day 177, 10-12-09

10-12-2009 Mon
Day 177-188 to go
6:00 PM - 6:30PM

Weather: Calm, overcast, 36°,30.17 rising

Water conditions: no data available, ?°, clear

Caught

Nothing

Area fished

Pool 7 - Behind house

Fishing Partners

None

Comments

My original plan was to cast wing dams for walleyes, but a late doctors appointment changed those plans. Instead I went behind the house to see if the bluegills had moved in; well they had not. I did not even get a bite. Either they are not there or the cold, snowy weather we had today turned them off.

day 176, 10-11-09

10-11-2009 Sun
Day 176-189 to go
2:00 PM - 7:30PM

Weather: SE6, mostly sunny, 42°,30.31 falling

Water conditions: 3.74’ falling, .972 kcfs, ?°, clear

Game Bagged

(2)wood ducks
(4) Drake Mallards (green heads)

Area hunted

Black RIver bottoms

Hunting Partners

Fritz

Comments

Today I had duck hunting on the agenda. I headed back to the same area I was at last night, except this time I would be set up where the ducks wanted to be. All I can say is that the hunting was great. The ducks were readily decoying, my marksmanship was on and Fritz was a retrieving machine. He found three of the ducks that I never would have found without him.
If a duck is crippled and on the run I can count on Fritz to find, catch and bring that bird back to my hand alive. Fritz is just a couple months shy of ten years old, but he still has the ability and desire to hunt. Hopefully he will be able to accompany me on one or two more seasons in the field.

day 175, 10-10-09

10-10-2009 Sat
Day 175-190 to go
5:30 PM - 6:30PM

Weather: W10, partly cloudy, 39°,30.23 steady

Water conditions: 4.0’ steady, 1.2 kcfs, ?°, clear

Game Bagged

(2)wood ducks

Area hunted

Black RIver bottoms

Hunting Partners

Fritz

Comments

Today I got out duck hunting for hour after work. It was a walk-in spot and it was not where the ducks wanted to be. There was an awesome flight of wood ducks, but they were not flying over me. I did manage to bag two wood ducks and Fritz was flawless on the retrieves. I continue to have jamming problems with my Benelli Super Black Eagle. From now on I am going to try cleaning it after each use and monitor the results.

day 174, 10-9-09

10-9-2009 Fri
Day 174-191 to go
8:25AM -9:05AM

Weather: N5, clear, 33°,30.08 rising

Water conditions: 5.15’ falling, 28.8 kcfs, ?°, clear

Fish caught

(2)Bluegills 5&6", fig/worm

Area fished

Pool 8 - I-90 rest area

Fishing Partners

Myself

Comments

Today was a late shift for me at work, so I got my fishing in before punching the clock. Fishing was very slow, I am thinking the cold weather has changed their location or put them in a negative mood. I did see my begging buddy the blue heron again today. I did try to to feed it a deeply hooked bluegill, but the bluegill still had some life left and swam off as soon as it hit the water.

day 173, 10-8-09

10-8-2009 Thr
Day 173-192 to go
7:30AM -5:00PM

Weather: WNW3, cloudy, 48°, 29.97 rising (12:05AM)

Water conditions: 621.62’ falling, 24.7 kcfs, 52°, clear, lots of weeds floating in river.

Fish caught

1. (7) Sauger, 11-13", jig/minnow
2. SMB 19", 11:15 AM, Ringworm
3. LMB 13", 11:17 AM, Ringworm
4. Sheep head 17", 12:35 PM, Ringworm
5. SMB 13", 2:00 PM, Chug Bug
6. Walleye 16", 4:30 PM, jig/minnow


Area fished

Pool 9 - Genoa dam

Fishing Partners

Norm and Grant

Comments

The fishing conditions below the dam were still rather adverse. We did not have the wind to contend with today, but yesterdays wind had displaced a ton of weeds and they were all floating downstream and congregating below the dam. It was very difficult fishing for even a brief moment without having your jig run afoul of the aquatic salad. Norm ended up with four sauger and two walleyes for the freezer. If you take a close look at Grant's catfish you will see he did not hook the fish, but the line that was attached to a hook that was imbedded in the catfishes mouth!
During part of the day I was by myself while Norm went in to catch up on work. All day is long time for me to fish, so I took a little walkabout on one of the islands. I did end up seeing quite a bit of deer sign and even found a five point shed antler.

day 172, 10-7-09

10-7-2009 Wed
Day 172-193 to go
5:00PM -8:00PM

Weather: S13, Sunny, 61°, 29.81 falling

Water conditions: 621.96’ falling, 25.4 kcfs, 53°, clear

Fish caught

(5) Sauger between 10-13", Jig/minnow


Area fished

Pool 9 - Genoa dam

Fishing Partners

Norm and Grant

Comments

Today I met up with a friend of mine and his son for some fall walleye fishing. The fall sauger bite is definitely on! The conditions this evening made efficient fishing very difficult. A stiff south breeze below any dam on the Mississippi makes boat control very difficult. And when you are talking walleye fishing boat control is the name of the game.
Norm ended up keeping three saugers and one flat head for the skillet.

Day 171, 10-6-09

10-6-2009 Tue
Day 171-194 to go
5:45PM -6:15PM

Weather: NW25 G36, rain, 48°, 29.47 rising

Water conditions: 5.3’ rising, 35.3 kcfs, ?°, clear

Fish caught

None

Area fished

Dresbach-underneath I-90 bridge and shoreline to south

Fishing Partners

None

Comments

Tonight I tried a new location, and came up empty handed. The conditions were brutal and I was glad when I made my last cast.