Fishing Bath Water with Dad
July 17 thru 19, 2010
This past weekend, my dad and I decided to make a quick getaway trip back to Wisconsin. I had nothing planned for this weekend, and neither did my dad. Most of our time was spent doing yardwork and catching up on chores and repairs around the house. For instance, we had a clogged shower drain that went deep underneath the house, and a broken garage door that needed repairs. After fixing these necessities and getting some yardwork done, it was finally time to play.
My dad has not fished with me in over two years, and for all this time, I was reinforcing the notion that he was washed-up. Yes, the man who taught me everything I needed to know during the beginning years of my life in fishing was already washed-up by the age of 50. I at least thought it was the case, until I saw myself get outfished by him in four hours on a favorite local Smallmouth Bass lake of mine.
Back in the day, dad would rig up all of my rods for me, and tie on whatever lures I needed to use. It’s funny how times change after a period of 10 years since we last fished together on a frequent basis.
Thanks to mid-summer bright skies, hot temperatures, and zero wind, which I hate for fishing, all of the lakes in our northcountry are now experiencing warm surface water temperatures. On the largest lakes, the norm is 76 to 78 degrees, while everything else is at just about 80. Bathwater is a bad combination for fishing if your goals are big fish such as Pike and Muskies, which I had originally set my sights on prior to this weekend. With that being said, I did not want to waste my time sweating off for a Musky or two and potentially killing it by stressing it out with the water being as warm as it was. If it were to ever occur, it would be completely careless on my behalf, and it would probably be the lowest point of my fishing career.
Instead, we struggled fishing for Bass.
In two and a half days, I only fished seriously during these four hours I spent with dad. We fished a 1,000+ acre lake with water temperatures between 76 and 78 degrees. Winds were at 0 to 5mph, and the fish were almost nowhere to be found on this bright sunny afternoon.
When conditions are like this, I’ve always had a hunch that rattlebaits ripped fast through the stagnant water during the heat of the day would elicit some type of a response. By launching craw patterns over large expanses of shallow flats littered with rock and wood, my theory was proved correct. Out of everything we tried and everywhere on the lake we fished, this was the only method that seemed to work.
Granted, we only caught barely ten fish total during the worst possible day of fishing I’ve had all year long.
I got on board with this Clackin’ Rap chunk ten minutes into the outing. I had the belief that this would be a good outing.
Immediately after, dad got on board with another average size chunk.
But from then on, I caught nothing else out there, while dad proceeded to outfish me.
Not only did he catch the most fish, but he also caught the smallest, which did not live a very long life since hatching earlier last month.
Other than some more little fish, we caught nothing more. When the fishing got worse before we left the lake, dad got bored so he decided to take some non-choreographed action shots of me. Since nothing was really caught, this ultimately made something out of the blog entry. He owns one of those fancy digital SLR cameras with wild lenses which I hope to someday inherit or incorporate more with my adventures.
Before I close it out with these photos, I leave again on this coming Saturday for another 11 days north. Family vacation, and in my case, some more fishing and enjoyment where the roots are at.
Mazon River: Where are the fish?!?!
7/11/2010
This afternoon I had the pleasure of meeting up with a few friends whom I have not fished with, or even seen, since last year. I was joined on this outing by Issom Beituni and Christopher Stolarski, both from my website, and we waded and fished the Mazon River in the area around Coal City, Illinois.
Since I had not fished anywhere in Illinois since the end of April (thank you Wisconsin!), I wanted to spend at least one day while I was home to fish somewhere I can make an adventure to.
For much of the spring season in April and May, a contingency of my friends were rocking out at the river, catching loads of Smallmouth Bass during the spawn season, and even after it. I received plenty of invitations to join them but thanks to school and graduation and other trip plans, I never had the time to go anywhere. I finally had my chance today to fish someplace new, yet I knew that the fishing would not be as good due to seasonal conditions.
We began the day at around 12pm and we concluded prematurely at around 4pm before the rainfall and incoming thunderstorms invaded the area.
I was hoping to catch a few fish, and to hopefully run into a fossilized rock or two.
Sam, Chris, and I waded through a beautiful stretch of water that seemed as if it was strategically littered over the ages with boulders, rock fields, and riffle runs. For much of our time spent at the river, we saw Longnose Gar blowing up on baitfish, plenty of mosquitoes that left behind their marks, a few other fishermen, and a very minimal amount of Smallmouth Bass.
