Lanier - Still Hot!

Lanier Jim

Senior Member
Back out late this afternoon again - same thing....brush on humps and long points that falls off into deeper water. The key depth for me was 25'-30'....one fish in about 35'. The areas targeted were near the old river channel or creek channels....and a roadbed or two.

LJ's Obsession2 and Candy were the ticket today.....mainly because I forgot to grab a bag of LJ's Passion2....Yeah I know - "Ignant"!

Got some decent sonar shots again today - One showing active fish in brush and hooking up....one showing me lifting my drop shot up to a suspended fish that was all over it (I caught it - if you look close, you can see my weight below and a faint black line that is my worm)....and one showing a fish on the bottom that hit and me reeling him up...you can even see the fish that I targeted and caught. Ended up with 12 for the few hours with only one dink...and boy, he was a dink - maybe a 5oz fish :rofl:

Video game fishing until bad things happen....like your gas gauge showing a 1/4 of a tank but it's emptyfacepalm: Yeah, trimmed the engine up and hit the Minn Kota on high. Luckily, I was near a ramp and had "Team LJ" meet me there with the trailer :fine:

Hope to see you out on the water -

LJ
 

Attachments

  • KIMG0379.jpg
    KIMG0379.jpg
    90.4 KB · Views: 1,460
  • KIMG0382.jpg
    KIMG0382.jpg
    66.4 KB · Views: 1,545
  • KIMG0381.jpg
    KIMG0381.jpg
    52.1 KB · Views: 1,465
  • KIMG0378.jpg
    KIMG0378.jpg
    47.1 KB · Views: 1,478
  • KIMG0385.jpg
    KIMG0385.jpg
    47.4 KB · Views: 1,461
  • KIMG0380.jpg
    KIMG0380.jpg
    61.9 KB · Views: 1,466
  • KIMG0383.jpg
    KIMG0383.jpg
    66.9 KB · Views: 1,476
  • KIMG0387.jpg
    KIMG0387.jpg
    60.6 KB · Views: 1,515

Worley

Senior Member
Fish

LJ u gotta be a green fisherman's best friend...Man I've never met a guy who lends so much info in every report. I don't even fish for em and I read every post u make. You are a class act my friend, I'm ready to fish for something soon just for the BBQ and a few laughs. Keep whacking em buddy!
 

nrh0011

Senior Member
man those are some good looking spots! I really enjoy your posts. Looks like you've got the hook about a foot and a half from the weight, is that about right?
 

33788

Senior Member
Great report, pictures, good fishing, and always enjoy reading your write ups every time. I wish I had that same luck in the summer but working on it. A few more trips to the big pond this summer and I hope to figure it out. I mainly fished Lanier in the winter and fall which has been kind to me. Thanks for sharing.
 

Hookum

Senior Member
You know that your boat and truck will hold more than 1/4 tank of gas at a time, right?

Nice fish, and sorry I couldn't make it up.
 

Lanier Jim

Senior Member
Thanks guys....and yes Hookum, 1/4 tank is the new empty :)
 

Lanier Jim

Senior Member
NRH - forgot to answer....I'm using a 15" and 18"-20" tag end right now. I have two DS rods rigged up with these two different tag ends. It doesn't sound like much - but ask Hookum....he'll tell you that a slight difference in your tag can make a huge difference. Hope thise helps -

LJ
 

Lanier Jim

Senior Member
Not if you want to do it right, IMO. If that's the case, why have a tag end at all? That used to be called doodling....just some food for thought. If i'm fishing suspended fish higher in the water column, I'll go to a 2'-3' tag at times to get the weight away from the bait.
 
Last edited:

Hookum

Senior Member
NRH - forgot to answer....I'm using a 15" and 18"-20" tag end right now. I have two DS rods rigged up with these two different tag ends. It doesn't sound like much - but ask Hookum....he'll tell you that a slight difference in your tag can make a huge difference. Hope thise helps -

LJ

I can't argue with him on this one. Side by side fishing, and sometimes they want it shorter and other times longer. But, it DOES matter.
 

TroyBoy30

Senior Member
you have a tag end to hold weight, thats it. without the weight it would take forever to get the worm down to 30 feet. it also adjusts the distance the bait is from the bottom of course...if your fishing the weight on the bottom

maybe im missing your point. do you think the tag length is important because the distance of the weight to the bait affects the bite sometimes, or are you changing tag length just to adjust the distance the bait is from the bottom? if it the later, you can simply do that by raising your rod tip.

