Night Bite Report

[Mykal]

Well, the night bite has yet to get swinging into high gear on the West side but fish are being caught. Right now for me it has been right around 8pm and then again after Midnight. 4-8 fish a trip is all I'm able to get to take my bait, but I haven't explored the other sides of the lake yet. The good news is all the fish I am getting are 26 and over. Last night I started off the night with a 27 incher and 2 that came unbuttoned around 8-9pm. Then it died until around Midnight, when I caught another 26 incher and missed 3 more with one that was a true hog! before calling it a night. Terrible hooking percentage I know just one of those nights. I have been getting all of my fish on Shad Raps, both deep and shallow runners. The stick baits will get there turn once the water temps drop. The water temp was 63.4 to 63.1 where I was fishing. I am also running deeper water, like 8-15 feet right now. I have found lots of baitfish wandering in the 15-17 foot range so when I spot some in shallower, I troll the area.

I want to thank the 2 guys from Iowa who took a pic for me last night! The moon was shining bright and it was a great night to be out. There were more people out last night than I have seen in a long time.

Won't be too much longer now.

[This message has been edited by Mykal (edited 09-26-2004).]

[Borch]

We found a lot of the same things Thursday night on the West side. The eyes wanted no part of the stick baits. Although a did get a couple on smaller ones like #11 rapala and thunderstick Jrs.

We couldn't get anything to go deep. All our fish came from 5 ft or less of water and most came after midnight. No big fish and very few small ones. All very plump males from 17 - 21.75". For us #5 shallow shad raps in 3-4 ft of water was the ticket. Color really didn't matter. Water temps were 64-65 degrees.

We were surprised to find the lake to ourselves that night.

Can't wait until October full moon. The big girls show weigh very good this year! For Sept. full moon we're heading up to Cass to get away from the crowds.

Have a good one guys!

Borch

[Kab Dreamin]

We were on Center Bar and Grassy Island. Caught about a dozen with 4 keepers. Two 21's and 2 17's. Lost a nice one at the side of the boat, looked to be in the 24-26" range, and threw back a bunch of dinks. Water was in the 62 - 63 degree range. Caught them all in 10-12' of water. Marked alot of fish out over 14-16' but couldn't get them to go. Fire tiger #7 shad rap was the best producer followed by perch. Nothing on the clown. Fished from 7:30 to midnight and only had two other boats for company. Beautiful night on the water. Heading back on Wednesday night and am planning on fishing Center, the Graveyard and Hawkbill if it is windy out of the south and if not, I think we will venture up to Lakeside and Flamingo.

[Mykal]

Thanks guys. Good to see a few reports trickling in. This week the temps should drop nicely. It should only get better from here on out. Keep those reports coming.

[Kab Dreamin]

We caught a 20" walleye Saturday night that had eggs in it. They didn't look like they were ripe but rather looked kind of a pale whitish yellow. Anybody else seen anything like this? Very odd.

[TRZ]

on sat. night i got 22 fish 10 dinks, 4 over slot and a limit for me and my buddy. it will only get better, but i can't buy a walleye during the day. i did get a 43 inch musky, fun fight. i was probably out with Kab in the isle area. any one getting any eyes on cranks during the day?

[Jeff S]

Kab

It is common to see eggs in walleye this time of year. They are developing for next years spawn. They will be much more noticable by mid November but they are in there begining stages of development now.

Jeff S

[Crossin' Eyes]

