Koop

Back up north to visit the old man and get in some time on the water. Water temp was down 5-7 degrees from last year (sitting at 63-65) pre spawn, tough bite, mostly drop shotting and finesse swim jigs on drop offs in about 15 foot. This time last year water temp was 70-71 and spawn was done. The long winter with record snow seems to have delayed things a bit. Boated a few decent fish though didn't get into anything we felt like weighing. but here's a coffee shot (I couldn't leave you all hanging without at least something) : ... Figured I'd make this into a sort of annual report and link past years to keep a sort of history for myself and anyone else interested 2018 Northwoods - Old mans new PB

Congrats, thanks for all the hard work you and the team continue to put in.

Had a chance to get out with my old man this past weekend. We got into the smallies pretty good in northern Wisconsin / Michigan boundary lake. I boated a 4.0, 4.4, 4.9 old man upgraded his PB and showed me up with a 5.1. Had another 2 dozen between us in the 3-4 range and 50+ under 3 over the two days we were out. All post spawn, crystal clear water, 20-25 feet, 70-71 water temp. Old man got his swimming a jig with a grub tail. All mine came on gman finesse jigs PBJ or Green Pumpkin, 8 or 10lb floro with some color variation of sweet beavers. Just knocking them into fallen lumber at 20-25 feet and popping them. Beautiful weekend, lots of fun.

At night I prefer a very wide wobble fat bodied crank like the norman fat boy Catt suggested.

Hey Ken, It was actually on lake Wisconsin, Buffalo is in bad shape. Its very sad but the DNR wants a higher duck concentration in that area for hunters, so they are making changes that are drastically effecting the lake. I'm not sure how many more good years are in Buffalo unfortunately my favorite lake is not doing so hot.

It all depends on what your approach is and what structure your fishing. But for the most part you want your crank bait at the depth of the structure your fishing. I normally fish crank baits in gravel/clay bottomed flats, drop offs, large rocks, log/stump fields. With a lot of these your looking for a reaction strike when you bump your crank off the structure. So when you look at some crankbaits you'll want to get some that will cover various depths, certain online retailers will split it up for you into 0-4 5-9 and 10+. When you fine tune it even farther it gets into square billed and wobble width etc.

Hey all, Lack of posts over the summer can be directly related to a 22 credit summer semester. Been busy but staying on the lakes. Had an absolutely amazing summer, wish I could have made some more reports but caught a new large mouth PB (8lb 5oz) on a frog over the pads. Hoping for just as good of a fall. Got out on the Mississippi out of pool 9 day before last. It's been gettin cold and a cold front was pushing through, we started out fishing the backwaters but as we had suspected the large mouth had been pushed out by the cold. Well, its a river, so lets go find some structure and current and catch smallies. GMAN's pbj football jigs w/ pbj paca craws and burnt orange or red square billed crank baits all day long. Partner and I caught about a dozen 3-5lb smallies (Largest was 5lb2oz caught by my darn partner right out from under my nose) in about 8 hours and quite a few 1-2's as well. We found them in about 8-9 fow right outside of the main current sticking to the chunk rock and feeding on prey in the current. Heck of a day and a heck of a start to the fall fishing.

Might be to late but I fished out of pool 9 a few days ago, smallies were absolutely killing football jigs(PBJ) w/PBJ paca craw and wacky pumpkin/watermelon senko's. They are still sticking to the chunck rock out of main current 8-9fow. Cold weather has pushed large mouth out of the back waters, I wouldn't even bother.

Curious if anyone's fished the Mississippi river or even specifically pools 4-9 this spring. Curious how the water level is this April and any recent patterns. Going out to do some fun fishing this week on pool 8/9.

I find it comical having done 3 tours in the USMC in Iraq and seeing comments like "well I'd just shoot them and kill them dead" Taken so lightly... if you do so enjoy the lifetime of guilt and other issues. I absolutely hate how some people view shooting and/or killing someone with a firearm glamorous. I myself never wish to hold a firearm again, that is just my personal choice. I do however value the rights and amendments bestowed on us in the constitution over my own personal beliefs, but please know that if you are ever in the situation where it may come down to shooting or killing someone, know that its not over when the person passes. (No matter how bad they may be, I still feel bad about killing people who were firing at me before I fired a single round)

Canceled due to lack of interest

About a month away, only 2 people signed up so far... any more interest?

depends what type of plastic they are... topwater frogs? White / black / chart senkos ... green pumpkin, watermelon red flake, silver flake trailers... green pumpkin, black/blue flake, pbj

I fished out of pool 7 a few days ago, smallies were killing jigs and wacky senko's. They were all over the chunk rock in 5-8 fow out of the main current.

retie every time I change, snap is just another weak point in the set up takes me 5 seconds longer

I'd say 20-25ft is the norm as has been stated. Pitching into a cup at 40ft consistently is a very talented fisherman, only time I really try anything 40+ is if I simply can not position my boat better because a tight group starts to look like a buck shot. ;D

I'd check to make sure it is allowed before doing this, most tournaments do not allow trolling.

