10-10-11 Mon

10-10-2011 Mon
5:30 – 10:00 PM
H2O: 63 ˚, 4.83’ steady, 13.6 kcfs, clear
Weather: S 7, 68 ˚, clear, 29.96 falling (2153)
Location: Mississippi R. Pool 7, Lake Onalaska and deep water adjacent to main channel
Caught: Bait (bluegills 6 and 4 perch), 1 – 10lb flat head & 1 – 8lb channel cat
Partners: none

Comments

It was another unusual warm October day. I have really been wanting to flat head fish and tonight I was committed to catch bait and fish them. I have seen lots of fisherman targeting the dredge holes on the lake, so that is where I started. Unfortunately the first hour was a bust. I did figure out that most of the fisherman were fishing the deep water for crappies.
On one of my last moves I happened to spy a couple fisherman catching gills along a weed line that extended out into about five feet of water and dropped into ten feet of water. Well, it was a good thing I hit the jackpot, because darkness was trying to be the spoiler to my flat head fishing plans. In short order I had an ample supply of small gills and perch and I was off to put the smack down on some flat heads.
The first spot I fished was a very deep hole that bottomed out in forty to forty-five feet of water. I really did not want to fish that deep, but from where I was anchored it dropped very quickly and I did not want to be fishing on a very steep drop. I fished this spot about thirty minutes and had two hits. The first one was one quick bite and my bait was gone, and the other one was a very subtle bite, with the fish coming unglued almost immediately.
The next spot I fished was in about thirty feet of water in an area that had quite a few submerged trees close by. This is where I caught the flat and the channel cat. The channel cat hit with such ferocity that it almost took my pole and the rod holder board in the drink with it.
I fished one other close by spot in about twenty feet of water, but had no action here.

Observations:

It felt like a summer night: light wind and light shirt weather. The river flow is very low and if there is any wind at all it makes fishing in one spot very hard while anchored. In fact the current is not strong enough to hold the boat in position if even a light breeze is blowing against or perpendicular to the boat.
The trees are losing their leaves very fast and the woods have really opened up in the past few days. We are also at or very close to a full moon. I have also noticed more ducks around the last couple days, nothing fantastic but at least I have seen some.

10-9-11 Sun

10-9-2011 Sun
4:30 – 6:30 PM
H2O: 65 ˚, 4.85’ falling, 14.9 kcfs, clear
Weather: S 7, 76 ˚, clear, 30.18 falling
Location: Mississippi R. Pool 7
Caught: LMB 1 – 12”, Pike (4) 22 – 25”
Partners: none

Comments

It was such a beautiful night tonight and I had been stuck in my Coast Guard Captains Class all weekend so I was ready to fish. My initial thoughts were to catch some bait and go flat head fishing for one last time. Well, I could not catch bait, so I went to plan B.
Plan B was bass and pike fishing. The bass or the pike were not overly cooperative either, but I did find one small concentration of pike near Cole’s Corner. I did run into a little bad luck with a spinner bait I had used on the previous 100 bass and pike; it broke! The Terminator Titanium spinner baits are as tough as they come, but they do have their limits.

Observations:

None

10-6-11 Thr

10-6-2011 Thr
5:30 – 7:00 PM
H2O: 63 ˚, 4.97’ falling, 18.9 kcfs, clear
Weather: 73 ˚, SE 8, clear, 30.09 falling
Location: Mississippi R. Pool 7 (Lake Onalaska)
Caught: LMB (10) 10 – 13”
Partners: none

Comments

The wind was fairly light tonight and I wanted to get back on the largemouth I had found the other night. I started out in the channel cut just north of the house. I had caught fish at the end of the channel yesterday, so I figured they would also be at the upper entrance to the channel. They were, but the size was quite small. Most fish came on a silver Senko with a few also being taken on a spinner bait.

Observations:

None

10-5-11

10-5-2011 Wed
5:00 – 7:00 PM
H2O: 63 ˚, 5.03’ falling, 21.7 kcfs, clear
Weather: 77 ˚, S 7, clear, 30.09 falling
Location: Mississippi R. Pool 7 (Lake Onalaska)
Caught: LMB (17) 10 – 18 with eight of them being legal, Pike (2) 27 & 22”
Partners: none

Comments

It was such a beautiful evening I had to get out for some fishing. The first spot I hit was the community hole at the end of the dike, and the fish were there and active. The water had warmed up to a very nice sixty three degrees and the bass were responding with aggression.
I caught bass almost everywhere I fished. The main weed edges out on the lake were good, but the floating celery grass was causing my spinner bait to foul. I caught fish along the East side of Red Oak, but they were small. I did do pretty good farther south along the rocks next to the railroad tracks, and then I caught some quality fish on the weeds on the West side of Red Oak.
The main bait was the good old Terminator spinner bait. I did catch some bass on a silver Senko but I only used this when they no longer responded to the spinner bait. I cannot say enough good things about that spinner bait. It is tough, has good flash and most importantly it catches fish.

Observations:

The fall colors are progressing very rapidly and leaves are starting to collect on the lakes surface. Fishing the main lake is fairly difficult on account of all the celery grass that is loose and floating on and just below the lakes surface.