Hi Everyone. Sorry for the tardy fishing report.
Was up on the pond to fish last Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. We tried to cover a ton of water and used lots of different approaches to catch fish. Friday night my brother and I fished together in the Big Point area. It was a little rough when we first got out, but it calmed down a bit after mid-night. We ran as far north as Hunters Point, and also fished the Doe Island Reef. Only 2 fish caught, both on Clown HJ-12 in 6 ft of water, just north of Big Point. One was a super fat 21.5" walleye, and the other was a scrappy 33" pike. Saturday night we launched by the casino. 5 of us in 2 boats. We fished Sha-Bosh-Kong Bay, Indian Point, and Wigwam bay. It was a beautiful night and it definitey brought out the boat traffic. Inian Point was pretty crowded. We did manage 2 walleyes and lost one right by the motor. Biggest was 24.5". Again, all were caught on HJ-12. This time Orange Craw. Boat #2 rode out a dry spell that lasted past mid-night, but then hooked up with some fish in Wigwam Bay pulling shallow Shad Raps in Firetiger color. Fishing in 5-6 ft. of water, they got 3 and lost 2. Biggest was 25.5".
Sunday night we again hit the West side to see if we could find more shallow fish on the Shallow Shad Raps. We found them in 5-7 ft. of water, just inside the weeds. In fact, our best bite came when you could see weeds on the graph growing up about a foot or so off the bottom. We ran our baits right over the tops and picked up a bunch of fish. 3 of us ended up with 18 fish including 9 beautiful legals in the 18-21" range. We had some shorter fish in the sub-15" category that went back and a couple over the 22" slot. 23.5" was our biggest, but man was it fun to finally get into some fish, and also to be able to keep a few each for the table.
The colder nights will definitely help the Husky Jerk bite on the rocks. This weekend, the coolest temp we found was 61 degrees. Once that surface temp hits the sub-60 degree mark, the bite should pick up.
Good luck to all, and see you in Ocotber!

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Good Fishin!
Crossin

[bigeyes]

Crossing, thanks for the detailed report, it was all good info.

[Mykal]

Crossin, nice report, I was on IP Saturday night for a bit as well. I just haven't seen the big girls come in yet. Like you said, shouldn't be long now.

[Corey Bechtold]

Fishin Magician, were you using #7SSR shad raps? What was the color pattern, Chart/white? And what speeds were you trolling, 2.1mph? Just seeing what they want and how they want it

Corey Bechtold

[Crossin' Eyes]

Mykal,
I wish I was close enough to go more often,(like every night from now until freeze up would be just fine by me)
Were you by yourself Saturday night in a black and tan Lund?

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Good Fishin!
Crossin

[fishin magician]

Hit the lake last night with a buddy from dark till 1:00 a.m. Trolled, trolled, trolled, Nothing. Wind picked up and then BANG 11:00. 8 fish all in the slot. One had a tag on it. Called it in today to the Aitkin County fishery office.

[This message has been edited by fishin magician (edited 09-29-2004).]

[Guest]

I was on the pond Monday night with my 9 year old son hoping to fish the west side. Unfortunately I was forced to go to the east side due to the big NE wind. So we went to the Cedar Creek landing and the fished Doe Island and Big Point areas. Tried small baits (#5 shallow shad raps) in shallow (4-6' of water) and #12 Husky Jerks out to about 12' of water along with some other misc baits in between. Nothing but a 15" smallie. Fished too early probably (4pm to 9pm) but was limited by my son's schedule. It was still nice to be on the water, will have to try again soon. Very few boats on the water Monday night.

[fishin magician]

Corey,
We were pulling small rip sticks and husky's. Color was reddish and gold. Speed was about 2 MPH.

[wall eyell be]

Wednesday night 9/29/04.
Fished Roland's bay, Indian Point and Vineland bay. 7pm to midnight.
Water temp 60.
One fish from the north end of Vineland at 7:30 on perch taildancer in 8 feet where rock, gravel and weeds all converge. Happens to be the biggest walleye I've caught in my life.
One fish at 11:30 on a firetiger floater in the south end of Vineland where sand breaks from 3feet to 6feet. This one was a eater.
Best speed seemed to be 1.7 or 1.8
No hits on HJcraw or HJclown

[Mykal]

Crossin, Yes....actually it's a Black and Silver. I live in Rogers so it's not a bad jaunt to the pond from here. What are you in?
Good luck this weekend to all. Looks like the weather is finally going to switch into an extended cool weather pattern. I'll post again in a couple days.

[This message has been edited by Mykal (edited 09-30-2004).]

[CrawlerKing]

Was on the pond Wednesday night....fished the East side...fished from 11 till 2...caught only 6 with largest being 24 1/2...should have been a perfect night to really bang them, but I guess the water temp is still too warm...Mykal, I live in Maple Grove so probably drive right past you on the way up...might have to team up some night when we both are going up solo.....

[CrawlerKing]

Crossin,
Just wondering if you fished in the Grand National Walleye Cup and if so, if you are fishing in the upcoming National Tournament on LOW? I did, and I'm excited about fishing on LOW after the terrible bite we had for the last two tournaments.

