"Power Corking" Smallies

[Craigums]

I learned a technique a few years ago on Mille Lacs for Smallies called "power corking". It's just a slip bobber with live bait fished fast. Toss out, let the bait fall to the appropriate depth in a high probability area, maybe twitch a few times, reel in and repeat. Any body do this for Smallies, and do you think it would work with say a Gulp! Leech so you wouldnt have to use live bait?

[bassfshin24]

I've done it before and killed the smallies on mille lacs! I had my father in law try it last weekend and I caught more fish on a drop shot

[bobbymalone]

Power corking, LOL. Just call it what it is, "bobber fishin". Ain't no shame in bobber fishing.

Bass guys, LOL.

[pushbutton]

LMAO..... yes, power corking is a particular bass fishing technique developed by 4 year olds with Batman and Dora poles who put their "skilled" father's to shame....very effective .....especially with a nub of a crawler. True story, biggest smallie I ever landed(21 or so) was what was just described. Had to take over after it almost pulled jr. overboard.....

[Stick in Mud]

Bass guys, LOL.

I'm by no means certain, but the first I've heard of this technique is for walleyes in deep water. Maybe it's walleye guys. They're even worse!!!

[bobbymalone]

At least the walleye guys call it bobber fishing. They don't need a sparkly name for it to match their boats

I prefer finesse, classy stuff like soaking chunks of sucker on the river bottom.

[Stick in Mud]

It depends on the dollar value of the boat, I think. The guys in fancy walleye boats definitely call it "power corking" (or "road hunting"). Youtube it, and you'll see.

[Stick in Mud]

For what it's worth, I've caught lots of smallies "power corking" on Mille Lacs. There are lots and lots of gravel/mud, sand/mud, and rock/mud transitions lines on the Pond, and the transition lines are deep enough to make seeing fish on the sonar pretty easy. I haven't fished specifically for smallies using this tactic, but later in the summer a lot of the fish we mark are bass. We've also caught both bass and walleyes tossing drop-shot rigs out the back.

If you have leadcore rods, you can catch them trolling, too. I bet more than 50% of the fish we catch trolling these transitions are smallies.

[Craigums]

Laugh it up, but it's a walleye technique through and through. It's not just soaking a worm either. Your constantly moving and if your not bit by the time the bait gets down your bringing it in for another cast. The name was even told to me by a walleye guy

[FshBloodRiverMud]

SOmething i'm familiar with. 5mph scanning basins, see a solid arc, quickly drop bobber behind boat allowing slack line to drop the lure to the bottom and slow boat down to a stop. Wait a short time and then keep going until the next arc.

[B-man715]

At least the walleye guys call it bobber fishing. They don't need a sparkly name for it to match their boats

I prefer finesse, classy stuff like soaking chunks of sucker on the river bottom.

Too funny

[DTro]

It's perfectly acceptable to call it power corking but only if you are wearing a jersey and a flat brimmed hat.

[JP Z]

Pretty soon they'll call a jig/minnow combination jigging with a "natural artificial" minnow

[DTro]

No that would be power twitching a finesse bait on a x-lead rig.

[wormdunker]

All jokes aside, I consider power corking to be something different from what the poster originally mentioned. For me it is a deep water vertical presentation boat side where electronics are used to locate a fish and you drop your bait (with Bobber attached) to the fish.

It is intact bobber fishing in deep water but no casting, no anchoring involved. Sound familiar? Yes it is basically drop shooting with a bobber and no drop line.

It is fun, you can load up, you can watch them eat......but at the end of the day it is bobber fishing.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

I dont understand the point of the bobber in this scenario. If you reel in as soon as the bait gets the bobber to stand why not just drop shot or cast a senko or something and do away with the bobber?

[RK]

Well, first off: the day watching a bobber go under stops being fun is the day I quit fishing, and I don't care what's pulling it under, 5" bluegill or 50# King Salmon.

Semantics:

If you you have most of your original teeth, catch your own bait, have eaten Booya (or better yet, know how to make it), consider a t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off 'formal attire' as long as it has been washed since the last time you wore it, and have every intention of fixing your muffler someday, it's a "cork."

If you brush your teeth daily whether they need it or not, have an outboard with electric start and power trim, prefer Target over Walmart but would really rather just go to Fleet Farm, and own shirts with buttons rather than snaps, it's a "bobber."

If you take a shower before you go fishing, know which fork is for what course, consider any restaurant that doesn't have cloth napkins 'fast food,' feel that there is a moral and empirical distinction between "natives" and "stockers," and purchase most of your 'fishing clothing' from L.L. Bean, Simms, or The North Face, it's a "float."

I've done the run and gun thing scanning basin edges for smallies with a drop shot rig, and with a fluke on a light jighead for fish that are suspended. I've never tried it with a slip bobber, but thinking about it I can totally see it working. I'd think a wacky-rigged Senko would get eaten and a Gulp leech would for sure.

I do use slip bobbers or better yet clear Adjust-a-Bubbles at times in shallow water. An adjust-a-bubble with a wacky rigged or nose hooked senko behind it can be pretty awesome when fish are spooky and not biting other things. You can cast it a long ways to get it out away from the boat, and the weightless plastic just kind of glides along behind it. I've had my kid absolutely clean my clock with that kind of set up a few times.

I've also had some success with popping corks I brought back with me from the Gulf after using them for sea trout and redfish, with a weightless or lightly weighted plastic under them. Main problem with that rig is the number of fish that try to eat the bobber. There's probably more to be learned there if I experimented with it more but I haven't messed with it in quite a while, and I don't think I even have them in my boat anymore.

I have no qualms about using live bait either, and if fishing is just plain awful, it's hard to beat a big mudflap leech on a small jighead or circle hook under a slip bobber. Main problem there though is I almost never have live bait on board.

[bobbymalone]

I thought bobber vs corks basically follows the mason Dixon line.

[Juan Grande]

RK, love the "semantics" break down...good stuff.

Yep, I was introduced to "power corking" by a walleye guide on Mille Lacs.

[RumRiverRat]

It's perfectly acceptable to call it power corking but only if you are wearing a jersey and a flat brimmed hat.

Sizzle

[DTro]

Lol @ RK

[FshBloodRiverMud]

Great read RK

[mwal]

I use a saltwater poping rig that has brass rattles and put a wacky worm or jig and plastic under it. It does work and they do hit the popper sometimes.

Mwal

[Pherris]

Wacky rigging a Senko over rock reefs with a good chop can produce very nice results. I have always just called it fishing a Senko under a bobber. :-)

[dan z]

Power corking results.