10-2-13 Wed.

10-2-2013 Wed. 6:00 PM – 10:30 PM
Weather: calm, clear, 65˚
Water: Quite low, clear, 66 ˚
Location: Mississippi river pool 7
Caught: Bait: bluegills and a few perch, me: 5lb. flat head, Scott: 38lb flat head
Partners: Scott
Comments:
Tonight was probably my last night of flat head fishing for the season. The water is getting colder and I am also losing my interest in pursuing the bottom dwelling predators. We started out catching bait along the dredge holes out in front of Schaffer’s bait shop. We were accompanied by no less than thirty other boats. The slaughter of the staging bluegills is at its peak. I am fine with someone going out and catching some bluegills, but the limit is too liberal in my opinion and there are some that are going out every day and catching their limits each time out. The bait gathering was quite easy; the bluegills are very abundant right along the weed edges.
Flat head fishing was pretty slow tonight. We had a total of three bites and caught two. The size of Scott’s fish more than made up for the slowness. It was the biggest fish of the season for him.

Observations:
The main channel is very clear and low and the flow is practically non-existent. We had several instances where we could not anchor properly on account of the low flow. The water temperature has stayed around the mid-sixties range, but I expect that to change soon.

9-29-13 Sun

9-29-2013 Sun. 5:30 PM – 7 PM
Weather: calm, clear, 65˚
Water: Quite low, clear
Location: Mississippi river pool 7
Bagged: One gray squirrel
Partners: None
Comments:
It was my first hunting trip of any kind this year, and I opted for squirrels. I was also doing a little bit of deer scouting on the islands at the same time. I saw a total of three squirrels and one raccoon. The deer sign was rather sparse.
Observations:
The acorns have started to drop on the islands, and by all indications there should be a fair amount. The vegetation is still quite thick and green, and although not real numerous the mosquitoes are present. We have not had any frost yet this season.

9-28-13 Sat

9-28-2013 Sat. 4:00 PM – 12:15 PM
Weather: rain and some wind the first 2.5 hours, then clear and relatively calm, 60 ˚
Water: Quite low, clear, 66 ˚
Location: Mississippi river pool 7
Caught: Bait: bluegills and crappies//flat heads: Marvin 42 & 10, Donte 25 & 10.
Partners: Marvin and Donte
Comments:
It was my last guiding trip of the year and probably my last for a few years. It was Marvin’s second trip of the year and he was definitely looking forward to it. We started out fishing bluegills in the dredge holes on the lake, and it was relatively easy catching. In the morning the lake was full of boats, but this afternoon there was nobody out in the rain.
The flat heads bit fast and furious for about ten minutes right at sun down and then we had no more action till our fourth spot right around midnight. Donte missed several fish right away, but then he figured things out a little bit and was able to bring two into the boat.
Observations:
Water is still very low and mostly clear. We have not had a frost yet, but the mosquitoes are few and far between.

9-26-13 Thr.

9-26-2013 Thr. 6:00 PM – 10:30 PM
Weather: perfect: sunny, slight wind, 70 falling to 55 ˚
Water: Quite low, clear, 67 ˚
Location: Mississippi river pool 7
Caught: Bait: bluegills and crappies//flat heads 33 & 15.
Partners: none
Comments:
It was a short exploratory trip before I took Marvin out on Saturday. I was pretty confident on the spot I was going to take him, but I wanted to make sure. I started out fishing the snags on the sloughs looking for bait. The bluegills came relatively easy, but they were not everywhere. The flat heads came from a main side channel out of about 25 feet of water.
Observations:
Mosquitoes seem to have almost totally disappeared.

9-24-13 Tue

9-24-2013 Tue. 6:00 PM – 11:15 PM
Weather: perfect: sunny, slight wind, 70 falling to 60 ˚
Water: Quite low, clear, 67 ˚
Location: Mississippi river pool 7
Caught: Bait: perch, flat heads (3) 5, 5 and 10.
Partners: Scott
Comments:
We started out fishing a side channel scour hole up by Trempealeau. We did bring one to the boat and lost another. We then moved to a woody side channel area with 20 plus feet of water and caught two there. The fish in this second spot really seemed to be tight to the wood. I am thinking the fish are getting less active and not venturing out as far from their lairs.
Observations:
The stump field path is still very vegetated, but the rice has all dropped its seed and the other emergent weeds are starting to die off.

9-22-13 Sun

9-22-2013 Sun. 9:00 AM – 7:30 PM
Weather: perfect: sunny, slight wind, 75 ˚
Water: Quite low, clear, 68 ˚
Location: Mississippi river pool 8
Caught: Bluegills, a few crappies and some large mouth bass
Partners: Wayne and Gary AM// Jen and Scott PM
Comments:
My morning trip was a guided trip with Wayne and Gary. Wayne had won a guided fishing trip with me that I had donated to NASA. We targeted almost exclusively gills, and they caught a pile of them. We fished mainly dredge areas around La Crosse.
In the afternoon I took out clients Jen and Scott. We started out catching bluegills, then we moved to the little bigger quarry of bass and pike. We caught lots of gills, but the bass did not cooperate until the end of the evening. The bluegills again came from wintering areas and the bass came from rocks up by the dam.
Observations:
It was a beautiful day today, which has been the typical weather pattern the last two weeks.

9-21-13 Sat

9-21-2013 Sat 11:30 AM – 7:00 PM
Weather: sunny, slight wind, 70 ˚
Water: Quite low, clear, 68 ˚
Location: Mississippi river pool 8
Caught: Bluegills and crappies with the largest gill being 9” and the largest crappie almost 14”.
Partners: None
Comments:
I was again doing some exploring on pool eight for a couple of upcoming trips. I found lots of bluegills and crappies today. The fish are starting to move into their wintering areas and are real eager to eat.
Observations:
I have not seen any bait fishing chasing activity in a long time. I would think that activity would be taking place this time of year.

9-20-13 Fri

9-20-2013 Fri. 11:30 AM – 6:30 PM
Weather: sunny, slight wind, 70 ˚
Water: Quite low, clear, 68 ˚
Location: Mississippi river pool 7
Caught: Not a lot, some gills
Partners: None
Comments:
I was doing some exploring on pool eight for a couple of upcoming trips. I did not catch much, except for a few gills. I tired jigging below the dam for flat heads with no luck.
Observations:
The water is low and the main channel is very clear, but the side channels are still pretty green.

9-19-13 Thr.

9-19-2013 Thr 6:00 PM – 11:30 PM
Weather: rainy, light winds, 60 ˚
Water: Quite low, starting to clear up, 66 ˚
Location: Mississippi river pool 7
Caught: Bait: perch and bluegills, two flat heads 33 & 10 Lbs.
Partners: None

Comments:

It was a Thursday night and I had Friday off so I was going to take advantage of it. My plan was to hit some unconventional flathead waters for this time of year and that is exactly what I did. I mainly targeted main channel areas both wing dams and areas with plenty of woody cover.
The night was quite slow; I only had three bites and out of the three I only connected on two of them. The thirty three pound flat head I caught put up quite a fight. With the low flows it did not have a hard time pulling the boat upstream and it also managed to tangle the line into the front anchor rope.

Observations:

I fished a total of four spots and a caught a fish in two different spots that both had a depth of twenty plus feet.

9-15-13 Sun

9-15-2013 Sun 6:15 PM – 10:10 PM
Weather: clear, NE 5 – 10, 62˚
Water: Quite low, starting to clear up, 66 ˚
Location: Mississippi river pool 7
Caught: Bait: perch (12) 9 -11”, four flat heads 32, 13, (2) 8 Lbs.
Partners: Scott
Comments:
It was a spur of the moment flat head fishing trip with Scott tonight. I was quite nervous about catching enough bait to even bait all the poles, but I caught enough perch and had them in the live well before Scott even got to the landing.
We headed out to one of my favorite flat head fishing holes and almost as soon as we sat down after casting our six poles out we had a fish on. In the next five or ten minutes we had boated three flat heads with the largest being a nice thirty two pound fish. It took about another hour before we caught our next fish, but we were very happy to have caught four.
We did try one other spot, but we had no action.
Observations:
All the fish were caught in twenty plus feet of water, which was the first spot, and no fish were caught in the second spot, which only had a depth of about ten feet.

