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For the past few days, myself and a few friends have been targeting 'eyes in shallow water that are chasing bait fish. We have seen a reduction in both quality and numbers as of late but the fish are still there and when you get one to committ, they will spin your drag. WOW! As for location, nothing has changed. Most of the bait fish are holding in shallow water near steep breaks from 1 - 2' down into 4 - 6' along hard sand or gravel stretches. #5 shallow runnin' Shad Raps are also still the presentation of choice but the retrieval has changed some. I have slowed the retrieve and added some pauses in to try and closer mimic what the bait fish are doing right now. Also, what I have seen unfold over the last couple of days is that where we were catching the walleyes 1 - 2 weeks ago is now over-run with either small largemouth bass or crappies and bluegills. Hence, it's almost like lane changing on a freeway. This is something I have not seen happen too much but generally what this has told me is that the 'eyes are full and need some time to adjust to all the new feed in the lake. So, with a guide trip upcoming on Thursday and a free afternoon today, Mike (FM - PDOGG) hopped in with me to see if we could get into some of the better quality pan fish that I have been catching "by accident" as of late. We turned in a great day of action! As for location, like I said, these fish are now in the areas where the 'eyes were but we fine-tuned the presentation to focus more on crappies and 'gills. Live bait under a float did make a showing but a majority of the fish came on Exude Micro Shad or Power Tubes ~16" under a float. We had several beautiful 'gills with a handful messing the 9.5" mark on The Hawg Trough along with a couple of almost unbelievable flurries of 9 - 12" crappies. The color of the 'gills is something a person must see. The oranges and purples are breath-taking on some of the fish.

Mike and I kept some crappies for a meal, otherwise everything has been and was released.

Mike, thanks for the great afternoon and evening. It was a pleasure sharing my boat with you. We'll definitely do it again.

Enjoy a few photo's!

~5 minutes into today's outing!

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9.5" Bulldog...

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This was a fish for the wall had it been a touch longer.

Just a beautiful fish!

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Our best crappie of the day.

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Another crappie for Mike's fryin' pan. grin.gif

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16" and under has been typical as of late for my boat but they're still healthy. grin.gif

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Back after the 'eyes on Thursday. We'll see what happens. Stay tuned for further details...

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Thanks again Jamison,

That run of crappies we had sure was a blast. Not to mention all those nice colorful gills we found. Let me know if you need someone to tag along again.

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Not a problem. It was a blast.

You're now at the top of the list. grin.gif

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

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