6/24 Hedges Report

[UpGrady]

Fished for a long hour, covered my usual areas just East of Hedges from 15-28 fow and found many gobies. Managed to mix in two real nice 16-17" smallies as well.

I was hoping that the goby population might have peaked last year, but it looks like will need to wait them out a bit longer. Just like last year, the bass that are there are big but are few and far between on live bait or jigs. I suspect that if you troll, you'll find some action, but I refuse to troll for bass... defeats the whole purpose to me.

[Tank]

Thanks UpGrady! Always good to see smallie reports. How long of a lead off the bottom are you fishing when using live bait? I experimented last year with a full two foot lead and I smoked the smallies in heavily gobie infested waters!! Just curious . Thanks. Tank

[UpGrady]

That's an interesting thought... maybe the gobies will follow the weight before the bait... I've always used a simple bottom setup with the hook tied into the line about a foot above the weight... I might even try an old standbye walleye setup with a bullet weight and floating jighead a couple feet below...

At least this might allow you to get down to the bottom for a short time before the gobies discover the bait.

[Fat Tommy]

About 2 or 3 summers ago me and my dad caught over 30 total in about 3 hours of fishing using a combination of worms, minnows, and black tube jigs. For some reason black tube jigs are just nasty for bass. I was using about a 2 foot lead.