It would appear (from your depth sounder) the fish are unrelated to structure, breaks or breaklines, This is not true. They are positioned in direct relationship with the temperature breakline, as well as the breakline on the bottom. If we could look from a top view, we would likely find them positioned in direct relationship to a nice structure, such as bar, hump, etc. When the fish move (or migrate) they would. move toward the bottom breakline, then onto structure to shallower water. They would have guides all the way.

Figure 7 is a side view of a section in a lake. A group of fish are in their deep water sanctuary. In this case suspended slightly above the bottom. But, the fish are located in relationship to breaks on the bottom; in this case a hard bottom covered wich rocks. In most instances, and especially with bass, you may not be able to see the fish in a position such as this. The fish will be so close to the rocks, your depth sounder may not record their existence. This will hold true with most species when conditions are bad, and the fish become very dormant. You'd think they were rocks themselves, as far as showing up on your depth sounder - and for that matter, you'd also think they were rocks as far as taking a pass at your lure (if you were doing sloppy fishing in any form).

Prok Frog Tips...1976

 Fishermen and big bass alike JUS’ LOVE THEM PORK FRAWGS

By Gene Kroupa

👉 SKITTERING (weed beds, reeds and lily pad fields)

> You'll need a "weedless" spoon - like the Johnson Silver Minnow shown in the foto - and a medium size pork frog. Run the weedless hook through the slit in the frog's nose so that the frog's belly is facing up. I like to bevel the front edge of the pork frog by slicing off some of the fat.

> Start out by casting parallel to the cover. As soon as the bait hits the water, hold your rod high and retrieve at a speed that is just fast enough to keep the bait from sinking.

> Next start pitching your spoon frog deeper into the cover. You'll get hung up even with this supposedly weedless lure, but you'll also hang into some pretty nice bass, too.

> If the bass aren't in the mood for topwater action, then let the spoon sink near the bottom (The Golden Zone is within 2 feet of the bottom), before you start a very slow retrieve…When you get a strike, retaliate immediately and repeatedly.

👉 FALLEN TREES, BRUSH AND HEAVY WEEDS

> Just take a Shannon twin spinner, trim off the bucktail, and add a modified pork frog. You modify a medium size pork frog by beveling the front so it isn't square. Then cut (score) the underside of the rind, next to the chunk, to thin the hinge and make the tail section more flexible.

> You can rifle the resulting lure into the thickest stuff which looks impossible to fish. I usually let it sink to the bottom before retrieving, although you can fish it at any depth by starting the retrieve sooner.

(I'd imagine a spinner bait could take the place of the long defunct Shannon Spinner... David)

👉 CLEAR, SHALLOW WATER

> At times like this, I get rid of all the extra hardware and wing it "free-style," with just a green or yellow pork frog on a weedless No. 2 hook. I'll toss the bait up on the bank and then hop it into the water with a realistic plop and let it sink.

> If nothing happens, I kind of jig it back towards me trying to make it look like a lazy frog out for a Sunday swim. Once the frog has moved 10 feet from shore, I quickly reel it in on the surface.

Wisconsin Fins and Feathers, June 1976

Wis. DNR photo (fish)

NOTE: (Brian Portlock, the man behind Facebooks, "Structure Cafe", made the following observation...which I agree with.)

For whatever reason, I tend to view the demise of pork baits as ‘the end of an era’ - a generational change - more so than any other bait or lure, right or wrong.

I have heard that modern versions of the classic pork frog are on the market, but I've never tried the.

Popper And Jig

 POPPER AND JIG

In fly-fishing, the "popper dropper rig" is popular. Its a floating, attractor-type, like a popper or foam fly,with a small nymph fly tied to trail below in the water. 

But its not exclusive to fly fishing...in, fact it may be derived from gear fishing techniques as described in this article from the 1970's...and the article describes it as, "old school!"

               >> >> 

"Here’s an old school tactic you may have read about in fishing articles over the years, targeting a variety of species. I’m not even sure if it had a name, but you’ll probably recognize it easily enough. 

You tie on a surface popper lure as an attractor, then run a 12”-18” dropper line down to a small jig. In theory, the popper gets the attention of the fish, because of the noise and commotion, then, when the fish comes to investigate....he see's the smaller jig dancing below and eats it.

The first photo shows this setup as featured in a 1979 Elmer Guerri story on white bass fishing that appeared in Fishing Facts magazine. Its a Hula Popper with the jig attached.

The second photo is of a modification that Rebel actually sold, the Drop Pop R. With it, you ran the line through the body (no line tie) and then tied it to a dressed treble at the rear of the bait after running it first through a worm sinker and colored bead. At any point during the retrieve, you could stop and drop the treble below the popper and trigger a bite…well, that was the theory 😊 

I never was a fan, but I believe it was geared toward schooling fish, which I never seemed to run into much on my waters."