10-4-11

10-4-2011 Tue
5:15 – 6:45 PM
Weather: 67 ˚, SE 5, clear, 30.13 rising
Location: Ft McCoy south camp north east corner unit 5
Bagged: 1 gray squirrel
Partners: none

Comments

I have wanted to get out hunting so tonight was the night. I enjoy squirrel hunting, plus I wanted to do some deer scouting at the same time. My usual area I squirrel hunt was closed due to training, so I had to find a new spot.
The area I picked was not ideal squirrel woods; it had been logged several years back and it was now quite grown up with black berry brambles along with some mature oaks. These brambles were constantly gripping my legs and by the end of the evening my legs felt as if they had been rubbing against a potato grater. There was no shortage of acorns, but there was a shortage of squirrels. I saw two of the nut chewing tree dwellers and heard one other barking at me.

Observations:

The trees are changing color rapidly now, but not too many leaves have left the trees.

10-2-2011 Sun
4:15 – 7:45 PM
H2O: 58 ˚, 5.04’ steady, 21.7 kcfs, clear
Weather: 60 ˚, calm, clear, 30.16 rising
Location: Mississippi R. Pool 8 (Dresbach Dam)
Caught: LMB (7) 10 – 13”, SMB 20” !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Partners: none

Comments

This afternoon I was going to give it my all on figuring out the elusive walleyes. That did not last too long at least at the very beginning. I tried but I came to the conclusion that it would probably be a lost cause and that I might just as well go catch something.
I found the bass, at least the small ones relating to rocks once again. The gigantic smallmouth I did catch came off the face of a wing dam in about five feet of water.
I did go up to the dam the last hour of the outing and fished exclusively for walleyes. I jigged and casted crank baits, but did not catch any eyes. I did see one gentleman doing okay while fishing with minnows. I ended the evening below the interstate bridge casting cranks up to the rock edges, but I had no takers here either.

Observations:

None

9-30-11

9-30-2011 Fri
6:45 AM – 9:30 AM (duck hunting) / 10:30 AM – 4:30 PM (fishing)
H2O: 58 ˚, 5.04’ falling, 22.3 kcfs, clear
Weather: 63 ˚, NW 20 – 25, clear
Location: Mississippi R. Pool 8
Bagged: 3 pintails, 2 drake mallards, 1 wood duck, 1 green wing teal (myself and Josh)
Caught: 10 pike 22 - 25”, 6 LMB 12 – 15”, 1 walleye 14”, 1 SMB 14”
Partners: Josh (hunting only)

Comments

This morning was the first time this season where I was going on a serious duck hunt. It was rather convenient too; I was going with Josh and he was supplying all the equipment and the boat. He was set up for some serious water fowling. He had a nice spread of decoys, two robo ducks, two quivering butt decoys and three dekes attached to a jerk cord.
We were set up several minutes before shooting hours and while we were waiting for legal shooting time, the ducks were landing in the spread. This time on the marsh just before sunup is one of my favorite times to be there, the birds and other critters are starting to wake up and come alive for the day.
We had good action for the first hour and one half, and then the last hour was totally dead. It was a very good hunt and Josh definitely out shot me.
The fishing was pretty challenging today. I was fishing an area (Goose Island) where I have limited experience, and the wind was brutal. I had hoped to fish main channel points and rock piles, but the wind made the channel pretty much unfishable. I did do pretty well on the pike; however the large ones have been pretty elusive this fall. I also caught a few large mouths here and there. The most consistent spots for the pike were rocks with deeper water close by.
I did have one monster small mouth bass on but it shook my crank bait. The strong winds all but eliminated any chance at finesse fishing.

The last fish of the day put a pretty good hurting on me. It was about a twenty five inch pike and in its stuggle to break my grip I got cut by its gill plate. It was a good thing I had just went through first aid, because it took quit alot of gauze and bandaging to stop the bleeding

Observations:

I am still seeing turtles basking in the sunshine while resting on logs. They are really quite comical as the scramble to get to the safety of the water. Sometimes they may be several feet up a log and when they make the dive they do not match the finesse of the cliff diving daredevils of Acapulco.

9-28-11

9-28-2011 Wed
5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
H2O: 60 ˚, 5.15’ steady, 28.8 kcfs, clear
Weather: SE5, overcast, 60 ˚, 29.82 falling
Location: Mississippi R. Pool 8
Caught: Approx. 6 LMB and two pike and all were small
Partners: Ben

Comments

Our Thursday night fishing turned into Wednesday night fishing. I was somewhat planning to walleye fish tonight, but I quickly abandon that idea. We fished for bass and pike again tonight. Once again fishing mostly rock areas, but also hitting weed edges down in Target Lake.
The fishing was fairly good, we did not light them up by any means but we did catch fish. The large mouth bite is definitely dying out, but the pike are quite active. I have not done much fall fishing in the past, so this is a learning experience for me.
The best baits tonight were spinner baits, chatter baits and suspending jerk baits. Ben had quite a few light bites and follows by pike while using his chatter bait.

Observations:

None

9-27-11

9-27-2011 Tue
5:30 PM – 6:45 PM
H2O: 58 ˚, 5.15’ steady, 28.8 kcfs, clear
Weather: SE6, rain, 57 ˚, 29.82 rising
Location: Mississippi R. Pool 7
Caught: 10” crappie
Partners: none

Comments

Tonight was going to be my last night of flat head fishing. Unfortunately I did not get to fish the deep dwelling nocturnal predators. In order to fish flatheads you need bait; lively pan fish to be exact. I was only able to catch one crappie, so my night of flat head fishing was down the tubes.
In actuality the reason I did not catch bait was strictly my fault. I was targeting areas where I had caught bluegills two and three weeks ago. Well fish move with the changes of the conditions and I had not taken that into account. When I started out I thought about catching bait right behind the house, but then I blew that idea off, because I was sure I could catch them out by the main channel. One thing is always certain in fishing, a person always needs to change and adapt!

Observations:

None