9-12-13 Thr.

9-12-2013 Thr. 11:00 AM – 7:30 PM
Weather: Sunny, windy, temps in lower 70’s
Water: Normal summer pattern with very little depth
Location: Mississippi river pool 8
Caught: Approximately 12 LMB
Partners: none
Comments:
I have wanted to fish the Stoddard area for bass all summer long, but I have just not had the chance to get down there. Today was going to be the day, except the wind would have made that fishing adventure quite brutal.
Instead of Stoddard I opted for the more sheltered and tranquil waters around Goose Island. It was still winding there, but with the area being more sheltered it was not too bad. I was targeting largemouth bass and pike, with the latter being pretty much a no show.
Almost all the bass I caught came on a frog in the weeds and slop.
Observations:
This area does not have quite as much wild rice as pool seven, but it is fairly abundant south of Goose Island. The bass were not everywhere, but when I did find one there were usually others close by.

9-6/7-13 Friday and Saturday

9-6/7-2013 all day both days.
Weather: Sunny, hot and relatively calm
Water: 66-74˚
Location: Cabin in Douglass County – Bear Lake and St Louis R.
Caught: Total of three muskies: 36, 32 (tiger), 28”, 22” walleye and several smaller pike.
Partners: Scott and Adam
Comments:
It was our annual trip up to the cabin musky fishing. The fishing was not too great, but we as always enjoyed ourselves and had a good time. It was really hot on Friday, so we took a boat ride out on Lake Superior and Adam and I went water skiing. It was a blast!
Observations:
We have not had a summer cool down yet, and I think that was weighing negatively on the aggressiveness of the fish.

8-31-13 SAt

8-31-2013 Sat. 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM//3 PM – 7:30PM
Weather: Sunny, hot and relatively calm
Water: Normal summer pattern with very little depth
Location: Mississippi river pool 7
Caught: Lost of pan fish, and some small mouth bass
Partners: Clients in both the am and pm
Comments:
Today I guided two groups of clients and I believe both groups had a good time. We fished mostly simple today, with the set up consisting of a slip bobber and a small lead headed jig tipped with a piece of crawler.
Observations:
I think the bluegills are starting to transition off the main channel. We still got lots of fish on the main channel, but we also caught some bluegills back at the Pike Hole.

8-28-13 Wed

8-28-2013 Wed. 7:15 PM – 8:00 PM
Weather: (1953) E7, mostly cloudy, 84˚. 30.01 Steady
Water: 4.98 steady, 12.2 kcfs, 84 ˚, green
Location: Mississippi river pool 7
Caught: nothing
Partners: none

Comments:

I put the go devil boat back in the water behind the house, and since I had it in the water I decided to fish for just a short time. I did not really expect to catch too much; I was just eliminating unproductive water. Amazingly I had a strike on my frog on my first cast, and one more about thirty casts later, but that was the extent of the action for the night. I never did boat a fish, nor did I see much activity.

Observations:

I went out through the cut and across the lake to where Somner’s Chute dumps into the lake. The area between the cut and Somner’s is a total mess with all the weeds. I really think the only boat that can navigate that route is a go devil style boat.

8-27-13 Tue

8-27-2013 Tue. 5:00 PM – 12:00 PM
Weather: (2253) calm, clear, 82˚. 29.86 rising
Water: 4.97 steady, 11.7 kcfs, 80 ˚, green
Location: Mississippi river pool 8
Caught: Bluegills (bait), 4 flat heads 18. 15, 13 & 8 lbs.
Partners: Marvin, KP

Comments:

It was a flat head trip with Marvin and KP. They made the trip up from the Milwaukee area on a quest to catch their first flat heads. They have both done quite a bit of fishing, but they have never tangled with a flat head.
We started the evening catching our bait (bluegills) and that task was accomplished with relative ease. We set up on a wing dam about an hour before dark in hopes of catching a few channel cats and possibly a flat head, but neither succumbed to our offerings. We moved to another main channel area just before dark and that is where KP caught his first flat head. It took another move to get Marvin his first flat head. At the end of the night KP and Marvin each landed two flat heads. We did try fishing for channel cats, but none could be coaxed into biting either stink bait or crawlers.

Observations:

The water and flow is definitely at their low summer time levels. The only time we experienced any current was when a barge moving upstream past us caused the resulting push of water to flow over the wing dam upstream of us. It was interesting because that was the only time we got a bite on the main channel.

8-25-13 Sun.

8-25-2013 Sun. 9:30 AM – 2:30 PM
Weather: (1253) S17, G25, clear, 91˚. 30.07 falling
Water: 4.88 steady, 7.76 kcfs, 77-81 ˚, green to clear
Location: Mississippi river pool 7
Caught: LMB approx. 12 up to 19”, SMB (3) 12-13”, pike 6 up to 34”, crappies (6) 8”
Partners: none

Comments:

It was my day to do some backwaters game fishing. I expected to catch some LMB, but I was very surprised as to how active the pike were. I had great action on both bass and pike. I even got a little crappie fishing in on a snag up by the spillway.
The bass and pike hit swim jigs, buzz baits, frogs and Senko’s. The small mouths hit Senko’s and crank baits. I started out fishing the gadwall hole and headed north from there. I pretty much found fish everywhere. The frog bite was very good, and it accounted for my largest couple of bass. I was surprised at one spot I frog fished at. It was very shallow and scummy and I did not think there would be a bass anywhere near here, but I managed to catch two and missed several others. The cover over the water was not duck weed but that scummy looking moss, which made it even more surprising that I caught a bass here.

Observations:

The water is quite low and if it gets much lower it is going to get difficult to navigate the back waters. The rice out from the cut is in full bloom, but the rice up by Trempealeau is not.

8-22-13 Thr.

8-22-2013 Thr. 6:30 PM – 11:00 PM
Weather: (2153) calm, clear, 69˚. 30.10 rising
Water: 4.91 steady, 8.9 kcfs, 76 ˚, green
Location: Mississippi river pool 8
Caught: Bait (bluegills – rather large ones), flat head: 12 Lbs.
Partners: none

Comments:

I have been trying to figure the flat head bite out and I have not been having much luck in doing so. Tonight I was on pool seven just north of La Crosse. The first spot I tried was over in the West Channel near where the Bikini Yacht Club used to be. The area has nice depth and lots of wood, too bad the flat heads don’t seem to know about this spot. I never had a bite here.
I then went out to the main channel and fished behind a wing dam and caught one that I estimated to weigh about twelve pounds. I think I have caught this fish before because I recognized it by the exposed gills it had on its left side on account of a past injury to its gill flap.
The bluegill fishing down here is quite incredible. There seems to be bluegills all over the wing dams and they are of the magnum size.

Observations:

The wing dams north of the entrance to the West Channel area exposed.

8-21-13 Wed.

8-21-2013 6:30 PM – 11:30 PM
Weather: calm, clear, 75˚
Water: 4.94 steady, 10.2 kcfs falling, 76 ˚, green
Location: Mississippi river pool 7
Caught: Bait (bluegills), 1 soft shell turtle
Partners: Adam W.

Comments:

It was the first time this year that Adam and I got out fishing. We tried three main secondary channel spots and never caught a fish. The last spot of the night was Somner’s Chute and that was dead just as it has been pretty much all year.
The bluegills are still fairly hard to come by, but they can be found in numbers if you are persistent in searching for them. I have not caught hardly any this year on the rocks on pool seven. Very strange!

Observations:

We are definitely into our summer pattern: low flows, green water and lots of vegetation.

8-18-13 Sun.

