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I fished deep creek yesterday all day, must have punched 30+ holes and never marked a fish. Keep on punchen
They definately are on the move. Several times I had nothing going on for hours then had action for a 1/2 hour and then blah. I was curious how people are doing shallower since I tend to the deep. That way I at least avoid pike cause I hate retying leaders for my rigs. Think the next time I go up there I'll try McHenry. Would love to get into some nice gills and it sounds like you can still pick up some walleye around thereabouts
Often I cut holes and don't mark fish. If I know the area is good or there is structure nearby and I have that hunch that the hole will produce, then I'll drop a lure down and see if I can jig in a reaction fish. If the hole produces, and I've cut more in the area, then I'll check the others too. If nothing, try a new spot and cut some more. Also, sometimes you may be marking fish but aren't recognizing them. If your transducer is aligned properly and not moving, and the bottom even seems to "wiggle" a tiny bit, then that could be a fish, so when looking for fish, take your time and make sure that your transducer is stable and watch the screen for a few seconds and see what happens. Actually, if you're marking fish consistently and run into this situation you might not want to take the time unless you know it's a productive spot. I usually do this when I'm having a hard time marking fish. It works sometimes when fish are holding very tight to the bottom or are scattered. Drop a jig down there and see if you can jig them in. Also, there are times where you might be marking something else thinking that they are fish. Weeds, stumps, trees, etc. confuse the mix but IMHO those are worth dropping the lure down to check, or better yet, drop your camera down there if you own one and see for yourself.One more thing, check out any suspended mark with a lure, even just under the ice. One time I was night fishing for crappie and the fish were suspended 8' over 22' and I was tearing them up. The school moved off for a bit and I noticed a blip showing up that appeared to be just under the ice. I at first assumed that it was a false return, daphnia, or perhaps a maggot floating around. Then it disappeared for awhile. My school returned and I caught a few more of them and then they left again. During that last flurry of activity, the blip appeared again, so I looked down the hole and didn't see anything, and again thought it was a mistake. But this time I said, what the heck, and brought my jig up to the blip (thinking that I was going to take it out of the hole and recharge the glow anyway). At first nothing happened when I jigged, and I could see my jig about 2' down the hole, but then the blip reacted to my jigging. A few seconds later I had a bite and missed it. I still couldn't see the fish down the hole though. But the blip was there so I kept jigging and it bit again. Daggone if it wasn't a pretty nice crappie! I've also caught trout this way since then because I never assume that it's "nothing" until I prove that it's nothing.Cut lot's of holes when the fish aren't biting.Now, last time I was out I made a mistake by sitting on a series of holes that were proven to be good spots and not moving around as much as I usually do, and I also caught less fish than I might have otherwise. I had marked some huge stumps in a productive location, and put all of my eggs in one basket. My camera confirmed the stumps and looked like very fishy structure indeed, but nobody showed!
