Hey Tex fill us in on a few more details. Conditions when you would troll them, use them in the weeds, verticle jig them. You were very informative in your last post can't let you go that easy. HELP US!!!
Texeye
03-01-2002, 10:56 PM
I will start by saying that I do not tend to use slabs in much less than about 8 or 10 ft.of water.I believe a slab is best suited for water 10ft.and deeper.We do not have as many weeds in our lakes like some of you,but we do have old tree lines and weed lines that can be fished.What I call trolling a slab is when you use your electric motor to keep your slab moving along the bottom.( I have actually trolled them but prefer spoons)In the summer and fall you can use a more agressive lift and fall or the rip-jigging technique.It seems as though you have better luck if you keep your slab moving forward.Since you are moving forward, you do not need to sweep your pole forward too much, just lift your rod tip about a foot with your wrist( I usually flick it at the end of the lift ) and let the slab fall on a tight line.I move just fast enough to keep the slab moving foward.Most hits occur on the fall.If you are going along without a hit and have been using the slower technique, rip that slab off bottom two or three feet a couple of times and follow it down with your rod tip.If you have watched a dying shad or minnow they will swim real hard to get off bottom and then slowly fall back to the bottom.You are basically immitating a dying bait fish.The later and colder the temps get the more vertical and slower I fish.I get to a point that just a lift and hold in the winter will do wonders.I feel like I am just rambling so guess I'll stop.If you have a more specific question maybe I can help.For those of you that have shad or some type of schooling bait fish and want to learn to slab, follow these directions this fall..buy a hopkins slab aprox. size of bait fish,find the diving gulls(baitfish are being driven to the top by preditor fish usually sand bass)drop your slab over and if you can get it through the sand bass without them attacking it, go to slabbing for those eyes that are down there waiting on those injured baitfish to fall to the bottom! Good luck!