8-18-2013 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Weather: (1753) S12, clear, 81˚, 30.09 falling
Water: 4.99 steady, 12.8 kcfs, 77 ˚ rising, pretty clear
Location: Mississippi river pool 7
Caught: LMB: Approx. 15, 12-18”, 1 – 22” pike
Partners: none

Comments:

I have not been out just bass fishing on this pool for a while and it has been even longer since I have taken the goat boat out. Since I was fishing out of the go devil boat I planned on fishing close to home. I really did not think I would get much tonight, but I actually ran into quite a large concentration of large mouths.
I found them using a swim jig and I cleaned up on them using a Senko style worm rigged wacky style. I am always amazed how I can catch a fish or two with a swim jig, and then I put on a Senko and I catch many more after the swim jig bite has disappeared. Once again the frog bite was non-existent.

Observations:

It was a pretty quiet evening out tonight, not much for boat traffic and even less for fishermen. Some of the rice is starting to tassel out and I would have to say the weed growth has to have reached critical mass.

8-15-13 Thr.

8-15-2013 6 PM – 12:30 AM
Weather: (2053) calm, clear, 69˚, 30.17 steady
Water: 4.99 steady, 12.8 kcfs, 74 ˚, pretty clear
Location: Mississippi river pool 7
Caught: Bait: bluegills, perch and crappies, 18, 16 and 8 pound flat heads
Partners: Scott

Comments:

It had been awhile since Scott and I have fished together. During the past two weeks I or Scott had been away on vacation. I was a little worried about bait catching tonight. I had told Scott that I would supply the crawlers. I did supply the crawlers, but I only had three small ones in the container. We were soon out of them, and we did not have enough bait in the live well to make it a very serious night of flat head fishing. We called another friend of ours who was heading out cat fishing and we asked him if he would come past us and supply us with a few more crawlers. He graciously did!
We started out by Trempealeau and ended the night down towards Dakota. The bite was not fantastic, but we did manage to boat three, so we did do pretty well.

Observations:

Tonight there were lots of cat fishermen out and about. We saw three different boats set up for cats and we knew of at least three other groups that were also out cat fishing. It was a very nice evening, but after sunset it became quite cold. We both donned extra clothes to ward off the night chill and Scott even went so far as to dig out and wear his stocking hat. We did make a trip up to mud lake looking for gills, and I was amazed at how choked off the area is with wild rice, there is not a lot of area up there that is not covered with rice.

8-13-13 Tue.

8-13-2013 Tue. 6:15 PM – 12:00 AM
Weather: (2053) calm, clear, 63˚, 30.14 rising
Water: 5.27 rising falling, 27.1 kcfs, 74 ˚, slight algae bloom
Location: Mississippi river pool 7
Caught: bluegills and crappies, 17, 8 and 3 pound flat heads
Partners: Reed and Tucker
Comments:
Tonight it was a guided fishing trip with Reed and his son Tucker. Reed had some experience with fishing flat heads, but Tucker had very limited exposure to them. Bait catching was very easy tonight; in fact I caught most of the bait in about fifteen minutes before I even picked them up at the landing. The first spot was a main channel scour hole with a maximum depth of about thirty feet. This is where all three flat heads came from.
The second spot was a major side channel just off the main channel with plenty of wood along the bank. We had one very good bite here with a good run. Reed was up on this fish, and instead of giving it a nice rod sweep he gave it and all you can give hook set. Unfortunately the line broke about ten feet from the rod tip. I do not know if the line was weak or frayed at that spot or if it was a very large fish and the line just could not handle the force of the hook set. Anyway, things happen. I felt bad and I know Reed felt bad.
We finished off the night in Somners Chute and never had a bite.
Observations:
It was once again a very beautiful night with no wind, absolutely no boat traffic and a few shooting stars streaking across the abyss of the night sky. On the trip back to the landing we took the route of the lake, and man was it ever weedy, in fact it was darn near impossible to motor through it. Most of the vegetation was celery grass but towards the upper end there was lots of rice.

8-12-13 Mon

8-12-2013 Mon. 5:30 PM – 10:00 PM
Weather: (1953) NW6, clear, 73˚, 29.97 rising
Water: 5.15 rising, 21 kcfs, 74 ˚, slight algae bloom
Location: Mississippi river pool 7
Caught: bluegills and crappies
Partners: none
Comments:
I was pre-fishing for an upcoming flat head guide trip on Tuesday. I checked out a lot of areas in the backwaters looking for crappies and bluegills, and I did not find too much. I caught an adequate amount for bait, but it was not spectacular.
The flat head fishing was even worse. I tried two different areas in Somners Chute and never even had a bite. It however was not a waste of time as I did eliminate some unproductive water.

Observations:
It was a very pleasant evening tonight, although the nights have been pretty chilly for this time of year. I did see a few meteorites streaking across the sky. I guess the next couple of night’s are supposed to be very active for them.

8-11-13 Sun

8-11-2013 Sun. 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Weather: (2053) E5, mostly cloudy, 70˚, 30.06 rising
Water: 5.03 rising, 14.6 kcfs, 74 ˚, slight algae bloom
Location: Mississippi river pool 7
Caught: perch, a few bluegills, LMB and pike
Partners: none
Comments:
I had an all-day fishing trip scheduled today, but the trip was cancelled on account of the storms we had this morning. The morning and early afternoon were pretty dreary so I just chilled out on the couch. I do have to do that once in a while just to remind myself that I do not care for that too often. I finally caught a breath in the afternoon and headed up river towards the backwaters of Trempealeau. I have not been up to this area for quite some time, so I did not know what to expect.
I did find some perch, a couple of bluegills and one crappie. The pan fish sure have not inhabited this area like they use to a few years back. I also fished for bass and pike and had pretty decent luck with some of each. Most of the fish came on swim jigs, but I did manage at least one pike on a frog.

Observations:
The water is at its summer level, but we still have a pretty decent flow. The Pike Hole area has some vegetation, but it is a lot less than it normally is this time of year, and it seems as if the rice is not as abundant up in this area. There is a pretty good flow of water coming through the pike hole, which supports my suspicion that more and more of the Black River’s flow is coming through its upper tributary.

8-9-13 Fri

8-9-2013 Fri. 6:00 PM – 11:00 PM
Weather: (2053) NW 8, clear, 70˚, 30.06 rising
Water: 5.02 falling, 14.2 kcfs, 74 ˚, green
Location: Mississippi river pool 8
Caught: bluegills for bait, four LMB 12 – 14”
Partners: none

Comments:
I have a couple of fishing trips coming up in the next few days, so I have been out pre-fishing for them. It has been tough! I can catch bluegills in numbers, but that is about all I feel overly confident in catching. Tonight I easily caught flat head bait, along with a few largemouth bass. The flat heads on the other hand were elusive tonight. I never even had a bite, and I tried three different spots. I tried some of the spots that were so good last year. One of my favorites was a main channel wing dam tip, but tonight it was a no go. There is more current this year than there was last year at this time, so I am thinking that may have a bearing on it.

Observations:
The water is quite low, but the current is still clipping along at a pretty good pace. The water below the Dresbach Dam is quite green and the upper landing is difficult to use on account of the low water.

8-8-13 Thr.

8-8-2013 Thr. 7:30 PM – 11:00 PM
Weather: (2053) calm, few clouds, 68˚, 30.00 steady
Water: 5.22 falling, 55.9 kcfs, 72 ˚, clear
Location: Mississippi river pool 7
Caught: bluegills for bait, one 21 pound flat head
Partners: Autumn - bluegill fishing

Comments:
Autumn is starting to show some interest in fishing and she wanted to try “for those smaller fish that are easier to catch”. I needed some bluegills for flat head fishing tonight, so she came along for that portion of the fishing. She found out those smaller fish are not so easily caught either. She was a little confused on how I could catch 20 to her 1. She did catch one small crappie at the end of the night and she was satisfied with that. She also wanted to take it off the hook and she found out the hard way that crappies have some pretty sharp spines on their lower front fins.
I fished for flat heads in two different spots over a two hour period and I caught one twenty one pound fish. I wished Autumn would have been along and caught that fish, I think she would have been hooked on catching those big whiskered cats.