The three of us were solely employing fly rods. Sam was fishing with his 5wt set-up, Chris was also fishing with his new 5wt set-up that he purchased from Sam prior to fishing, and I was armed and ready with my 8wt rod and reel which is outrageously overkill for almost anything not named the Wisconsin River.
Air temperatures were somewhere around 90-degrees with wicked humidity, and water was equally as warm too, for unknown reasons.
Despite the river being in the lowest condition it has been all year, according to Sam, we only caught a few small fish at the Mazon consisting of Creek Chubs and Smallmouth Bass. Out of our party of three, I was the lonestar who laid an egg and caught nothing.
What was unusual was the fact that this river runs crystal clear when it is this low. Today was not the case. The river contained the clarity of chocolate milk.
Pictured below is Chris and his first fish caught on the fly rod in ages.
From this first time outing to the Mazon, I would have to say that it is quite possibly the second nicest river I have fished in Illinois; Coming far behind the Apple River, my number-1, which is located in far northwest Illinois.
Despite not catching anything, this river has loads of potential, and I will not write it off my list for the future.
By 4pm, Chris headed home, while Sam and I had the remainder of the day left for fishing. Along our way home, we headed to the Kankakee River area where we fished a feeder creek and caught nothing. Following that, at 5pm we made a stop at the crystal clear DuPage River where we planned to fish at for the remainder of our day. By then, sadly, we got rained out.
For a makeup, Sam and I have engagements for a Tuesday wade on the DuPage River.
We didn’t catch a lot today, but it was not a dissapointment for me. I got to bust out the fly rod, and wade and wander through a new venue and uncharted territory.
On the bright side, I saw enough through the lens of my camera, good enough to be posted for this blog. Like always, the images can be seen below:
Mid-Summer King Salmon
Mid-Summer King Salmon
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Having spent over 30 days so far this summer fishing in Wisconsin’s north country, it was time to briefly change up the scenery. I am back in Chicago for at least the next week or two, and thanks to my arrival back into town, I was urged by good friend, Mike Planthaber, to join him on this rare occasion for summertime shore-casting King Salmon.
The President of the Legendary Trout Mafia told me to give him a call during the early evening hours of Wednesday, June 7th. There was no apparent reason for this. I obliged anyways, and I had the feeling that it would be about doing an all-niter from the shores of Lake Michigan. Hesitant of Mike’s proposal at first, I told him that I would give him a call back within the end of the hour.
Mike does this type of fishing all the time, and yes. He is crazy. If I was to join, I would likewise lose my mind with him as well.
After quick deliberation, I decided hell with it. Having never done the King thing during the heat of summer before, and knowing that our friend Ed Schmitt unloaded on 100-pounds of Kings the previous night out of his boat in Milwaukee Harbor, I needed to see for myself what this game would be all about.
I called Mike back. “Alright. . . . It’s on!”
I met Mike in the north suburbs at 2am and we carpooled to downtown Milwaukee where we fished from shortly after 3am until a little after 6:30am.
According to Mike, conditions were as good as they get for mid-summer King Salmon. Air temperatures were at a muggy and sticky 80-something degrees, with light rain, and terrible fog. Winds were blowing in from the east, which result in the baitfish coming to shore, which ultimately leads for the Kings to follow suit. I don’t recall what the water temperatures were, but when they blow in, surface temperatures cool down to the point that these coldwater species can tolerate the shallows during the heat of summer.
For the outing, Mike and I were armed and dangerous with our spinning set-ups. Mike uses a 9-foot medium light action St. Croix Wild River spinning rod with a size 2500 Shimano spinning reel spooled with 12-pound Fireline. Since I left all of my rods and reels at the house up north, I had a spare size-30 Quantum Pulse spinning reel that I spooled up with 12-pound Fireline Crystal the night before. Mike was kind enough to allow me to use his spare 7-foot medium action spinning rod.
Casting and launching to the fish, an assortment of spoons such as 3/4oz glow K.O. Wobblers and Luhr Jensen’s were used. The wobblers outfished everything, hands down!
As soon as we began fishing after 3am, fish were immediately being caught with most strikes taking place at least 50 yards out from shore, while some were even close in. Mike was on a roll from 3:30am until shortly after 4:30am in which he caught and landed four Kings with the largest at around 12-pounds. Meanwhile, he lost others that could not get the hooks stuck into, or simply shook off.
