A friend and I fished 10am to 1am, and found fish in the mouth of Six Mile. Man, we had a big one on that got into the trees. I fought it from 68 feet out to into the 30's and thought for sure we would boat it, but then no. The line tightened-up and I couldn't wrestle it out. Felt like a 12 pounder or so. We saw fish there on and off, and used about 20 BBs right there. We got robbed a few times (bait stolen), and snagged a lot, but my friend did manage a small stripe just after noon. Here's a not very exciting sonar shot from where we were in Six Mile (85.6 degrees):


He had to go to work, and I only had 4 BBs left, so I decided to pull the U-rig out and try to find a good place to drop the last baits. Hung the U-rig and got it back in 1 piece. Hung it again, on a hump just off the main channel, and got it back without 2 jigs. The 80-lb braid around a cleat worked like a champ. So, I stowed the U-rig and graphed for that last place. Saw I had some waypoints in FM, so I graphed the area and found fish there. The very first bait out was hit... I saw the rod bounce and saw the fish and bait on the sonar all at the same time. That fish felt about 10 pounds or so, but broke me off at the hook. Now, just 3 baits left. I drop them all out. One is lost to snag. Now 2. 20 minutes had passed, so I check one and no bait. Now 1. I check that one and it's half-dead, so I figure that's it. I decide to drop him back down while I stow everything, pump out the livewell, etc. Then that bait is taken! That was 4pm at 2FM, 40' over 80':



Found myself out of bait, and ok with it. Had fun. Maybe I'll find a school one of these years

By the way, the device in the middle of my dash is a Minn-Kota clock/air-temp/livewell temp display. There's a long wire leading to a temp probe in my livewell, so it's easy to see when to add ice. Stupidly, it's not supposed to get wet, so it's attached with Velcro in case of rain.

Lastly, I think this is the first time I've used the self-timer function of the camera... worked pretty well. That's the first try with it, too.

Ok, so this is lastly -- Woo Hoo -- I now have a ride for the upcoming Fun Fest! I'll see many of you there!

Good luck and tight lines to all. Hope I didn't bore anyone with a long report post.

Good report. Thanks Charles. See you on the lake. getkidsfishing

Awesome Charles! Glad to see you putting it all together. Yes you didn't get many in, but you had quite a few nice ones on and that is the real deal. Good Job and I am very glad to see you have a ride in two weeks we will see you there.

Nice Charles-- had the same trouble in 6 mi last week with breaking off at the hook; I use a trilene knot but probably should switch to a palomar. Any comments would be useful.
Nice trouble when you can have it, though!

One other advice question while i'm here: for years I've been putting the hook thru the nose of BB's, side to side, and this seems fine for keeping them relatively happy, but with circle/octopus style hooks they can often get up on the shank, twist, and get stabbed behind the gill if they're lively and get slack. This causes them to a) die, and b) twist like a whirligig.
Is it preferred to stick the hook up thru the lower jaw thru the top of the nose, or the reverse of this, rather than thru the nostrils/nose side to side? Seems silly to ask this late in the game, but never had trouble looking dumb before.

Most people go in thru the mouth and out thru the hard spot just above the nostrils, You may still occasionally get one that hooks itself behind the gills but not too often.

wormboy -- I'm no expert by any means, but I'm using the palomar knot because it's fluorocarbon. I do wet it before cinching, too. I don't usually break anywhere unless I'm snagged and have to break it out. I must have damaged the line during the knot tying that time, or maybe the fish damaged the line when it struck. I also think the way I tie the palomar knot is prone to cinching incorrectly, meaning the lines cross over sometimes instead of laying beside each other. I haven't figured out how to keep this from happening about half the time. If I see this happens, I cut it off and re-tie. I tried my regular improved cinch knot for fluoro. line, but it doesn't perform as well as the palomar (breaks off easier when snagged).

As for hooking BBs, I go in the mouth and out the nostril. Not super easy with circle hooks, but practice makes perfect. This seems to keep them alive best for me, and I haven't had any problem with them doing the twist. Sometimes, like today, I also use stinger hooks to start with, but don't typically replace them after loosing them. Today, I started with 5 stinger hooks (all 5 rods) and ended with 2. I used stingers today, because I got robbed a couple times last trip without them. I especially use stinger hooks when I want to catch spots that are robbing me, or when the baits are big like trout or gizzard shad.

We fished thursday morning and could not get a bite on bait if we had it above 45 ft. Had several pulldowns and caught a soild 12 at 45 on a 50 bottom. saw fish at 35 but no takers swimming all on the baits and shopping. drop a few to 45 and started getting bites. Caught most on leadcore 8 colors back.

A tip I read about when using circle hooks, & it works well. Hold the hooks at the bend and getting the curved point into the mouth is a lot easier.

I will use both methods of hooking the bait, but I use mostly owner circle hooks and try to keep them sized as per the bait. I prefer using the nose hole to nose hole method and use a small piece of surgical rubber just above the straight shank of the hook this prevents the bait from sliding up on the shank and double hooking. Sometimes it will still happen but I feel I get alot more action from the bait with this method.

I will use the in the mouth and out the hard spot when I am pulling bait (flat lines, planer boards and such) and also when power reeling deep. This is all personel prefrence, but I feel I have caught enough fish to have in my mind proved they are more lively when thru the nose hole.

Just my .02

I generally use a snelling knot. Like this:
http://www.fishingkites.co.nz/fishingknots/snell_fishing_knots.html

If you want to string a couple together (for trolling a pilchard rig) it's really easy.