Observations:
The vegetation growth is probably at its peak right now. The rice is particularly abundant this year and it appears to be taking over the east lakeside from the end of the dike down to Ashley Point.

7-28 through 8-2-13 Chippewa Flowage - Hayward

7-27 through 8-2-2013
Weather: Generally cold for this time of year with the first couple of days very cold, with on and off rain showers
H2O: East side had a fair amount of algae bloom with the west side much clearer, 67 -70 ˚
Location: Chippewa Flowage, Hayward, WI
Caught: Multiple pike and LMB, a few SMB and three incidental crappies
Partners: Dwayne, Autumn and Colin
Comments:
It was our annual vacation week at Hayward and it has been cold! We got up here Saturday afternoon and we were greeted by rain, wind and upper fifty degree temperatures. Sunday morning was not much better, but at least it was not raining and there was no wind. The rest of the week was not too bad weather wise, but the temperatures were definitely below normal.
Surprisingly the fishing turned out to be pretty good. I caught northern and bass in the thick weeds, with lily pads being the best location. I fished both the East and West sides and had pretty good luck for the first time on the East side. I never fished for muskies much, except the last day on Friday night I gave it a solid four hours. I never caught a musky, but I did have a couple of follows over by Dun Roven Lodge. I even caught a couple of crappies out on Pete’s bar on a crank bait. I never caught a walleye this trip, but I never fished for them either.
Observations:
The water on the flowage for this time of year is cold, but the fish are still pretty active. The clarity is pretty good, with limited algae present in the water, but as the week went by and the temperatures rose, the amount of algae also rose. There is not as much weed growth on the flowage this year, which in a way is nice, since most of it is water milfoil anyway. I would have to say the water level is a little higher than normal, with exposed sand quite limited.

7-26-13 Fri.

7-26-2013 Fri. 9 AM – 11:00 AM//6 PM – 1:00 AM

Weather: (2153) N 17 G 24, overcast, 63 ˚, 29.99 steady
H2O: 5.9 falling, 35 kcfs, clear, 76 ˚
Location: Mississippi River pool 7
Caught: Bait: bluegills and crappies
Partners: Davit & Nay
Comments:
I started out fishing in the morning on the lake looking for locations for bait for my upcoming guide trip. I found lots of gills around the airport lights in about six feet of water in close proximity to weeds.
I picked up my clients at six at the Upper Brice Prairie landing, and our plans immediately changed. The wind was howling out of the north at about 25 MPH and made fishing for bait on the lake pretty much out of the question. We hit the back sloughs and the wood for our bait, and we picked up bluegills and crappies and one lonely channel cat. The pan fish were not thick in any one spot, but we got around 1 to 3 at each spot.
The flat head fishing was pretty much fantastic, we ended the night with seven flat heads, one channel cat and one agitated soft shell turtle. The biggest fish we caught were around fifteen pounds, but most averaged around ten. I was fishing from with Davit and Nay. They came with their family from Cambodia in 1975 when they were very young. They were able to get out just before the country spiraled into total chaos, they were very fortunate to have made it out. These two guys were good fishermen and a pleasure to fish with.
Observations:
The Flat head fishing is very good right now and the river is at an optimal level and stage for fishing. We had a major cold front blow in tonight, but it did not put a damper on the fishing.

7-24-2013 Wed 7 PM – 12:00 AM

Weather: (2153) SE 5, overcast, 68 ˚, 30.02 steady
H2O: 6.07 falling, 37 kcfs, clear, 80 ˚
Location: Mississippi River pool 8
Caught: Bait: very large bluegills//Rob: two flat heads 8 & 39 lb.
Partners: Rob
Comments:
Rob and I put in at the Dresbach Dam and started catching our bait immediately along the main channel against the rocks. The bluegills were plentiful and willing to hit artificial baits. For flatheads we hit two spots; one was a main channel area where the big fish came from and one was a side channel where we had several bites, but did not connect.
Observations:
We are pretty much into the summer pattern for fishing, the flow is still a little swift and strong but it is manageable.

7-21-13 Sun

7-21-2013 Sun 5 PM – 11:30 PM

Weather: (2153) SE 6, clear, 68 ˚, 29.88 falling
H2O: 6.64 falling, 49.4 kcfs, clear, 81 ˚
Location: Mississippi River pool 7
Caught: Bait: we caught bluegills, rock bass and a couple of perch
Partners: Scott
Comments:
Scott and myself got out early tonight with the plan of quickly catching our flat head bait and them we were going to hit the rocks for some small mouth bass fishing. But of course things did not go as planned. We had one hell of a time catching our bait, it was quite pathetic and it really disappointed me. We tried rocks, back waters up by Trempealeau and back channels with wood, but the bluegills were very elusive. We ended up fishing for bait almost until dark.
Fortunately the flat heads were much more cooperative. We caught three for the night and missed a couple of others. I know at least one of the flat heads was caught on cut bait. Tonight I fished the deeper water areas with very little wood cover.
Observations:
Tonight we had a major may fly hatch; the first one I have experienced this season.

7-20-13 Sat

7-20-2013 Sat 7:30 AM – 3 PM//7 PM – 11:45 PM

Weather: (0953) vrbl 6, clear, 71 ˚, 29.92 rising// (2153) E3, partly cloudy, 75 ˚, 29.92 steady
H2O: 6.89 falling, 53.4 kcfs, dingy to clear, 81 ˚
Location: Mississippi R. Pool 6, Trempealeau AM//Mississippi River pool 7 PM
Caught: AM: small mouths, a few large mouths, a couple of gills, and a few smallish pike
PM: lots of nice gills, a few crappies and Tracy Riek caught a 10 lb. flat head
Partners: John and Tracy Riek PM
Comments:
I started out fishing Trempealeau by myself Saturday morning. The fishing was not fantastic, but I did catch some small mouths, large mouths and a few pike. In the afternoon I met up with John Riek and his wife to do some flat head fishing that night. We fished rocky areas along the main channel for bluegills and we did not have a very hard time finding them. We caught bluegills in most any areas along the main channel that had rocks and some depth to go along with the rocks.
We started out fishing for flat heads on the West Channel and caught the one almost right away; well before dark. We then move to the East Channel and missed one there.
Observations:
The water is pretty clear down on this pool and there seems to be less debris floating in the water.

7-18-2013 Thr

7-18-2013 Thr 5:30 PM – 11 PM

Weather: (2253) calm, clear, 73 ˚, 29.86 rising
H2O: 7.06 falling, 55.7 kcfs, dingy, 81 ˚
Location: Mississippi R. Pool 6, Trempealeau
Caught: Bait: bluegills, small mouth bass, flat head – 32 lb., channel cat 9 lb.
Partners: none
Comments:
I headed to Trempealeau after work to search for some bluegills and fish for flat heads. I did find some bluegills, but they were pretty much scattered. All the bluegills were found relating to rocks very close to the channel or right alongside the main channel. I fished for the flat heads right across from the mouth of the Trempealeau River. I had two bites and I caught two fish. The flat head and the channel cat both were caught using cut bait.
Observations:
The water up on this pool was still fairly dingy and the weed growth is definitely not as widespread as it normally is this time of year.

7-16-13 Tue.

