I've always varied from 3' to 15'... sometimes the fish like it real close, other times not so much. Fifteen feet is about as far as you can see through the water in Winni. So, I figure if I went further than 15' from the blades I was defeating the purpose.
Generally I run them about 5 to 6 feet back and 2 to 3 feet above.
Most everyone thinks the blades attract fish visually. That may be part of the attraction but fish are probably as, or more, stimulated by vibration/sound.
I think it's true that when the fish gets close to the attractor(s), it's stimulated visually.
What I don't understand is why fish come so close to the prop, either in the prop wash (I've caught fish that hit the lure that was 3' from the prop), or when your attractors are sometimes only 20'away. You'd think the noise/vibrations would be overwhelming to the fish. Maybe the prop sends out a vibration that attracts?
Your thoughts?
Cal
about a month ago on winni we couldnt buy a hit had my 5 year old grandson with us we let him troll his spinning rod off the back of the boat he was running a blue and white fly 6 feet behind the boat in the prop wash then all at once he yells out grampa i got a fish and yes he did have one he out fished us that day one after the other he pulled in fish bass and rainbows he had a heck of a day a guy i know that fishes winni will only fish with wire and he runs the brass blades he leaves lebanon me at 3 and is in my yard by 730-800 and never has a laker less then 5 lbs day in day out how is he doing it hes been aftter me for years to go fish winni with him but never been able to hook up on the sane days
Good point, Cal.
I totally agree with you about the "lateral line" attraction. I think the flashers give off vibration and flash that both mimic schools of baitfish. I have seen fish come from 20 feet or more below my flashers to check out the commotion (watching them on the FF). I doubt they get the same stimulus from a single lure... especially a fly... so I do believe the lure needs to be relatively close to the blades. This way a fish that is attracted to the flashers will then see the lure OR at that point may be close enough to "lateral line" a single lure.
The blades also bring fish into your fishing pattern. If they don't hit that one lure or fly they may. Hit a stacked lure or a lead line way behind the blades.The blades help all the way around.That why you should run one of your stacked line a little farther back.
oh by the way thanks for the info Slipnot also enjoyed the last post that you gave chris will be trying a few things diffrent this sat whats the best color to run for blades on winni
Well... hard to say. I know a few people on this board go all out on their blade selections by matching blade colors to the lure colors. Personally, I have never gone that far. I only own three colors of vertical flashers. I have yellow/orange, blue/silver and holographic silver.
When I'm going strictly for lakers on the bottom, I put on a couple of the yellow/orange striped. But for general every day use, I run the silver/blue and/or holo blue.
I also have a bunch of Dave Davies horizontal flashers in copper and copper/silver. However, I rarely use them. Not that they don't work, I just haven't seen the need to change from my normal pattern. I pretty much (95% of the time) run just the blue/silver and/or holo silver.
I prefer the vertical flashers, as they tend to be a bit more forgiving if you bump bottom. I lost several horizontal flashers along the way... but as of yet, have never lost a vertical flasher. Guess I need to try harder. LOL.
But to be quite honest... the last half of last year and spring of this year, I caught more fish back away from the flashers on my long leads. I stopped using flashers during the derby this year and started catching more fish.
I'm in agreement with at least one of the charter captains on this board... the fish are seeing so many flashers that its not working as well as it use to. Opinion based only on personal trials.
Not sure if this helped or hurt... but there you have it.
I agree Craig, sometimes I wonder if the blades scare em off, so I drop my bait back a bit and then take the blades off all together if still no bites. But I allways start the day off with them.
Makes you wonder sometimes, a "lonly little fly" 300 feet or so behind the boat gets the bites and the bait just behind the blades gets none.
But I do realize there are times when the blades get all the action, just gotta know when are those times, lol.
