7-3-11

7-3-2011 Sun

8:00 AM- 12:00 PM (Mississippi R. Lake Onalaska)
6:30 PM – 2:30 AM (Mississippi R pool 6 and Trempealeau R.)

Weather: calm, clear, 77 ˚, 30.09 MB, steady / calm 81-64 ˚, 30.00 MB steady
H2O: dirty, 78 ˚, 9.26’ falling, 85.3 kcfs / muddy 78 ˚, 5.11’ .4 kcfs steady

Location: Mississippi R. Pool 7 – Lake Onalaska (upper end) / Pool 6 and Trempealeau R.

Caught: Approximately four largemouth bass between ten and seventeen inches and bait for flathead fishing and one thirty-pound flathead (Mark T.)
Partners: Mark and Jake Tupper

Comments

I started out the day bass and pike fishing on Lake Onalaska. It was very, very slow. I tried lots of different areas and had very little action. I finally had to go to Ashley Point to boat my first fish. The water was much clearer here, which definitely improved my odds. The last spot I hit was right out from the cut where I had been doing well the past week. The fish were still there! I caught a quick three quality fish here and called it a morning. I cannot figure out where the pike have gone to, I may have to look for them in the dredge holes.
That evening I met up with Jake and his dad for some flat head fishing in the Trempealeau River. Bait gathering was a little tough, but we did manage to put some gills and a few perch in the boat. Jake had installed a new live well in his boat, so he was excited to give it a try-out. The try-out failed! The pump ran but it did not pump water into the live well. Luckily Jake had a back-up plan. After about an hour of flathead fishing all our bait fish except about three were belly up and stone cold. Definitely not good; sometimes flat heads will take cut-bait, but usually you want to use bait that is nice and lively.
We did manage one nice flat. Mark had the honors of taking the first bite of the night and he handled it perfectly. For his first flat head ever to weigh in at thirty pounds is very impressive.

Observations

The water on pool six does not look as muddy as it is on pool seven. The Trempealeau River is a very muddy river that has a few prime looking cat fish spots!