7-16-2013 Tue. 7 PM – 9:30 PM

Weather: (1953) S 7, a few clouds, 89 ˚, 30.20 steady
H2O: 7.48 falling, 61 kcfs, clear, 78 ˚
Location: Mississippi R. Pool 7
Caught: LMB: We each caught two from 14-17”/ Crappies: 1 ea.
Partners: Troy
Comments:
I had not fished with Troy for a real long time. Tonight we took the goat boat out and fished relatively close to home. We were targeting crappies and LMB, but mainly we were fishing for LMB. We had some pretty good LMB action. We each caught two fish and easily missed twice that many. Troy caught all his fish on a gurgling scum frog and I caught mine on a swim jig. I did lose a real nice bass that I had hooked on a KVD frog.
Observations:
The water is really clean in the backwaters out from the house and it is dropping rapidly. The bass are already relating to different areas because of the dropping levels. The bug hatch was horrendous tonight; not the may flies, but about any other type of bug that could fly. I have not seen a may fly hatch on this pool yet, but I did see one on pool 8 when I fished it on Monday night.

7-15-13 Mon.

7-15-2013 Mon. 5 PM – 11 PM

Weather: (2153) E 3, a few clouds, 82 ˚, 30.20 steady
H2O: 7.64 falling, 63 kcfs, semi-clean, 78-85 ˚
Location: Mississippi R. Pool 8
Caught: bluegills, small mouths and 20 LB. flat head
Partners: none
Comments:
I was back to the Dresbach area to see if the bluegills were still around and if the flat heads were in a more active mode. The bluegills were still around but they had moved out of the upper bay of the East Channel. I did find the bluegills out on the main channel relating to rocks. The size of the bluegills was not that great tonight, but I did find plenty for bait. I did try the rocks on the main channel just below the railroad trestle for small mouth bass, and I had quite a bit of action. I tried two spot for flat heads and I caught the one fish at the first spot on a bluegill head and I missed another fish at the second spot I fished. I am pretty sure the second fish I missed was a channel cat.

Observations:
The salvage crew has righted the sunken tug boat and moved it to shallower water. I did notice oil sheen on the surface of the water on the East Channel. The house boat is still sunk and becoming more and more exposed as the water drops.

7-14-13 Sun

7-14-2013 Sun. 7 PM – 9:30PM

Weather: (1853) SW 12, clear, 87 ˚, 30.15 steady
H2O: 7.69 falling, 63 kcfs, clean, 78 ˚
Location: Mississippi R. Pool 7
Caught: 2 SMB 12”, LMB 17”
Partners: none
Comments:
It was a Short night trip out on the main channel in search of the small mouths, which were inactive. I did get check by the wardens again for the second time this year. I think I pissed them off when I asked them if Wisconsin wardens had jurisdiction in Minnesota. After I showed them my license they wanted to see my life preservers and my fire extinguisher. I was not being smart with them, I was just curious!
Observations:
The small mouths had lock jaw tonight.

7-13-13 Sat

7-13-2013 Sat. 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM//7 PM – 11PM

Weather: (0953) S9, light rain, 69 ˚, 30.09 rising// (2153) E5, overcast, 76 ˚, 30.10 steady
H2O: 8.35 falling, 63 kcfs, clean, 78 ˚
Location: Mississippi R. Fountain City and pool 7 PM
Caught: F. City: approx. 14 LMB 12-19”, 2 SMB 12”, 2 pike 22, 28”
Partners: none and F. City, Scott pool 7
Comments:
It was my first trip of the season for one of my favorite summer time bass haunts at Fountain City. The water was still high and quite dirty in some spots, but I did pretty good considering. The fish were not thick or very active everywhere, but I did pretty well.
Flat head fishing with Scott was not stellar, he caught one about eight pounds.
Observations:
The river is still in a state of decline, but I did notice that the weed growth up to Fountain City is not as thick as it normally is at this time of year.

7-12-13 Fri.

7-12-2013 Fri. 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM

Weather: (1953) NW 8, clear, 76 ˚, 29.99 rising
H2O: 8.45 falling, 69 kcfs, clear, 77 ˚
Location: Mississippi R. Pool 7
Caught: LMB 4/ 14-17”
Partners: none
Comments:
I had not planned on fishing tonight, hence the late start. I was targeting largemouth bass close to home, and I was much more successful than I anticipated. One of the fish came on a frog and the others came on a swim jig.
Observations:
The river is still in a rapid decline, and I think within about ten days we may be to a more normal summer pool.

7-10-13 Wed.

7-10-2013 Wed. 6:30 PM – 9:30 PM

Weather:
(1953) NW 8, clear, 76 ˚, 29.99 rising
H2O:
9.23 falling, 76 kcfs, dingy, 79 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. Pool 7
Caught:
SMB (approx. 10) 10-17”
Partners:
none

Comments:

I started out with the intention of fishing for walleyes, but after trolling for twenty minutes and not having any action I gave it up. I was headed towards Somner’s Chute where I was going to continue walleye fishing, but then I passed some rip rap that had small mouth bass stamped on each rock and I could not resist the urge to fish for small mouths.
Fishing for small mouth turned out to be the right choice. The action was not fast and furious by any means, but it was steady. The only problem I had was my frustration level got quite high. I once again had my line broken by a four plus pound fish, and I miss lots of bites. I believe I have cured the problem by changing out my monofilament line with braided line. I will not have the shock or stretch that mono gives, but I will have the strength and the instant hook set capability. Tonight most of the fish once again were caught on Senko’s, with a few also falling to crank baits.

Observations:

The river is dropping rapidly now and the clarity has greatly improved. I still am not seeing much top water activity, but hopefully that will happen yet this year.

7-9-13 Tue.

7-9-2013 Tue. 6 PM – 9:30 PM

Weather:
(1853) NW 12, few clouds, 87 ˚, 29.82 steady
H2O:
9.5 falling, 79.2 kcfs, dingy, 79 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. Pool 7
Caught:
LMB: 16”// SMB: 14, 16, 12 & 10”
Partners:
none

Comments:

I was exploring for bass tonight and I covered lots of water that was fishless. I started out around Pigeon Island and missed one fish there. I then went to Mud Lake and never had a bite there. I then hit some of the back bays and ponds around Shingle Creek and caught the one largemouth. I did not spend too much time there, I was just exploring. I finished the night out on the main channel fishing for small mouth and that actually went pretty good. I had one real nice small mouth break my line; the current is incredibly strong and so area the small mouths and my mono line was not match to either.

Observations:

The river is finally starting to drop. It is still quite dirty, but the clarity will come with time.

7-7-13 PM Sun.

7-7-2013 Sun PM. 6:30 PM – 9:30 PM

Weather:
(1953) S 12 G 18, few clouds, 86 ˚, 29.85 rising
H2O:
9.73 falling, 86 kcfs, clear in tributaries of the Black River, 76 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. Pool 7
Caught:
Approx. 12 LMB 10 -17”
Partners:
Oaty

Comments:

I have been itching to get back out and do some bass fishing after my trip with Howard and Pat. I really wanted to see what numbers of bass were available in the areas we fished and I just plain wanted to fish myself.
We did okay tonight, the sizes of the fish were not great, but we had action. Most of the action came on top water frogs.

Observations:

The upper marsh area with its clearer water seems to be a better spot for catching fish at this time.

7-7-13 Sun

7-7-2013 Sun. 7:30 AM – 1:30 PM

Weather:
(0953) S 12, few clouds, 77 ˚, 29.92 steady
H2O:
10.01 falling, 86 kcfs, dirty, 76 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. Pool 8
Caught:
lots of bluegills and six crappies, kept approx. twenty five bluegills and six crappies
Partners:
Larry and son Ryan

Comments:

It was a pan fishing trip with Larry and his son Ryan. Larry and Ryan both were experienced fishermen. The bluegill bite has been good the past couple of weeks, but it has also been somewhat a hit or miss affair. The fish are rarely in the same locations from day to day.
We started out targeting rock banks out of the current and that proved to be somewhat successful; however we did not catch many fish of decent size. We then moved to an area with lots of wood hanging over into the water. The area also had deep water in close proximity and that was the key. The fish were not concentrated in any one spot in great numbers. We did catch some real nice bluegills and about a half dozen nice crappie by constantly searching for active fish.

