Moose's Report - Cambridge-Elk River-Foley-Milaca-Mora-Ogilvie Fishing Reports

[gim]

The pike are on a rampage.  The last several times I have gone bass fishing I have been trimmed clean off by ravenous teeth.  Once in the river and twice in a lake.  30 pound braid too.  I have tried to use leaders on some of my setups but there are some lures that just don't work properly with a leader attached so then I don't catch any bass either.  Its only gonna get worse here as the water cools too.  I need to do something about this, I can't keep tossing $12 lures into the water.  Dang things

[austin123456]

I have seen those light fluorocarbon leaders might work better then wire or if you just took some heavy floro and tied it to your braid I dont really know how that would hold up but if they use em on leaders Im thinking they might work good?? 

[Wanderer]

20 lb flouro is your best defense.  Anything lighter and it doesn’t hold up.  Anything heavier and it’s too hard to tie and kills the action too much.  You can either tie on to your braid with a barrel swivel or tie direct with one particular knot I can’t remember the name of.

 

That flouro leader has been saving me money for years.  Yes, on occasion it will still get cut but I’d guess it has a 90% success rate for me.

[gim]

55 minutes ago, Wanderer said:

That flouro leader has been saving me money for years.  Yes, on occasion it will still get cut but I’d guess it has a 90% success rate for me.

 

I will have to try this.  I believe the knot you are thinking off it a double uni knot.  I went the entire season without getting snipped off once until about 10 days ago and now its happened three consecutive times.  I mostly use braided line and I've had less bite offs with braid compared to monofilament but evidently even braid can't hold up to the buzzsaw that is pike chompers.  The small ones usually don't have a big enough mouth to inhale the entire lure but the bigger ones just either destroy the lure or take the entire setup off completely, and that is what I've begun to encounter.  Its only funny when it happens to someone else!

Edited August 31, 2020 by gimruis

[Better Than Working!]

I am going to try a product called Knot 2 Kinky. It is a titanium and nickel tieable wire that doesn't kink or bend. My brother has been using it because of cut offs while bass fishing and he really likes it. I lost a lot of expensive baits last fall on Kabetogama to all the pike, so I am tying up a bunch of leaders before we leave for what I hope will be a fish filled week! I will let you now how well it works! 

 

[gim]

3 hours ago, Wanderer said:

20 lb flouro is your best defense

Hey Wanderer how much of this do you use?  Like 6-12 inches, just like a steel leader length?

[Wanderer]

You want to end up with no more than what you’d usually have out for normal casting.  No need to have it run through the tip or any more eyes.  Somewhere around 16 inches?  Whatever your comfortable with.

 

Tie the flouro to your braid before cutting a length off the spoil or you’ll have a hard time leaving enough for knots on both ends.  I tie on a cross lock snap for changing lures but tie direct for plastics and jigs.

[gim]

14 hours ago, Wanderer said:

I tie on a cross lock snap for changing lures but tie direct for plastics and jigs.

 

You tie on a snap at the end of the fluro or the end of the braid to the fluro?  I would prefer not to use a snap directly to the lure as some of the lure's action are affected by this so I tied it directly to a lure instead.

 

I had some Seaguar Flurocarbon left on a spool so I tied a couple up last night.  They are about 8-10 inches each so I think that will do.  I'll give them a try and report back on whether they held up to the teeth.

[Wanderer]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

 

You tie on a snap at the end of the fluro or the end of the braid to the fluro? 
 

I had some Seaguar Flurocarbon left on a spool so I tied a couple up last night.  

I tie the snap at the end of the flouro for changing lures.  Mostly crankbaits/jerkbaits and jigging spoons and raps.

 

Thats the same brand I’ve been using lately.

 

What your going to find with tying everything direct and on shorter lengths is you’ll be retying leaders more often unless you stay with the same bait all day.  A longer length will allow you 2-3 reties before you have to start over.

[gim]

2 hours ago, Wanderer said:

What your going to find with tying everything direct and on shorter lengths is you’ll be retying leaders more often unless you stay with the same bait all day.  A longer length will allow you 2-3 reties before you have to start over.

 

I've got enough setups where I don't usually interchange lures unless its the same one or a different size/color.  I'll start with the length I have for now and see how this goes.  Thanks for the suggestion.

[monstermoose78]

Finn is ready to get the ducks

[gim]

I don't think I'm going to duck hunt this season.  Its been so poor the last few years in this area that its just not worth my time to harvest a duck here or a duck there.  I don't know why its gotten to be so poor either because I used to harvest 25+ ducks a season in 4 or 5 outings.  I seriously used to see about 200 wood ducks on opener and now its about 30.  They just aren't there anymore.  My time is better spent fishing this time of year now.

 

I do think pheasant season will be very productive as long as most of the crops get harvested on time.  Hopefully we don't get a foot of snow on Thanksgiving again this season.

