Final Trip a Success

[bturck]

Made the last trip of the season and it was a great time. I took my son in law and his brother who were total newbies to LOW.<BR>Thursday we hit the lake at 1145am after a 5 hour ride (including a breakfast stop). We were once again fishing out of Riverbend and there houses. We were in 27' of water and ended up with 13 keeper fish for the day and many small fish being returned. Nothing large with 17" eye and 16" saugs being the biggest. Again it was the same as last week for us, small glow white/green or glow white/orange crappie jigs fished right on the bottom with the smallest fatheads in the bucket. A slow lift and drop brought the fish off the bottom. The larger jiggin' spoons still seemed to spook the fish.<BR>Friday: On the lake at 630am and again the same presentation worked for us. Mid day I did go to a small silver/orange zip jig tipped with a fathead and found some agressive fish that would take this presentation as long as I kept it to a minimum. The day produced 31 mixed eye and saug. Again nothing huge, with 18" eye the largest. Again a lot of throw backs. Also one pout, two tulllibe and a couple of nice perch. My son and two of the guys headed to 16' at 300pm. I stayed at 27' and had a ball until 445pm and things died. They picked up fish from 500-630pm when Richard picked us up and we headed back.<BR>Saturday: On the lake again at 630am and fished until noon. We culled the fish in the morning throwing back a lot of small fish but were able to put the 12 we needed together for our limit. Again the same slow technique worked better than anything aggressive. The newbies had a great time and want to know when we're headed back. i think they're hooked.<P>There was defintitley more travel evident on Saturday morning off the main roads by vehicles. There are still some slush pockets however where the snow is still deep and the bombers were working pretty hard in several area's on the way out. Another few days and anybody up there should have pretty decent travel.<P>Talked to BobD on Saturday morning on the radio. His group was headed to our house after we left, so hope you guys were able to put some fish in the bucket. All in all it was a fun time. Again Richard, Kent, Glenn and the rest of the staff at Riverbend did a great job in moving us around and making the trip a lot of fun. I wish I could get back once more but not the case so I will continue to watch the Forum and read reports from all who can still get out there. Many thanks to all of you who have provided some great information the past few months. Hope you have a really great end to the season. Good luck and keep hangin' on. Bill

[hanson]

bturck,<BR>Another great report!! I think I'm in the same boat as you, last trip of the winter. We were trying to get on some Pike on the west side of the lake. I think the weather kept them tight lipped because there was no action. Then when we were picking up, I noticed one of my tip-ups was tangled and my QS rig and bait were gone. Darn pike snapped it off of 30 lb braided line. That was a big bummer.<P>Anyway, wanted to thank you for putting up a number of great posts this winter. I've really enjoyed reading them even though we don't fish the east side of the lake too often. I'm bummed to see ice fishing come to an end since I don't have a boat and don't get out fishing too much in the summer. I'll probably be fairly quiet around the forum until next winter but I'll definitely contribute when I can.

[New Yankee]

BT - sounds like a great finale to a good year. Sure was good to meet you and Dan in December, hope I can put together another trip next year and share a drink w/you both at that time .<P>Take care, Bob

[Guest]

bturck<BR>I was thinking about booking a trip to LOW early ice next year. I have heard alot of things about riverbend so we may give them a try. Do they have a restaurant and a bar maybe a gameroom?? from your experience are we better going up in early december or better going in the middle or the end of dec.<BR>is it mostly saugers in there houses or do you get some walleyes to. how deep do they typically have there houses that time of year.thanks

