# At least I didn't lack variety



## RebelWithACause122 (Mar 29, 2011)

I took the kayak out on North Reservoir after work yesterday. Weather was beautiful, water was about 63 on top... and the fish were biting. The unfortunate thing is, I couldn't get anything with any size to it. I caught my first fish just 40 yards from the launch ramp where I put in, but it was a 7 inch crappie. I fish for about 2 hours, and I caught 5 different species of fish... almost everything in the lake, but took home none (I was fishing for groceries this time). All the crappie were under 9", got a bass that was about 11", a few perch that were 6-7", a little 5" warmouth, and the big fish of the day: a one pound catfish (maybe pound and a half). Ya know the water is warming up when the cats start hitting crankbaits. I got most of the fish trolling cranks @ about 1.5 mph (a bandit 100 and a smaller shad rap, both equally effective). I tried trolling at 2+ mph to see if maybe that'd get the larger crappies... got several bites at that speed that didn't get hooked, then one more short crappie. Oh well, I'm trying again today. My wife has left me in charge of dinner tonight (which I was supposed to catch yesterday), so if I can't find a few larger ones this afternoon, I guess I'm pulling burgers out of the freezer. One thing that did surprise me yesterday was the aggressiveness of those little perch. I got several solid bites where something SLAMMED my trolled crankbait but then wasn't there... then I hooked up a few of those really hard bites and reeled in perch... and not big ones. Shocking to me... I'm not a perch fisherman, just catch them occasionally targeting bass and crappie, do they always hit that hard? It was as if they hit it while swimming full-speed in the opposite direction of my trolling. I can often tell what hits by watching my rod tips. Crappie tend to kinda thump it, followed by a few short quick pulls when they feel resistance... catfish grab it and load up the rod as they try to swim off with it... but these perch, were slamming so that on the take, the rod bent as if I had a 2 pound cat on, only much quicker, so I'd set the hook like I was into a big fish, and pull up this tiny head-shaker that comes in with little resistance. Weird.


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## backlashed (Mar 19, 2011)

At least that's what a buddy of mine says.


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## RebelWithACause122 (Mar 29, 2011)

Thanks backlashed, but I don't think that's the issue here. I'm using the exact same crankbaits that typically get me some very nice crappies. Last year, I got quite a few fish ohio size crappie on various crankbaits that all had bodies about 2" to 2-1/2" long. The same crankbaits have caught all undersized fish the last 2 days... I was out again today for 2 hours after work... again, all smaller fish. I guarantee the last 2 days have amounted to the smallest and 2nd smallest average size crappie catches that I've ever had while trolling crankbaits (I've had days of jig fishing with tons of small fish). Anyway, I wish it were as easy as "bigger lures catch bigger fish"... but the photo below (sorry for the poor quality shot) shows a crappie and a crankbait that prove otherwise (funny thing is, the day I took that photo, I caught a number of 12+ inchers on the same lure).


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## Wow (May 17, 2010)

Try 5-8am or 7pm and later on North or any of the PL's. The bigger fish come out in low light or less direct light, then they hunker down and the dinks populate the area. Get a good headlamp and work some familiar hotspots B4 light and afterdark. You'll catch somthing worth posting.--Tim


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## olderfer (Feb 2, 2009)

I've caught a lot of perch in Lake Erie. In my experience, smaller fish hit hard and bigger ones more softly, often just mouthing the bait without swimming off at all. Seems to me that the little ones are in fierce competition with one another.

Jim


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## backlashed (Mar 19, 2011)

That's TOO funny! That crappie is hardly bigger than the lure.

I've had very small white bass go after twister tail jigs and latch onto the tail and not let go, the #6 hooks were too big for them. You have to wonder what are they thinking?


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## RebelWithACause122 (Mar 29, 2011)

I was on the water until almost 8pm... all the ones I got when the sun was low were just as small as the ones I got when it was a little higher. Maybe I just wasn't covering the right areas.

Yeah Backlashed, that tiny crappie on that larger crankbait was pretty comical to me too, which is why I took a picture of it. And it's hard to know what a fish that small is thinking... I mean, he never could have fit that thing in his mouth. As it was, his mouth just barely opened far enough to engulf the trebble hook... but as you can kinda see in the photo, he had all 3 hooks from the front trebble in his mouth. Maybe I should have just continued trolling that crankbait with the little guy still hooked on it!


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## JSykes3 (Oct 14, 2010)

Hey Rebel, do you mind teaching me how to troll from my yak?
I'm in Akron, was just fishing North yesterday actually, but from shore.
Got 5 bass on flukes. I bought a few crankbaits for trying my luck at trolling.
Is that one of those Matzuo cranks? I noticed because I have one myself.
Bought some cheaper cranks so if I lose them I wouldn't be all that mad.
Let me know, thanks.


