Vacation Walleye Day 2

Results for today were a lot different.  About the only difference in the conditions was that the wind was out of the south and the surface temp was up to 49 degrees.   Picked up the first one right away but it took longer for the second one.  I had a guest today and he caught it so that was a good thing.

I had my first casualty to day, busted the lip on a #7 Clown.  I scraped a walleye with that lure as well.  When I realized I busted the lip I brought it in and found scales on both hooks.  Kind of re-affirms my belief those quick hit and gone fish are ones that are being snagged by the lure and never hooked up.

We didn’t fish too long.  My fishing partner for the morning got hung up and the main line got tangled in the prop.  It pretty much peeled the nylon coating off of about 30 feet of line.  The reel is ok but I will have to replace the line. Something else to do tomorrow.  Think I’m going to take the day off from fishing.  Got some things to do here around the house.

Vacation Walleye Day 1

This Monday marks the first week long vacation I have taken in almost 5 years.  Normally I take a lot of 4 day weekend vacations but this time around I decided to take a whole week.  The original plan was to fish for a few days then act as chaperone for my Daughters Senior trip.  Her trip was cancelled so I decided to take the whole week anyways.  After the way the tournament went I began to question my decision.  I was hoping to catch a bunch of walleye but after last weekend I wondered if I was going to catch any.

Well I know for sure I won’t get anything sitting at home so I got up bright and early this morning and hit the river.  I thought if I got out there before sunrise I might get a few walleye before the Silver Bass wake up.  Well turns out I was sort of right.  Problem was the walleye didn’t wake up either.  I started at 6:30 but I didn’t get my first fish until 8:00 am.  I should have known, the water was still dirty and with no sunlight nothing was going to happen anytime soon.  Still I kept at it and by the time 10:30 am rolled around I had 5 in the boat.  It was a long morning but I got to see a few things I normally don’t see down their to keep me occupied.  Just after sunrise I watched a mink run up and down the bank on Grosse Isle.  He was probably looking for an easy meal.  Normally I see them on the Trenton side but never running over someone’s park bench on the island.  Later on I spotted an Osprey circling overhead.  I had seen one last year but he didn’t stick around for long.  I’m curious to see how long this one stays.  Sure do wish he liked cormorants.

Not for the vital statistics.  Like I said earlier the water is still dirty and the surface temp was 47.5 degrees.  Not much of an increase from Saturday.  Winds were non existent today which was a nice change of pace.  I started off running #11 GFR, #9 Bleeding Olive and a #7 Clown.  My first 3 fish came on the clown so I eventually swapped out the #9 for a #7 GFR.  My last two came on the #7 GFR.  Normally I like to run the big baits but I do what the fish want.  I did catch one 14 1/2 incher on a Smithwick Rattlin’ Rouge but all the keepers came on the smaller baits.  I only caught 3 of the fish that shall not be named.  I was worried that I would get more since the early remnants of the tri-hull navy had started to show up in the Edison discharge.  They were pulling those things in left and right.  Won’t be too much longer and they will infest the whole river system.

Hopefully day 2 will go as well.  At least I will sleep in a little later.

Pre, During but no Post tournament fishing

Once again it was time for the yearly DWF Handlining tournament.  Last year the weather was warmer, the water was clearer and the White Bass numbered in the millions.  This year none of that applied.  It was cold, the water was dirty and the White Bass were in the hundreds.  I think the walleye were in fewer numbers than the bass.  For most it was a tough night.

My Dad came down a day early so we could fish some before the tournament.  We headed out Thursday night and hit the water around 6:30 pm.  My Dad hooked into his first fish of the night in the first 5 minutes and followed that up shortly afterwards with another one.  While I was helping him get that one netted I forgot about my lines and they got tangled up in the prop.  About 20 minutes later all was good and we were back to fishing.  We fished for about another hour and picked up a few more walleye.  Unfortunately we also caught a few White Bass.  This made no sense to me.  The water is around 46 degrees and yet they are here.  They have arrived earlier than last year and it was also warmer last year.  I just don’t get it. I’m still praying that the DNR will increase the creel limit on these things.

Once the sun set the temperature dropped as well.  The NW wind that was supposed to die down increased and my Dad was getting cold so we packed it in and headed home.  We had 5 walleye that ranged from 22 to 24 inches long so he was happy.  Besides, we had the following night and we figured we would catch a bunch more.  Little did I know that I couldn’t be any more wrong.

Friday night we started at 7:00 pm.  This time the wind was out of the south east, the temps were warmer but the water was still dirty.  I figured we would still catch some fish but I didn’t think it would take an hour.  This was going to be a long night.  We ended up with 3 walleye and they all came within a 20 minute period.  We stayed out until 10:00 pm but after awhile we both agreed that it was pointless and headed home.  I talked to a few other people on the water and most had only a couple of fish.  My friend Dave and his father and son had 7 and that was about the best I had heard anyone do.  Until the next day when we had the weigh-in and the winning team had caught 22 walleye, weighed 5 that was over 30 pound and one that was a 9 1/2 spawned out female.  At least someone had found the fish.

Oh well…..there’s always next year.

Only picture, didn’t think a pic from the following day was worth the effort.

4/22/13 Quick Trip

This will be a short report.

