5-25-14 Sun

5-25-2014 Sun. 8:30AM-7:30PM myself & Scott
Weather: (1335) SE8, partly cloudy, 81˚, 30.02 falling
Water: clear, 62 ˚, 11.85 falling, 93 kcfs
Caught: Me: 19 pike 13-39.5”, 11 LMB 12-16”, 1 SMB 15”
Scott: 27 Pike 15-36”, 18 LMB 12-18”, 1 walleye 26”

Comments:

It was another spring time excursion up to the big waters of the Mississippi river near Wabasha. The trip was by far the best trip of the year up to this area; we caught the most and the biggest pike of the year.
The day started out with small fish, but then we moved to bigger waters and the size structure dramatically increased. Scott was hesitant to move far away from the numbers game in exchange for the possibility of bigger and better fish. He also constantly back boated me and I wanted to get out of areas with defined borders. Back boating is basically moving parallel and in close proximity to some structure while fishing. This gives the guy who is running the trolling motor almost all the water to fish, but it gives the guy in the back very little area between the boat and shore line and structure.
I fished a myriad of baits today which included a: spinner bait, buzz bait, swim bait, senco, rattle trap and in line spinners. The bait that gave me the best success on the larger fish was a Bucher Buck Tail in an orange and yellow combination. Scott basically fished one bait; the old reliable spinner bait. I think I am going to have to call him spinner bait Scott.

Observations:

The water is still very high up here, but it is clear. There is not a lot of aquatic growth yet, except for some lily pads in the more sheltered bays. My red bud tree has finally started to bloom.

5-23-14 Fri

5-23-2014 Fri. 10AM-6PM myself
Weather: (1353) NW7, clear, 74˚, 30.20 steady
Water: clear to turbid, 62-65 ˚, 630.65 falling, 116 kcfs
Who: Myself
Caught: 3 pike 18-20”, 30 LMB 12-17”

Comments:

I had the day off and I was fishing solo, it could not get any better. What better way to take advantage of the situation then to explore. I put the boat in at the Genoa landing and headed across the river to explore the side channels and marshes of the Minnesota side.
All I can say is wow! This area is huge and it was all flooded. I don’t think there was one speck of dry land anywhere in the bottoms. I estimate there was three to four feet of water in the woods. This is one big area and with all the water it was a daunting task finding the fish.
Almost all the fish I caught came from the way upper end just off the dike or railroad tracks. I was totally amazed at the amount of carp I saw just leisurely swimming around without much caution. Most of the bass came from shallow back bay areas. I suspect most were males moving in to find nesting areas.

Observations:

There was not much for new aquatic weed growth; I think the water was just too high for it to get enough sunlight and warmth. The carp are very close to their yearly spawning frenzy. The lilac and apple trees are at full bloom, but my red bud tree is not.

5-22-14 Thr

5-22-2014 Thr. 6PM-8:30PM, myself and Scott
Weather: N13, clear, 71˚, 30.11 rising
Water: clear, 62 ˚, 11.02 falling, 110 kcfs
Who: Myself and Scott
Caught: Me: 1 pike 20”, 3 LMB 14-15”
Scott: 3 pike 20-27”, 4 LMB 14-16”

Comments:

It was a bass and pike trip with Scott tonight after work. My left arm was still pretty sore from our marathon fisheree last Sunday, so I took it easy tonight. The fish were not in much of a feeding mood tonight. Most of the fish we caught tonight were in sheltered bays relating to some type of dead emergent vegetation.
Observations:

The water is still very high, but it has begun to drop. The growing season is in full swing, but my red bud tree is still not showing much of a sign of life.

5-20-14 Tue

5-20-2014 Tue
Weather: (1853) NW 5, clear, 79˚, 29.81 steady
Water: clear, 62 ˚, 11.59 falling, 122 kcfs
Who: Myself
Caught: 3 pike 20-33”, 4 LMB 12-17”, 1 W. Bass 15”

Comments:

It was an evening fishing trip by myself. I had two goals this evening: test the go devil and catch some fish. I have been having some electrical start issue with the engine, so I replaced the solenoid and the switch. I seemed to have succeeded in fixing the problem, now the engine starts with ease.
Fishing tonight was okay. The fish did not seem to be overly aggressive. I missed just as many as I caught. With the water continuing to drop the fish seem to be somewhat scattered. However, the fish I did catch were pretty tight some sort of cover and out of the current.

Observations:

I can once again see my dock. The lily pads in back bay locations are popping up and everywhere and some are fully expanded and on the surface. The milfoil in the upper end of the lake has exploded and covers the surface in some areas. The lilacs are not quite to full bloom yet and it seems as if the trees have leafed out over the past couple of days.