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## RebelWithACause122 (Mar 29, 2011)

JSykes3 said:


> Hey Rebel, do you mind teaching me how to troll from my yak?
> I'm in Akron, was just fishing North yesterday actually, but from shore.
> Got 5 bass on flukes. I bought a few crankbaits for trying my luck at trolling.
> Is that one of those Matzuo cranks? I noticed because I have one myself.
> ...


Sure man, I go out there on North quite a bit in my yellow Hobie. Feel free to come say hi whenever you see me. If you wanna set up a time to meet out there, PM me and we'll figure something out... I can give you some pointers and show you what I do. I was on North 3 times in the last week and Nimisila once. I go to North a lot, especially in the evenings during the work week. The weather has turned quite chilly again, not sure when I'll be back out there... we'll see what the weather looks like.

By the way, yeah, that was one of those Matzuo cranks in the picture... I've done ok with them. However, since North is so shallow, those long-billed ones run too deep. For North I really like the Bandit 100 series (I have a bunch of colors)... also done well on a shallow XPS crank from Bass pro as well as a smaller shad rap. For trolling in North, you'll need shallow running baits, or you'll really have to keep them reigned in close. Keep in mind that most baits advertised as diving 2 to 4 feet, will hit 6 or 8 feet easily when trolled, so shallow divers are all you need in North.


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## JSykes3 (Oct 14, 2010)

Ok, thanks for the info.
Have you ever trolled Hower? 
I've been told it gets 30' deep.


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## RebelWithACause122 (Mar 29, 2011)

JSykes3 said:


> Ok, thanks for the info.
> Have you ever trolled Hower?
> I've been told it gets 30' deep.


I have trolled Hower, and it does get 30 feet deep. I have not done very well over there. I think part of my problem is that I don't really know how to handle the larger water column. My fishfinder might tell me that fish are suspended 12 feet down, or 8 feet down, or 25 feet down... but I have no idea how close I'm getting with my deeper crankbaits. I have more experience in the shallower water, and have a good idea of how deep I'm running... not to mention the fact that the compressed water column means that the fish are always reasonably close to where my lures are running.


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## JSykes3 (Oct 14, 2010)

Got it. My friends cousin trolled a few lures out the back of his boat one day on Hower. He got a 30" and a 27" channel cat. I wouldn't even mind a few of those.


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## flyphisherman (Jul 7, 2009)

The only advice that I can give is to know your lures and how they run. As it was said earlier, if the lure is designed to run 2-4 ft. deep, then it will run 6-8ft deep when trolling. The 6-8 ft deep (Norman) lures will run 12-15. Reef runners with a braided line will run 23-25ft deep. Keep in mind all of this is rough estimation from time on the water.....and it's all dependent upon speed, length of line out, and line diameter. 

Trolling from the yak is one of my favorite ways to fish!
:T:B


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## RebelWithACause122 (Mar 29, 2011)

flyphisherman said:


> The only advice that I can give is to know your lures and how they run. As it was said earlier, if the lure is designed to run 2-4 ft. deep, then it will run 6-8ft deep when trolling. The 6-8 ft deep (Norman) lures will run 12-15. Reef runners with a braided line will run 23-25ft deep. Keep in mind all of this is rough estimation from time on the water.....and it's all dependent upon speed, length of line out, and line diameter.
> 
> Trolling from the yak is one of my favorite ways to fish!
> :T:B


Trolling from the yak is certainly one of my favorites as well. And I've only been done it for one season (just got started last May) so I'm still learning and improving my technique. It's something that just about anyone with a kayak get into easily, but the more I do it, the more specialized equipment I want. I started by just blind trolling with my regular spinning rods in the factory rod holders on my yak... and I caught fish that way. Now, I have a fish finder for knowing depth and locating structure/cover, I carry a handheld gps so I can mark the structure/cover and so I know how fast I'm going, I've added rod holders that are more convenient for a quick grab, and I just got 2 line-counter reels (haven't even had them on the water yet) so I can more precisely repeat how much line is out. Now when I get out there with the line counters, I'll have the confidence that when I catch a fish, I'll be able to get the crankbait back to the same depth with pretty good precision... just make a mental note of speed and ft of line out... then I can put the bait right back to the same depth after unhooking that fish.

As I mentioned, you can certainly be effective without all the fancy gear, but since I do a lot of yak trolling, I'm working on refining my methods.


