I have a slip at Jordanelle so we are up there every weekend but we do not have any trolling gear or trolling motor. My 12 yr old boy has shown some interest in fishing since we went to Flaming Gorge and caught smallies. We have tried three times now to catch anything at Jordanelle and he has caught one fish and I have yet to catch anything. I have tried senkos but must not know how to use them. I was taught to fish them Texas style so they are weedless but that has not worked.
All we want is to catch some fish. We do not care the size or even what kind, just to catch fish. So with out disclosing any secrets, what should we use (we will be fishing from a boat) and where (such as ‘East arm by submerged bush’)? Any help would be really appreciated.
I know some of the bass fisherman will chime in here, but I ll take a shot at it anyway. I have caught a good # of SMB on small spinners. Green and red. I know senkos are great, but I have only had luck on larger bass with those and my catch rate is much highter with a simple spinner fishing standard cover like bruch and other willows. They will also bite on standard curly tails..chart and red. I have found you will usually get more fish on smaller gear. Tip all with crawler and a slow reel speed is helpful @ times.
I hope this helps a little.
Shawn M
If trout are surfacing then tie on a fly behind a bubble. This will get their attention. For bass and perch use small white or chartreuse jigs. Tip it with a worm and the perch go nuts. For the bass spinner baits and jigs will work fine. I have trolled Jordanelle without a trolling motor before. Go as slow as your motor will allow, tie on a nice size 1 sinker (sometimes two if fish down low) then tie on popgear or dodgers with a worm harness following. The trout love’m. Hope this helps!
dynamite and plenty of poison?
personally i toss jigs towards structure, but im sure bassrods will chime in here, he has that place down to a Tee
Jordanelle has plenty of smallies. A http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhQA8dP9b9E is an easy way to catch them. Use Berkley Gulp! Minnows in the 2.5 or 3" size. I like the smelt colored ones.
Look for points going into the water and sit in about 15’ of water on the point. You can cast out towards the shore and slowly retrieve that bait but keep the line tight enough so that the hook does not get snagged on the bottom. The other way is to just drop it over the side of the boat and keep the sinker on the bottom with the bait just sitting there, ‘dead sticking’ works really great.
I’ve caught a lot of bass on 4" smoke/pearl laminate Yum Dingers. 1/4 oz bullet weight with a 1/0 Gamakatsu ewg hook, texas rigged. Cast out towards the shoreline and drag it slowly, real slowly, back to the boat. You will feel the bumps and taps from the bottom but you will soon learn to feel the difference when a bass hits it. I fish this rig all over the lake.
A wacky rig is awesome as well. Last time I was up there I fished the cliffs with a wacky rig and did awesome. I used a 5" straight tail worm in a tan color. Almost a creamy brown color. Not a color I usually use but that’s what they wanted so I stuck with it.
If you have any other questions feel free to send me a pm. I won’t give away all my secrets [;)]
I put a small split shot sinker above the knot.
Thats great help. I too have been trying to get into bass fishing more and need these tips to hopefully have success
Because of the catch and kill people on this site I don’t give out INFO but if you contact me we could spend part of a day on the water some time…
Wow, thank you for the response. We will try some of these methods and let you know how it goes. Any chance of hooking them on a fly rod? Flyfishing is what a have done for the past 20 years and now I am branching out with my boy. Thanks again.
I have a couple of out of towner’s that use fly rods when we get together… So yes you can…