I’ve been stuck around the house trying to force kids to do homework, looking at solunar table for May, and rigging my gear for next week.
Got a secret recipe from Chinaback for a slow sinking spider fly that involves chenille, a custom spice mix grown by Fred67, some white hairs from RBR’s dog, and some teeth from Sman’s trophy jackfish… But I need more ideas.
I plan to have a popping bug on a slightly stouter setup, 2 slip rigged ultralights for crickets, then my nicest UL with 5lb braid for spinners, and also a bream buster for flicking spiders. So here are my questions:
what is a good all around lure for pickerel in and near heavy brush and cover (and no, I ain’t got a skitterpole dangit) and what is the minimum leader weight for teeth? Pretty sure folks have roundly agreed on anything obnoxious, from bright colored in line spinners to yer grand daddy’s Devil Horse
what is your favorite redbreast/bream spinner for skinny river- and swamp-style titty bream? Size of beetlespin? gold? black body, yellow dot? tip with cricket or no?
fishing around May full moon means fishing the spawn (for roosters, I’m not a monster), which means more sandy calmer spots instead of steep edges and cover… right? Read plenty about sniffing beds in the lakes but just wondering your favorite habitat types and times of day for blackwater panfishing. Guessing late evening in the back of a cove or oxbow could be great too. Mud or sand? Target feeding spots, or spots for the other 2 “F” words?
Haha,I enjoyed that post.Hopefully the ole stlhunr will be along,he knows more about this subject than anybody I know.But I’ll throw out a few observations I’ve made throughout the years.Crickets on a 1/8 beetle spin is hard to beat.Jackfish love a rooster tail but a live minner is better.Don’t forget to bring a cane pole with just a hook and a big split shot for tight lining some of the deeper holes.The fish are where you find em,you’ll develop a sixth sense after you’ve been out there a while. I bet you’ll get a lot of replies on this topic,good luck.
Some of our favorite Redbreast/Bream baits. Usually start out with one of us using a black Beetle spin and the other using yellow. Yellow and green being my Daughter’s favorite colors. She usually casts a 16th oz jig head with the larger size grub and larger spinner. We fish 1/32 oz to 1/8 oz Beetle Spins. I make most of our jig heads, so I have 1/8 oz heads with #6 or #4 hooks.
NEVER fished a Cricket on a Beetle Spin and never will. Have a couple of 12’ B&M Crappie rods we fish Crickets with sometimes, either with a slip cork or tight lining. I use a split shot above the hook OR a 1/8th oz bell sinker a foot below the hook. Below the hook when fishing on the bottom.
LOVE to fish a Fly rod for Bream using a Popping Bug or bead head Nymphs.
Didn’t fish the Cooper or Bushy Park last year because we spent all our time fishing the Edisto, but planning to be on the Cooper week of the full moon this year.
Never tried the 5 lb braid for ultra-lites, but thinking about it.
Favorite Pickerel baits? Can’t go wrong with any of these. Daughter likes the home made Indiana in-lines I make. We use them with 3 or 4 inch curly tail grubs. Pretty good lure for up in Cypress Swamps. They are a Mudfish magnet though… I use a 6 inch piece of 25 lb mono for a leader most of the time when fishing for Pickerel.
This reminded me of a trip Ralph and I made to the upper Combahee a few years ago (before we called ourselves Eye Strike)
Here’s the video if interested https://vimeo.com/134055610
If y’all have never been up in the blackwater, its absolutely beautiful. Just drifting down river like Tom and Huck…
Looks like artificial is getting covered really well. One go to for Pan fish, pink worm on the bottom using gold hook that you can “straighten out” if caught on a snag. Cause you will get caught. Sandy bottom in the 8-3’ range tight line on bottom. George wigglers and black worms work ok but more catfish, the pinks can’t be beat for pan fish IMO. On the Jacks, sman is right a live minnow/shiner is probably your best bet and any Bass in the area usually cant resist them. This is why Bass clubs won’t allow any to be taken with live bait(or so I was told). Also as he said a rooster tail. Red is my preference, roaster reds love em too.
If we can get the water to drop should be some fine fishing this year. Combahee Bream are being taken fishing DEEP under a cork with worms or Crickets near locks and still deep holes.
Don’t forget micro lures. Caught many a Bream on those tiny Rebel Minnows.
Wasp Larva make great Bream bait too…although it can be a little tricky getting them…
Maggots work well also. Just put some damp corn meal in a bucket with a small piece of meat, and get all you need. Daughter will put on the Maggots and Wasp Larva herself, but she ain’t touching no Crickets!
Stlhunr, Not many folk I tell about that believe me.
Cant believe I forgot that one… Probably the best bait in the World for Bream. Find a big nest under a willow and your just about guaranteed to have bream under it. I would throw sand/dirt until I had all the wasps chased off and then get the nest. Was on Bluff plantation by myself one afternoon and was “attacking” a nest when out of nowhere a she gator came at me. come to find out she had a nest only a few feet away from the wasps. She wasn’t catching me I was running on hard ground and she had to run on soft ground… cause I was Scatting and getting. scared me half to death.
Took my Daughter down the Santee one day when She was 12. I always use some kind of live bait since we are usually fishing deeper. Did not bring any bait so I could teach her how to FIND something to use for bait. Picked up a few Clams and cut them into small pieces, caught some worms too. We just happened to find a Wasp nest that would be easy to get…so I had her whack the willow just above the nest with the boat paddle, as I ran the boat past it. Picked it up after it drifted down river a little.
Caught a Bream or Channel Cat on every Grub in that nest.
NOW, she wants to take every Wasp nest we see while fishing…
Thanks y’all, appreciate the advice and stories. Think I’ve got most of the bases covered, one thing I’ve never done is fished with minnows in freshwater. Coming from a guy who’s impaled thousands of shrimp, mud minnows and finger mullet. I would love to catch a few crappie too, which seems to entail sticking a rod tip in a bush and then doing some kind of magic to pull out a fish instead of losing a rig.
Stlhntr, that’s gotta be the most grub bodies I’ve ever seen in a box! I’ve really enjoyed your posts over the years, you and your daughter have shared some awesome stuff.
Very intrigued about the wasp larva suggestion, as I think I know where I can get some.
Saw the salkehatchie is down and Edisto is under 7’ again, i am excited.
Last time I Bought grubs was a few years ago. $3 a 100 for bodies and $20 a hundred for spinners from E Bay. Bought 1000 grubs and 300 spinners. When I take someone Bream fishing I tell them not to bother buying any Beetle Spins…
We have been watching and waiting on the water to come down on the Edisto too. Should be a good soon.
Two more tips for you,a small piece of fresh creek shrimp on a beetle spin or on a hook by itself can be deadly. I know you have a ready supply available.Also if you get into the small ones,just move along,kinda like when you get into the banana trout. I don’t know how many times my bil had me stay in one spot because he was getting a bite.Only to find out it was a little stumpnocker.
I like a white curly tail grub on a 1/16 oz jig, both with and without the spinnerbade attached.
Best beetlespin body I’ve ever used was one I bought probably 30-35 years ago, can’t find them now. It was the regular solid body, but the color was purple, the very tip was red. Bought up all I could find back then.
I use a 6 inch piece of 25 lb mono for a leader most of the time when fishing for Pickerel.