Observations:

Below the Dresbach Dam there is quite a sad sight; there is now two boats that are sunk with the most recent one being a tug boat that claimed the life a young Genoa man. It is a sad sight, seeing the hull of a tugboat upside down resting against the lower side of the main roller gates. The river is starting to drop, and the gates actually went down into the water today as we were fishing.

7-6-13 Sat

7-6-2013 Sat. 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Weather:
(1453) S 15 G 22, clear, 90 ˚, 29.92 steady
H2O:
10.13 falling, 87.9 kcfs, dirty but clear in sheltered areas, 76 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. Pool 7
Caught:
Pat: 19” small mouth, Howard: nothing
Partners:
Howard and Pat Bloom

Comments:

Howard was the winning bidder on a fishing trip that I had donated to a beagle club from Camp Douglas. Howard wanted to take his son along on a fishing trip and he wanted to target pike. I told Howard the best time for pike was early spring right after the spawn. Unfortunately this would not work out because his son Pat is the college baseball coach at the University of Stevens Point and he is busy all spring.
We made the best of the outing and after several hours of not finding any active pike we switched mainly to top water fishing for largemouth bass. Unfortunately the bass were not very cooperative either. We did have some blow ups on frogs, but most of the bites were missed by the inexperienced anglers. I must say both of these fishermen were pretty athletic and were quite efficient with the bait casters for first time users.

Observations:

Some of the sheltered areas of the river are quite clear, but any areas that have any current coming from the main channel are dirty. Still no may fly hatch and virtually no top water feeding activity.

7-5-13 Fri.

7-5-2013 Fri. 6:00 PM – 9:30 PM

Weather:
(2053) S 9, clear, 80 ˚, 29.92 rising
H2O:
10.2 steady, 89.1 kcfs, dirty, 76 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. Pool 7
Caught:
Pike: 20”, LMB 13”
Partners:
Myself

Comments:

I had an upcoming trip with Howard and his son in the morning so I went out to do some scouting. Howard wanted to target pike, and I knew from the start it would be tough finding any. With the warmer water temperatures the pike are less active and hard to find. I went to some spots which I thought may hold a few fish, and a few was about all I found. I had several aerial blow ups from a couple of decent sized fish, but none of them got the Ribbit frog in their mouths.

Observations:

The water is very clear in the area of the airport dredge holes.

7-4-13 Thr.

7-4-2013 Thr. 7:30 AM – 12:30 PM

Weather:
(0853) SE 7, overcast, 69 ˚, 30.04 falling
H2O:
10.06 steady, 86.7 kcfs, dirty, 76 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. Pool 7
Caught:
Variety of fish including: small mouth bass, largemouth bass, bluegills and perch.
Partners:
Scott and his sons Brandon and Chris

Comments:

It was a guided trip with Scott and his twin boys Brandon and Chris. Scott wanted to get the boys some fishing experience and he did not care what we fished for as long as the boys had a good time and caught a few fish. We went out to the rock islands and soaked some crawlers; unfortunately all the bluegills we caught last night seemed to have disappeared overnight. The bluegills were not very plentiful, but other species of fish were caught.
After a couple of hours I could sense the boys were getting bored, so I changed things up a little bit with a boat ride and a trip out to the large sand island near Dakota. The boys appreciated the stretch of the legs and the adventure the large sand island brought. They also had the rare opportunity of seeing a soft shell turtle laying its eggs and they also saw a newly hatched soft shell turtle.
The largest smiles from the boys of course came from when they caught fish, but also when we went fast in the boat. The family was visiting up from Texas and they appreciated the scenic beauty and especially the cooler temperatures that we have been experiencing.

Observations:

The river is holding steady, but still muddy and very high.

7-3-13 Wed.

7-3-2013 Wed 6:30 PM – 12:30 AM

Weather:
(2153) SE 3, mostly cloudy, 68 ˚, 30.02 steady
H2O:
10.00 falling, 85.8 kcfs, semi clear to dirty, 76 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. Pool 7
Caught:
Bait: lots of bluegills; flat heads: 2 approx. 5 & 8 lbs. caught by Rob
Partners:
Rob: Karen’s co-worker

Comments:

It was my second flat head fishing trip with Rob. I took him last year below the Dresbach Dam and we did pretty well. Tonight we did okay. We fished two spots and caught two smaller flat heads. We caught the gills out on the man-made islands and the flat heads came from side channels just off the main channel. We did have several other bites, but they were not too serious about devouring our bluegills.

Observations:

The conditions this evening were just perfect. I am starting to get pretty tired from three nights of flat head fishing in a row and then going to work each day afterwards. I also have a guided trip tomorrow morning, so I will be unable to sleep in again.

7-2-13 Tue.

7-2-2013 Tue. 6:30 PM – 12:30 PM

Weather:
(2153) SE 6, clear, 69 ˚, 30.07 steady
H2O:
10.11 steady, dirty, 76 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. Pool 8 East Channel
Caught:
Bait: lots of nice bluegills; Jason took home approx. approx. 30, flat head: none
Partners:
Jason (client)

Comments:

Tonight I had a guided fishing trip with Jason, who wanted to target flat heads. Jason wanted to come along bait catching as well as flat head fishing. The bait catching was very easy and rewarding. We got into some very nice sized spawning bluegills and Jason took around twenty-five home with him.
The flat head fishing was a different matter. I took Jason to my best spot on the East Channel and we did not have any luck bringing any fish boat side. We only had one bite out of all three of the spots that we fished. I was very disappointed! It is tough being a guide and having a bad fishing day for your client. It is not so bad if they have opportunities and area unable to capitalize on them, but when there is not anything to capitalize on that is tough.

Observations:

The river seems to have stabilized, so hopefully it will start to recede from the woods. One thing I have noticed the last several trips out is the lack of fish activity on the surface; it is eerily quiet a night.

7-1-13 Mon

7-1-2013 Mon. 6:30 PM – 12:00 AM

Weather:
(2153) SE 3, few clouds, 73 ˚, 30.11 steady
H2O:
10.09 rising, 87.2 kcfs, dirty, 76 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. Pool 8 West Channel
Caught:
Bait: bluegills, rock bass and perch, Flat heads: none
Partners:
none

Comments:

I had a guided trip for flat heads on Tuesday night, so I was out pre-fishing. I wanted to try some new spots in the West Channel, so that is where I went. I had never fished for flat heads before in the West Channel, so I did some scouting before I settled in to fish. I found some spots that looked really good: lots of cover and good depth.
I fished three different spots tonight and never even had a bite. It was quite disappointing. I believe the bite was affected by the high fast water and I also believe the fish are spawning right now.

Observations:

The water is very high, fast and muddy. I have not seen any may fly hatches of any size yet this season.

6-27-13 Thr.

6-27-2013 Thr. 5:30 PM – 9:00 PM

Weather:
(2053) NW 5, clear, 75 ˚, 29.77 steady
H2O:
9.95 rising, 85.1 kcfs, clear, 78 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. Pool 8 (Black river)
Caught:
Nothing
Partners:
Ben (Holmen Co-worker)

Comments:

I had not fished with Ben since last year, and he had wanted to get together and do some fishing. Ben had also purchased a different boat this spring and I think he had wanted to take me out in his new water craft. I struggle and have a hard time fishing out of someone else’s boat. When it comes to fishing I have a very hard time taking a back seat and going along for the ride.
Tonight the fishing was absolutely horrible, I did miss a couple of fish but I never did bring one into the boat. We targeted the Black River, because it was relatively clean, while the rest of the river was quite dirty. We fished mainly deep rock bank areas and flooded timber. It was tough!

Observations:

The water in the Black was relatively clear, but there was absolutely no fish activity.

