09-28-2006, 12:26 PM
[cool][font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][#0000ff]Met up with BFTer road at Lincoln Beach about 7 AM yesterday. We wanted to try for some early wallies. Our original plan was to launch off the L and fish the rocky areas but when we saw how dirty and algae covered the water was we weren't too optimistic about the potential.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There was about a 3" layer of dirty green sludge extending several feet off the bank on the south side of the south dike, so we opted to launch my tube and his toon inside the channel, where it was cleaner. Water temp at launch was only 56 degrees. That is usually good for walleyes but considered too cold for kitties. But, what do the experts know?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I kicked west to the first spring, hoping to find some fish around the rocks. Nada, zip, zilch, zero. Threw all kinds of plastics from 3' to 10' without so much as a bump. Tipped with a bit of crawler and had a tap or two, and landed one 4" white bass. Only saw fish on sonar in deeper water, and they were mostly suspended. Looked like the fish were still sulking after the storms and dropping temperatures and maybe in a negative mode.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]About 9 AM, after two hours of abuse, I rigged my second rod with a minnow and started dragging it around as I kicked back toward the mouth of the harbor. Road had stayed in that area and was getting occasional bites on minnow and on jigs tipped with crawler, fishing in deeper water. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]About 9:30, road announce on the walkie talkie that he had just scored about a 5 pound kitty on minnow. I started moving a bit faster to get over to his area and I got an "inquiry" on my minnow. Turned out to be a 2# chunky 16" channel. Smallest of the day as it turned out, but good eating size. I released it unharmed...into my basket.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]About a half hour later, road and I both announced that we were each hooked up to "something substantial". Those fish turned out to be our largest fish of the day. Mine was a measured 28" and 9.5#. We didn't get to measure and weigh road's fish, since the fish cleaning station was closed when we went there at the end of the day, but it looked close to mine in size.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Fishing was sporadic, with just the occasional "runner". The fish were not aggressive and many of the takes were very light in the cold water. Still, as the water warmed up a couple of degrees, we got enough action to keep us happy. It was about 63 by the time we got off the water at 3 PM.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Almost all of our fish were taken in water over 8 feet deep. My last fish, a 26" daddy cat that weighed 6.5#, came from 7 feet of water. Road stayed in one area up to 10 feet deep and ultimately scored 7 cats...all over 3 pounds. I moved around a lot, and fished down into water as shallow as 4 feet, looking for fish that might have moved in to take advantage of the warming temps. I finished with 5 fish...2, 3, 4, 6.5 and 9.5 pounds. Not too bad for late September after a cold stormy week.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The weather was great. Only the lightest whisper of a breeze most of the day. The breeze was from the south early, laid down and then came in first from the west and later from the northwest. About noon or so, it laid down completely and it was like glass until we left.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Unfortunately, as the water warmed past 60 the algae bloom increased too. Early in the morning there were strings of the stuff left over from the day before, but when the water warmed there was a huge new covering of bright green stuff. It coated our craft and our lines. It also seemed to shut down the fishing by screening out the sun's rays. Our best fishing was during the brighter times in the morning.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]When we hit the shoreline we were greeted by a bright blue-green ring all along the edges of the rocks. Some might think it pretty, but not me. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]A great day on the water with a good friend, and cooperating fishies. What more could a guy want? Well, this forum ain't the proper place to go into all that.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Got those big fillets in the brine and the smoker is ready for 'em. [/#0000ff][/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][size 1]Attachments:[/size][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18715;"]![[Image: image.gif]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/images/gforum/files/image.gif)
[#000000] LOVELY MORN.JPG [/#000000][/url](173 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18716;"][#000000] MORNING MIST.JPG [/#000000][/url](128 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18717;"][#000000] TOO COLD AND WINDY.JPG [/#000000][/url](218 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18718;"][#000000] ROAD WORK.JPG [/#000000][/url](133 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18719;"][#000000] ROAD'S LOAD.JPG [/#000000][/url](249 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18720;"][#000000] DUDE'S BASKET.JPG [/#000000][/url](208 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18721;"][#000000] DUDE'S COOL CATS.JPG [/#000000][/url](229 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18722;"][#000000] 26 IN. DADDY.JPG [/#000000][/url](120 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18723;"][#000000] 28 IN. MAMA.JPG [/#000000][/url](178 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18724;"][#000000] EARLY ALGAE.JPG [/#000000][/url](178 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18725;"][#000000] GREEN GLASS.JPG [/#000000][/url](105 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18726;"][#000000] GREEN RING.JPG [/#000000][/url](205 KB) [/size][/black][/font]