[bturck]

hanson: thanks for the kind words. Its always good to read the reports from all over the lake. i certainly don't profess to know everything about this lake, there are people who post here who have forgotten more about LOW than I'll probably ever know. Some very knowlegable folks who's postings I have found truly valuable. My only attempt at posting was to relay personal expirenaces from the small area of this lake that I have fished. It is a remarkable part of our State and the people whom I've had the pleasure of meeting on this forum and in person have been true sportsman.<P>New Yankee: Yes it was a really good time. To me its as much fun to watch someone enjoy their first trip and get a chance to catch some as it is for me to actually pull them in myself. It was indeed a pleasure to meet you and your friends this year and I'm looking forward already to next year and we will have that beer. In the meantime keep the lid on things in Sioux Falls, SD.<P>Rocky: I think the local folks who post here will agree that first ice is a tremendous time to be on this lake. The fishing is something else and can be awfully rewarding in numbers and size. As far as Riverbend is concerned; they do have a bar and lounge and very good food at affordable prices. They do have a small game area near the bar, pool, and some video shooting games etc. As far as our group is concerned we will usually make our first trip right after Xmas. Depending on the ice conditions will dictate how far out and how deep the water will be where the hosues are set. This last season we were in 24' on Dec 27th. As the ice thickens and the fish migrate to the deeper part of the basin they will move the houses. In January we were in 32'. Glenn and the crew do everything they can to keep the houses on fish, sometimes however the fish don't realize that and can be uncooperative. They have a tough job which looks fun from our side but means a tremendous amount of work and expense from theirs. I'm sure all of the resort people are looking forward to a little R and R now that its coming to an end with the rentals. At this time I have four trips booked again for next year and would recommend giving them a shout if you're interested. From reading this forum you will also see that many of the resorts up there come with high praise from that area. The ice is still good if you have the chance to go up and go portable some great fishing is still to come. Again my sincere thanks to all who take the time to relate reports on this forum and to Rick who does such a fantastic job of keeping the whole machine oiled and running. Good luck and do hang on. Bill <P>PS: Almost forgot. I must relay a quote from the famous CharterBoss from last week. He told me while we were sharing a cold one that he will gurantee fish to anyone. Of course I fell for it and asked him where. His reponse " at the grocery store". CharterBoss, nice job, but you still missed the GAP. That was your charter aground..........LOL

[DrJ]

Rocky. December is a great time to go.Christmas weekend my son and I had a great trip. Lots of fish,my 14 year old caught and released a 32" walleye.One mid-Jan. trip was okay, late-Feb was slow and this past Friday we went to Garden Island and fishing was good again.Only problem was he woke up with the flu on Sat. so we headed home.I think the heavy snow cover this year really slowed down the bite.Its alway a great time at LOW no matter how the bite is. Thanks to all for all the great info this past season on this FM site. I wish everyone a safe year with Good Fishing. DrJ.

[BobD]

Bill; <BR> Good to get a chance to talk on the radio, wish we could have met though. It was tough going in the morning,only one fish. When they moved us to "your shack" we kept another 13 out of 21. So the day turned out to be a little better.I think that front might have shut down the shallower fish, oh well that's fishing. Maybe we can hook up sometime next year,take care. Bob

[charterboss]

Oh Bill,bill, bill ,,-had to get one last dig in ,,,however you forgot one important step in that process, you have to guide them to the frozen food section and then after that its up to them to pick out the style---sticks or triangles....lol-- can't be my boat,,its older than I am. Try and get here in the summer once and I'll show you what real fishing is all about..<BR>mike

[bturck]

BobD: Glad they were still going when you got to the house we had vacated. I was hoping Kent would bring your party over before Richard picked us up, and we could have shaken hands, or swapped beers at least. Do you get the chance to come up during the summer months also? We will definitley hook up no doubt.<P><BR>Charterboss; You know what they say, "you can lead em to water". My wife and I are coming up this summer. We had a long discussion this weekend after I returned and am now looking into some property in the area. I talked to KAZ by email yesterday and he gave me some info. So this summer will be kind of a scouting mission in anticipation of retirement. However I will be there long enough to partake of your vast knowledge of the pond and see if you really are able to get through the GAP, or is your fishing confined to the Super Market. I will let you where and when. Did you buy that Bravada????? Bill