First C-class of 2010
space inwaders 06/16/2010 - 21:31 Trip Reports
It's been a couple months since i've been to my usual spots on everyone's favorite river, but i sure was glad i made the attempt last sunday morning.
I tried early am on saturday at a few places on the doah', no luck to speak of. Storms rolled through saturday evening, although not too severe.
I headed out to the bigger river early am on sunday. I arrived about sunrise and fished an area that was good to me last summer.
This is a fairly shallow snaggy area, so i like a shallow diving lures here. The water was muddy with about 6 inches of visibility. On the 5th cast I felt the slightest tick on the line, but saw a large swirl on the surface near my lure. I casted back along the same path and BAM, there's the fish, and its a nice one! It bit pretty close to shore, so it wasn't a long fight, but i was not ready, the net was folded up, i was wearing my tackle bag on my back still. After a few hard runs, i got the fish to shore, as it was thrashing on the surface i thought it was big channel cat for a second, but no, it was a really nice walleye and i was so worried i'd loose her, but luck was on my side today and she was hooked well.
I managed to get the hooks out and set her down on the bank for a second and get the net unfolded. Once i did I put the fish in the net, in the water, and was able to get out the camera and tape. After a couple quick (and not very good) photos, and a quick measurement at 27 inches i eased her back in the water to recouperate. I washed some water over her to clean the dirt off of her while she was regaining her strength, and soon she was ready to swim away. What a beautiful fish. I've been waiting all year for this one, and it felt great.
I had to adjust the brightness/contrast big time to make this image look like more than a silhouette. Always have the light pointing toward you, not behind you!
I thought there might be more around, and i worked the area thoroughly. I ended up with one more little smallie. After an hour i tried a few soft plastics on a 1/8 oz jig. A few more smallies, and a few strikes that didnt hook up. About 10 am i tried a 3" or so XPS minnow. Not long afterward another nice strike and good fighter was on the line, it felt pretty big, but ended up a strong 19 incher.
Soon afterward a 11-12 inch smallie took the XPS, and then a channel cat about the same size. The river then forced me to donate my lure, i had just lost my other copy of this lure the day before! I've lost 3 of this exact lure this year, but its also produced alot of fish. Looks like i'll be making another bass pro order soon. I packed it up at this point, but i'll be back soon! After that 27 incher, everything else was just a bonus.
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I tried early am on saturday at a few places on the doah', no luck to speak of. Storms rolled through saturday evening, although not too severe.
I headed out to the bigger river early am on sunday. I arrived about sunrise and fished an area that was good to me last summer.
This is a fairly shallow snaggy area, so i like a shallow diving lures here. The water was muddy with about 6 inches of visibility. On the 5th cast I felt the slightest tick on the line, but saw a large swirl on the surface near my lure. I casted back along the same path and BAM, there's the fish, and its a nice one! It bit pretty close to shore, so it wasn't a long fight, but i was not ready, the net was folded up, i was wearing my tackle bag on my back still. After a few hard runs, i got the fish to shore, as it was thrashing on the surface i thought it was big channel cat for a second, but no, it was a really nice walleye and i was so worried i'd loose her, but luck was on my side today and she was hooked well.
I managed to get the hooks out and set her down on the bank for a second and get the net unfolded. Once i did I put the fish in the net, in the water, and was able to get out the camera and tape. After a couple quick (and not very good) photos, and a quick measurement at 27 inches i eased her back in the water to recouperate. I washed some water over her to clean the dirt off of her while she was regaining her strength, and soon she was ready to swim away. What a beautiful fish. I've been waiting all year for this one, and it felt great.
I had to adjust the brightness/contrast big time to make this image look like more than a silhouette. Always have the light pointing toward you, not behind you!
I thought there might be more around, and i worked the area thoroughly. I ended up with one more little smallie. After an hour i tried a few soft plastics on a 1/8 oz jig. A few more smallies, and a few strikes that didnt hook up. About 10 am i tried a 3" or so XPS minnow. Not long afterward another nice strike and good fighter was on the line, it felt pretty big, but ended up a strong 19 incher.
Soon afterward a 11-12 inch smallie took the XPS, and then a channel cat about the same size. The river then forced me to donate my lure, i had just lost my other copy of this lure the day before! I've lost 3 of this exact lure this year, but its also produced alot of fish. Looks like i'll be making another bass pro order soon. I packed it up at this point, but i'll be back soon! After that 27 incher, everything else was just a bonus.
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