5-18-14 Sun

5-18-2014 Sun
Weather: (1253) W10 G20, partly cloudy, 72˚, 30.11 steady
Water: clear, 56 ˚ am 58 ˚ pm, 12.83 falling, 118 kcfs
Who: Myself and Scott
Caught: Me: 18 pike 18-36”, 8 LMB 15-19”, 1 SMB 18”
Scott: 18 pike 18-26”, 8 LMB 15-18”

Comments:

It was my annual pike fishing trip up to Nelson with Scott, and it ended up being a marathon. We casted and fished very hard for almost twelve hours without a break.
As usual our fishing trips are very competitive. This trip I was looking for larger sized pike and Scott appeared to be trying to catch as many fish as possible. I caught almost all my fish on swim baits and Scott caught most of his on a spinner bait.
In the morning the fish did not seem to be nearly as aggressive, and the slower presentation of the swim bait definitely out fished the spinner bait. But, as the day progressed and the water temperature got warmer the spinner bait accounted for more fish, but not bigger fish.

Observations:

The water is still very high, but it has reached its peak and will slowly start to fall. There was very little sign of new aquatic plant growth. The apple, lilac and bleeding hearts are starting to bloom.

5-16-14 Fri.

5-16-2014 Fri
Weather: (1853) overcast, W7, 51˚, 30.04 steady
Water: clear, 56 ˚, 12 rising, 131 kcfs
Who: Myself and Mark S.
Caught: Total: about 3 pike and 4 bass, nothing huge

Comments:

I was fishing the lake by the house with co-worker Mark Sampson. We were targeting LMB and pike, and we were somewhat successful.

Observations:

The water continues to rise and it just hit flood stage today. Even though it is very high it is still very clear. We still have not had many days of really seasonally warm weather; in fact tonight some locations around here may see some frost by morning.

5-14-2014 Wed

5-14-2014
Weather: (1753) NE 6, clear, 57˚, 30.10 falling
Water: 59 ˚, clear, 11.41 rising, 118 kcfs
Who: Myself and Scott
Caught: Me: 3 LMB 14”, 2 pike 22-28”
Scott: 4 pike 20-33”, 4 LMB 13-16”

Comments:

It was an evening fishing trip with Scott, with pike and bass on the radar. The conditions were more in line with being pleasant for fishing, but not for catching. I did not think the bite would be as good as last night, and I was right!
The fish seem to be more scattered and harder to find the higher the water goes. Most of the fish we caught were quite tight to some type of dead emergent vegetation.

Observations:

The dandelions in the yard are blooming, and the rhubarb is getting quite large. The bleeding heart plant on the north side of the house is now about twelve inches tall. I have still not seen any life from my red bud tree, and I am afraid it has not survived the brutal winter.

5-13-14 Tue

5-13-2014
Weather: (1753) overcast, 54˚, NW16, 30.08 rising
Water: clear, 59 ˚, 11.09 rising, 112 kcfs
Who: Myself
Caught: 6 LMB 12-18”, 7 pike 19-39”, 1 walleye 12”

Comments:

It was a loner fishing trip that was meant to expand on my fishing outing with Oaty the other day. I had some pretty great pike action on that outing and I was hoping I could have the same results today. I did find some very active pike and was lucky enough to tie into the one big one.
I covered a lot of water in three hours and when I put the pole down for the night I was satisfied with the results.

Observations:

The water is still on the rise and will be above flood stage in a couple of days. My dock is about six inches above the water at this time. I noticed some lilacs in La Crosse that are very close to blooming. The orioles are very abundant and active at the feeder.

5-11-14 Sun

5-11-2014 1:30PM – 8PM, myself and Kyle S.
Weather: rain, overcast, 64˚, E9, 29.86 falling
Water: clear, 56-60 ˚, 11.08 falling, 112 kcfs
Who: Myself and Kyle
Caught: Me: multiple nice pike, some LMB
Kyle: mostly LMB

Comments:

I was invite to do a little pre-tournament bass fishing with Kyle (Oaty) tonight, and I eagerly accepted. We do not fish together more than once or twice per year, but I enjoy it because I get to see what a tournament bass angle is using for baits and gear.
One thing about Oaty, he is always about fishing for bass, whereas I am about fishing for most any type of game fish as long as that species is biting. Right from the get go we ran into a pretty good bunch of LMB and pike. Oaty did not want anything to do with the pike, which was oaky with me. I was able to put a whopping on some nice sized ones while he targeted his bass. I tried to encourage him to put on a bright and shiny spinner bait so he could partake in some of the pike goodness, but he declined.

Observations:

Some submergent vegetation is starting to appear; both milfoil and underwater pads are now visible in the quite clear water.