6-26-13 Wed

6-26-2013 Wed 7:00 PM – 11:15 PM

Weather:
Approximation: calm, clear, 80 ˚
H2O:
9.82 rising, 84.7 kcfs, mostly dirty, 76 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. Pool 8
Caught:
Bait: bluegills, crappies and perch. Flat heads: 6 & 13 Lbs.
Partners:
Scott

Comments:

Since I had gotten rained out on my last flat head fishing trip on Pool eight a little over a week ago I have been anxious to get back. The bait catching was once again relatively easy. The bluegills were quite active, although not concentrated in any one spot.
The first spot we fished was French slough and this is where we caught both of the flat heads. The second spot we went to was the East Channel, but the floating weeds continuously fouled our lines. We made a last ditch effort to fish French Slough during moon rise but the fish did not cooperate.

Observations:

The water is still very high and rising; it is also dirty with plenty of weed fouling our lines.

6-24-13 Mon

6-24-2013 Mon 6:00 PM – 9 PM

Weather:
(1853) SE 5, clear, 72 ˚, 29.85 steady
H2O:
9.45 rising, 85.1 kcfs, mostly dirty except for the channel and the areas by the dredge holes on the lake, 75 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. Pool 7
Caught:
1 – 28” pike
Partners:
none

Comments:

It was time to get back out pike and bass fishing. The water has turned very muddy from all the recent rains, so I was not expecting too much action. My intuition was right; it was a struggle to find any action. I did catch the one decent pike, missed several other fish while throwing a buzz bait, and snapped my line setting the hook on a pike that was probably around the mid thirty inch range.

Observations:

The water is very dirty except for a few areas around the dredge holes on the lake and the channel behind the house.

6-23-13 Sun

6-23-2013 Sun. 7:00 PM – 11:15 PM

Weather:
(2153) S 8, clear, 75 ˚, 29.90 rising
H2O:
8.54 rising, 76.6 kcfs, somewhat clear, 75 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. Pool 7
Caught:
Bait: bluegills, crappies and perch, flat heads: 28, 13 & 10
Partners:
Scott

Comments:

I was very anxious to get out tonight, especially since my trip last night never happened. Also, we are in a full moon phase and moon rise was around 9 PM. If there was one thing I wanted to do tonight, I wanted to be set up and fishing flat heads before moon rise.
We started out catching bait in the channel and that was not very good. We did catch some but it was not very spectacular. I suggested we fish the man-made islands out in the middle of the lake, because I knew around this time of year the fish would be out there taking advantage of the may fly hatch that although very limited had started for the season. The rocks ended up being a good choice, once again the fish were not thick, but they were plentiful enough.
Scott was driving and it was his call as to where we fished. He was pretty indecisive, but I told him he better make up his mind quickly, because I did not want to miss fishing moon rise. Scott took a chance and really surprised me by picking a spot he had never fished before. It paid off. We caught three fish in a very short time span. We continued to fish the spot about another thirty minutes after the last fish came to the boat and never even had another bite. The second and last spot we fished for about forty minutes and never had a bite. I think this second spot had too much current and besides the current there were a lot of debris: weeds and stick fouling our lines.

Observations:

The water is going up, but I was surprised that it was still not too terribly dirty. The reed canary grass is starting to flower and some of the rice is now standing up out of the water. Scott's large flat head was slightly beat up; an indication to me that they are starting to spawn.

6-22-13 Sat

6-22-2013 Sat. 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Weather:
(2053) Stormy, E8 thunder storms, rain, wind, etc., 68 ˚, 29.88 rising
H2O:
8.23 falling, 74.2 kcfs, dingy, 76 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. Upper pool 8
Caught:
Bait: bluegills, crappies and white bass
Partners:
John and Brady Riek

Comments:

John and his son had wanted to get out with me flat head fishing, and tonight was the night. Unfortunately the weather was very uncooperative. We had gotten chased off the water twice while catching our bait, and after the second time we never did get back out on the water to fish. That night it stormed from around 930 PM till around 8 AM on Sunday morning.
Our bait catching did not go too bad; we started out fishing in the Dresbach Bay just opposite the wall in the flooded bushes. We caught a few gills here and there and also a few white bass, but the best spot was the bay below the I90 Bridge on the Minnesota side.

Observations:

The water is pretty dingy and very high right now.

6-18-13 Tue

6-18-2013 Tue. 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Weather:
(1453) SE9, clear, 76 ˚, 30.06 falling
H2O:
8.2 falling, 74 kcfs, dingy (except Black R. is clear), 76 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. Upper pool 7
Caught:
approx. 8 LMB 13 – 17”, SMB 17”, 1 pike 22”
Partners:
none

Comments:

What a beautiful day: sunny, calm and mid- seventies. I had a very hard time deciding where to fish today, my heart was telling me to go north up towards Fountain City or Alma, but I decided I would stay on the home waters and fish some new water on the upper end of the pool. I trailered the boat and started out fishing Round Lake. I was very surprised that the water was quite dingy in there. In fact it was dirty everywhere except where the Black River was dumping in. Besides Round Lake I also fished up at the dam, the spillway and main channel areas, I never had a bite nor saw any fish activity in areas with dingy water. I ended up going back to the vicinity of the areas where I have been catching bass the previous couple of days and I did okay. I did not see much chasing going on, but it was mid-day and sunny. Most of the fish I caught came off a frog in some pretty heavy cover. I also caught fish on a Pop-R, buzz bait and Senko.

Observations:

The Bassmaster Elite Pros are all over the area up by Big Marsh. I had to have seen at least ten different ones up in this area. It is quite strange seeing these guys everywhere; they are fishing some areas that very rarely if ever get fished.

6-17-13 Mon.

6-17-2013 Mon. 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Weather:
(1953) N6, clear, 77 ˚, 29.89 rising
H2O:
8.23 falling, 74.2 kcfs, dingy (except Black R. is clear), 75 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. pool 7
Caught:
approx. 15 LMB 12 – 19”, approx. 8 SMB 14 – 18”, 1 – 13” walleye
Partners:
none

Comments:

I had planned on walleye fishing till dark, and I did start out walleye fishing, but after about an hour I decided it was futile. My own personal feeling on walleye fishing is it is boring ninety five percent of the time, But I had a guy that had won a donated trip and he wanted to fish for walleyes tomorrow. About eight o’clock I got a message from him that he would be unable to make it tomorrow and we would have to re-schedule; pissed me off!! I am done donating anymore trips; it is too much of a hassle.
Since my trip was cancelled I decided to go target the bass I had seen chasing minnows. What a wise choice that turned out to be. I had lots of action and caught some very big fish, both largemouth and small mouths. The large mouths were relating close to the grass banks and the smallmouths were out on the sand drops. I would have to alternate baits after every couple of fish, but they were very aggressive right up until dark. Once again a Pop-R worked very well along with a Zara Puppy and a Senko. I did have a first; I caught a walleye on a Pop-R.

Observations:

The bass were once again feeding very heavily on the pike minnows. I had thought there would be a very good year class of pike on account of the high water we have had this spring, and from what I am seeing that is just what we have.

6-16-13 Sun

6-16-2013 Sun. 3:30 PM – 10:30 PM

Weather:
(1853) NW6, clear, 81 ˚, 29.87 steady
H2O:
8.19 falling, 73.9 kcfs, dingy, 75 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. pool 7
Caught:
approx. 20 LMB 12 – 19”, approx... 8 SMB 13 – 16”, 1 – 13” walleye, 4 bluegills, 1 perch, 1 crappie, 1 – 20” pike, 1 – 20 lb. flat head.
Partners:
none

Comments:

I started out bluegill fishing so I would have enough bait to go flat head fishing. I pretty much hit areas out on the lake, and it was tough. I did get some pan fish here and there, but it was a definite struggle.
I did try trolling for walleyes for about ten minutes and I caught one little one. I was targeting the back sloughs and trolling areas that averaged about six feet deep. It was pretty hard trolling on account of all the floating weeds and grass. Most of this debris is caused by the morons with the hyper drive motors that have to go blazing through anywhere there is enough water to float a boat.
For about the last hour of light I bass fished up in the big marsh area, and it was pretty much spectacular. The bass were feeding heavily on pike fry and there was a feeding frenzy happening. The go to bait was a small Pop-R.
Finally I ended the evening with about forty minutes of flat head fishing. I hooked a decent fish right away, but it got caught up in a snag, and I could not move it. I could tell the fish was still on, but it was tangled on the underwater object. I had three options: break the line, pull up the anchors and try to float over the snag and free the fish, or let it untangle itself. I went for the later and after about twenty minutes it had worked itself free and I was able to land it.