For much of the first hour, and fishing next to Mike while he was catching all of the fish, I kept telling him that I had no clue what I was doing with the spoon, and how it should be fished. I kept following all of his casting motions, retrieve speeds, and even shadowed his casts by throwing into the same areas from which the fish were being caught from. Nothing worked.
It wasn’t until shortly after 5:30am when I finally caught my first break. Mike was on the large rocks above me taking a brief break from the action while I was left by myself to cast. Not knowing what I was supposed to do with the spoon, I had my first hit of the morning roughly 50 yards out from shore. I wasnt expecting to get bit, but it would have been nice had it happened. I set the hook and I yelled to Mike, “I think I’ve got one!” At first it felt like I had a wimpy Walleye or something because all I felt were a few pumps with the rod which then progressed to head shakes. But as soon as the fish had the sense that it was hooked, it took off like a torpedo out into the lake. This was a fast one. Wow.
After a near-10 minute battle in which the fish spooled me about half-way down and decided to make a 100-yard run from me, we got it into the net. Finally, my first shore King!
Mike estimated it to be round 15 to 16 pounds. It fought just as it was advertised. Full of power.
He gives me a hard time for Musky fishing and catching fish that fight for less than 20-seconds before they come to the net. After fighting this King for ten minutes, I’d still rather fish for Muskies!
Following this fish, Mike and I caught nothing more. The magic hour for fishing seemed to take place while it was still darker out, and way before light came out. I’d say between 3am to 5am, the fishing was at its peak as several Kings were witnessed to be caught. However, even after our departure at 6:30, a good number of fish were still being caught by other anglers.
We could have stayed longer as fish were continuously biting throughout the morning, but Mike had to return to the Chicago area to be at work by 9am.
Since Mike already has a fully-stocked freezer full of fillets, he was kind enough to donate all of today’s fish to me so that I would deal with them. I brought home around 40-pounds of fresh fish for the freezer. It’s party time, soon!
Below are more images from our early morning outing:
Great outing and fun times. I’m glad to have finally gotten the opportunity to try this!
It won’t be my last.
(0) Comments :: PermalinkIndependence Day Fireworks
Over the holiday weekend I was joined by Dan Cahill for a four day fishing trip. On the evening of July 4th, we fished a local 900 acre lake for Smallmouth Bass in northern Wisconsin and we were treated to a nice show provided by the sky.
For the three hours prior to this unreal sunset, it was raining steadily. When it cleared, it grew overcast, and by the time it was between 8 and 9pm, the thin layer of clouds gave way to a pretty remarkable sunset over the lake.
This lake is 100% undeveloped, so we did not get to experience any traditional fireworks shows. And best of all, we were the only boat out on this particular lake. At least we got to witness a natural fireworks show thanks to the changing sky.
I have access to a digital Canon SLR with different lenses but for these fishing trips, I use an Olympus Stylus 7.0 megapixel waterproof camera. It has no crazy lenses that the professionals use. Rather, it has settings that enable you to maximize light levels and various effects. I set my camera on the “sunset” mode, and turned off the flash.
Below are the shots that I captured:
Two Trips With Two Friends
Northern Wisconsin June 26th thru July 5th.
During the past nine days, including all of last week, I was privileged enough to be joined by my two good friends for two separate fishing trips. First with Kenny Lookingbill, who has now gone with me for three straight years, and then Dan Cahill, who made the second filming and fishing trip with me this summer.
For the entire week, I would take these two friends of mine to a total of sixteen different lakes.
Kenny and I left from my house for the north on Friday night the 25th, and we fished together until June 30th which was when he had to return home for work because he is an intern with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. With Kenny, we spent two and a half days Bass fishing, and for another two, we casted and casted for Muskies just so he could catch his first fish ever.
On the Bass fishing front, the fishing was inconsistent. We would have periods of terrible fishing followed by periods of good consistent fishing. The only forms of consistency we had was in terms of numbers as we caught fish every single day. The downside to this was the fact that size was lacking for both Smallmouth and Largemouth Bass. I think the largest we caught with Kenny were pairs of 17 inchers.
Besides the numbers game, we explored a number of new lakes which proved to be enjoyable, and worth second trips to at some point later this year.
