Bait This Time of Year

[amateurfishing]

have been skunked last 3 times out with crankbaits, twister tails, spinner baits, etc. Have the fish typically gone deeper? is there a more reliable presentation this time of year?

[B-man715]

What species?

[chanfish]

big sucker minnows=big fish putting on feedbag right now!! i fish them under a bobber.

[amateurfishing]

crappie, northern, walleye, gils

[dfv87]

Eyes... Cranks (night time is my preference.)

Pike... Sucker Minnows or casting spoons and cranks

CRappie/Sunfish... Jigging spoon with gulp alive minnow or jigging grub

[fishnowworknever]

Shiners, suckers, crankbaits.

Crappie minnows for panfish, or large grubs

[gunner55]

The pannies have went deep on the lake I fish.At lowlight or on breezy days I found some slabs 15-25 fow,otherwise it's mostly 25-40+ fow.The shallow fish have been tough to get to bite but the deeper ones have been taking a plain jig(with a splitshot),sometimes it seems they want some meat.Most of the time it's a very light bite,so the need to stay vertical,similar to icefishing.We haven't tried any waxies.

[Igor Drackenwolf]

Anybody have luck with Gulp Alive waxies for panfish? Dang things look real enough, and it's not like a waxie is an "active" live bait.

If the Gulp ones work, I don't see a need to ever buy another maggot.

[B-man715]

Anybody have luck with Gulp Alive waxies for panfish? Dang things look real enough, and it's not like a waxie is an "active" live bait.

If the Gulp ones work, I don't see a need to ever buy another maggot.

The real thing works better for me through the ice, but maybe during open water it wouldn't matter as much?

[Iambjm]

The other day I was getting northerns down about 15 feet in 19 feet of water. Got one walleye on a crankbait. I have my best luck for northerns on this:I tie these myself

and this: Articulated streamer that I also tied.I don't fly fish so I attach the streamer to a wire leader with a sinker above it, slap a sucker minnow on it and either cast it up into thweeds or troll it over the weed tops

[dfv87]

I am a devout believer in Gulp alive products for pan fish. I can count on 1 hand the times I purchased live bait this summer. I still buy minnows for ice fishing but not as often now. I have excellent luck with gulp products. I prefer the Fish Fry to waxies though.

[MattL]

The past week or so I have run into crappies and walleyes with 1/8 oz jigs and fatheads. The larger walleyes have also hit 4-5" sucker minnows on lindy rigs.

[frazwood]

I use 1" gulp alive minnows for panfish pretty much year-round. This weekend, I was catching bluegills in 10-12 feet of water, just off of an underwater hump. They were right on the bottom. I was using a 1/32 jig and I would let the bait hit the bottom and when I lifted it up... there was usually a fish on. They were hungry. I caught probably 20-30 nice ones in less than a half-hour. My daughter (age 7) caught another 10-15. Once I had enough for dinner, I switched to fishing a Ratso with my ice fishing rod... I caught a few that way also.

There were a bunch of other boats on the lake fishing in 20-25 feet of water (the max depth in the area is ~25 feet)... I assume that they were fishing for crappie and that they were biting because they were out there all day.

[Cicada]

Bottom bouncers, small spinners and nightcrawlers for walleyes have worked really well for me in the fall. Small jigs tipped with a crappie minnow or plastic for crappies. Speed trolling a fairly large muskie type in-line spinner bait just behind the prop wash for northerns.

[Northlander]

For eyes I like a bigger minnow on a jig or lindy rig and crappies a decent sized minnow on a jig or under a float. I like the VMC lighted slip bobbers at night.

[amateurfishing]

Still getting skunked, markinv lots susspended deep, any recommendations on a 3 way with slow death hooks?

Cranks, spinners, blades, plastics all skunked though I did have 2 get off with cranks (could not understand that)

[Stick in Mud]

It's amazing how fish can wallop a crankbait and not get a hook in them. Happens all the time. Sometimes they're just coming up from the back end and nipping at it. Other times they'll whack it pretty good and still get off.

[tacklejunkie]

I have trolled a spinner and a minnow at times with success.

Good sized Colorado blade and trolled slower....Even used bottom bouncers at times.