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!