Luke McGarry
08-24-2009, 10:57 AM
Well, two weeks of vacation are gone. Weather was great on the Rock except for the wind. Hotter the first week and cooler on the second week. We didn't do as much fishing as I would have liked, but satisfying my wife's desire to use the pontoon (party boat) and beach it instead was more important. I don't have my fishing log with me, so I'll report from memory.
During the 8th thru the 15th we caught a good variety of fish using many different techniques. Absent were walleyes. More rough fish were caught this trip too. We had many stripers, a few crappies, and a sheephead (my first one on the Rock). During the 16th thru the 22nd, we caught more stripers, a couple more crappies, 6 shorties (14 & 5/8ths being the longest), a 30 inch northern, a 12 lb carp (which nailed a blue and orange shad rap), and a couple of big channel cats. All in all, only 3 or 4 days fishing over two weeks. :-(
While we didn't get out much, I noticed an improvement in the fishing last week. I also noted some patterns developing that I didn't have time to capitalize on because of incoming rain.
We picked up some of the fish in open water trolling shad raps. My wife took me to the cleaners last week by fishing either a #5 or #7 Perch Shad Rap (solid body). Perch colored or Tiger colored baits of any other type-stick or split bodies- or any other size just didn't produce the same. Go figure. I think it may be representative of the hatch the fish might be feeding on.
We did get some action at the Fingers. I tried trolling over the finger points and we did pick up a Northern that way. I also tried fishing the shallow weeds in the fingers where we saw quite a few giant smallies working the beds. One had to be larger than the 20.5 incher I caught years ago. It was huge. I tried a smaller spinner bait, casting over the weeds, in hopes of hooking into a smallie. Did hookup a larger striper that way and had a couple of small perch chase it. Several hits but not much luck with that.
Tried fishing for northerns up river one day, but no luck. Saw some nice eagles though.
The pattern that I spoke of was that I marked quite a number of fish holding the bottom and sides of sandbar points on the leeward sides. I think that was Weds, 8/19. I didn't spot anything on the underwater humps that I cruised over. Unfortunately, I couldn't follow through with working those patterns because the rain started and my wife won't fish in the rain. Anyway, I notice from the past that this pattern usually picks up more in the late summer, but usually more in Sept/Oct, rather than in Aug.
Sunday was a day of rest. My daughter showed up for the weekend and we got the pontoon out and puttered all the way up to the dam. It was cool in the shade of the clouds, but I still picked up a little burn. I spoke with a couple fisherpeople up at the dam and their take was slow. One point to note: the Mong were out in a couple of boats which is a sign to me that the stripers ought to be hitting soon. I love fishing the stripers when they are hitting. We can get a hit on almost every cast and get a kick out of watching the folks try to mimick us--especially the younger ones.
Anyway, it was a great vacation even without enough fishing. Won't be up again until the Labor Day weekend. Hope to see y'all out there.
Luke
During the 8th thru the 15th we caught a good variety of fish using many different techniques. Absent were walleyes. More rough fish were caught this trip too. We had many stripers, a few crappies, and a sheephead (my first one on the Rock). During the 16th thru the 22nd, we caught more stripers, a couple more crappies, 6 shorties (14 & 5/8ths being the longest), a 30 inch northern, a 12 lb carp (which nailed a blue and orange shad rap), and a couple of big channel cats. All in all, only 3 or 4 days fishing over two weeks. :-(
While we didn't get out much, I noticed an improvement in the fishing last week. I also noted some patterns developing that I didn't have time to capitalize on because of incoming rain.
We picked up some of the fish in open water trolling shad raps. My wife took me to the cleaners last week by fishing either a #5 or #7 Perch Shad Rap (solid body). Perch colored or Tiger colored baits of any other type-stick or split bodies- or any other size just didn't produce the same. Go figure. I think it may be representative of the hatch the fish might be feeding on.
We did get some action at the Fingers. I tried trolling over the finger points and we did pick up a Northern that way. I also tried fishing the shallow weeds in the fingers where we saw quite a few giant smallies working the beds. One had to be larger than the 20.5 incher I caught years ago. It was huge. I tried a smaller spinner bait, casting over the weeds, in hopes of hooking into a smallie. Did hookup a larger striper that way and had a couple of small perch chase it. Several hits but not much luck with that.
Tried fishing for northerns up river one day, but no luck. Saw some nice eagles though.
The pattern that I spoke of was that I marked quite a number of fish holding the bottom and sides of sandbar points on the leeward sides. I think that was Weds, 8/19. I didn't spot anything on the underwater humps that I cruised over. Unfortunately, I couldn't follow through with working those patterns because the rain started and my wife won't fish in the rain. Anyway, I notice from the past that this pattern usually picks up more in the late summer, but usually more in Sept/Oct, rather than in Aug.
Sunday was a day of rest. My daughter showed up for the weekend and we got the pontoon out and puttered all the way up to the dam. It was cool in the shade of the clouds, but I still picked up a little burn. I spoke with a couple fisherpeople up at the dam and their take was slow. One point to note: the Mong were out in a couple of boats which is a sign to me that the stripers ought to be hitting soon. I love fishing the stripers when they are hitting. We can get a hit on almost every cast and get a kick out of watching the folks try to mimick us--especially the younger ones.
Anyway, it was a great vacation even without enough fishing. Won't be up again until the Labor Day weekend. Hope to see y'all out there.
Luke