Since my original Leap Day ruminations were pretty successful in adjusting my temporary attitude, I continued the exercise and here are a few more good thoughts for the upcoming 2016 season.
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Open-water Jigging Raps; these are a long-revered ice fishing lure, and one of my favorites for a variety of species beneath the ice. They are becoming an accepted, powerful alternative on open water, too. I know they (and let's include the entire pedigree of lead-based gliding jigs here, so not just Jigging Raps but also Snap Raps, Moonshines and Puppet Minnows) work, and they are a current favorite of Al Lindner (see WWALD?), but so far I have had zero success with this technique. I need to put some more time into this and figure it out! I need to concentrate on some hard-bottom lakes and I need to use some drop-shotting gear and 10-pound mono! Because that's WALD!
First Day of Spring in Milwaukee? Why not? I just checked my calendar, and if the weather holds, family and work schedules just might alight to the point that this actually makes sense!
Catch the end of Pike and Walleye Season? These end on March 15 on Michigan's inland Lower Peninsula waters, but with an early warm and wet spell in March this year, and today's local ice-out conditions, it's possible!
Targeting Lakers from Traverse City; someday the bass might be elusive or funky and it will be calm enough on West Bay for me to control a jig down 100 feet or more. I need to be prepared with some appropriate rigs and jigs, and perhaps some suckers or chubs!
Eeling; I know they are Striper Candy and yet I haven't even tried an eel yet. I need to wake up and at least give them a shot! Perhaps I'll catch a tide in the dark that I ordinarily would have missed.
Strolling Cranks or Jerks; especially for some pre-spawn smallies, why not cover a massive flat by utilizing the wind and keeping a bait in the water all the time? And how about keeping a deep diving lure down there in the largemouth bass' summertime strike zone over extensive stretches of deep weed edges?
Side Imaging; love it; have it; appreciate the power; but have underutilized it to date. It's hard not to actively fish when I'm on the water, but I know I'll be more effective at finding the true sweet spots if I take the time to side image some productive areas more carefully. Again, that's WALD!
Downlining; this has been on my list for years and I just haven't gotten around to it. Muskies, pike and stripers are all possibilities.
Cross-Pollinate any of these ideas; on this or any of my other lists. I'm not a fantastic original thinker, but I do think outside the norm; and I know that this is the formula achieving breakthroughs and for making giant strides in progress, whether it's in my boat or at my desk.
And of course, there's at least one longer term self-improvement project that I dare not utter at this time...
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