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## FishermanDaveS19 (Apr 13, 2004)

RebelWithACause122 said:


> I took the kayak out on North Reservoir after work yesterday. Weather was beautiful, water was about 63 on top... and the fish were biting. The unfortunate thing is, I couldn't get anything with any size to it. I caught my first fish just 40 yards from the launch ramp where I put in, but it was a 7 inch crappie. I fish for about 2 hours, and I caught 5 different species of fish... almost everything in the lake, but took home none (I was fishing for groceries this time). All the crappie were under 9", got a bass that was about 11", a few perch that were 6-7", a little 5" warmouth, and the big fish of the day: a one pound catfish (maybe pound and a half). Ya know the water is warming up when the cats start hitting crankbaits. I got most of the fish trolling cranks @ about 1.5 mph (a bandit 100 and a smaller shad rap, both equally effective). I tried trolling at 2+ mph to see if maybe that'd get the larger crappies... got several bites at that speed that didn't get hooked, then one more short crappie. Oh well, I'm trying again today. My wife has left me in charge of dinner tonight (which I was supposed to catch yesterday), so if I can't find a few larger ones this afternoon, I guess I'm pulling burgers out of the freezer. One thing that did surprise me yesterday was the aggressiveness of those little perch. I got several solid bites where something SLAMMED my trolled crankbait but then wasn't there... then I hooked up a few of those really hard bites and reeled in perch... and not big ones. Shocking to me... I'm not a perch fisherman, just catch them occasionally targeting bass and crappie, do they always hit that hard? It was as if they hit it while swimming full-speed in the opposite direction of my trolling. I can often tell what hits by watching my rod tips. Crappie tend to kinda thump it, followed by a few short quick pulls when they feel resistance... catfish grab it and load up the rod as they try to swim off with it... but these perch, were slamming so that on the take, the rod bent as if I had a 2 pound cat on, only much quicker, so I'd set the hook like I was into a big fish, and pull up this tiny head-shaker that comes in with little resistance. Weird.


i believe i saw you out there i work right by northern res.


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## RebelWithACause122 (Mar 29, 2011)

FishermanDaveS19 said:


> i believe i saw you out there i work right by northern res.


Oh yeah Dave? Where do you work? When on North Reservoir, I usually stay on the eastern half of the lake, although due to my smaller catches last week, I did venture over to the western half, and even crossed the road to Hower for a while just to see if I could locate anything bigger. I run into a few other kayakers out there from time to time, but most of them not kayak fishermen. You'll recognize me 'cause my yellow Hobie will always have at least 3 fishing rods sticking out of it, and 2 wheels on the rear deck (my kayak dolly for rolling the yak from my truck to the water).


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## FishermanDaveS19 (Apr 13, 2004)

RebelWithACause122 said:


> Oh yeah Dave? Where do you work? When on North Reservoir, I usually stay on the eastern half of the lake, although due to my smaller catches last week, I did venture over to the western half, and even crossed the road to Hower for a while just to see if I could locate anything bigger. I run into a few other kayakers out there from time to time, but most of them not kayak fishermen. You'll recognize me 'cause my yellow Hobie will always have at least 3 fishing rods sticking out of it, and 2 wheels on the rear deck (my kayak dolly for rolling the yak from my truck to the water).


i work at sterling repair shop the building behind gardner pie. you were on the eastern side i believe the sid that manda's bait shop is


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## flyphisherman (Jul 7, 2009)

Rebel, I'm with you on the trolling gadgets. A little technology can go a long way. I've got a little portable hummingbird to give me depth readings and structure. I still haven't ventured into the hand held GPS realm though. 

How do you like your GPS? The speed reading would be nice, but I really think I'd love it for the waypoints you could set. 

I still use natural landmarks along with depth readings to get me back to general locations......... One day I'll grab a GPS when the price is right.

I do the old school line counter too. I use a baitcaster and I just count each time the mechanism goes back and forth across the spool. When I use a spinning reel I just do a short cast behind and then I count as I paddle away. It would seem that the baitcaster method would be more exact, but I usually catch more fish on the spinning rods.......go figure.

It's fun stuff


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## RebelWithACause122 (Mar 29, 2011)

Dave, I'm not familiar with any of those places you mentioned... are you sure we're talking about the same lake? Although I will admit that I don't know the Portage Lakes area that well... I'm more familar with the water than the surrounding neighborhoods and businesses.

Flyphisherman, I have a cheap eTrex gps that I bought used for $50... I'm pretty cheap most of the time and didn't want to shell out much. It's designed for hiking, but it gets me back to my spots and tells me how fast I'm going. The only thing I find disappointing is that it doesn't display my SPEED and my LOCATION (with waypoints and path travelled) at the same time... which means I'm constantly hitting the page button to see how fast I'm going, then again a few times to make sure I'm still lined up on target with my structure, and back and forth... I've missed bites this way because my attention wasn't on the rods. I usually try not to pay TOO much attention to it, but when it's windy (been out several times in 20+ mph winds lately) I have a hard time judging my direction based on landmarks... and a hard time judging my speed based on effort... some days, I was moving more than 2 mph without doing anything... just moving off wind power... and that's with no sail. If you ever do get a gps, try to find one that will display your speed on the same screen as your location/waypoints/path.