Alrighty, tentative dates for this bad boy is June 5-6 (first weekend in June) on the Madison chain. Launch: We will stage at 5am and launch at 5:30 (If this is to early for those traveling please let me know and we can move it back an hour?) We will launch out of Olbrich Park (best launch closest to the east side/I-90 of Madison instead of having everyone drive downtown. It is also very close to the Tenne locks if we do lock into Mendota). Address: Olbrich Park 3527 Atwood Ave Madison WI Directions: From I-90 S or I-90 N To US-12 W/US-18 W/W BELTLINE HWY To US-51 N/STOUGHTON RD via EXIT 266. Take the CR-BB ramp toward COTTAGE GROVE RD. Turn RIGHT onto CR-BB W/COTTAGE GROVE RD Right onto ATWOOD AVE/MONONA DR. End:3527 ATWOOD AVE is on the LEFT. (Total of about 6 miles once you hit the Beltline) Lunch: We can either bring lunches, or lock into Mendota and eat at the Union Bay. Misc Info Lock Fee: $5 /day Olbrich Launch Fee: $8/day Expect water temps in the mid 60's We will start on Monona, if things are slow we can always take the Yahara river into Tenne park and lock into Mendota, or go south into Waubesa/Lower Mud Lake. I wouldn't recommend going any further south than lower mud as there are still a lot of boulders in the river going into Kegonsa and no channel markers... Unless you have those boulders marked on a GPS it could end up being a bad day. All this said I doubt we would need to go anywhere but Monona/Mendota unless someone has a real want to go into one of the southern bodies. Let me know how this will work for everyone If you plan on attending please PM me some info and I will start a list here. Please provide me with info if you will be bringing a boat or would like to attend as a non boater. (I will figure out non boater fees depending on who matches up with who and how far everyone is commuting.)

Punching with the standard 1-2 oz weights is overkill in the Upper Midwest, but there are plenty of opportunities arounds the pads, milfoil, and coontail for punching with 1/2 and 3/4 oz weights, which more often than not, will match up just fine with standard MH and H power worm/jig, toad, and frog equipment. That's the point I was trying to get across, you'll never need a mag-heavy set up with a 1-2oz on it. Honestly, 1/2oz-3/4oz is more than enough

I'd check out www.lake-link.com check some of the local bodies of water ask about clubs someone will respond.

If your in Wisconsin, your wasting money on a set up for punching.

Very cool, yeah that is a huge achievement, I misinterpreted the record you were talking about, my mistake

Possibly a state record? I had thought the world record for line and reel was pushing 350, I double checked when I read this and all I'm seeing is 279 and 365 with bow. Only reason I have any idea about this is I pulled one out of lake Mendota here in Madison last summer while having a few beers and catfishing around 1am with some friends (from shore) and had never caught one before so I checked it out... needless to say my 15lber was no record

There are 2 clubs out of Madison, there is another in Janesville and another I believe in Delavan. UW Madison, Whitewater and northern IL schools also have teams. Most of the clubs have some sort of a yearly membership fee and unless your 18 you will need your parents to sign some sort of waver so the boater is not held liable if you are injured. Last year I fished club tournaments on the fox chain and on Delavan. I'm not sure about open tournaments there. You can also try checking around on www.lake-link.com lots of good local info on there about tournaments etc. Just type in the body of water your interested in and post a comment in the thread for that body asking when an open tournament is and what you would need to do to fish as a co-angler.

Kind of why I was asking about the lake, I haven't fished much in southern IL but nothing in Souther WI / Northern IL is above mid - high 50's yet. With the wind we've had around here this week I've been throwing jigs / spinners with good success. Without knowing the specific body your asking about the night before the tournament is probably a bit to late to be asking too Can give you general advice but whats it good for if you can't take it out and pre fish to see if its working.