Awful quiet in here...

[IndianaOutdoors]

You guys all hang it up for winter?  I had an excellent day on my new favorite stretch of river.  18 fish if you include the sucker I caught.  Nothing over 16" but I'll take it.  Most came on a new to me lure, nedmiki.  A zman streakz on a finesse eyez 1/8 jig head.  A few more on a jerkbait and a football jig and I even got one the small shine glide.  This might be my round for the year.  I've been iced out once already and the forecast doesn't look promising.

 

[A-Jay]

Two days ago.

Go for it dude.

A-Jay

[TnRiver46]

this was just yesterday 

[flyfisher]

our rivers have been either blown out or summer drought low so I haven't been out.  They are looking good right now and I will probably hit one tomorrow but this river has more spotted bass than smallies but I have caught quite a few decent smallies in there too.  There is also the chance at a striper so hopefully I can get into something worthwhile but if not, I will take a 68 degree day in December anytime.

[bowhunter63]

12 to 16 hour days at work. Life is sucking right now 

[GreenPig]

7 minutes ago, bowhunter63 said:

12 to 16 hour days at work. Life is sucking right now 

Just think of all the Rods/Reels/110's/Swimbaits/Crankbaits/Senkos/etc. you can buy with all that OT.

 

I'm sorry. The monkey made me say that.

 

[Susky River Rat]

The bite has been extremely tough here. If I can’t take my dog I generally do not go. So I like the air temps to be 50 or above for his sake. Every once in awhile I will sneak out at 48. 

[IndianaOutdoors]

11 hours ago, flyfisher said:

our rivers have been either blown out or summer drought low so I haven't been out.  They are looking good right now and I will probably hit one tomorrow but this river has more spotted bass than smallies but I have caught quite a few decent smallies in there too.  There is also the chance at a striper so hopefully I can get into something worthwhile but if not, I will take a 68 degree day in December anytime.

All of my local rivers have been pretty low this year.  Couldn't get the boat in much but I did plenty of wading and bank fishing.  My normal fall smallmouth spot is gone.  They knocked the dam out last month so it's just a muddy creek now.  The new spot I'm fishing is closer to home and has a dam that makes a nice wintering pool about 2 miles long.  I don't know if it's just bc it's cold and all the fish have condensed into this pool, but this is the first I have ever done well in this river.  Wish I had stripers.  Closest thing I have is wipers and that's a 1.5hr drive.  I went twice this fall but only caught smallies.

12 hours ago, bowhunter63 said:

12 to 16 hour days at work. Life is sucking right now 

Been there man.  At least it's during winter and hopefully will be done come spring?

[IndianaOutdoors]

5 hours ago, Susky River Rat said:

The bite has been extremely tough here. If I can’t take my dog I generally do not go. So I like the air temps to be 50 or above for his sake. Every once in awhile I will sneak out at 48. 

The last time I went I only caught 2.  A few days earlier it was froze up.  I tried breaking ice to get to open water but I gave up after a 1/4 mile or so. Time before that it was 34 and snowing and I got skunked.  

[Susky River Rat]

@IndianaOutdoors ouch. Jets don’t like ice or slushie water. Any days I get out from December to mid March are bonus days. The fishing usually is terrible anyway.

[MassBass]

I am targeting cold water species until ice up. Fairly unlikely to get a bass with my trout presentations this time of year. The colder the water gets, the bass slow down, but cold water fish get more invigorated and oxygenated.

[IndianaOutdoors]

4 hours ago, Susky River Rat said:

@IndianaOutdoors ouch. Jets don’t like ice or slushie water. Any days I get out from December to mid March are bonus days. The fishing usually is terrible anyway.

I have a 25 jet that hasn't seen water in a couple years.  It didn't like leaves or sand or weeds or mud.  Been running a tiny Jon boat with a long tail in the shallow stuff.  Use my 16ft sea nymph with prop 55hp everywhere else.  I don't usually fish much in the cold months but I'm holding out since we're still having a few warm weather days here and there.  

[IndianaOutdoors]

1 hour ago, MassBass said:

I am targeting cold water species until ice up. Fairly unlikely to get a bass with my trout presentations this time of year. The colder the water gets, the bass slow down, but cold water fish get more invigorated and oxygenated.

Crappie fishing is very popular in my area this time of year but I'm not any good at it and I get bored watching a bobber.  Thought about trying for walleye but I don't know what I'm doing which gets old fast when it's cold.

[Susky River Rat]

@IndianaOutdoors is it a 25HP that was converted to a jet or a 25HP at the nozzle jet? When you are running a jet hard and on plane most things you just suck through and spit out the nozzle. When you go around slow is when you have issues. Every once and awhile I’ll get a stick or clump of leaves. The idea is you will be going fast enough to not really worry.