By the end of the trip with Kenny, we began putting forth our focus on Muskies. This is the third year of Kenny’s pursuit for a fish of any size and after last week, he is now on year-4. Faced with terrible conditions, I was lucky enough to catch two fish, both undersized, and we could have had more in the net had they not gotten off. What I sense in Kenny is that he doesn’t have the persistence to keep on casting for an entire day’s worth of fishing as he kept on giving up too prematurely. I kept reinforcing the idea that whether or not he catches one depends on how bad he wants it. You gotta keep on casting, regardless if it’s out of desperation or not. He is used to catching Panfish or Bass every five minutes. With some tutelage, I believe he will eventually break through.
On the evening of the 30th, Kenny and I had to return to Illinois because he had to be at the central Illinois DNR office for work the next day. That one day break resulted in leaving me with a day off from fishing until my next trip which would take place beginning on the next morning until July 5th, with Dan Cahill.
Dan joined me for five days over Memorial Day weekend in which we did a lot of video work and fishing. We caught a lot of big Bass when we fished the last time, and I was expecting for the same to happen once again.
This time around, we caught a lot of fish with plenty of 17 and 18 inch Bass, but nothing otherworldly in terms of sizes were attained. Despite that, Dan and I caught loads of fish from a variety of lakes, and we were able to successfully concquer the strong winds, rainfall, and crazy weekend warrior boaters. Not to mention, we got a lot of good video.
I have each day of fishing chronicled below with a photo and a summary. And if you would like to continue reading on with each day of fishing, click the links below where you will be directed to my personal blog fishing journal.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Day 1: Saturday June 26th, 2010
Exploring Like Lewis and Clark
Kenny and I dedicated our first day of fishing to exploring the small lakes that seldom get fished. We began our day at a 100-acre lake that is located a few miles south of the U.P. border, and this is one of our favorites for Largemouth Bass. A traditional outing here consists of four or five hours of good action fishing as we would easily catch 30 to 40 fish per outing. Today was not the case. A colfront was in the process of making its way into the area and by the time we concluded fishing the lake’s many stump fields and flooded brush, we only caught a combined 20 Largemouth Bass on an assortment of stickbaits and even topwaters.
Following this first lake, Kenny and I had about half the day left, so we fished another small lake that has been on my radar ever since last summer. This lake was around 80-acres and has zero public access. The only way to reach it is through the small stream and culvert pictured above, and we had to travel down this narrow creek for a half mile before we would reach the lake. Kenny and I were anticipating on catching Largemouth Bass and Pike from its weedy dark waters. We caught a few fish apiece but since we were fishing during the warmest and sunniest period of the day, this exploratory mission proved to be less than spectacular. I will be back again in the future, as this lake looked really good! Unfortunately, battery failure on our electric motor forced us to leave the lake prematurely. Our day of fishing concluded at the infamous Frog Heaven where we fished at until dark. My slowest outing to date took place there as all that was caught on surface frogs were three Largemouth Bass by me - a pair of 16 inch fish and a 17 inch.
Continue to read more: http://www.fishing-headquarters.com/fishcast/?p=855
Day 2: Sunday June 27th, 2010
The Smallmouth Bassaholics
Due to rainfall, we got off to a late start for the day. We began shortly after noontime on a lake in the Sayner area which is now a favorite of mine for Smallmouth Bass. Here, we experienced more rainfall which considerably slowed the fishing for us. In five hours on this 1,000 acre lake, only one Smallmouth Bass was caught, a 17 incher, that fell to an unweighted Stankx stick. By fishing the lake’s productive rock bars, deep drop-offs, and sand flats, it is hard to imagine that ONLY one single fish was caught despite seeing schools of large cruising fish that were simly uninterested. Besides the lone Smallmouth Bass, we encountered a few Walleyes, including a major school of 20 inch fish that were eyeing our X-Raps.
Majorly dissapointed with the outing on this first lake, Kenny and I headed back towards town to fish a local 900 acre lake for Smallmouth Bass. The lake is extremely clear in transparency with a maximum depth of 100-feet. The only reason why I enjoy fishing this lake so much is that it is an extreme challenge to find the larger fish in its depths, and that the lake contains excellent action. This was an outing which would hopefully make us feel good about ourselves - a spirit builder of some sorts. Sadly, I did all of the catching with my well-rounded finesse skills while Kenny caught less than five fish in four hours. The difference: I use clear monofilament line in 6lb while Kenny uses 10lb braid on his spinning reels which aid him in the central Illinois pond fishing adventures. If you want to catch numbers of Smallmouth Bass from the places I fish, throw that braided superline into the trash. It’s no longer being allowed in my boat for these Smallmouth outings!
