cranberry slime dart muggin

[icebadger]

After half day due to the weather yesterday i went back to cranberry lake today to pick up where i left off. it took some time and many holes drilled to find fish but at last i found fish that wanted to play. I first got a decent perch by this point then moved to the next hole about five yards away and got my second largemouth bass of the season then had to move a bit to find them again.The next 6 holes were a bust then the 7th one was the honey hole of the day i got another lmb a bit bigger than the first one and then got mugged by 6 slime darts i got the bass on a rippin rap then the slime darts moved in so i went to my #1 jig the marmooska meal worm combo thinking the slimers would leave that alone, WRONG got two more on that.. the last one was the biggest one of the day at 17" Good thing they did not snap me off had to retie after each one ended the day with one more nice perch and 4 sunnies. The ice was wetter than yesterday with about 5" of snow on top after drilling the holes the water made things a bit sloppy. Lets hope the night time temps freeze things up we don't have much time left so get out there while you can...

[fishingbuddies]

Awesome. What jigging tips do you have?
Find them on sonar n jig? Move from spot to spot after no action? Flouro or mono? 4lb? Tip the jigs with plastics or bait? Insight would be much appreciated. Still trying to jig up a fish vs the traditional tip ups and tip downs with fatheads.

[bunker dunker]

great job Badger,you are the man!!!!!!

[thmyorke1]

nice jigged fish the chain pickerel are relentless!

[icebadger]

Originally Posted by fishingbuddies

Awesome. What jigging tips do you have?
Find them on sonar n jig? Move from spot to spot after no action? Flouro or mono? 4lb? Tip the jigs with plastics or bait? Insight would be much appreciated. Still trying to jig up a fish vs the traditional tip ups and tip downs with fatheads.

you have to keep moving until you find them when you do find them you have to see what kind of mood they are in. Lately they have been glued to the bottom and on the finicky side. What i like to do is let the jig hit the bottom and then stir up the silt with the jig then flutter it up off the bottom like a bug that is hatching and trying to get to the surface and that usually works. When i use a jig like a rippin rap i like to rip it up and down fast a bunch of times and then just let it sit then shake it a bit and they come in and look to see what all the commotion is and hit it when it is slowing down. If you use jig head style jigs i like to put some kind of meat on it (meal worms or spikes etc) and with spoons i will put a minnow head on,you always have a minnow that dies in your bait bucket use the head or the whole minnow on the spoon. As for the flouro/mono i use both on my jig rod, mono main line a small barrel swivel to prevent line twist and about 12 to 16" of flouro as my leader. Hope this helps tight lines

[fishingbuddies]

Helps tremendously. TY

[Bruce Litton]

Originally Posted by icebadger

you have to keep moving until you find them when you do find them you have to see what kind of mood they are in. Lately they have been glued to the bottom and on the finicky side. What i like to do is let the jig hit the bottom and then stir up the silt with the jig then flutter it up off the bottom like a bug that is hatching and trying to get to the surface and that usually works. When i use a jig like a rippin rap i like to rip it up and down fast a bunch of times and then just let it sit then shake it a bit and they come in and look to see what all the commotion is and hit it when it is slowing down. If you use jig head style jigs i like to put some kind of meat on it (meal worms or spikes etc) and with spoons i will put a minnow head on,you always have a minnow that dies in your bait bucket use the head or the whole minnow on the spoon. As for the flouro/mono i use both on my jig rod, mono main line a small barrel swivel to prevent line twist and about 12 to 16" of flouro as my leader. Hope this helps tight lines

I like the buggy imagery. Excellent way to think of it.

[JDTuna]

Awesome stuff!

[fishingbuddies]

Originally Posted by icebadger

you have to keep moving until you find them when you do find them you have to see what kind of mood they are in. Lately they have been glued to the bottom and on the finicky side. What i like to do is let the jig hit the bottom and then stir up the silt with the jig then flutter it up off the bottom like a bug that is hatching and trying to get to the surface and that usually works. When i use a jig like a rippin rap i like to rip it up and down fast a bunch of times and then just let it sit then shake it a bit and they come in and look to see what all the commotion is and hit it when it is slowing down. If you use jig head style jigs i like to put some kind of meat on it (meal worms or spikes etc) and with spoons i will put a minnow head on,you always have a minnow that dies in your bait bucket use the head or the whole minnow on the spoon. As for the flouro/mono i use both on my jig rod, mono main line a small barrel swivel to prevent line twist and about 12 to 16" of flouro as my leader. Hope this helps tight lines

Thx for the advice Badger. I slapped on some barrel swivels.. 5lb ice flouro... put 1/16 n 1/24th jigs and tipped them with butter worms. Drilled n searched...drilled n searched...jigged and nothing. Then the pressure dropped and the bite was on. My buddy and had 1 goal... jig up a fish using our Garmin striker4s. And boy did we ever. We got off the ice at 1pm and about 30 sunfish later. Bluegills... pumpkins and Red breast. All in 5 to 6 feet of water. They were tearing up the butter worms one after another. 1 hole I landed 9 fish in a row in about 10mins time. Unbelievable. Cant wait to do it again.
Thx again.
(Ice was 5inches black.. 2 white... no melt or slush).

[icebadger]

Originally Posted by fishingbuddies

Thx for the advice Badger. I slapped on some barrel swivels.. 5lb ice flouro... put 1/16 n 1/24th jigs and tipped them with butter worms. Drilled n searched...drilled n searched...jigged and nothing. Then the pressure dropped and the bite was on. My buddy and had 1 goal... jig up a fish using our Garmin striker4s. And boy did we ever. We got off the ice at 1pm and about 30 sunfish later. Bluegills... pumpkins and Red breast. All in 5 to 6 feet of water. They were tearing up the butter worms one after another. 1 hole I landed 9 fish in a row in about 10mins time. Unbelievable. Cant wait to do it again.
Thx again.
(Ice was 5inches black.. 2 white... no melt or slush).

Nice now that is how to get-er-done the pressure is on the down swing they tend to play nice if you see a bunch of weeds on your sonar do not always be disappointed with that hole, check it out with your jig and see if it can move without getting caught in the weeds congrats on your success