[PaulVE64]

4 hours ago, Susky River Rat said:

@IndianaOutdoors is it a 25HP that was converted to a jet or a 25HP at the nozzle jet? When you are running a jet hard and on plane most things you just suck through and spit out the nozzle. When you go around slow is when you have issues. Every once and awhile I’ll get a stick or clump of leaves. The idea is you will be going fast enough to not really worry.

Walleye are surprisingly similar to smallies.

I catch alot them on tubes

[TOXIC]

Lucky enough to have access (private lake) to a power plant lake.  If we can get there, we can fish.  It never freezes.  My fishing partner is in Guam and Siapan for a couple of weeks so I’ve been off the water because my boat is half deconstructed redoing the fuel system.  

[Dwight Hottle]

1 hour ago, PaulVE64 said:

Walleye are surprisingly similar to smallies.

I catch alot them on tubes

@IndianaOutdoors They like jerk baits & cranks too. Also bottom techniques like blade baits & jigging spoons to go along with tubes. Crappies are easy to target with crappie jigs once you locate them on your graph.

[gim]

1 hour ago, Dwight Hottle said:

They like jerk baits & cranks too. Also bottom techniques

I'll second this, crank baits and jerk baits will catch walleyes.  They are generally closer to the bottom than bass are.  And they are usually more active in cloudy or low light conditions.

[IndianaOutdoors]

10 hours ago, Susky River Rat said:

@IndianaOutdoors is it a 25HP that was converted to a jet or a 25HP at the nozzle jet? When you are running a jet hard and on plane most things you just suck through and spit out the nozzle. When you go around slow is when you have issues. Every once and awhile I’ll get a stick or clump of leaves. The idea is you will be going fast enough to not really worry.

It's an 80s merc converted to jet.  The only problem I had at speed was leaves.  I got the grate packed with mud just from a muddy launch ramp.  Sand killed the water pump just from idling at the launch.  I had the bow on shore and thought it would stay put but the stern came around to shore and sucked up a bunch of sand while I was moving the truck.  Mainly it's just not the right motor for the tiny rivers I run.   The little jon I run now is much easier to drag over shoals and logs and runs just as shallow as the jet would.  I'm thinking of going even smaller to a 10ft next year so I can launch from my truck bed.  There are several access spots near me that don't have parking for a trailer and one spot in particular that doesn't even have room to turn around with a trailer.  Might do a kayak instead idk.

[IndianaOutdoors]

7 hours ago, PaulVE64 said:

Walleye are surprisingly similar to smallies.

I catch alot them on tubes

I catch walleye in the river in summer.  Spinnerbait, swimbaits, jerkbait have all worked.  Im just not willing to wade in the cold river and don't have access otherwise. There are a few lakes with walleye nearby.  I have tried trolling weed lines and searching with side imaging a few times over the years but no luck.  

[Susky River Rat]

@IndianaOutdoorsi never let mine idle at the launch like that because of that reason. Just like I don’t use reverse on a jet unless I’m in 5’ of water.  Personally I’d rather go for a kayak then downsize a boat. Just my opinion.

[IndianaOutdoors]

4 minutes ago, Susky River Rat said:

@IndianaOutdoorsi never let mine idle at the launch like that because of that reason. Just like I don’t use reverse on a jet unless I’m in 5’ of water.  Personally I’d rather go for a kayak then downsize a boat. Just my opinion.

Idk I've been deliberating boat choices for years.  As much as I want a bigger jet boat I just don't have the water for it.  I'm basically running creeks.  A kayak would be easier to drag in and out of some spots but a powered jon gives me access to miles of river that I can't get to otherwise.  

[Susky River Rat]

@IndianaOutdoors realistically you should have about 2.5’ of water to get on plane for most jet boats. Most draft 10”-12”. From the bottom of the boat till you dig to get on plane most people don’t do that under 1.5 on their transducers. You can only run in 3-5” on plane.  If you get a boat that was engineered to have a jet on it you can draft 6-8” and be on plan in about 2 boat lengths. Need about a foot of water to get on plane. 
 

only you know you waterways and what you can safely run. 

[Swamp Girl]

15 hours ago, IndianaOutdoors said:

Idk I've been deliberating boat choices for years.  As much as I want a bigger jet boat I just don't have the water for it.  I'm basically running creeks.  A kayak would be easier to drag in and out of some spots but a powered jon gives me access to miles of river that I can't get to otherwise.  

 

Why not consider a motorized kayak?

[flyfisher]

44 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

Why not consider a motorized kayak?

 That is my preferred river vessel for the smaller creeks/rivers I fish.