If im fishing suspended fish the tag length makes no difference at all in my experience. ive never noticed any difference in the number of bites i get due to the fish being scared of the weight. in fact, i often get bites on the weight, not the bait. i hope that makes sense

I can't argue with him on this one. Side by side fishing, and sometimes they want it shorter and other times longer. But, it DOES matter.

maybe i asked the wrong way. when you say the tag length matters, i automatically think you're adjusting the length to change the distance the bait is from the bottom, since that's the way we normally fish it. with the weight on the bottom. that's why i said you can simply raise or lower your rod tip

what it appears you're actually trying to say it you're simply doing it to get the weight farther away from the bait to not spook the fish. I always just stick with a 12-14 tag end and have never noticed the fish shying away from the weight. maybe its because I use a much smaller tear drop tungsten weight and not the stick type you guys use?
 

Pauley

Senior Member
In my experience the bait has a much different action if the weight is on the bottom than if the bait is suspends on a tight line. When the weight is pulled off the bottom it loses its weightless "dancing" action IMO.
So changing the length of the tag end allows you to fish the bait a specific distance from the bottom without losing the desired action. At least that's the way I have always thought of it.
 

Lanier Jim

Senior Member
This has been discussed many times before. Pros and experts on the drop shot have all stated that tag end length is critical at times - and it has been proven live on the boat with me. Just look it up on this forum or google it....a ton of people discussed this and posted up links with this same info. If anyone thinks it's just to hold the weight, they could be missing out on a lot of bites.

Not beating a dead horse again - you can google it or look on this forum.
 

nrh0011

Senior Member
NRH - forgot to answer....I'm using a 15" and 18"-20" tag end right now. I have two DS rods rigged up with these two different tag ends. It doesn't sound like much - but ask Hookum....he'll tell you that a slight difference in your tag can make a huge difference. Hope thise helps -

LJ

Thanks for the response, sounds like it's a trial and error thing until you figure out what they want.

Tight lines!
 

TroyBoy30

Senior Member
In my experience the bait has a much different action if the weight is on the bottom than if the bait is suspends on a tight line. When the weight is pulled off the bottom it loses its weightless "dancing" action IMO.
So changing the length of the tag end allows you to fish the bait a specific distance from the bottom without losing the desired action. At least that's the way I have always thought of it.

Thanks for that. I was simply wondering what the reasoning behind it was. The weights scaring the fish doesn't make much sense to me. With the water clarity on Lanier they can see the weight no matter what the tag length You're explanation makes perfect sense.

This has been discussed many times before. Pros and experts on the drop shot have all stated that tag end length is critical at times - and it has been proven live on the boat with me. Just look it up on this forum or google it....a ton of people discussed this and posted up links with this same info. If anyone thinks it's just to hold the weight, they could be missing out on a lot of bites.

Not beating a dead horse again - you can google it or look on this forum.


Wow I was simply asking for clarification. Thank you so much for taking the time to explain your thoughts to us. All you had to do was say yes I do it to get the weight father from the bait or I do it to keep the bait higher off the bottom. For someone who's supposed to be so helpful I'm not sure why I get the responses I do from you.

Most of the "experts" (martins, Ehrler) simply say they change as the season changes. Shorter when the water is cold and longer as the water warms and the fish become more active. The reason they give is they let the fish tell them what they want, not anything to do with distance from the bottom or distance from the weight. I was simply wondering what your reasoning was.
 
Last edited:

Lanier Jim

Senior Member
Keep stirring....there you go, you got your answer that you want...you already knew the answer, just needed to stir up things. I don't agree with your answer but if that's the one that makes you happy and successful, so be it.
 
Last edited:

Lanier Jim

Senior Member
Thanks JohnK.....at least you didn't get me on the running out of gas thing like some folks I know.....uhhhhhh Hookum :)

LJ
 

TroyBoy30

Senior Member
Keep stirring....there you go, you got your answer that you want...you already knew the answer, just needed to stir up things. I don't agree with your answer but if that's the one that makes you happy and successful, so be it.

i honestly was just wondering. not trying to stir the pot at all. i dont agree with you most times but that doesnt mean im closed minded. why you continue to lash out towards me is beyond me. thank you for the answer though.

this was probably the most logical explanation i could find

So, those are three reasons why I like a longer tag line:

to increase length/distance of weightless free fall,
to keep the open hook higher above snags, and
to keep the bait visible above obstructions.

http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/dropshot-hotshot.shtml
 
Top