THESE BLASTED COLD FRONTS!!!!!!!

[MarkB]

I haven't posted for a few days so it's time to sound off again... It's been really chilly for my wife and myself these past few days. Steady rain, intermittent rain, wind, lots of wind, and just plain cold temperatures(really chilly with wind chill factored in). BUT, we ventured out anyway....

For us, the bite is on again off again. One day, we find lots of fish and they are mostly biters, the next day, we find lots of fish and catch very few with those being mostly dinks. Water temperatures have bounced around with this cold front. I was seeing ~64 degrees a week ago and watched it fall to 58 degrees then rise back up to 61.9 degrees today. I'm sure it has an effect on some fish but I would sure hate to bet much on it. We've had some of our best luck on the crappiest days.

The bait situation has definitely moved drastically into the leech quadrant for us. Actually, When I replenished bait a couple days ago, all I bought was leeches. Same terminal tackle with a leech in the place of a minnow. The bite is good and a fairly quick hook set is working with most of the walleyes being lip hooked and released no worse for the wear. We're catching lots of walleyes on the mud still and, the ones that we eat, are still full of mayfly larvae.

Slip bobbers have not produced yet for us. I think it's a patience problem on my part We usually do quite well on bobbers used with leeches on shallow reefs(5'-14') but my journal says warmer water will produce way better. We have had our success slow trolling .4-.6mph. When the perch minnows start showing up in the shallow bays, we'll switch to slip bobbers exclusively It will be BIG fish time...

We haven't been catching many slot fish yet. Some of the big males are down there with the schools of small fish but the dink to eater/slot ratio is way out of whack to hold our interests for very long. Every now and again, we get lucky and mark a school or some scattered fish that are eater sized and that's where we spend our time. We haven't caught big numbers anywhere consistently but a typical day will produce 10-15 walleyes on a 3-4 hour outing with a 4:1 eater ratio on a really good day. Today we got a 16.5",16",2-15", 14.5", 2-14" and 3 others 12"-13.5" adjacent to a huge reef in 27'. We stopped by a shoreline mud flat on the way home and found a dinkfest Oh well, I guess they are all small at some time in their lives...

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[Tom Sawyer]

Nice report, we all feel your pain, although minnows may have made a huge difference. Just remember the good about these severe cold fronts, it kills off the recent skeeter hatches..........

[redlabguy]

Thanks for the inspiration Mark. This weather has been tough! Maybe things will be steadier in the week to come. One good thing- all those holiday boats are gone!

I'm impressed that you're marking so many fish. Over the last few days, when I mark fish, it's rare and they're dinks. I'm guessing from your experience I need to explore more mud flats between reefs and land drop offs. There is a lot of water out there to cover!

Good luck out there,

Dick

 

[MarkB]

Thanks for the inspiration Mark. This weather has been tough! Maybe things will be steadier in the week to come. One good thing- all those holiday boats are gone!

Dick

I'm going to have to agree with you on the holiday boats statement! I took my boat off the lift on Tuesday and tied up to the dock. When helping my wife get in, I noticed that my motor had been backed into or hit in some other way and the section below the hood was scratched with a 4" crack. I took it to John at Aronson's and the damage estimate for the insurance company was $1381!!!!! Not happy to say the least.

I fished the spot on the east end yesterday where your wife caught the 27"er least year. I marked a few fish on that flat and after stopping and switching to troll speed we began marking lots of fish and they were biters That flat/bench is mud and drops off deep on three sides with the nasty reef on the east end. They were there yesterday.

I have no trouble finding dinks myself but I haven't really pounded those areas where I've been catching mostly small fish even though I'm sure bigger fish are with them. Some of those bigger males are low end slot fish built like a hammer handle northern.

The warm weather over the next week to 10 days should warm the water to the point we'll be talking about the may fly hatch that's coming up this month. Then we can worry about something else affecting the bite.

Good Fishing,

MarkB

 

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[redlabguy]

Whoa! Sorry about the motor! Drivable?  For the record I haven't been east of Pig yet. That'll change soon. I spent the evening scouting Frazer. My sister and her avid angler husband arrive tomorrow. He likes to explore the east and I'm ready for new territory, too. Thanks for the idea and that's just past my favorite reef. So maybe I'll see you soon.

Again, sorry some jerk hit and ran on your boat!

dick

[MarkB]

We've continued, these past couple of days, fishing the general areas where we've had success. I am trying bobber fishing more seriously now but haven't had any success from the boat. This past evening, I decided to try dock fishing again. We've had a couple friends using our docks and they've caught lots of fish but most are dink status. I don't think they've caught a slot fish yet. Anyway, I went down to the dock around 8:15 and stayed out till almost 10:00. I thoroughly enjoyed it! Not because of the fishing but because of everything else happening. I watched loons, an eagle, mergansers, mallards, and even a beaver sneaking around just before dark. One particularly enjoyable thing was watching a Dad boat fishing with his very young son and showing him the finer points of getting a hit, setting the hook, netting a fish, etc. He talked to the little guy as if he were an adult and I was thoroughly impressed with his patience and perseverance. They caught several small walleyes and the young fisherman had a ball. At one point, the sun was almost down and it was casting a shimmering line across the water. I watched the fishermen cross that line in their boat and when they cleared it, the boat and them were just dark outlines and the shimmering line remained. It was a picture that a professional photographer would kill for! What a subject: "The Beginning of a Fisherman"

Me, I suck as a dock fisherman! I had way more fun watching all the local activity. I ended up landing 12 including 11 dinks from 8"-10" and one real trophy class 14.5"er!!! I had to have missed 20! There's just something about a bobber going under that makes you reflect on your own beginnings as a fisherman. Especially as you get older

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[fishingdad]

Mark;  I wish there was a "Love this" for your last post.  My son is now 14 & definitely knows more than I do   but our time in the boat most weekends on Vermilion is as good as it gets for a Dad.

[redlabguy]

Fishing Dad is right, Mark. That's a great description of what we all enjoy about life on the lake.

Dick