Riverbend 1/16-1/18

[bturck]

just got back from our second trip of the season to the big water. Six of us made the trip, my son and three of his friends in one group and my wife and I, We fished a 1/2 day on Monday after arriving at 1030am. We were in 20' of water east of Adrians road toward the gap. Son and friends kept 8 walleye sauger mixed and my wife and I kept 1. Both houses had just been moved so we were fishing fresh houses. it was slow for sure. We did have several small fish that were released. On Tues we hit the houses at 700am and for the day Dan and his group put 16 in the bucket with several throw backs, my wife and I had 7. Talked to Adam at 1100am and he pulled the house we were in closer to the gap after lunch. We released 10 and kept

4 during the afternoon, lost a nice fish in the hole at

415pm. On Wed we again started at 7ooam and by noon my wife and I had 8 nice fish all in the 14 1/2 to 15" size. Dans house came up 0 for the morning. Funny how things can change that quickly. The guides told us that the bite out deep was doing nothing so we opted to stay shallow all three days. On Monday they had picked up 3-4 inches of snow and then the winds also picked up so 4 wheel drive was needed to go cross country to the houses. For the six of us we kept 39 saug and eyes and and a nice fish fry was held on Tuesday night and a few meals also brought back. it was slow considering past years and working different jigs and dead sticks was the key to try and get the fish active. Dead sticks out fished the jiggn' rod by 98% with blue/silver Northland forage minnows and white/green glo demon crappie jigs with small minnows under the dead stick producing the best. Plain gold hooks also picked up a few, and fatheads outfished the shiners. It appeared from watching the Vexis that jigging spooked the fish, it was better to leave the jig alone when fish activity appeared and slowly lift and drop the dead sticks for some action. the guys working the ice Bo, Paul and Adam did a great job. I am very impressed with them for friendliness and their efforts to get you on some fish. They are going to start marking trails farther out today and see whats in store in even deeper water. When I talked to Glenn on Monday he said three of them had gone up to Knight and Bridges on Sunday and had very poor results, jumping around and not catching there first fish until 415pm. Glenn said the water is still very murky and roiled up near the rocks bars.

Charlie was going to start moving some houses again yesterday in an attempt to find that elusive bite. Its definitley been a strange year up there. As always the food was good, the beer is always cold and so I would have to say it was a good trip overall. So now its back to the office until Feb 20th and my only contact with the lake will be through this site. Hope those of you that are headed up have a great time and catch lots of fish. Good luck to all and hold onto your rod. Bill

[New Yankee]

Thanks for the report Bill!

[bturck]

Good morning Bob. You are welcome, just wish it could have been a little more positive, but who said life is fair 'eh? Bill

[New Yankee]

Ain't that the truth! But, if fishing is what we have to complain about, we're lucky folks for sure!

Hope it picks up, seems like it's getting slowly better(?)

[crestliner16]

Did you get to see the inside of any of there sleeper houses? I have one reserved in Feb. And was just wandering what they look like.

[bturck]

Crestliner: No I did not. I have only seen them from the outside, they do look good with large windows. They had the sleepers farther out than where we were fishing. When in Feb are you headed up? Bill

[bturck]

New Yankee: Ya, I agree life is still good. Personally we marked more fish without the long lag time than we did in Dec. they were finicky though and took a lot of coaxing to get them on the hook. What dates are you headed up in Feb? Bill

[crestliner16]

The 16th thru the 19th.

[bturck]

Crestliner, we will be back on the 20th through the 22nd. Thought maybe we would run into each other. I'm also headed back March 23-25th let me know if you're going to be around at that time. Otherwise I'll be looking for your report. Bill

[New Yankee]

Bill - scheduled for the same Feb dates as you. I remain a bit concerned about the bite and the ability to keep my little guy from climbing the walls, but will reserve final judgement until later .

[crestliner16]

I will post a report!

[bturck]

New Yankee are you staying in a sleeper or at the lodge? Where are you going out of? bill

[New Yankee]

BT, we'll be staying in a cabin. Decided a couple of nights in a sleeper is about one too many Bob

[bturck]

Staying at Riverbend? Bill

[New Yankee]

Sorry Bill, yes at the Bend.

If things don't pick up I may be tempted to save the 16 hrs in the truck and stay South . I haven't been out around here, but my neighbor has been skunked three different times on four different lakes - hit and miss here as well.

[bturck]

Nah, you'll come north, you can't live without the call of the wild. Bill