anchor when slip bobbering/jigging?

[paul sr.]

hi all. great site. first time going to kipawa/walleye this summer. read alot of your posts on this topic, but not clear to me if anchoring is recommended. seems counter to my instincts since you cover less "ground".

[RHYBAK]

I don't know about others but when I slip float ,I do it towards shore,on wind blown points where the walleye are hopefully swimming through.

If you drift, your float will be dragging behind you and your bait will have the tendency to start lifting up towards the surface.

Float fishing could get hectic at the right time of year.at the right location, hence anchoring to stay on the fish.

Depending on how late in the summer you go,it might be useless to float fish.
I do it in late June when the walleye are still shallow.

My two cents.

[Oarin]

Hi Paul, we always anchor unless there is very minimal wind. You want to have a slack line so you can see the bite and as little pressure on the line as possible. When they bite you want them to take the bait freely. With a slip bobber you can cast to different areas and adjust for the depth so it's not like you're fishing one small area If you have a taunt line you might as well be jigging. 69 more more days!!!

[Jay Thomas]

Fishermen with many trips to Kipawa learn that there are numerous locations where they usually find walleye. Anchoring at those locations is an efficient fishing methodology whether jigging or slip bobbering. However, when you can't find fish at those regular locations, you typically switch to trolling (e.g. bottom bouncing, rigging, crankbaiting) to cover more water and increase the chances of finding some walleye. IMHO, it's important not to lock yourself into a particular mindset when fishing. If what you're doing isn't working, try somewhere else or try another methodology.

Lastly, anchoring affords quiet times for you and your fishing partner to better enjoy one another's company along with the sights and sounds of Kipawa. And walleye for dinner is the icing on the cake!

Jay

[rambler]

we always anchor when bobber fishing. We use 2 anchors. Richter in front and mushroom at rear.

[paul sr.]

thanks all.good points.

[BigChief]

@paul sr. I must say we always used to anchor because we new the spots where the fish were. But this past summer we mostly drift fished with slip bobbers/jigs or slip sinkers/floating jigs.  And we did the best we have ever done on the lake.  We still went to our known spots but were catching them above or below the normal areas we anchored. We may never drop anchor again unless it is just too windy to drift.

[brank]

We mostly anchor on Kipawa. A slow drift can be productive but I find if drift speed gets over .5 mph fishing is tougher.  A lot of the shoals we fish are smaller so when we drift we end up too deep quickly and then have to move again.  I find with a lot of anchor road we sweep back and forth and cover more ground too. 

[Dog]

@BigChief  and @brank thanks for joining and contributing! if you haven't already done so check out the intro sticky thread here http://kipawafishingforum.net/index.php?topic=3.0