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.