LittleDrummerBoy
Senior Member
Lanier Balus/Flat Creek Tactical Trolling Report
Bait and fish were well dispersed both vertically and horizontally, so I'm transitioning to more of a "tactical trolling" approach covering more depths with the 8 lures being trolled rather than "precision trolling" where one tries to keep all the lures at one depth where one is marking the most fish. Most bait balls were 10-20 feet deep, and that was the range we kept the 6 lures at that were behind diving planers. The catfish joined us first on a Sebile swim bait about 20 feet deep. The two bass came later on Michigan stinger spoons at about the same depth. The shallower baits struck out, including a Whopper Plopper on the top and a Berkley Frenzy about 5 feet deep. Two of the fish came running the narrow bottleneck above FC9, and the larger bass was in Balus creek.
The striper boats were focused on the area above FC9 by the blue boat house. We saw them land at least one fish, but from the number up there, I expect they were marking lots of interesting stuff. I often like to troll further up in there, but I gave them plenty of room. They appeared to be using blue back herring with the usual assortment of down lines and planer boards. The area they were in is 20-40 feet deep.
The morning after a full moon on a clear night can be iffy some times, but my guest was pleased, and so was I. Water was 70 deg F. I expect most of May will be a bit better as the water approaches 75 deg F and the fish and bait commit to areas out of the creek backs and further from shore.
Bait and fish were well dispersed both vertically and horizontally, so I'm transitioning to more of a "tactical trolling" approach covering more depths with the 8 lures being trolled rather than "precision trolling" where one tries to keep all the lures at one depth where one is marking the most fish. Most bait balls were 10-20 feet deep, and that was the range we kept the 6 lures at that were behind diving planers. The catfish joined us first on a Sebile swim bait about 20 feet deep. The two bass came later on Michigan stinger spoons at about the same depth. The shallower baits struck out, including a Whopper Plopper on the top and a Berkley Frenzy about 5 feet deep. Two of the fish came running the narrow bottleneck above FC9, and the larger bass was in Balus creek.
The striper boats were focused on the area above FC9 by the blue boat house. We saw them land at least one fish, but from the number up there, I expect they were marking lots of interesting stuff. I often like to troll further up in there, but I gave them plenty of room. They appeared to be using blue back herring with the usual assortment of down lines and planer boards. The area they were in is 20-40 feet deep.
The morning after a full moon on a clear night can be iffy some times, but my guest was pleased, and so was I. Water was 70 deg F. I expect most of May will be a bit better as the water approaches 75 deg F and the fish and bait commit to areas out of the creek backs and further from shore.