5-7-14 Wed

5-7-2014 2PM – 8PM
Weather: 1553, E15 G23, overcast, 65˚, 29.75 falling
Water: clear, 56 ˚, 6.56 falling, 4.2 kcfs
Who: Myself
Where: Black River, Highway 93 Landing
Caught: 3 pike 20 – 27”, 1 LMB 13”, 1 SMB 14”

Comments:

Every year I wait for certain river conditions on the Black River to fish for pike. The water cannot be too high, because if it is the fish will not be where I fish. But if it is too low I am unable to navigate to the lake on account of there is not enough water to float a boat into the lake. The lake is off a side channel of the Black, and usually a chain saw is needed to make the passage. This year was no exception, some braches needed to be removed from my path.
The lakes fishing quality has deteriorated over the years from sedimentation and an increase of water flow into it from its source. Today I only managed one twenty inch pike from the lake, whereas last year I caught more than twenty. It is possible the fish are not yet there or they just were not biting. I did hit some other back bay area’s off the river, with limited success.

Observations:

It is still quite cold and the seasonal growing season has once again been retarded. I noticed my first oriole at the feeder on Monday, and yesterday I saw my first ever red breasted grosbeak there. The magnolia bushes are now blooming.

5-4-14 Sun

5-4-2014 1015AM – 6PM
Weather: clear, 53˚, W9, 30.08 falling
Water: clear, 49-54 ˚, 11.89 rising, 129 kcfs
Who: Myself and Scott
Caught: Me: 10 LMB 13-17”, 1 pike 26”
Scott: 8 LMB 14 – 20.5”

Comments:

The water is almost at flood stage now, which makes locating the fish very difficult. All of our fish except one came from the south side of the lake. Most of my fish came on a rattle trap and Scott caught most of his on a spinner bait.

Observations:

There is some aquatic vegetation beginning to push through the river bottom. On several occasions my bait would come back fouled with bits and pieces of arrowhead leaves. The water is very high; almost to flood stage, yet it is quite clear. The periwinkle plants are starting to bloom, but that is the only plants I have seen blooming yet this year.

5-2-14 Fri

5-2-2014
Weather: rain, 51˚, SE7, 29.61 falling
Water: clear, 48 ˚, 11.05 rising, 111 kcfs, lots of floating debris
Who: Myself and Scott
Caught: Me: 8 LMB 13-17”, 1 pike 25”
Scott: 7 LMB 14 – 18”

Comments:

It was Friday, the weather was miserable and I did not expect us to catch too many fish, but we did not care; we were fishing. It was rainy, cold, the water was high and cold, and not exactly the perfect conditions to catch fish in. Surprisingly the fish were very active and charging our baits. We were able to put a respectable amount of fish into the boat in a very short period of time.

Observations:

The water is still on the rise and will be above flood stage in a couple of days. My dock is about six inches above the water at this time.

4-30-14

4-30-2014
Weather: light rain, 43˚, calm, 29.70 steady
Water: clear, 44 ˚, 10.26 rising, 96.8 kcfs
Who: Myself
Caught: 2 LMB 13-14”, 1 pike 24”

Comments:

Tonight was an after work fishing trip to expand upon last night’s outing. I started out fishing Black Deer’s, and quickly caught my two LMB’s there. I then went exploring and headed south of the channel and pounded the shoreline with repeated casts. About half way down towards Ashley Point is where I connected with the pike.

Observations:

Not too much has changed since yesterday, except for the temperatures being a few degrees colder.

4-26-14

4-26-2014
Weather: cloudy, 48˚, E 10-20
Water: clear, 49 ˚, 11.01 falling, 77.1 kcfs
Who: Scott, Jeremy, Dean, Chuck and myself
Caught: approx. Me: 8 pike (20-30”) Scott: 3 pike (23- 25”) Chuck 2 pike (22-24”). Jeremy 1 Pike 30”, Dean 1 pike 25”.

Comments:

It was our second day of our weekend getaway and the temperatures had dropped and the winds had increased and change direction and were now blowing from the east. Today we added three fishermen to the group: Jeremy and his friend Dean, and Scott’s friend Chuck. We fished hard all day and except for a lunch break at our cabin at the Red Cedar Resort, there was no down time. The most consistent action we had was at the end of the day right in front of the resort. My boat accounted for about fifteen fish today and Dean and Jeremy in another boat only managed two fish.

Observations:

There is lots of migrating waterfowl around today. The upper end of Big Lake is very difficult to fish on account of all the dead rice stalks.

4-29-14

4-29-2014
Weather: light rain, 43˚, N 7, 29.62 rising
Water: clear, 44 ˚, 10.0 rising, 92.5 kcfs
Who: Myself
Caught: 1 LMB 14”

Comments:

It was a spur of the moment fishing trip after work tonight. I really did not expect to catch anything, but I told myself you never know! I missed a pike right off the bat at the mouth of the stump fields, and then right at dark I caught a LMB in Black Deer’s on a Senco.