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[#0000ff]There was about a 3" layer of dirty green sludge extending several feet off the bank on the south side of the south dike, so we opted to launch my tube and his toon inside the channel, where it was cleaner. Water temp at launch was only 56 degrees. That is usually good for walleyes but considered too cold for kitties. But, what do the experts know?[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I kicked west to the first spring, hoping to find some fish around the rocks. Nada, zip, zilch, zero. Threw all kinds of plastics from 3' to 10' without so much as a bump. Tipped with a bit of crawler and had a tap or two, and landed one 4" white bass. Only saw fish on sonar in deeper water, and they were mostly suspended. Looked like the fish were still sulking after the storms and dropping temperatures and maybe in a negative mode.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]About 9 AM, after two hours of abuse, I rigged my second rod with a minnow and started dragging it around as I kicked back toward the mouth of the harbor. Road had stayed in that area and was getting occasional bites on minnow and on jigs tipped with crawler, fishing in deeper water. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]About 9:30, road announce on the walkie talkie that he had just scored about a 5 pound kitty on minnow. I started moving a bit faster to get over to his area and I got an "inquiry" on my minnow. Turned out to be a 2# chunky 16" channel. Smallest of the day as it turned out, but good eating size. I released it unharmed...into my basket.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]About a half hour later, road and I both announced that we were each hooked up to "something substantial". Those fish turned out to be our largest fish of the day. Mine was a measured 28" and 9.5#. We didn't get to measure and weigh road's fish, since the fish cleaning station was closed when we went there at the end of the day, but it looked close to mine in size.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Fishing was sporadic, with just the occasional "runner". The fish were not aggressive and many of the takes were very light in the cold water. Still, as the water warmed up a couple of degrees, we got enough action to keep us happy. It was about 63 by the time we got off the water at 3 PM.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Almost all of our fish were taken in water over 8 feet deep. My last fish, a 26" daddy cat that weighed 6.5#, came from 7 feet of water. Road stayed in one area up to 10 feet deep and ultimately scored 7 cats...all over 3 pounds. I moved around a lot, and fished down into water as shallow as 4 feet, looking for fish that might have moved in to take advantage of the warming temps. I finished with 5 fish...2, 3, 4, 6.5 and 9.5 pounds. Not too bad for late September after a cold stormy week.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The weather was great. Only the lightest whisper of a breeze most of the day. The breeze was from the south early, laid down and then came in first from the west and later from the northwest. About noon or so, it laid down completely and it was like glass until we left.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Unfortunately, as the water warmed past 60 the algae bloom increased too. Early in the morning there were strings of the stuff left over from the day before, but when the water warmed there was a huge new covering of bright green stuff. It coated our craft and our lines. It also seemed to shut down the fishing by screening out the sun's rays. Our best fishing was during the brighter times in the morning.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]When we hit the shoreline we were greeted by a bright blue-green ring all along the edges of the rocks. Some might think it pretty, but not me. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]A great day on the water with a good friend, and cooperating fishies. What more could a guy want? Well, this forum ain't the proper place to go into all that.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Got those big fillets in the brine and the smoker is ready for 'em. [/#0000ff][/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][size 1]Attachments:[/size][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18715;"]
[#000000] LOVELY MORN.JPG [/#000000][/url](173 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18716;"][#000000] MORNING MIST.JPG [/#000000][/url](128 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18717;"][#000000] TOO COLD AND WINDY.JPG [/#000000][/url](218 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18718;"][#000000] ROAD WORK.JPG [/#000000][/url](133 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18719;"][#000000] ROAD'S LOAD.JPG [/#000000][/url](249 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18720;"][#000000] DUDE'S BASKET.JPG [/#000000][/url](208 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18721;"][#000000] DUDE'S COOL CATS.JPG [/#000000][/url](229 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18722;"][#000000] 26 IN. DADDY.JPG [/#000000][/url](120 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18723;"][#000000] 28 IN. MAMA.JPG [/#000000][/url](178 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18724;"][#000000] EARLY ALGAE.JPG [/#000000][/url](178 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18725;"][#000000] GREEN GLASS.JPG [/#000000][/url](105 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=18726;"][#000000] GREEN RING.JPG [/#000000][/url](205 KB) [/size][/black][/font][signature]
