9-27-12 Thr

9-27-2012 Thr 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Weather:
(1953) calm, clear, 52˚, 30.19 rising
Water:
4.66 falling, -999kcfs? 58 ˚, clear
Location:
Mississippi river pool 7
Caught:
bluegills and perch (bait), 4 stripers, 1 large sheep head, two walleyes 12 & 18”, 2 flat heads 8 & 37 lbs.
Partners:
Myself

Comments

It was a quick after work trip, and it was definitely one of the better days on the water that I have had in a while. I started at 6 PM and was done by 830. In that short period of time I caught bluegills and perch for bait, sheep head, walleyes and stripers and two very tenacious flat heads that did not want to release their grip from the bottom. It had been some time since I had boated any stripers, and once again I was impressed by their stubbornness to come to the boat. The walleyes and stripers came off a sand flat with the aid of a jointed bluegill patterned Shad Rap.

Observations:

It was a beautiful evening for fishing and the fish responded in kind.

9-25-12 Tue

9-25-2012 Thr 5:30 PM – 10:00 PM
Weather:
(2153) NW5, clear, 52˚, 29.92 rising
Water:
4.7 steady, 10kcfs, 58 ˚, clear
Location:
Mississippi river pool 7
Caught:
bait –perch and bluegills, Scott 17 lb. flathead, myself 8 lb. flat head
Partners:
Scott

Comments

Scott and I are still after the flat heads. It was not a greatly successful night, but we did catch two flat heads and we missed one other. We started out catching bait in the channel behind the house, and after about a half hour of only perch we decided to move on to the lake near Schaffer’s. I am not a real big fan of using perch for flat heads, they are nice and lively, but I do not think they are a choice morsel for the big cats. We found a pretty good concentration of bluegills there, with most being a on the large size.
Tonight Scott had all the action, and we were two out of three with his Kale hooks. The debate over his Kale hooks or my circle hoods rages on!

Observations:

The weather has been beautiful the last couple of days; winds have been light, temps in the 60’s to 70’s and clear skies. It is the time of year though that when the sun disappears over the horizon the temperatures fall rather quickly.

9-22-12 Sat

9-22-2012 Sat 1:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Weather:
(1453) NW15, overcast, 56˚, 30.13 rising
Water:
4.79 steady, 58 ˚, green but fairly clear
Location:
Mississippi river pool 7
Caught:
Chris – 3-4 largemouth bass and one pike, Melissa one largemouth bass
Partners:
Melissa and Chris

Comments

Yesterday I took a young couple out that had purchased a trip of mine through an auction that I had donated for a cancer benefit. The trip was a long time coming on account of their busy schedule. Chris had wanted to target walleyes, but I have not had much luck finding them yet on pool seven so we went for bass and pike instead. The wind and the suddenly dropping water temperatures did not make for very active fish, but fish were caught. Melissa confessed she was not much of a caster, but I assured her we would get her a fish. She did catch largemouth and then sat on the sidelines the last hour or two. Chris did alright for himself, he caught three or four largemouth with one of the fish taping out at 18 ½, his biggest ever.
The fishing was definitely not stellar, I had anticipated more pike action, Chris only boated one pike and that one was probably only twenty two inches. We did have as many misses as hook ups, but that is the way it goes. The baits we had action with today were: rattle traps, crank baits, spinner baits, and swim baits. I must say it is going to take more time to get used to the cold weather, with the strong north wind and temperatures around fifty, it felt as if it was January in Wisconsin.

Observations:

The conditions were pretty tough today; we had a strong north wind with cold temperatures.

9-21-12 Fri

9-21-2012 Fri 11:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Weather:
(1253) S8, overcast, 59˚, 29.83 falling
Water:
4.65 rising, 61 ˚, green but fairly clear
Location:
Mississippi river pool 6, 7 and 8.
Caught:
Not a lot, nothing on pool 8 and one 16” small mouth on pool 6, and some largemouth and a fair number of pike on pool 7.
Partners:
Rob

Comments

I was pre-fishing for a guide trip on Saturday and Chris wanted to catch walleyes, unfortunately I did not find any walleyes. I fished three pools and the only place I found any number of fish was around the Trempealeau Spillway. The fish here consisted mostly of pike and largemouth bass.

Observations:

The conditions were pretty tough today; we had a strong north wind with cold temperatures

9-20-12 thr

9-20-2012 Thr 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Weather:
NW12, clear, 61˚, 29.88 steady
Water:
4.6 falling, 62 ˚, green but fairly clear
Location:
Mississippi river pool 7
Caught:
Bluegills and perch and small LMB, I 30” pike
Partners:
Rob

Comments

Rob and I did a little bluegill and perch fishing in the lower end of the channel last night. The channel was full of pan fish, but most were of the smaller size. Scott did catch one very nice jumbo bluegill. I did keep four bluegills and one perch for supper. The last half hour of daylight we headed out to the channel and I did catch one decent pike. We did see one other fisherman who was out on the lake and he was catching small pan fish.

Observations:

We are getting into the fall mode, with the water cooling and the weed dying back.

9-19-12 Wed

9-19-2012 Wed 6:00 PM – 19:15 PM
Weather:
NW7, clear, 55˚, 29.84 steady ***burrrrr****
Water:
4.74 falling, 63 ˚, green but fairly clear
Location:
Mississippi river pool 7
Caught:
Bluegills and perch for bait, myself 2 flat heads 8 & 10 lbs.
Partners:
Scott

Comments

Scott and I got out and did a little flat head fishing tonight. It has been a little while since I had targeted the big whiskered smiling fish, so I was not sure what to expect. Bait catching was relatively easy in the channel behind the house, we caught both bluegills and perch, but perch were the overly abundant species.
The flat head bite was pretty good. When the fish hit they really hit! I caught two and missed one other and Scott missed one. Poor Scott he just can’t get the circle hook thing down, all the bites came on my poles and of course they were all rigged with circle hooks. He did actually have a fish on with a circle hook, but the line broke ant the fluorocarbon leader.