On an assortment of jigworms, grubs, and texas rigged craws, I ended the day catching 30+ Smallmouth Bass from the lake’s deepest and steepest shorelines that were littered with wood. The largest fish, seen above, went to 16-17 inches while majority were in th 12 to 14 inch range. Not to mention, the mid-lake sand and rock bars contained numbers of feeding fish as at one point, I had nearly ten fish in ten casts all from the same location. This was just one of those days. Finally, to round out the day, I was treated to a nice topwater bite, and we enjoyed a killer sunset over the lake.
Continue to read more: http://www.fishing-headquarters.com/fishcast/?p=859
Day 3: Monday June 28th, 2010
Windy Weather Muskies
This was Kenny’s third year in pursuit of the mighty Musky. Overnight, a coldfront rolled through the area and I elected that we should spend majority of our day fishing dark water lakes. Since I was in an explorer mode, I thought there was no better place to do this than the Sugar Camp Chain of lakes, located in northeastern Oneida County. The chain is comprised of five lakes: 700 acre Dam Lake; 500 acre Sand Lake; 180 acre Stone Lake; 100 acre Echo Lake; 200 acre Chain Lake.
We got off to a 7am start and it was windy out there. This was my first time ever out on the Sugar Camp Chain, and we had plans to fish all of the lakes except for Dam Lake. We wanted to make a full day out of it. We began on Sand with very little to show for it. I was not impressed with this lake. We then fished Stone Lake which I saw a lot of potential in. Kenny and I moved a few fish that we could not get to eat, and I even had a strike on a topwater that was missed. The lake features extremely dark water, and it surprisingly had great weedgrowth. Because the channels between each lake are ridiculously too long to navigate through, less than a mile of no-wake, we got lazy and tired of all of this motoring around. After five hours spent on Sand and Stone Lakes, we decided to pull out from the Sand Lake boat landing, and we would drive to the other two lakes and launch from them. Unfortunately, both lakes required 4wd, which my van does not have, so we took a pass. Thankfully Stone Lake has a decent landing so it will be accessed from the next time when we want to fish the latter of these lakes on the chain.
Following the chain, we had a half day of fishing left in us. We spent the remainder of our day on two smaller lakes in the area. One was a sub-100 acre lake, and the other was 200 acres. From these two lakes, the first was productive while the second was a dud. On the 100 acre lake, four or five fish were moved in three hours, and the chunky 30-incher seen above was caught on a jerkbait. Besides that, Kenny and I could have had a 40-inch plus fish in the net had it actually eaten while figure-8’ing it for 20 seconds. This particular fish did this on three separate drifts. Unreal!
Continue to read more: http://www.fishing-headquarters.com/fishcast/?p=861
Day 4: Tuesday June 29th, 2010
Coldfront Muskies
Same deal as the previous day. We kept on working for Muskies hoping for Kenny to catch that first one ever. The coldfront that came through the area was still with us, and it led to another difficult day of fishing. The morning hours featured absurdly cold air temperatures in the 40-degree range, and because of this we decided not to get out on the lake until the early afternoon. We began the day on a 300-acre lake in Vilas County only to find zero fish. We then moved onto the Eagle River Chain which was site of the PMTT tournament which was held just a few days earlier where a field of 90 teams registered 70 Muskies on day-1 of the two day event. Unreal! I figured that by fishing this essential river system for the first time ever, we would have a shot at a fish or two. The lake we fished was Watersmeet Lake which is actually the Wisconsin River moreso than a lake. The deepest areas are around 10-feet which is actually the river channel. For much of the time, we were the only boat out there and from its dark waters, I was able to catch a skinny 30-incher that hammered my topraider. After a few hours out on the ERC, we left, and I was impressed enough that I will eventually be back at this lake again.
Following, we had enough time to fit one more lake into the schedule. We decided to fish one of my favorite 300 acre lakes south of Saint Germain, so that’s where we finished up the day at. In three hours of fishing this lake, zero fish were moved, but efore darkness fell, I had a mid-30’s fish go airborne after I set the hook on my Llungen tale. I thought I had the fish hooked well enough but as soon as it torpedoed towards the boat and decided to jet down below us, the fish came unbuttoned. In my semi-serious two years of Musky fishing, this would have been my first multiple fish day ever. Darn. The good thing, however, was that this fish was not all that big.