[monstermoose78]

10 hours ago, gimruis said:

I don't think I'm going to duck hunt this season.  Its been so poor the last few years in this area that its just not worth my time to harvest a duck here or a duck there.  I don't know why its gotten to be so poor either because I used to harvest 25+ ducks a season in 4 or 5 outings.  I seriously used to see about 200 wood ducks on opener and now its about 30.  They just aren't there anymore.  My time is better spent fishing this time of year now.

 

I do think pheasant season will be very productive as long as most of the crops get harvested on time.  Hopefully we don't get a foot of snow on Thanksgiving again this season.

It helps around here there tons of wood duck houses. With the water levels low it should be great here on the brook. High water around my area makes hard to get ducks. 

[monstermoose78]

Went over to Wisconsin to hunt grouse with my best friend and it was a blast. I got two and missed a few.

[gim]

The water temperature dropped 10 degrees in a week.  It was 74 when I was out there last week and it was 64 when I was out there this past weekend.  The fishing was still pretty good.

[JBMasterAngler]

Fished the Rum out of Isanti today. This stretch has some potential, but the water was about a foot low. That, plus my lack of ambition prevented me from going too far upstream. Caught 3 pike and 2 smallies. Had several hits, and a follow from a 30 inch pike under the bridge.

[birdguy]

I've been trolling Pokegama lately for crappies using line counter reels and Bandit lures. Been doing well, some have been around 11 - 12 inches. Lots of schooled up fish in the deeper areas, they suspend around 8 - 12 feet mid lake. 

[gim]

On 9/1/2020 at 11:34 AM, gimruis said:

 

I've got enough setups where I don't usually interchange lures unless its the same one or a different size/color.  I'll start with the length I have for now and see how this goes.  Thanks for the suggestion.

 

Update on the fluro leaders: they are effective.  I tied 20 pound Seaguar fluro in about 12 inch lengths to the braid and then the fluro to the lure.  I still caught bass and when a pike showed up I didn't get trimmed off either.  A couple of pretty decent sized pike over 30 inches couldn't cut through it.  The key is to inspect it regularly.  If there is a nick or kink in it, time to re-tie.  Thanks Wanderer

[1Crappieguy]

New to the Zimmerman area . Where to take a couple kids? I've got a 10 year old son and 6 year old daughter. Got a small 16 ft boat. Thanks!!

[gim]

44 minutes ago, 1Crappieguy said:

New to the Zimmerman area . Where to take a couple kids? I've got a 10 year old son and 6 year old daughter. Got a small 16 ft boat. Thanks!!

 

I've always done pretty well on Elk, Blue, and Green Lake.  I don't know what you're primary target is but I mostly fish bass on these lakes with regular success including this season.

[1Crappieguy]

2 hours ago, gimruis said:

Thanks Gimruis! We'll target whatever bends the pole.

 

 

 

[monstermoose78]

I would agree with those lakes they all offer good panfish as well. 
 

I was out getting duck decoys ready!! Sorry for the delayed reply 

Edited September 19, 2020 by monstermoose78

[monstermoose78]

O man!! Duck season is so close I can taste it!! I got enough shells for a war and that is what I am declaring to all wood ducks Is war!! Finn is in peak shape and my shooting has been pretty good. 

[Wanderer]

@monstermoose78are you opening local this year or up at your Dads place?

 

Id be excited too with a pup in top form.  My shooting has been just shy of 80% lately which ain’t bad but I’ve dropped a couple points over the summer.  Just not shooting enough!

 

This year my opener is in limbo (my opening weekend pard has a hitch in his schedule) and I won’t be out next weekend.  I’ll probably take the easy way out and hunt around the house for a few hours.

 

Good luck all!

[monstermoose78]

12 hours ago, Wanderer said:

@monstermoose78are you opening local this year or up at your Dads place?

 

Id be excited too with a pup in top form.  My shooting has been just shy of 80% lately which ain’t bad but I’ve dropped a couple points over the summer.  Just not shooting enough!

 

This year my opener is in limbo (my opening weekend pard has a hitch in his schedule) and I won’t be out next weekend.  I’ll probably take the easy way out and hunt around the house for a few hours.

 

Good luck all!

I am going local this weekend. It might be just the dog and me, but that’s okay. We will sit on the brook and blast at the wood ducks. River Rat 316 said he would go but we will see if he shows up. On the brook it’s nice to have two people so one can watch the south and the other can watch the north.

[Kettle]

Good luck tomorrow Moose!

[Wanderer]

We’ll be out tomorrow morning, about an hour from home.

 

Shoot straight!  Follow through!

[monstermoose78]

Well I dropped two Finn got one and the other took off down the brook. Finn is beat and I am ready for a nap. 

[Wanderer]

We got beat to our primary spot - and nearly every other spot today.  More than double the boats on the lake than last year. Tons of shooting for the groups in the prime spots.  We were not in a prime spot; except for mosquitoes!  Missed several opportunities at teal zooming through while swatting and waving skeeters away.

 

The Battle Coot debuted with a pair retrieved; one lost in the thick rice for me.  

[gim]

I heard western MN was pretty good but it appears that the central area was poor.  I knew there would be more hunters.  Expect more of that when other seasons open.