2-4-13 Mon

2-4-2013 Mon 6:15 PM – 8:30 PM
Weather:
calm, clear, 14 ˚, 29.96 falling
Water:
4.89 steady, 15.6 kcfs, clear
Location:
Dresbach Dam below the short wall
Caught:
18” walleye (kept)
Partners:
None
Comments:

It was an after work walleye fishing trip for me and it was my first below the Dresbach Dam. I had to work until 5:30 and I ended up working a little latter than that so I did not get on the ice until 6:15 PM. I missed the prime bite which is usually about a fifteen minute window just at sundown, and when I pulled onto the ice most of the other fishermen had already left or were in the process of packing it up.
The ice was not thick enough to fish alongside the short wall, but it was safe enough to fish below it. I ended up fishing in about twenty feet of water which is about five to ten feet deeper than I like to fish below the tail waters. The problem with the deeper water is that in combination with the current it is hard to pick up your bait on the flasher. In twenty feet of water your bait is probably five feet downstream of your location by the time it is near the bottom.
I caught a nice eighteen inch walleye within the first half hour and that was all I iced tonight. I had around five other bites, but I did not connect on any of them. Fishing with a jigging Rapala is definitely not a sure hook up type of bait.

Observations:

The ice is about four inches thick below the short wall, and no one has been brave or stupid enough the venture alongside it.