09-26-2013, 05:57 AM
I headed up to Oneida on Friday in hopes of catching some big smallies on jerkbaits. It's one of my favorite things to do in the fall.
I arrived to find the water just about the clearest I've ever seen it, and full to the brim. Just what I'd hoped for, but I also found a lot of boats, not what I'd hoped for. It seemed there was a boat parked on all of my favorite areas that I can access in a tube. I finally settled on a spot and just went around the boat that was parked on the area I'd hoped to fish. I was working a Megabass Vision 110 and catching a few fish, but not many, and they weren't quite what I was looking for.
[inline "smallie small.jpg"]
Still fun, but I was looking for bigger game.
Eventually the boat left the spot, but I pushed onward towards a favorite rocky point, only to find a boat anchored there too. So I hurried back to the first spot to give it a quick going over before packing up and moving someplace else. I caught a dink bass or two, but nothing much was going on. I was curious as to how my lure was suspending, so I paused it at the end of my retrieve next to the tube. As I was watching it, a small bass came up and swiped at it. I thought it was worth a second try, so I did the same thing at the end of my next cast. A dark shadow appeared beneath the bait, and a massive fish slowly came into view. The eye rose directly under the bait, inhaled it, then turned and dove towards the bottom. I only had a few feet of line out at this point, so it was a fairly brief but intense battle before I was able to scoop the fish into my net. Unfortunately my net was too small, and the fish sprang back out immediately, but luckily for me, the hooks caught in the net and I was able to secure the fish. I got a hold of the fish with some grippers and unhooked it. I frantically searched for the tape measure I keep in my front wader pocket, just for the off chance that I catch a fish bigger than the measuring tape on the front of my tube, and finally found it. I stretched the fish diagonally across my tube and taped her at 30"!
[inline "ugly face small.jpg"]
[inline "walleye head small.jpg"][inline "walleye small.jpg"]
[inline "walleye 3 small.jpg"]
After a few pics I released her and she energetically pulled loose from my grip and dove towards the depths. It took me a minute to recover from all that. I was muttering to myself for a time, but regained my composure and began fishing again. The boat that had been on the spot must have noticed me holding the fish up for pics and gunned it back over and began fishing next to me. I fished on and scored several more bass and a much smaller walleye.
[inline "smalleye small.jpg"]
This one came on a deeper diving jerkbait, a River2sea Fetch Minnow. I grew tired of the crowds and switched gears and burned lipless cranks for largemouth for a couple of hours at another lake. It wasn't super fast, but I probably caught ten about like this with a few smaller ones thrown into the mix.
[inline "bass small.jpg"]
Even though the day was slow, that big walleye really made the trip and was a nice way to say goodbye to summer.
[signature]
I arrived to find the water just about the clearest I've ever seen it, and full to the brim. Just what I'd hoped for, but I also found a lot of boats, not what I'd hoped for. It seemed there was a boat parked on all of my favorite areas that I can access in a tube. I finally settled on a spot and just went around the boat that was parked on the area I'd hoped to fish. I was working a Megabass Vision 110 and catching a few fish, but not many, and they weren't quite what I was looking for.
[inline "smallie small.jpg"]
Still fun, but I was looking for bigger game.
Eventually the boat left the spot, but I pushed onward towards a favorite rocky point, only to find a boat anchored there too. So I hurried back to the first spot to give it a quick going over before packing up and moving someplace else. I caught a dink bass or two, but nothing much was going on. I was curious as to how my lure was suspending, so I paused it at the end of my retrieve next to the tube. As I was watching it, a small bass came up and swiped at it. I thought it was worth a second try, so I did the same thing at the end of my next cast. A dark shadow appeared beneath the bait, and a massive fish slowly came into view. The eye rose directly under the bait, inhaled it, then turned and dove towards the bottom. I only had a few feet of line out at this point, so it was a fairly brief but intense battle before I was able to scoop the fish into my net. Unfortunately my net was too small, and the fish sprang back out immediately, but luckily for me, the hooks caught in the net and I was able to secure the fish. I got a hold of the fish with some grippers and unhooked it. I frantically searched for the tape measure I keep in my front wader pocket, just for the off chance that I catch a fish bigger than the measuring tape on the front of my tube, and finally found it. I stretched the fish diagonally across my tube and taped her at 30"!
[inline "ugly face small.jpg"]
[inline "walleye head small.jpg"][inline "walleye small.jpg"]
[inline "walleye 3 small.jpg"]
After a few pics I released her and she energetically pulled loose from my grip and dove towards the depths. It took me a minute to recover from all that. I was muttering to myself for a time, but regained my composure and began fishing again. The boat that had been on the spot must have noticed me holding the fish up for pics and gunned it back over and began fishing next to me. I fished on and scored several more bass and a much smaller walleye.
[inline "smalleye small.jpg"]
This one came on a deeper diving jerkbait, a River2sea Fetch Minnow. I grew tired of the crowds and switched gears and burned lipless cranks for largemouth for a couple of hours at another lake. It wasn't super fast, but I probably caught ten about like this with a few smaller ones thrown into the mix.
[inline "bass small.jpg"]
Even though the day was slow, that big walleye really made the trip and was a nice way to say goodbye to summer.
[signature]
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