Suspended Fish.

[Walleye Express]

Good subject taken from another board.

I was fishing a lake by me and i was marking a ton of bait fish 18' to 20' down over 30' to 40' i trolled my butt of with deep tail dancers didn't catch a darn thing! i then used a down rigger with a chrome bomber (baitfish alewives) what are some other tactics i can use to catch suspended fish.

Thanks Chris M.

Chris.

You actually pointed out and diagnosed the problem yourself as to why the fish were finicky, and a clue to the solutions needed to solve the dillema when you mentioned that there were "A ton of baitfish" down there.

That's like putting down 3 turkeys at my families Thanksgiving table. With that much food available, your less likely to be in a hurry to eat or get your hand stabbed by a fork reaching for one of the 6 available drumsticks.

You have to either hang tough, keep trolling over them from all angles while waiting out their next feeding cycle, make your offerings look or act different then the others and thus enticing a reaction strike, or keep a bigger/juicier/sometimes smaller offering in their faces longer. That may mean changing your offerings and/or presentations often and possibly speeding up or slowing way down. If that don't work, time to find some fish with only 1 turkey on the table. :wink: Capt. Dan.

[Storm Warning II]

Good answer. The angles remark is outstanding.

I would have started with asking him how far down he was fishing the baits? I know I have deep tail dancers in my boat with the right amount of braid or wire can attain depths of over 60'! When I first read his question, my first thought was he was fishing underneath them. I always fish Erie suspended 'eyes at or slightly above them. Secondly, I would have seen if he could find the edges of the bait school. Many times 'eyes and I have seen it with salmon too, will hang on the outside edges of the school and pick off bait that has carelessly wandered off from the school and become easy targets.

[Walleye Express]

Thanks Storm Warning.

Most of my fishing solutions come from years of my fishing desperation.

[WalleyeMagic]

Angles are a very good point, alot of times depending on the way the current is going your angle of approach makes a huge difference. It can cause your speed to be fast or slow, cause your lures to dig down a little more. and also affect the way they move past the fish. Idealy you want em just above the bait at least that works for me.Some time if on a point i will come up to the point and cut out to deep water and let my lures swing over point.

Thanks