11/21 report

[76k20]

It was a slow day in my boat today, although I was marking a lot of fish on the graph from 20 to 30 fow I wasn't able to trigger alot of action. I was out from 10 to 3, we had some short strikes and no fish boated. Looking at the forcast this may have been the last open water Im gonna hit for a while, come on ice.

[southerner]

Well, I'm hoping for as many more relatively nice days as Mother Nature will allow for open water angling. The action today for my fishing partner and me was fairly steady. We fished both the Croix and the Miss, boating a couple dozen keeper-sized sauger and a handful of 'eyes. It was pleasant to be out there today with little wind and bright sunshine keeping things comfortable, in comparison to the north wind and could cover we had yesterday. The purple ringworm got the nod in the morning as my go-to lure, with the chartreuse and then light blue Superdoo taking the honors in the P.M. Most fish were in the 13-15" range but we did manage a pig walleye taping out at 25" . Yeah, I know there are some larger fish out there, but this was the biggest I've seen all fall. I may have to try some Pool 2 wingdam fishing soon to try to improve in that category.

I'm planning on being out Wednesday afternoon and this coming Saturday but it's all weather-dependent. Just checking the local forecast last hour showed some inclement weather in the near future. I hope my open water season hasn't come to a screeching halt! As long as the boat ramps are safe I'll be out there. Hope to see some of you all on the water.

[walleyefanatic]

I was also on the water on Saturday but only fished for 5 hours because I was struck by a bad case of panzyitis. Fishing wasn't too bad as I was able to boat 28 fish (27 sauger and 1 walleye). All the fish were between 13" and 20" with the lion's share being right at 15". I caught 100% of the fish on plastics but I used many different styles and colors. I started off with ringies in purple/chartruese, purple/white, blue flake, and brown/orange. All the colors but the brown put fish in the boat. Using the ringies I found most fish liked just holding it still about 6" off the bottom. I then switched to a 5" Kalin (chartruese) which also put fish in the boat. The most action on the Kalin was achieved by twitching the jig for 3-4 seconds then holding it still. After I got tired of fishing the Kalin I tried the superdoo (chartruese)and also caught fish. What seemed to produce best with the superdoo was snap jigging. All the fish again were caught in 8-15 fow. I'm still holding my breath for the big pigs to visit the spot. Have not seen a monster yet this year and I'm starting to get worried. I unfortunately will not be out on the water this weekend because we're heading to the inlaws in Oshkosh, WI. I will be out the following weekend even if I have to bring my own sand to the launch.

[wall-i-king]

Walleyefanatic

Sounds like you did pretty well but I am kind of wondering the general areas that you were catching them? Did you get them at the bridge, up at the Kinni, somwhere in between, or somewhere totally different. River fishing in the fall is definitely awesome if you get into them. I am glad to hear that you did well. I hope all you guys have a great weekend and think of all the things that we have to be thankful for.

keep fishin'

wall-i-king

[walleyefanatic]

I have one area in particular that I visit but I can't give the location away. It's a small area and if a lot of people find out how easy this spot is to fish I'll never get to it again. As a back-up I do quite well most days in Prescott. I can only think of 2 times this fall when I wouldn't have brought home a limit if I kept the fish I caught. Cranks, cranks, cranks; change up the sizes, styles and colors along with your speed and you'll find the magic combination before you know it. My starting point this time of year is a chartruese #9 SR on leadcore moving up-river just fast enough to overcome the current. The first variable I change if I don't get any action is the size of the bait, then the color, then the style, then the speed. I try to keep the bait within 6" of the bottom without dragging because there seem to be a lot of leaves and other "stuff" on the bottom and one would waste a lot of time unfouling cranks if you drag bottom. Most of my action for the bigger sauger (18"+) seems to be between the railroad bridge and the confluence in the deeper water (27'+) and on the bigger lures (#9 SR and #18 originals). I might start breaking out the super shad raps and see how they produce. Man I love fall fishing, I don't know if it's possible to fish with baits that are too big.