11-7 report

[Stratosman]

Made it out for a few hours this evening, man what a cold and windy time on the river!

Caught 4 sauger and two eye's, 20" and a 17" sauger, with a 17" eye and the rest short saugs....all but one trolling lead core on a sand break, the other jigging. 16-21 of water.

With hunting season here I havn't been out in a month, hope to get on the river once more before ice time....

[croixeyes]

Thanks for the report Stratosman..A few questions if I may.Were you south?Water temps?Last Sunday I couldnt get a fish trolling faster than 1.7,was that the same for you?Water levels look to be back to normal now.

[Stratosman]

Yes, about as far south as I could have went.... , I believe I read the water temps at about 46-47 degrees, I was running a tail dancer and trolling about 1.8-2.3 mph depending on direction I was going...

If I had more time I wanted to try pulling a 3-way with the bowmount around 1-1.5 mph with a stick type bait such as a husky, original floater or x-rap bait...less agressive of a presentation, maybe a #9 or #7....? also much better for maintaining bottom contact with the varying depth range I was in, just ran out of time. Was getiing enough with the core to keep me going...

Hunting this weekend so hopefully we have another good weekend in the near future.

[BemmaB363]

How long of a leader were you using with the leadcore?

[Big Jeff]

Guys all I have is a 65hp on the back of a 16ft tri hull, do you think I can troll with that or am I going to be going to fast? I think I can keep it a little slower if I pull it in and out of gear a little of affect the momentum. But I have been fishing mainly jigs w/ fat heads, I would like to pull some shad raps but I am scared I am moving to fast. Let me know what you think. Thanks

[rosspj59]

Big Jeff, most likely too fast, but you can always try the poor man's kicker. Either by pulling a drift sock or a couple of pails off the sides of the bow. A gps will be very benefecial to tell how fast you are going. Being in heavier current will help too.

[croixeyes]

Ditto on the drift sock,I use one up on Mille when pulling spinners and the bowmount isnt enough cause of waves.Either hook it up on the front of yer boat on the trailer hook or if you have boat cleats on both sides up front in yer boat you can run a line between them and let the drift sock slide back and forth,this gives you alot more control of yer boat.Make sure the sock doesnt extend into your prop though or youll be going slower than you want to

[b1gf1sh1]

buy a trolling plate. and a driftsock. a trolling plate mounts on your motor and flips down over in back of the prop to restrict flow. i get my 135 down to 1.8 - 2.5 that way. slower into wind/current. with an oversized driftsock(i have an 18 1/2 foot boat and use a recomended 20-22 foot driftsock) i get to .8 to 1.5 using a combination of both. just a little tip if you decide to get these. avoid nylon socks. they deteriorate quickly. also i recommend cabela's trolling plate that is spring loaded and automatic. manual deployed ones are ok but if your like me you might forget to unlock it and break a shear pin. i broke at least 50 of them before i threw it away and got the automatic one. man, what a relief. you will give up some control with the sock while deployed but with practice you can learn to steer early or late as conditions dictate.hope this helps.

[Big Jeff]

thanks guys I am going to give it a shot tommarow, I think I am going to start with a jig and a minnow and then move over to trolling depending on how things go. Any advice on depths? I don't have lead core but I do have some deep divers, tail dancers and what not. Good luck out there and hope they are jumping in the boat.

[Stratosman]

Tail dancers will run plenty deep on #14 fireline with around 120' of line or so should get you all the way down around 30'..

Don't forget 3-ways either....

Oh yeah post results!!!

[croixeyes]

A threeway rig will get you down as far as you need.Threeway swivel 12 to 18 inch dropper for your weight and 5 to 7ft leader for your crankbait.3ounces is typical for a dropper weight but you can go heavier if you like.Then put on any crank you like,itll get down there.As far as depth of the fish,thats gonna vary.If the jigging works,stay with it.Id probably stay with what your good at this time of year,and do some experimenting with different types of trolling next year.Speed can be a critical factor this time of year,and we dont have as much time to experiment with stuff as we do in summer.But thats up to you,enjoy this weekend people cause we will probably be walkin on water before to long........Good luck out there........

[b1gf1sh1]

little known tip. (least to people i show it too). if you don't have a three way swivel, you can get by(not recomended for spoons or spinners or any live bait presentations unless another swivel is attached to leader going to lure/bait as it will twist) with a regular swivel for crankbaits by tying your main line to the top, sinker to the bottom, and the crankbait with prefered leader to the top hole your main line is tied to. works just as good this way IMO. in fact i prefer it this way for cranks. i think it lets the crank hold true better..

[blueroof]

I pulled 3 ways from 11am-4pm today. Started around Catfish Bar. Kept busy getting some nice sauger with a few silver bass mixed in. There was a few folks vertical jigging with what appeared to be limited success. Tried just out from Beanie's on the way home, got two nice walleye and a 20" in a tight area. Had to run, so wasn't able to try anything else.

Everything caught was on either a small husky jerk or large fathead on a 3 way, pretty even split. I was going from .75-1.5 mph, getting most hookups right over 1mph. Fished mostly 17-20ft, others seemed to be working deeper. Many folks were pulling rapalas on 3 way with decent success. Going against the ridge, progressively deeper or shallower seemed good too.

Good luck, LB

[b1gf1sh1]

hey blue. i've been feeling kind of sick for awhile and it won't go away so i aint been out. glad your getting some. going to try it this weekend if i feel even a ''little'' energetic. anyway heres something to try if your willing to give up numbers of fish for the ''possibility'' of a pig. when you hit a tight area like you described and your getting fish (walleye inparticular) in that 20'' range try this. no matter your presentaion. since your threewaying heres this. try upsizeing your husky jerk or stick minnow untill you stop getting those sized fish. and keep working that area. i've gotten several nice lil' piggy's that way. never a guarantee but if you aint gettin em big using small stuff go bigger. the reason?''theres a reason that those smaller fish are feeding there and if it's feeding time the bigger ones just might be hungry too, but the little ones grab all the food and pass on the bigger stuff, hence your lure will be bigfish bait''. works 1 in 100 times but sometimes it works half the time. you just never know .good luck and good fishin'... oh yeah... create alot of pauses if you can with the huskys (they suspend) ... up to 20 seconds sometimes, no less than 10. no lie man

[blueroof]

Hey B1gf1sh, hope you are feeling better. I've toyed with some size 12 and 14's, I'm always amazed at how determined some of the little ones are to eat those things. My buddy was telling me that the smaller ones drive the big river fish crazy; he lives on a lake, go figure. The last couple weeks I've been getting all the larger fish on rapala, today was the exception, most of our over 20's came off redtails or sumo fatheads on a hook.

I hope to get out for some evening fishing next week. I'll try to put your advice to work and report back.

LB

[Fishin4aLivin]

Just wanted to jump in here and thank blue again for the hospitality. He and I ventured out yesterday on the Croix and even though it started off a little windy and wet, the action kept us warm. We had a very good day both with huskys and live bait on three ways. The key seemed to be speed. Too fast and you just weren't getting bit. The fish were definetly concentrated in a smaller area and once we were in that area it was pretty much non-stop action!! We had many doubles, a couple of triples, and maybe even once a quad. Can't ask for much more than that. It was great meeting blue and getting to know him. We both thought it was funny to see boats all day buzz by us to get to the "hot spot", little did they know. Not only is blue a heck of a guy and a fisherman, but he is similar to Jesus in that I saw him bring a fish back from the dead!!! Anyways a good day on the water and I look forward to doing it again sometime Blue!!!