[CrawlerKing]

Mykal,
After reading many of your posts I'm pretty sure that I would be the one doing the netting! Speaking of which...can anybody explain to me why two guys can be trolling in the same boat using the same rods, the same line, the same lure, both on iside turns, both on outside turns, both trolling on each side of the break, both having out the same amount of line, both deadsticking, and it seems that one of the guys will always catch 3 times as many fish????? I've spent way too many nights trolling on the big pond to figure that this is just a coincedence.

[Crossin' Eyes]

Hey Crawler,
Yes, I fished the GNWC and qualified for Nationals too. However, due to lack of funds and vacation time, we aren't going to attend this year.
Good Luck to you and your partner.

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Good Fishin!
Crossin

[mudman]

Crawler King-
you forgot to mention that they were both tuned the same!!!

[Guest]

Ok Mykel and Crawler, How about adding Greenfield into the mix. We all probably drive by one another more than we care to admit.Would be fun to get some of the locals in the loop for this fall and this winter..

[Mykal]

Crawlerking, sounds like a great idea. Due to my location I go solo quite often. Need someone to help with the photos and net. probably me helping you.

[Crossin' Eyes]

Mykal,
I was the black and silver Alumacraft TP 175 tiller that was pulled up on the sand at the ccess when you launched on Saturday. The other boat that was with me was the blue and tan Lund 1660 tiller that was launching on the other side of the dock.

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Good Fishin!
Crossin

[Mykal]

Crossin, dang! I knew I should have asked if you guys were FM'rs. Would have been nice to talk in person.

Guys, I would be happy to get together for an outing or 2. Check your calendars. It would be a great time! I will be going out at least once a week from now until ice up.

MrPike1 and I are planning on staying up for a couple nights once the big girl bite gets into full swing but have not made any arrangements yet.

Tonight, I will be taking a buddy out and meeting Alphid and his brother to give it another whirl. Anyone else heading up?

Crawlerking, mudman makes a great point on "tuned" baits. My biggest 'eye last weekend came off an RS Shadrap(I remembered later)had been "re-tuned" by a couple big pike at LOW earler this year. The lip had a hairline crack and bent up just a fraction but still ran true, and for some reason it was the right bait at the right time. I have a select few cranks that always seem to produce better than others. I first thought it was just color, but last year I proved that theory wrong, many times. I never assume a crank is tuned out of the box like I used to.

[This message has been edited by Mykal (edited 10-02-2004).]

[catchin'whopper]

Mykal,
I am not sure if my bro will be heading up tonight, i know i cant at this point. Will be good to start getting up there as the bite gets better though and hang out. Been a while since seeing you, should be fun targeting these fish again this fall! Will see what i can do about tonight still though, every now and then i can pull some strings. Should be a nice night though.

-Catchin' W

[bustumup]

Heading up in a little bit, looks like it's gonna be a tad rough on the pond tonight. I live in Rogers, let me know if you guys are going to hook up some time. Maybe a refreshment at Natures hideaway or muni. I'll post if anything decent happens tonight, more than likely head up to Garrison with the way the wind looks.

[Mr. Pike1]

Mykal, I am anxious to hear the report. The water temps are decreasing, the leaves are falling, and the fall nip is in the air. These are all the right triggers for the big gals to come to the rockes and shallows with the feedbags strapped to their backs and ready to wrestle with those of us pulling Husky's or other minnow imitator baits under the light of the moon. I have left the hard work of location and bait trial and error to you. i am now ready to jump in the vessle for a few 30" pigs. I can't wiat to hear the cry of Oops my mistake that is not a "rock" I snagged its a huge fish....and this one my friend is 32" plus and pushing 12 lbs !!!!

I hooked up with Andy for what most likely will have been our last river run of the season. The action was slow, most likely due to the sudden cold front. Andy did manage a 14" slab black crappie that was pushing 2 lbs. In addition to this we got many 12" ers all on live bait and small jigs. We also managened some small mouth with the largest going 19" and some small walleye's

[bustumup]

Was up last night and fished Rocky Reef area from 9pm-1:30am. Only caught 3 walleyes, but they were all in the slot 18",19"&21". Caught all in 12-13' on Thunder crank(yellow belly) I drove up to the north end and it was too rough, so came back down and launched at Eddy's. The casino access was **** near full but I kept watching Indian point and didn't really see but a couple boats, it's like they all left early. Oh well, the warden was happy I brought a few home for the pan, which I just finished cooking for her birthday lunch. Be back up next weekend.