Fishing In A Crowd - By fishing guide Charlie Worrath

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Fishing In A Crowd
by fishing guide Charlie Worrath

As we all prepare for the spring opener and the first few weeks of new 2010 fishing season. The key word being all! That usually means the popular lakes are very crowded at this time of year, for the next few weekends usually through Father's Day. That doesn’t mean you can’t catch fish in those hot spots. I know, no one likes fishing with a lot of boats around, and I try to avoid it all cost, if possible. There’s just times when you have to just bite the bullet, and join in.

When you first arrive at a large group of boats. First make sure they’re not fishing memories and that they’re actually a bite going on. You can tell pretty fast by just watching the other boats. Take a quick count on number of boat around you, then times 3 being the average number of people per boat. For example 30 boats time 3 people equals 90 lines in the water, if you see know one catching fish in about 10 to15 minutes. That means to me that there’s not much of a bite going on or you’re just to late and miss it. 90 lines in the water times 15 minutes equals about 22.5 hours of fishing by one person with a fish or two, to me that’s slow fishing, I’d be moving on. If the opposite is happening you seen a half dozen fish or more being caught in pack in that time period. There’s still some active fish in the area. The bite is still on.

On a shallow water bite, I will start on the outside edge of a group of boats. Reason being the fish are getting a lot pressure from the boat traffic and will start to move off their original area. I usually start on the deep side of the group and work my way from one end to the other. If that’s doesn’t work, I’ll try the shallow side, again work my way along from one end of the pack of boats to other. Still not having much success and you still see fish caught in-group. The next move and my least favorite would be to make a pass right through the group of boats.

When fishing in such a group of boats, in shallow water the fish are pushed tight to the bottom by the boat traffic. I like to fish with a short line meaning not trailing far behind the boat, you want your line as close to the bottom as possible. Sometime, depending on the wind, I’ll even switch to a heavier jig. On most occasions I use 1/8 oz Northland Tackle round colored jig head with blood red hook, tipped with a small shiner minnow. Switching to ¼ oz and heavier in strong winds to stay down tight to bottom.

Ninety percent of my walleye presentation that I use the first few weeks of season, is a jig tipped with a minnow, preferably a small shiner, till the water warms up into the sixty-degree range. Then a rig or a jig tip with a leech or night crawler comes in to play.

Another tactic that’s works well, but only in a light wind or calm situation. In an area where you pick off a couple fish, just shutoff you’re trolling motor, or motor. You may have to use it to hold you on the spot. Then cast out just a short ways and jig your line back to the boat. This works well especially is the fish our staying in a small area and not on the move chasing shiners around. Your sitting on the school of fish instead of pasting through them and your not spending all that time going pass them, then turning around and coming back to fine them again. Even if the school is moving you’ll be giving yourself a few minutes of hot action before you have to move on, to either fine them or another group of fish, and then you can repeat the same process over.

If you own or have any type of electric trolling motor, I prefer Minn-kota trolling motors over all the others and fishing water less then 12 to 15 feet deep. I strongly suggest you use it, if at all possible, only if the wind is too strong and your force to move up to the gas power motor. Not saying you can’t catch fish running a gas motor, I know some great Winnie fisher men, such as Doc O’Brian, Kirt Tagtgren, Ron Edminster & ect. That’s all they use is a gas powered motor for trolling, and they can and do catch fish consistently. I do believe if you run an electric trolling motor, your going to cut down on the disturbance and the bite may last longer.

If you been searching hard and long and not finding much action, and it looks like everybody else on the lake has found them, and are gathered in one spot, along with which seems like all fish in the lake. You don’t have to feel left out. Try these tactics and you should be able to tap in on the fun.

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2010 Guided Fishing Trip Rates
Number of Anglers	Full Day Trip	Half Day Trip
1 - 2 people	$340	$270
3 people	$420	$315
Tag Boats	$100 per boat
Shore Lunch or Shore Dinner	$25 per boat
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2010 Fishing Opener Dates

Walleye & Northern Opener - May 15, 2010
Largemouth & Smallmouth Bass Opener - May 29, 2010
Muskie Opener - June 5, 2010

2010 Fishing Regulations

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