Small Lake Big Eyes Following Bait
 

Ok. So this last weekend we were on a small lake in North East South Dakota and started trolling Lindy's with floaters. We had no success for the 45 min to an hour that we worked various depths. Water was really clear and we thought there was a chance we were spooking fish.

As I was standing in the front of the boat I noticed we were coming onto a shallow point with a rock pile. I could see the bottom and was able to see the fish spook from the rocks in about 5-6 foot of water. I started combing the shore line and thats when I saw them. Numerous fish in the 6 pound and up class hanging in about 5-6 foot on the edge of a break right below some dark week beds. When they saw you it was over. I tied on a jig and on my first cast had a fish over 9 follow it to the boat. Several cast later my nephew caught a 6. Over the next hour I had 5 fish over 9 follow the bait to the bottom of the boat and then turn.
My brother caught a 28" that we guessed between 8-9. It followed to the boat and then sucked it in.

I tried various colors, weights and bodies of jigs to try and entice the bite but no takers. My next thought is to slip float but ran out of time.

Any one else run into this situation and what were some of the tactics that you were able to make work? I know it's that time of year and they are finicky anyway but the follow to the boat has me believing that these fish can be caught readily with the right tactic.

Also water temp was 50 degrees and the 6 pound male was milking.

Bill

I ran into something like this out on Devils Lake in ND a few years ago. If they fish didn't spook and you figure 8 sometimes they would hit. What we ended up doing which seemed to provide the most success was to back off and throw a slip bobber with a leech beyond the area they fish were in and then crank it in the vicinity.

I kept the leech a couple feet off the bottom and it seemed like the fish would only stare at it a few minutes and then the bobber would go down. One thing that did seem to happen was that if you took a couple fish off an area they would all scatter.