Observations:

There are a ton of pike minnows in the back waters and the bass are heavily feeding on them. There is beginning to be lots of wild rice popping up in the back waters, but other types underwater vegetation seems to be sparse.

6-15-13 Sat

6-15-2013 Sat. 7:30 PM – 11:30 PM

Weather:
(1953) NW6, partly cloudy, 77 ˚, 29.84 steady
H2O:
8.21 falling, 74.1 kcfs, dingy, 74 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. pool 7
Caught:
very little bait, approx. 4 LMB 12 – 16”, 1 flat head approx. 20 lbs.
Partners:
none

Comments:

Tonight was a combination fishing trip. I had hoped to catch enough bluegills to be able to do some flat head fishing and I caught three bluegills and one perch, just the minimum amount to make it worthwhile. I am not sure what is up with the bluegills, but they are tough to come by.
After I caught my bait, I bass fished for just a few minutes. I had seen plenty of fish chasing minnows, so I knew they were active. I caught all the fish on a buzz bait, and it was a hoot. The bass were very aggressive.
I started out flat head fishing in the Black River, but that did not produce anything; there was just too much current. I then moved out onto the main channel and fished one of my favorite wing dams on the shore side. I didn’t give the spot more than about a half hour and I caught the one and missed one other.

Observations:

The River is still high and quite dirty, but the Black River is quite clear.

6-13-13 Thr.

6-13-2013 Thr. 7:30 PM – 11:45 PM

Weather:
(2053) calm, a few clouds, 70 ˚, 30.04 rising
H2O:
8.57 falling, 76.8 kcfs, dingy, 70 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. pool 7
Caught:
Approx. 20 bluegills, 3 flat heads 4, 8 & 12 lbs.
Partners:
Scott

Comments:

Tonight was a flat head fishing trip, and a blue gill and pike scouting trip. We never really did find but one area that held bluegills, and I only saw one pike all night. That fish jumped completely out of the water to snag my buzz bait, but it completely missed it.
We fished one spot where I had fished in the past and one spot where I had never fished. Both of the spots were very close to each other, and they were both along a side channel just off the main channel of the river. The fish were quite active tonight; they hit the bait with some aggression.

Observations:

There is still lots of flow out on the main channel, with a pretty serious drop or rise depending upon which way you cross it, over the closing dam on Somner’s Chute.

6-10-13 Mon

6-10-2013 Mon 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM

Weather:
NW5, clear, 74 ˚, 29.82 rising
H2O:
8.88 falling, 79.1 kcfs, dingy, 65 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. pool 8
Caught:
Nothing
Partners:
none

Comments:

I was pre scouting again tonight and it did not go too well. Let me re-phase that, it sucked. I never caught a fish, and I only had one bite. I was on a mission to find fish, and I never slowed down to finesse fish. I fished a few spots around the dam, Target Lake and Goose Island, but to no avail. I did see several boats trolling for walleyes around the sloughs of Target Lake and they were catching fish, but I never tried it.

Observations:

I will blame the inability of myself being unable to catch a fish on fact that we had a major high pressure system move into the area.

6-11-13 Tue

6-11-2013 Tue 3:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Weather:
N5, clear, 77 ˚, 29.84 steady
H2O:
8.76 falling, 78.2 kcfs, dingy, 68 ˚
Location:
Mississippi R. pool 8
Caught:
4 LMB , 2 SMB, 4 pike, 1 white bass
Partners:
Andy and Richy (clients)

Comments:

I took Andy and Richy out today for some backwater fishing and sightseeing. They were in town on business and wanted to experience the river on a personal basis. Andy was hoping to see a hatch of mayflies, but I told him it was too early and that usually takes place around July 4th. The guys were impressed with the vastness and beauty of the backwaters; they particularly liked seeing all the bald eagles.
The fishing conditions are changing rapidly now with the dropping of the water levels and the rising of its temperatures. I had been finding bass and pike up until Tuesday relating to current breaks, but Tuesday all fish came from dead water with plenty of vegetation. Andy and Richy caught largemouth bass, small mouth bass, northern and Richy even brought a very large dogfish to the boat and unfortunately, or should I say fortunately for me it got off. Andy caught two new species of fish he had never caught before a small mouth and a pike. The baits that got the most response from the fish were buzz baits, Senko’s and Ribbit Frogs. It was a great day to be on the water with a couple of southern gentlemen.

Observations:

The water is still quite dingy, but the level is still going down ever so slowly. Once again the cotton wood fluff was layered on the surface of the water.

6-9-13 Sun

Weather:
(1853) E 5, light rain, 67 ˚, 29.79 steady
H2O:
8.9 falling, 79.3 kcfs, 65˚, dingy with floating weeds
Location:
Mississippi River pool 8
Caught:
approx. 6 pike 20 – 34”, 10 LMB 12-15”, 6 white bass and 12 bluegills
Partners:
none

Comments:

I was pre fishing for a guided trip I have on Tuesday. I put in at the Dresbach Dam, because during this time of year, almost anything can be caught below the dams on the river. I started out fishing for pan fish in the Dresbach Bay. Past experience told me that pan fish would be readily available here, and I was right. I caught all the bluegills I needed. The fish were relating to the flooded brush and trees along the bank.
Next on my agenda were bass and pike. I fished the opposite bay from the landing and it was almost easier catching these two species than it was catching the bluegills. While fishing these two species in the slack water, I observed minnows being chased on the surface in some rather fast current areas. The fleeing minnows in this kind of environment could only mean one thing: white bass! I did not catch a lot of them, but there were enough to make it interesting.
The night cap of the night was fishing for flat heads in the lower portion of the East Channel. I did not boat a fish, but I failed to capitalize on three bites.

Observations:

The river is still very angry, but the high water has finally started to subside. The cottonwood trees are shedding their spring time fuzz.

6-8-13 Sat

6-8-2013 Sat 10:00 AM – 9:00 PM

Weather:
(1253) NE 9, clear, 60 ˚, 29.96 steady
H2O:
St. Louis: dingy 63 ˚ //Bear: dark, 65 ˚
Location:
St Louis R., Duluth///Bear Lake, Douglass County
Caught:
Me: approx. 20 pike 20 – 32”, 2 LMB 14”, 20 lb. carp////Scott: approx. 6 pike 20-26”, 1 – 40” Muskie
Partners:
Scott

Comments:

We started out fishing the St. Louis River for muskies, but we also got into the pike. The hot areas were back bays with about two feet of water with both dead bull rushes and new green aquatic vegetation. I was quite surprised at the amount of pike we caught. I may just plan a pike fishing trip up there in the spring time next year. I mostly threw small buck tails, whereas Scott threw heavier Muskie baits
Scott caught the only Muskie today and no others were seen. That fish came out of about two feet of water next to a stump.
We did not stay on the St. Louis till dark because we both wanted to hit our little gem of a Muskie lake out in the middle of the forest. We got to the lake at about 6:30 and fished it till dark. We had absolutely no Muskie action, but I did catch quite a few pike. I also caught a couple of bass. On a side note, we went a little ways up into the feeder creek and it was full of smaller pike.

Observations:

The St. Louis River was stained red from all the recent rains and the large amount of run off from the spring thaw. We did see some weed growth, but there was not much of it yet. I think it was just too early in the season for it. Bear Lake had lots of pan fish activity in the shallows and the pads were starting to come up in the south bay.