Observations:

The water is very cold for this time of year and has dropped around ten degrees since Friday. There are still lots of waterfowl around. I did see a few aquatic plants starting to liberate themselves from the river bed. The water is high and going higher, but it still is very clear.

4-27-14

4-27-2014
Weather: cloudy, 41˚, E 17 G25, 29.87 falling
Water: clear, 11.06 rising, 77.6 kcfs
Who: Scott and myself
Caught: Nothing

Comments:

The weather had turned horrible overnight, and there was only Scott and I left. It was extremely windy and heavy rains were imminent. The only fishing we did was about thirty casts from shore in front of the resort.
On the trip home we encountered some pretty fierce storms that produced very have down pours and strong winds. I have a cooler in the back of my boat that is used mainly for dry storage, and unfortunately the wind from the movement of the vehicle traveling down the road along with the strong winds from the storms, opened the lid on the cooler. Normally it would not be a big deal, but all the lighter items that I had stored in there basically got sucked out and were lost somewhere along the road. What really upset me were my nice Cabelas Guide Wear bibs. Losing something that you paid $300 for does not make for a very good day.

Observations:

Today there were lots of minnows along the shoreline, but there were no predators chasing them.

4-25-14 Nelson, WI

4-25-2014
Weather: sunny, 62˚, W 8-22
Water: clear, 11.08 steady, 77.9 kcfs
Who: Scott and myself
Caught: approx. Me: 4 pike (20-32”) and 2 LMB (14”) Scott: 2 pike approx. 24”

Comments:

It was our first annual overnight pike fishing trip to Nelson. Today was pretty much a dud compared to other years. I blame our poor results on account of the cold spring which resulted in cooler water temperatures. We fished many spots and we fished hard, but action was hard to come by. All the fish we caught were caught on spinner baits.

Observations:

The spring is again late this year. The rhubarb in the backyard is starting to leaf out, but the leaves are about the size of cantaloupe. I have yet to see any flowering plants, even the tulips have not bloomed yet. There appears to have been a huge growth of wild rice last summer in the areas we fished. The dead stalks and roots made fishing extremely difficult in some of my favorite spot of prior years. The water is extremely clear in the back waters.

Recap of fall 2013 and winter 2014

5-1-2014
Recap of fall 2013 through winter of 2014

Comments

It has been many, many days and months since my last entry, so I am writing a quick recap to my best recollection of what I remember.
I did a little fall walleye fishing up by Trempealeau and did okay, unfortunately Scott out fished me the couple of times we went.

My annul fall bow hunt / bird hunting trip up to the cabin was both a success and lots of fun. The bird hunting was not that great, but it never is when you are dog less. However I did manage to bad a couple of grouse. I was joined by Jake and one of his friends from Galesville. Jake’s friend had a wolf tag, so they mainly concentrated on wolf trapping. They did get a wolf along with a few coyotes and one bobcat that was released unharmed. All three of us managed a deer with our bows. This was quite a feat on account of everyone was telling us there were no deer around. We found plenty of deer, but we had to travel away from the cabin to areas that had been recently clear cut. I shot a spike and both each shot does. I did not get a great hit on my, so it took me till the next morning to recover it.

Gun season saw myself, Jake, Mark Sr., and Mark Jr., plus Donny; Jake’s father in law hunting the first five days at the cabin. As usual it was a good time, but the deer were not very numerous. Jake and Mark senior each shot does. Dick and I came back up after Thanksgiving and made lots of one on one drives. I did connect with spike two of the season on one of the drives. On the way home on Monday we stopped near Alma and muzzleloader hunted the refuge. I had one decent buck slip by me, but Dick was able to shoot a very, very little fawn. In fact it was one of the two I had let go on the previous drive on account of their small size.

The winter season was brutal this year; quite a bit of snow and very cold temperatures. I am generally a fan of the winters but this one sucked! I was able to get a few rabbit hunting trips in but not many on account of the terrible conditions. I had given Dick a beagle (Lacey) for his retirement gift and we were not able to utilize her gift for chasing rabbits very much. I think I shot a total of three rabbits this year.

The ice fishing season was also brutal on account of the frigid conditions. The weather was so cold, that I never even took the airboat out. In fact since I had not used it much the past couple of years I decided to sell it towards the end of winter. The majority of my ice fishing was done after work below the Dresbach Dam fishing for walleye and sauger. It was a very good year for walleyes through the ice; in fact I don’t think I was skunked on any outings. I also caught a few pike and pan fish during the season, but it was nothing too exciting. I did venture north a few miles and fished Merrick State Park and Buffalo City, I will be back to these locations next year.

That was the short and not too detailed recap of my fall and winter ventures!