My fishing report spans for the past month or so. It has been another roller coaster fall with temps below normal to above normal, with most days containing gusty winds along with above normal precipitation. This has caused fishing to be inconsistent, but at times good with small feeding windows.
On an overcast day the end of September, I went scouting in preparation for clients. Water temps were still somewhat warm. I cast soft plastics searching for crappie and walleye. Weed lines produced the best action. Slab crappies were caught and released on beetlespins and keeper walleyes were caught and released on heavier jigs. My next outing I took clients out for musky. The type of day was not a good bite day, but they wanted to try to learn how to cast and to see what fishing is like. We made a nice little drift. John and Connie made a good effort! We then decided the bass poles would be less work. We found smallmouth bass right off the bat along cabbage weed areas using crank baits. The bite was bang, bang, bang, and Connie landed a bass and just as fast as it started, the bite quit!
During the afternoon, fishing deeper weeds, John hooked into 19-20” smallmouth bass. The fish became airborne next to the boat and threw the plug! A few casts later Connie was reeling in her crankbait. It was “fouled up” on the surface. I yelled, “Keep reeling!” because a big wave was coming behind the bait. Big musky came up to the lure, but did not eat. Connie just got her first musky follow! Congrats Connie & John! We had a fantastic day!
Just this past week or so, we went out to the river for a few hours of musky fishing. Conditions were mostly sunny with west-northwest winds at 10-15 mph, which calmed later. We got out fishing a little late because there was a shortage of musky suckers at the bait shop. Right off the bat we got our first bite! Could not hardly believe it! I yelled to John to grab the pole! His reaction was like mine was…pure disbelief because it was so soon after starting! John grabbed the pole during the second run and the fish was gone. The bait was ripped! It was a good one, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles! John cast around his bulldog, but no strikes. We went up to the dam but the current was strong. The wind was gusty and we trailered the boat and had lunch. Later, after lunch, we changed our body of water. The northwest wind was finally slowing down. We cast in on some slab crappies. We had to work for them a little. The bite was light aggressively fishing plastics caught most of the fish with slow retrieve, but the largest were caught on slip-bobbers and minnows. Some sub-walleyes were caught and released too.
Recently the water has cooled again; we are now in the mid-40’s! You can thank all the cool windy days for that. There is still good fishing yet to come before the ice. Hopefully we will get some nice stable weather! Good luck fishermen!
If you are looking for a day on the water, give me a call at 715-966-1821. Remember to check out my Facebook page at Buck’s Taxidermy & Guide Service.
Well that wraps it up for this time. This is Roman Derleth reminding you: “Don’t slack off and always keep your line tight!”