01-04-2004, 02:58 PM
Got to the reservoir about 7:30 A.M. It's completely froze over, but some spots don't look real safe.
Drove around alot. Only the main roads are plowed. Decided to fish where access was easiest. East side of the dam. Drilled holes from 7' out to 60'. Found a 15' dropoff, from 32' down to around 47'. Fished and looked with camera.
Kept changing lures, bait and depth. Nothing.
Finally about 3:30, I got a bite, then another bite, then caught a fish. PERCH!
My buddies and a guy that had gone out and fished by the island moved in by me and started fishing. I was in 34' and my friend Scott was in 42', right next to me. In about an hour and a half, Scott got 6 walleye, Brad got two, the guy that set up next to our ice houses to avoid wind got four and I got,,,,,skunked!!! Lots of bites, just couldn't hook em.
The guy(never got his name) caught one eye in 62' just a little while before I caught the Perch. We think they were slowly moving up from deep water and we should have had more holes ready to move the ice houses shallow as the bite slowed down.
Wanna know what they bit best? Sorry,,,not telling.
OK,,,, Scott got one on a 1/4 oz. dark green fuzzy grub and crawler, his others were all on a 1/4 oz. chartreuse and orange fireball, stand up jig and crawler.
Not sure what Brad had on. The other guy was using a crippled herring(chartreuse/white) and a crawler, and I was using a nills jigging shad (perch pattern) and crawler.
We tried kastmasters,ratfinkies(with and without droppers),swedish pimples,buckshot rattle spoons etc.
Seemed like when they finally decided to turn on, it didn't matter what was down there, they bit it.
Scott was just dropping to bottom,letting it sit for a few seconds, then taking up slack and jerking. Worked best.
Ice on the west side of the island is still thin. If the weather stays cold, we should be able to take wheelers out in a few days.
Oh, by the way, ice is about 4" thick and all the walleye were small. Biggest fish was about 16". Perch was maybe 9".
walleyebob
[signature]
Drove around alot. Only the main roads are plowed. Decided to fish where access was easiest. East side of the dam. Drilled holes from 7' out to 60'. Found a 15' dropoff, from 32' down to around 47'. Fished and looked with camera.
Kept changing lures, bait and depth. Nothing.
Finally about 3:30, I got a bite, then another bite, then caught a fish. PERCH!
My buddies and a guy that had gone out and fished by the island moved in by me and started fishing. I was in 34' and my friend Scott was in 42', right next to me. In about an hour and a half, Scott got 6 walleye, Brad got two, the guy that set up next to our ice houses to avoid wind got four and I got,,,,,skunked!!! Lots of bites, just couldn't hook em.
The guy(never got his name) caught one eye in 62' just a little while before I caught the Perch. We think they were slowly moving up from deep water and we should have had more holes ready to move the ice houses shallow as the bite slowed down.
Wanna know what they bit best? Sorry,,,not telling.
OK,,,, Scott got one on a 1/4 oz. dark green fuzzy grub and crawler, his others were all on a 1/4 oz. chartreuse and orange fireball, stand up jig and crawler.
Not sure what Brad had on. The other guy was using a crippled herring(chartreuse/white) and a crawler, and I was using a nills jigging shad (perch pattern) and crawler.
We tried kastmasters,ratfinkies(with and without droppers),swedish pimples,buckshot rattle spoons etc.
Seemed like when they finally decided to turn on, it didn't matter what was down there, they bit it.
Scott was just dropping to bottom,letting it sit for a few seconds, then taking up slack and jerking. Worked best.
Ice on the west side of the island is still thin. If the weather stays cold, we should be able to take wheelers out in a few days.
Oh, by the way, ice is about 4" thick and all the walleye were small. Biggest fish was about 16". Perch was maybe 9".
walleyebob
[signature]