Weather was holding up so I decided to give it another shot tonight.  On the water by 6:30 pm and by 7:00 pm I had nothing in the box and lost 4.  This was going to be one of those nights.  Fortunately it didn’t last, by 7:45 I had 4 in the box and was working on #5.  It was starting to get dark and there were a lot of boats out tonight.  Jiggers, a few hardcore handliners and a lot of wanna be’s.  I figured it would be best to get off the water before everyone else so I decided 4 was good enough.

Now for the specific’s.  Water is still stained with a surface temp of 45 degrees.  SE wind made things a little choppy.  #11 GFR and a #7 DT Goby caught the fish.  Started off with a #11 Clown and a #9 Bleeding Olive but I switched them out after about 30 minutes.

Tonight 4 was good enough for me.

 

4/21/13 Fishing Report

This one will be short, sweet and to the point.  Went out this morning with Dan and we caught 10.

The End.

 

 

Just kidding…..The morning started out a lot better than the last 3.  It was cold but there weren’t any bone chilling horizontal winds.  Dan was still at work so I decided to get out early and ahead of the crowd.  I would have about an hour before he showed up so I hoped I could locate some active fish before he called.  The water was dirty but I’ve seen worse.  I threw out the same 3 lures I used a couple of days ago and started my search.  I figured nothing was really going to happen until after sunrise.  Fishing success in low light conditions with dirty water is hard to come by.  I was hoping the clear morning would enhance the situation.  Turns out I was right.  Twice in one week…..I’m on a roll.

I picked one up just south of the stacks around 7:30 just before Dan called.  I pulled all my lines and headed back to the ramp to pick him up.  About 30 minutes later we were back to fishing, or in this case catching.  It didn’t take long and Dan was flipping them in.  I managed to get another keeper and a throw back but Dan was relentless.  I was using brighter colored Rapala’s and he chose the original Black and Silver in a size 9.   Turns out it was a wise decision.  I sometimes forget to try the natural colors in dirty water.  After his 4th fish I was trying to find some originals myself.  We were keeping a close eye on a fellow handliner that was bringing in fish on a regular basis.  We noticed he was using smaller lures so I swapped out my #11 and #13’s for some #9’s.  By now we had 8 in the cooler and we were trying to pick up the last 2.  It was just after 10:00 am and the catching had started to slow down.  We weren’t seeing any fish caught and I was debating heading in.  Dan had been up for the last 12 hours and he had to be tired.  Luckily number 9 had just grabbed my #9 SVS II.  A minute later he was in the cooler and the lines were back in the water.  Five minutes later number 10 grabbed a #9 Bleeding Olive and we were pulling lines.  Not a bad morning, just over 2 hours of fishing and we had a 2 man limit, 1 dink and a few lost fish.  We didn’t see any jiggers catch anything and that made us chuckle.

All that was left was the picture taking and some fish cleaning.

He’s lucky he gives me venison otherwise that reel would not be allowed on the boat.

 

 

 

 

Maiden Voyage for 2013

In the immortal words of Colonel Hannibal Smith……….  “I love it when a plan comes together”.

After a couple of weeks of rain and high wind I saw a small window of opportunity.  Sunday morning was going to be cold but the winds were supposed to be light.  I knew the MWC was in town so I figured I would get out on the water before them and hope I could get my 5 before the tournament started.  It was an ambitious plan of attack, 5 fish before 7:00 am.  I stopped at the Trenton police station and picked up my pass for the Rotary park launch.

Phase 1 of the plan done.

A few boats were already launching so I got my boat ready and waited my turn.  By 6:15 I was on the water and heading south.

Phase 2 of the plan done.

By 6:30 am I was at my favorite starting point (Free handlining trip to the first one who can guess what it is).  Water was dirty with less than a foot of visibility and a surface temp of 40 degrees.  I was going big today; size 13 and 11 Rapala’s.  I was itching to find out how well my new Spring Valley Special II Rapala’s were going to work.  I didn’t have to wait long, at 6:40 am I felt that old familiar head shake and my first walleye for 2013 was in the boat and it came on the #13 SVS II.  That was quickly followed up by 2 more.  By now the weekend warriors were starting to show up.  As I was pulling in #4 a boat stopped right alongside of me to ask how I was doing.  I told them this was my 4^th and I had been out for 15 minutes (I just love being a show off).  I trolled around them and was heading east when #5 hit, the smallest one of the day and on the #11 GFR.

Phase 3 of the plan done, time to head home.

That was 5 fish in less than 20 minutes and I was heading back to the dock by 7:05 am.  I lost one other fish as I was flipping him in.  He was barely hooked and he came off as I lifted him out of the water.  All the fish were hooked by just the trailing hook.  None of them hit hard but they were full of fight as I was bringing them in.  I couldn’t have timed it any better, the tournament boats were just starting to head out and I was past most of them as I was heading in.  One boat lost a white bag as he went flying by, I spun around to pick it up.  It was a bag full of swim noodles with shanks and leaders all wrapped around them.  Hope he didn’t need them because there was no way I was going to catch him.  I figured I would just drop it off at the tournament trailer when I was done.  When I got back to the Rotary Park ramp it was almost full and 3 other boats were getting ready to launch.  One group of fishermen asked how I did and I gave them all the specifics.  A few minutes later I was all loaded up and heading home rockin’ out to Dee Snider and The House of Hair.

I love it when a plan comes together……

New Lures

Just got a message that my new custom painted lures are on their way.  Just in time for the Spring run.

These spoons should be the cat’s ass this summer.

A big thanks to Jim at http://www.downrivertackle.com