Guide Buster Rush of Camden said that despite the typical success he has trolling on Fishing Creek Lake, fishing minnows vertically over and into brush will often be the key to success.
“Some days, the fish do hold very tight to cover; often, this occurs later in the month,” he said. “When this happens, we’ll take live minnows and anchor so we’re directly over the cover marked on the graph and drop the minnow rigs straight into the cover. It’s more of a summertime tactic, but if conditions call for it, I’ll certainly employ this tactic during May.”
Rush employs a unique double-hook rig when he fishes with minnows this month.
“Essentially, double-hooking the minnow makes the rig more weedless when fishing the brush piles,” Rush said. “I compared it for years to hooking minnows though the lips, eyes and tail, but it does not seem to have any negative impact on getting crappie to bite. In fact, it works extremely well.
“I run the hook into the minnow through the eye then back through the middle of the bait. While this means the minnow does not stay alive long, that isn’t a problem. It does not make the bait completely weedless, but it does help, and my client’s hookup rate is just as good as with a minnow hooked in any other manner, but we get snagged considerably less.
“When we do have to drop the bait deeper into the brush, if the crappies are holding in the midst of the heavy cover, this improves the odds of fishermen hooking up with a crappie instead of the brush.”
Rush will also sometimes add a minnow to his jig to enhance effectiveness when trolling.
Be the first to comment