Unfortunately, Kenny’s pursuit of a first Muskie still continues on. During these last two days, I kept on telling him that whether or not you catch one all depends on how bad you want it, and how persistent you can be. Unlike me, he was giving up too early and in my case, you need to keep on keeping on with the casting. Even when you don’t expect to catch one, you will eventually make contact.
Continue to read more: http://www.fishing-headquarters.com/fishcast/?p=864
Day 5: Wednesday June 30th, 2010
Sleepy Smallmouth Bass
During the evening, we would have to return to Illinois because Kenny had work the next day. We had around six hours left for fishing on this first trip, so we elected to close it out with some more Smallie fishing. I took Kenny to one of my favorite nearby lakes for them, 1000 acre Varmint Lake, and we experienced a tremendously slow bite for them. It was a windless and sunny day without a cloud in the sky, and that led to difficult fishing. Throwing everything we had in the box, a half-dozen fish like the one pictured above were caught on an assortment of crankbaits and jerkbaits. In closing, this was my most difficult outing of the year at this particular lake.
Continue to read more: http://www.fishing-headquarters.com/fishcast/?p=866
Day 6: Friday July 2nd, 2010
Musky Skunking
After taking the day off on Thursday to recuperate for my next trip with Dan Cahill, we made it back to the area on Friday afternoon for another four days. We originally had plans to fish all day on Friday, as we were originally scheduled to leave on Thursday night, but due to Dan’s work conflict, we had to be flexible.
We fished for only four hours on Friday evening and we decided to kill the time on Muskies. In four hours, we saw only one fish, and caught nothing.
Continue to read more: http://www.fishing-headquarters.com/fishcast/?p=868
Day 7: Saturday July 3rd, 2010
Smallmouth Trappin’ Wind Warriors
Our day of fishing was highlighted by excessive wind with gusts up to 30 miles per hour. We would spend the day exploring and fishing new lakes for a combination of Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass.
We began the day by fishing a few 1,000 acre lakes located on the Lac Du Flambeau Indian Reservation. First on 950 acre Little Trout Lake, and then 1,200 acre White Sand Lake if we could find the boat landing.
This was my first time out on Little Trout and while it was nothing like what I was originally expecting on a traditional Smallmouth Bass lake, I was impressed by the notion that it is a lot different in terms of habitat. Most of the Smallmouth lakes I am accustomed to fishing are deep, clear, and have bottom and structure that is dominated by sand/rock/gravel/wood. Little Trout was nothing like I had ever experienced before. It was all weed-oriented, and contained expansive weed flats that were dominated by scattered weeds and reed beds. This gave me a new dynamic for Bass fishing which I don’t get quite often and by covering water on this bowl-shaped lake, some good Smallmouth Bass at 17 and 18 inches were caught from the reedlines by throwing rattlebaits such as Rapala Clackin’ Raps. Pleased with this lake and what it has to offer, I will return again later this summer.
Next, we had plans to fish White Sand Lake. I have wanted to fish this lake for a few years now but due to so many other lakes being in the area, I never made the time for it. This lake has some excellent Smallmouth Bass but sadly we were not able to find the boat landing. Now that I seem to know where it is thanks to help from some locals, I will be back later this summer.
With a backup plan-B option for fishing, Dan and I headed north to the Boulder Junction region to fish and finish our windy day of fishing at. We first went to 850 acre Big Lake for Smallmouth Bass. We were here for four hours working our butts off to finesse the fish into biting. The fish were few and far between, but a nice 17 incher came to the boat. The only highlights we experienced here was the comedy witnessed at the boat landing as one weekend warrior let his unoccupied speedboat float away from the pier and then proceeded to swim for it. AND - we saw a bedding fish in early July. Something was mentally wrong with this fish.
We closed the day out at a 100-acre wilderness lake that has an electric-only rule. Thankfully Dan’s 4-Runner has 4wd, so launching and loading the boat was flawless at this rough access site. Due to the strong winds, we caught very few Bass and Pike and by 7pm, we decided to call it a day.
