Wautoma Shores

[dickey]

Took a break from salmon fishing and took the kids fishing for bass at Wautoma Shores. Read it was a great small mouth bass area. First fish was a big smally on a minnow. Every thing after that was gobie after gobie. They were eating our minnows and crayfish as soon as we got the lines in the water. Anyone know of how to fish for bass with live bait and not catch gobie after gobie? Anyone else fish Wautoma shores?

Thanks,

Rick

[Gene Shenk]

When I go to the 1000 islands and fish with bait we found if we kept the hooks 18 to 24 inches above the sinker the gobies would not get at them and we still were cathing nice bass and perch. Make sure you have enough weight to keep your line straight and also account for any leader you use that will hang down and cut into that distance to the bottom. I like to put the hook right on the main line (drop shot style) I dont know if this will apply to were you are fishing but i hope it helps. When we ran a two hook program (crappie rig with wire and beads)we would use pretty large bass minnows on the bottom hook and either worms or smaller minnows on the top hook and the gobies rarely bothered the large minnow on the bottom hook.

Good Luck

[panfisher]

Post subject: Re: Lake O SmallmouthPosted: Wed May 19, 2010 2:18 pm

Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2009 4:42 pm

Posts: 34

I have read that the downturn in catch rates on the south shore of the big lake was not the deal on the eastern and western side of the lake....folks are doing just fine with the smallies in those areas... irregardless of the gobies, cormorants, global warming and whatever stuff people say. Did you catch what Shaw Grigsby was doing on his cable channel 55 show about 3 or 4 weeks ago, last summer, on the eastern side of the lake? Just like not so old times in this area! Try regular jigs in the usual 10 to 40 fow, but use bigger size bodies... upscale! The idea would be to mimic the gobies themselves, which, it has been found, the smallies will attack to protect their nests and to fatten up on.The thing here is, if you are smallie fishing during the spawn time, the catch and release deal might backfire because as soon as the bass leaves the nest, the gobies will goble the babies and or eggs while you're landing the fish. A downturn in numbers of bass on the south shore is not verified ,though...just harder to catch. Soooo... I'd fish for smallies later in summer, using 1/4 to 3/8 oz. or so with bigger soft bodied grub tails, or better yet, Gulp Alive! large sized gobie baits. Fish them with as big a hook and body available to get through the gobies, because often with smaller baits and jigs we used to use, you'll catch tons of the gobies before the bass can get to it. Good luck!

Top

[panfisher]

Gobies are bottom dwellers that live in holes and burrows they excavate into the bottom strata.... Try even using them for bait if you must use live bait, as smallies love to feast on these soft, probably tasty little morsels. You should also try soft plastics with a larger hook size, say, 1/0 or so and a larger sized bait to keep the little fatties from hooking up on your offerings. Good luck and report if any results work...

[frm03064]

ive quit using worms and minnows all together thanks to gobies....

its all artificial for me from here on out...ive enjoy much better catch rates for game species on artificial than on worms...if someone told me 5 or 10 years ago that lures work better than worms, i would of said they were nuts...but the reality is that with the gobies in such large numbers, the second your live bait hits the water its got about 5 gobies ripping it apart.

the only way ive had any luck on live bait is by using a jighead or a very large hook to avoid the goby bite.