Observations:

The river is low and the flow is very slow, luckily floating weeds were not a problem. All the fish and bites came from one spot; the spot had wood and about thirty feet of water. I tried one other deep spot with no wood and did not have a bite there. We also tried a side channel area off the main channel with lots of wood and twenty feet of water, with no luck. I believe the flats are now in the deep water.

9-17-12 Sun

9-17-2012 Sun 5:45 PM – 7:30 PM
Weather:
S9, clear, 73˚, 29.88 steady
Water:
4.69 steady, -999 kcfs, 68 ˚, pretty clear
Location:
Mississippi river pool 8
Caught:
Me – 2 LMB and 1 SMB, Scott 1 SMB
Partners:
None

Comments

Scott and I got out and did a little bass fishing tonight, and needless to say it is not really worth talking about. Except I do have to mention I did better than Scott and he almost went home skunked.
The fishing was very poor, the fish we did catch were small except for the one largemouth I caught was fifteen inches. I did lose two nice bass, one was a small mouth and one was a largemouth. It was really funny to see Scott towards the end of the night, he still had a skunk going and he was definitely uptight about it. Shortly before dark he did luck out and got the monkey off his back.

Observations:

The river is fairly green and the flow is almost non-existent, but the floating weeds have not yet invaded the main channel.

9-13-12 Thr

9-13-2012 Thr 3:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Weather:
Calm, sunny, 67˚, 30.03 steady
Water:
4.98 steady, 18.7 kcfs, 67 ˚, green
Location:
Mississippi river pool 8
Caught:
pike – 15, 27 & 28”//bass – 4 – 12”, 2 – 15”, 14”
Partners:
None
Comments

It had been awhile since I have been on the big river fishing, but today I had the day off and I wanted to get back into the fishing mode. I must admit I did not have a lot of enthusiasm, but I was able to force myself to go; no kidding!
After I caught my first two pike I was glad I was back, unfortunately the first three fish came quick and easy, and after that it was a long dry spell until just before dark. I caught the pike off some rocks along the main channel using a crank bait. The bass came off of some rocks in shallow water with no current on a buzz bait.
I started out fishing around the landing and dam and did make it down to Target Lake, but that was pretty much the Dead Sea. I can usually catch a couple of bass and pike down there this time of year, but I think they will be in there later this year with the low water.

Observations:

The river is fairly green and the flow is almost non-existent. I do know that the annual big blue gill slaughter in front of Schaffer’s on the lake is in progress.

9-8-2012 Sat 9:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Weather:
South 10-15, Sunny to sprinkles, 60 ˚
Water:
Normal, clear, 69 ˚
Location:
My secret small lake near the cabin
Caught:
Me – two pike 28 & 30, tiger musky 30//Adam 40 musky//Scott 28 tiger musky and 33 pike
Partners:
Scott and Adam
Comments

Scott and Adam had come up to the cabin for the weekend to do some musky fishing while I bear hunted. Their first full day (Friday) was spent up on the St Louis River chasing ghosts. Form what I gathered it was long day, with very little activity and only one follow.
Since I was having no luck baiting bears and I had pulled all my baits, I was invited to go with them on Saturday morning. I did not have any tackle so I begged and mooched all the gear I could from the both of them.
The day was a perfect musky day weather wise; it was quite broken with sun, showers and sometimes a fairly stiff breeze and temps in the lower 60’s. We fished my little un- known lake for about four hours and we all struck pay dirt. Adam took the top fish prize with a beautiful forty inch musky.
All the fish came on either buck tails or spinner baits. We did not really have any follow so to speak; most of them hit the bait, although not with a lot of gusto.

Observations:

The lake level seemed somewhat normal, and fairly clear. I did notice that there was absolutely no submergent vegetation. Scott had informed me that the St Louis had no weeds what so ever.

9-4 thru 9-7-12 Bear hunting Minnesota

9-4 thru 9-7-2012
Weather:
Clear to cloudy and rain
Location:
Minnesota non-quota area near the cabin
Bagged:
No bears
Partners:
Troy
Comments

Troy and I were on a self- guided bear hunt in the non-quota area of northern Minnesota. We had gone up a few days earlier and picked out our bait sites and baited them. After the first couple of days we only had one bait that was visited by the bears. We did see some bear tracks here and there, so our confidence level was good.
When we arrived on Tuesday morning we went to check and re-bait our sites and to our disappointment only one of the six baits had been hit. Over the next several days our luck with the baiting did not improve. Troy who had Kurt in tow only hunted two nights and I only hunted three. Neither of us saw any bears and we were both disappointed. I think that there were several factors that contributed to our lack of success: low bear numbers and lots of hunters, and an overabundance of freshly fallen acorns.
The bears did not have a hard time finding the scraps left over from our daily bait mixing at the cabin. I had some empty five gallon pails that still had some remnant bear bait in them in the back of my truck, and the bears tried to rip my topper off to get at them. I also put out some bait behind the barn, and within eight hours I had visiting bears.

Observations:

The areas in Minnesota and by the cabin are extremely dry. There was a bumper crop of acorns. Both I and Troy said we will never hunt the non-quota area again.