Came up this weekend with the in laws and stayed at KI. Me and FIL went out Saturday around 9 to see if we could find some perching action. I had heard good things about W and E of Kelleys and there was a small pack forming right between American Eagle and Catawba so we went and joined that area. Marked some here and there but nothing crazy but decided to just stop and drop anchor over a little grouping of decent marks. Moved once in the pack but the marks never really got better or stayed and we caught squat. It looked like no one else was pulling either so I regretted not making the run to the Cans where it sounds like everyone is crushing them.
We pulled anchor and just drifted 1 long drift from that perch pack back toward Kelleys looking for a walleye or 2 and ended up with 5 decent sized perch and 2 keeper walleye just pulling harnesses on bottom bouncers.
Now comes the question…….Tibbles and Hi-Way didn’t have any minnows Friday when we were on the mainland and KI General Store didnt have any frozen. What’s the best “non shiner” rig/bait when the stores are all out?? I have run into that a couple times over the years and I never seem to be able to get bites on crapie rigs/spreaders with crawlers, wax worms, curly tails, etc. Is it sort of “shiners or nothing” or am I just fishing in crappy spots without shiners and it wouldnt matter anyway?
As always, love any suggestions from this group! Everyone on here is super knowledgeable about the Big Lake and its a great resource to have for this old weekend warrior!!