deep water eyes

[big drift]

Got an issue going here that requires some input.
Fished the bluewater touny on Sat. and while prefishing located big eyes in 32 to 36 feet.
Wind went sideways onus next day and could not get good presentation no drift sock (that is being addressed.
My question what do you all do for bottom hugging eyes taht deep or deeper.
We used 3 oz. bottom bouncers w/ both live bait rigs and floating raps tied behind, also 3/4 oz. jigs, did best deadsticking these but lost contact w/ bottom in the wind.
Just curious any comments or ideas. And yes the eyes were there watched all afternoon on the aqua-vu. Old mama nature and lack of equipment planning got us not our game plan. But next year...........

[wallyH]

I was up on Vermilion a couple weeks ago and caught almost all of my fish in 30-35 feet of water. All of them with a 3/8ths ounce jig fished vertically. Just point the trolling motor into the wind and do your best at keeping the line vertical. Takes some work but can pay off.

Wally

[WaveWacker]

Big Drift...I have pulled many eye's out of depth of 30+ ft. using 1/2oz to 1oz (wind dependent) slip sinkers on your basic live bait rig. If wind is real bad I'll either put down the bow mount and pull the boat forwards against the waves or strap on the rain gear and use the big motor to "slip-drift" through.

On those eye's...It could very well be that you where dealing with very negative fish, aggressively speaking. Unless bait is presented very, very subtle and slow to them they might not bite, if even at all with this. Just my thoughts.

WW

[Mike Walerak]

If you are graphing these fish they most likely are active. Boat control becomes a issue, but their is always the good old anchor. Just remeber to use plenty of rope in larger waves.

mw

[This message has been edited by Mike Walerak (edited 06-18-2004).]

[This message has been edited by Mike Walerak (edited 06-18-2004).]

[Chad Holst]

you say... if you are graphing fish....most likely they are active? why is this?

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I'd rather be fishing and think about church, than be at church and thinking about fishing!

[Willy]

I think it's is because they are riding a little ways off the bottom if you are seeing the good arcs. If you have a really good depth finder, you can pick up anything laying on the bottom though, and if that's the case and they are tits to bottom, I wouldn't say that they are agressive.

[big drift]

The fish were active moving around from 0 to 5 feet off the bottom chasing little perch we could watch it on the Aquavu. Our biggest problem was boat control. any ideas on presenting at that depth?

[LocalGuide]

At that deepth I normally just jig and move around with my trolling motor. I also will use a bottom bouncer with a snell line and troll around. But if im marking fish in a general area, I will normally jig fish for them first.
I was also catching some eyes this weekend in 30' of water. I also had my camera down and say that they were chasing some small perch around too.

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And keep those hooks sharp!

[Chris Haley]

hmmmmm! Thanks big drift!

[smalls]

sounds like a great time to run 3 way rigs. If you know the fish are a certian depth off the bottom, it is pretty easy to set your droppper to the appropriate length. I prefer this for 2 reasons. First, if legal (which it is wehre I fish) you can run a heavy jig as your dropper, thus doubling your presentation. 2nd, I don't like running live bait behind bottom bouncers unless I absolutely have to. I like to get the bait as far away from the weight as possible and that is easier to do with a 3-way dropper than with a bouncer (for me at least).

Boat control. The best solution I have found is running a drift sock off the transom, then using your bowmount troller to fine tune. Takes some practice, but once you figure it out, works splendid.