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## JSykes3 (Oct 14, 2010)

I also have a dolly that I strap to the back of my kayak, lol.
My friend says it looks like it would get in the way but it doesn't.


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## FishermanDaveS19 (Apr 13, 2004)

RebelWithACause122 said:


> Dave, I'm not familiar with any of those places you mentioned... are you sure we're talking about the same lake? Although I will admit that I don't know the Portage Lakes area that well... I'm more familar with the water than the surrounding neighborhoods and businesses.


yes we are talking bout the same area lol. i am actually closer to east res. but i drive by north everyday on my way home. by bigguns ice cream stand and portage lake bait and tackle if that helps and the marina place that rents pontoon boats. If i see you out there again ill holler at you!!


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## RebelWithACause122 (Mar 29, 2011)

JSykes3 said:


> I also have a dolly that I strap to the back of my kayak, lol.
> My friend says it looks like it would get in the way but it doesn't.


Since I have a Hobie Outback, it's tough to carry by itself... add all the accessories I've got mounted on it or strapped to it, and my fishing stuff... I just couldn't get by without the wheels. Sit on top kayaks have the advantage of scupper holes... and since my dolly inserts into the scupper holes, it's very easy to use and doesn't take up much space on the back of the yak. I've had a number of people out on the water ask me why there's wheels on the back.

Ok Dave, that makes a little more sense now... so you saw me as you drove past? I was thinking you saw me from your work place and I was sitting here trying to think of businesses that were within view of the lake. Yeah, holler at me if you see me out there, maybe JSykes will be there too, although I don't know what his yak looks like yet. Tomorrow is a possibility. It's not gonna be incredibly warm, but as good as we're gonna get this week... air and water will both probably be mid to upper 50s. If I get out there it probably won't be until about 6pm... maybe 5:30 depending on how some things go. How about you JSykes?


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## FishermanDaveS19 (Apr 13, 2004)

yea saw you while i was driving. i sure will holler wont be tomorrow tho im off of work the next 3 days going down to wayne national forrest down by marietta going morel mushroom hunting. then once i get back ill finallly be able to take my boat out and go fishing!!


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## JSykes3 (Oct 14, 2010)

I made plans with a friend to go fishing in a pond in canton today. He said that it would have to be tomorrow, because his Mom is sick. I'll have to ask him if we are still going. If not then sure, I'll give North a try. I don't have the best kayak out there. It is a SOT Ocean Kayak but someone gave it a paint job. I may sand it down this summer to get the paint off. It gets me on the water though.


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## RebelWithACause122 (Mar 29, 2011)

You don't need the best yak, if it floats, you're good to go to get started... who cares if it's ugly. My first boat was ugly as can be, and I still have an ugly little jon boat with patches and stuff. As far as accessories and stuff go, all you need to get started is your fishing rod and a place to put it. Over time, you'll come up with ideas on how you'd like to modify it, rig it, and accessorize it... and you just do stuff as you can. I can try to help you out if you need it. Let me know how your plans work out... if you're doin other stuff, no big deal... like I said, I'm out there pretty often... at least when the weather cooperates.


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## JSykes3 (Oct 14, 2010)

Well I saw the clouds coming in and didn't know if it was going to rain so I just fished the canal from shore for a little while. Got two bass. Did you head out?


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## RebelWithACause122 (Mar 29, 2011)

No, I saw the same clouds, plus I looked at the weather radar and saw a lot of green stuff headed our way. I almost went out anyway, but then I remembered that 224 is closed, so it would take longer to get there... I decided that it wasn't worth it. My luck, the rain would start JUST after I took all the detours, launched the kayak, and got 50 feet from the ramp. Instead, I took my fly rod over to Silver Creek... all I caught was a few bluegill, but at least if the rain came I wouldn't be far from my truck. Not sure when the weather will cooperate, but I'll certainly let you know next time I'm headed out there to North.


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## RebelWithACause122 (Mar 29, 2011)

Well, it was a little chilly, but I went out for about 2 hours or so this evening. Unfortunately, similar results. I tried trolling crankbaits, got some undersized crappie (one MAY have gone 9 inches, didn't bother to measure 'cause I usually only keep 10"+) and one bass about 12 or 13". Went in near shore and tossed a jig with wax worm under a bobber, only bluegill. Nothing of any size. I'm in a SLUMP! Oh well, better than a skunk... and being on the water is always a plus. Only real problem is my wife is on my case about not bringin' any dinner home.


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