Continue to read more: http://www.fishing-headquarters.com/fishcast/?p=871
Day 8: Sunday July 4th, 2010
Independence Day Light Show
Dan and I spent the entire day fighting off rain showers and fishing a few underrated lakes for Bass in Oneida County. We first had plans to fish 800 acre Two Sisters Lake just south of Lake Tomahawk but due to a dismally shallow boat landing, we could not get the boat into the water.
Eventually, we would fish a 650 acre lake, followed by a 100 acre lake, and the day would be closed out at a local 900 acre lake.
For much of the day, we were able to find the action, but size was less than satisfactory. On a normal day, we would catch fish whose average size would be 14 to 16 inches. Not so much today as nearly everything we caught with clear water finesse tactics was less than 14 inches.
Unlike the previous day, the wind was no longer a factor, and the only thing we had against us was the rain. It rained for the entire day, but it was manageable as we caught fish all day long from these three different lakes.
Our day was concluded by fishing in the midst of an incredible sunset, which more than likely made up for the poor fishing we experienced. However, the best is the fact that we were the only boat out on these lakes for the entire day. That made it more enjoyable.
Continue to read more: http://www.fishing-headquarters.com/fishcast/?p=874
Day 9: Monday July 5th, 2010
Fighting With Weekend Warriors
This was our final day of fishing, and we had plans to fish for more than just five hours but thanks to early morning showers, we did not get out on the lake until 9am. We began at the infamous Frog Heaven with hopes of catching a combination of Largemouth Bass and Pike to catch from the thick slop.
In two hours at the heaven, Dan and I caught a handful of small Bass on frogs and the outing was highlighted by Dan’s first ever Pike caught not only from slop, but also on a surface frog. It was quite the battle pulling this fish out from mounds of weeds.
Following frog heaven, we went out on the Minocqua Chain to fish many of Minocqua Lake’s finest boat docks and houses. I figured that with the sunlight, we would catch some fish from these shady areas. I was proved correct. As we were pitching and skipping creature baits and jigs beneath the piers, I managed to catch a 3-pounder and lost an even larger fish that did not want to budge from its shaded lair beneath a boat house. After an hour of this, Dan and I grew tired of all the inconsiderate weekend warriors who could not keep themselves at a safe distance away from the shore and our boat. At one point, we nearly flipped over thanks to a ski boat pulling a water skier and after they yelled a half-hearted “Sorry Guys!”, I laced an expletive back at them. Too bad they ran back into their boat house on shore. We left shortly after.
Now, we only had two hours or so left of fishing. The skies were growing dark and more rain was moving into the area. We went back to the house to reload with musky gear, and we finished the trip up with yet another round of Musky fishing. We went over to a nearby 100 acre lake and while we were there, Dan and I moved four different fish on an assortment of bucktails and jerkbaits. Unfortunately, none of these fish were active, and they were in a highly negative mood. Dan was able to get a 30 incher to strike his bucktail but it did not stay on the hooks.
By 3pm, we called it a trip. And in my case, I concluded a fun week of fishing with these two good friends of mine.
Continue to read more: http://www.fishing-headquarters.com/fishcast/?p=876
_______________________________________________________________________________
I would like to thank my two friends, Kenny and Dan, for joining me on my fishing adventures for the past nine days. The fishing was only satisfactory according to my scale, but the company that joined me in the boat was first-class, and filled with excellent entertainment.
Who knows what openings I have left for the year but if the schedule allows, Kenny might be joining me in the fall if my more-dedicated Musky fishing friends cannot join me for four or five days in October. However, on the Bass fishing front, I would like to make one more run up north with Dan either in August or September for another film and Bass fishing session. We have a video project that we are currently working on.
Right now, I have plans for my next trip. If all works out, I will be up north next over the weekend of July 17th/18th, hopefully with friend, Ed Schmitt. If that doesn’t work out, then I am scheduled for the last week of July.
In the meantime, I have a few upcoming adventures that will be taking place in Illinois. This coming Sunday I will be joining a few of my friends whom I have not fished with yet this year, as we will be wading the Mazon River for Smallmouth Bass. Then after that, there is discussion that Dan Cahill and I will be making a trip to T H E Emiquon Preserve. And to make myself feel even more productive, I will be using this Wisconsin fishing “off-time” wisely to search for employment. . . . . . . . . It’s not looking all that hot.
(0) Comments :: Permalink
Atom
RSS 2.0
