WalligatorGetter
05-18-2010, 01:24 PM
Well, the Ford River area has been very slow. There really doesn’t seem to be any daytime bite at all. The water is way, WAY to clear. In fact, it is the clearest I’ve ever seen it. I went out yesterday and fished down by the Bark River, and the lake was like a sheet of glass. I could see every little detail in 22 FOW, including walleyes, and I could still see bottom in 41 FOW with polarized sunglasses. I don’t think I could see enough detail to spot fish, but I could see the ripples in the sand and clumps of zebra mussels. I even tried sight-fishing for the walleyes in 22 FOW, but that failed. I dropped a jig/nightcrawler down there and twitched it in front of their faces, but they wouldn’t even move. I even hit one with it once. He didn’t bite it, but he at least moved. He shot out of there like a bullet. We NEED a big southeast wind if we want to see any descent action in that area without losing sleep.
Of course, a few fish are still willing to bite after dark, but it is very slow compared to what I’ve seen. Two days ago I tried trolling with thundersticks in the shallow water near Round Island after dark, and I only caught three fish in the couple hours that I was there.
Last night I headed down to the Bark River hoping for some better night trolling action. However it turned out to be even slower. I only managed two fish this time. I was using the same thundersticks as the night before.
All and all, it seems like with three lines I was catching about one fish per hour after dark. In my opinion, that’s really not worth losing the sleep over. I suppose if I would have stayed out half the night I could have caught my limit both nights, but it was just too slow to be worth it. The nice thing about that area is that when you do catch fish they are pretty good ones. All of my fish were between 22 and 26 inches.
In case anyone is wondering, both nights I was trolling in 5-11 FOW, at 2.0-2.5 MPH.
I hope other people are having better luck than me:(
Of course, a few fish are still willing to bite after dark, but it is very slow compared to what I’ve seen. Two days ago I tried trolling with thundersticks in the shallow water near Round Island after dark, and I only caught three fish in the couple hours that I was there.
Last night I headed down to the Bark River hoping for some better night trolling action. However it turned out to be even slower. I only managed two fish this time. I was using the same thundersticks as the night before.
All and all, it seems like with three lines I was catching about one fish per hour after dark. In my opinion, that’s really not worth losing the sleep over. I suppose if I would have stayed out half the night I could have caught my limit both nights, but it was just too slow to be worth it. The nice thing about that area is that when you do catch fish they are pretty good ones. All of my fish were between 22 and 26 inches.
In case anyone is wondering, both nights I was trolling in 5-11 FOW, at 2.0-2.5 MPH.
I hope other people are having better luck than me:(