5-20-2010 Thr

5-20-2010 Thr
7:00PM-10:00PM

Weather: ESE5, mostly cloudy, 70°, 29.92 steady

H2O: 641.45 falling, 55.7kcfs 67°, clear

Caught : 1) Bluegills (7) 5-7", --flat head bait

Location: Mississippi R pool 7 (south end)

partners:

None

Comments

I had heard rumors that the bluegills were spawning and I would be able to catch a lot of them for bait. Well it was not true. I found very little spawning activity, and they were very hard to catch. I believe the water temperature needs to rise another six degrees.
I caught no flat heads tonight; never even had a bite. The wind really came up and was whipping the water quite hard when I called it a night. I was very thankful that I had a large boat to take on the waves. Also the GPS sure helped me make it back to the landing in the rough turbulent night.

5-19-2010 Wed

5-19-2010 Wed
6:00PM-10:45PM

Weather: Calm, clear, 69°, 30.00 steady

H2O: 641.38 rising, 54.8kcfs ?°, lots of floating weeds

Caught : 1) LMB (2) 10 & 15", swim jig, in-line spinner

Location: Mississippi R pool 7

partners:

Troy

Comments

Tonight Troy picked me up at the boat landing with an ample supply of bait for flathead fishing. Troy had already been out for the past six hours pike and bluegill fishing. Since we had enough bluegills for bait, we tried our hand at some more pike fishing.
We did catch a couple of pike and bass, but they came sparingly. The flat heads also proved to be rather elusive. We fished two different spots and only caught one flat head.

5-16-2010 Sun

5-16-2010 Sun
7:30PM-11:30PM

Weather: E3, mostly cloudy, 62°, 30.14 steady

H2O: 4.82 falling, 1.88kcfs // 640.55 rising, 42.9 kcfs, 63°

Caught : 1) Bluegills (6) 6-7" - used for bait
2) Channel Cat 11 lb 5oz - blue gill
3) Flat Head (2) 30 lb 4oz, 8 lb 10 oz - blue gill


Location: Mississippi R and tributaries - pool 7

partners:

None

Comments

Tonight was my first night of catting for the season. I was hopping to catch at least one cat, but I was surprised to catch three. I had planned to use suckers for bait, but the chain sporting goods store had none and the local shop was charging three bucks apiece for the rubber lipped cat magnets. I felt like I was being gouged, but I reluctantly bought three. I rounded out my weapons stockpile by catching a half dozen bluegills that were a little bigger than I prefer.
The first spot produced almost immediate action, with a very healthy channel cat. An hour later I had my second fish; a beauty of a flat head in the thirty pound class. After a couple of hours I moved to another location and was rewarded with an eight pounder.
My maiden cat outing was very successful and I did not even forget any important gear!

5-14-2-10 Fri

5-14-2010 Fri
5:15AM-7:00AM

Weather: SW3, mostly cloudy, 45°, 30.06 rising

H2O: N/A

bagged : Nothing


Location: Black River bottoms near Galesville

partners:

None

Comments

I was hoping to break the turkey hunting jinx before work this morning. Well I am still sitting without a bird in the freezer. We heard about four gobbles right away at first light, then it was like silent night. We did see one bird, but it was one we busted off the roost.

5-13-2-10 Thr

5-13-2010 Thr
6:00PM-7:15PM

Weather: W9, cloudy, 55°, 29.91 rising

H2O: 639.89 rising, 31.8 kcfs, 52°, clear

Caught :
1) Northern 26", swim jig

Location: Mississippi River - Pool 7 Lake Onalaska

partners:

None

Comments

It has been cold for the past week and today was no exception. I was thinking I might be able to find some active pike or walleyes, but that was not he case. I am looking forward to some consistently warm weather.

5-9-2-10 Sun

5-9-2010 Sun
5:00PM-8:05PM

Weather: W5, clear, 58°, 30.26 steady

H2O: 639.91 steady, 32.2 kcfs, 55-59°, clear

Caught :
1) Northern 15", spinner bait
2) perch 9", spinner bait
3) LMB 12", spinner bait
4) LMB 19", crank bait
5) SMB 12", crank bait
6) Walleye 15", crank bait


Location: Mississippi River - Pool 7, back waters and main lake

partners:

None

Comments

The water temperatures are dropping and so are the fish's appetite. I started out looking for pike and bass with very limited success. I did have an unusual catch of a perch on a spinner bait. I then went back to the spot where I had such good success on walleyes the other day and only caught one.
We definitely need temperatures to get back into the seventies to get the fish snapping again.

5-8-2-10 Sat

5-8-2010 Sat
5:30AM-8:00AM

Weather: N14/G23, overcast, 36°, 29.98 rising

H2O: N/A

Bagged : Nothing


Location: Strum, WI

partners:

Jeremy and Eon

Comments

The weather was not ideal for turkey hunting. It was cold, windy and very wet. We never even heard a single gobble or any hen talk. Later in the morning we took a drive into town to get some breakfast and only saw a couple of lone birds and they were both hens.
Ten minutes after leaving Jeremy's I got a call from him on my cell phone asking me if I had seen the truck parked right across from his driveway. I told him I had seen the truck and a hunter standing beside his truck looking like he was getting ready to do a little locator calling. Jeremy told me he just came out of the woods carrying a turkey. The lesson to be learned is you never know when game or fish are going to show up or become active.

5-6-2010 Thr

5-6-2010 Thr
5:30PM-8:30PM

Weather: N6, a few clouds, 58°, 29.95 rising

H2O: 639.92 steady, 32.5 kcfs, 62°, lake dirty, main channel clear

Caught

1) LMB 12" - spinner bait
2) LMB (3) 16", 12", 15.5" - crank bait
3) W. Bass 16" - crank bait
4) Walleye (9) 16"(kept), 12", 15.5" (kept), 16" (kept), 17", 17", 18", 20", 13.5" - crank bait

Location: Mississippi R. Pool 7, Lake Onalaska, Main channel, and back sloughs

partners:

none

Comments

The last couple of days have been extremely windy, consequently the lake is quite dirty. I should have known better that to try for pike on the big water. When the water is dirty and muddy I have almost not luck catching pike. I casted spinnerbaits and buzzbaits for about a half hour on the lake and all I caught was a small bass. I moved out to the rock islands and quickly caught two walleyes on crank baits. This clued me in on the walleye bite.
Next, I headed out to the main channel and some rock structure looking for those bug eyed fish. The water clarity on the main channel was very good, but I caught no fish. My next stop was some back water sand drops. A few spots produced nothing, but it was not too long before I hit the jack pot. I had found the walleyes and they were very aggressive!

5-3-2010 Mon

5-3-2010 Mon
6:30PM-7:50PM

Weather: WNW6, cloudy, 59°, 29.76 steady

H2O: 640.15 falling, 36.6 kcfs, 62°, dirty

Caught

LMB 18" - spinner bait

Location: Mississippi R. Pool 7, Lake Onalaska - main lake

partners:

none

Comments

Since the wind was not quite so strong tonight I made my move to the main lake. The first stop was the stump fields on the west side. I have done well here during previous springs, but this year I have yet to catch a fish from this area. Tonight was no different, I had one bump but failed to connect.
I did catch one bass tonight and I suspect it was a male guarding its nest. An instant before it bit, my spinnerbait caused an explosion of fry on the surface. Also, the tail on this fish was very beat up and raw on the bottom side.

Seasonal indicators: Lilacs are in full bloom, apple trees are about done, strawberries are still blooming, trees are rapidly expanding their leaves, sumacs are starting to show some leaves and the lawn is rapidly growing and causing me to mow too often! The west stump fields are pretty much choked with submergent vegetation and some emergent vegetation is springing above the surface.

4-30-2010 Fri

4-30-2010 Fri
5:50PM-7:00PM

Weather: S13, mostly cloudy, 66°, 29.28 steady

H2O: 640.31 rising, 39.1 kcfs, 62°, dirty

Caught

LMB 14" - spinner bait
Northern 30.5" - spinner bait

Location: Mississippi R. Pool 7, Lake Onalaska - back channel and channel opening

partners:

none

Comments

When is the wind going to let up? It has been windy for several days now and this has really affected the bite. The water has been stirred and mixed and is very muddy. The bass spinnerbait bite is pretty much non-existent. This is leading me to believe the bass are bedded.