Weekend update

[BlueRanger]

It was a cold and windy weekend until the sun had been out for a while on Sunday. Little nuisance showers rolled through every 30-45 minutes for most of Saturday just to keep things entertaining. Couldn't find any muskies, but caught some nice perch and a few rock bass from the Baraboo cribs using a variety of small plastics. After spending much of Satuday afternoon doing that, I found some walleyes on the sonar as I was puttering across the basin - they were on the downwind edge, stacked up on the bottom in 30-35 feet. I didn't have any minnows, had some nice perch for dinner, and didn't have enough feeling left in my fingers to want to tie on a heavier jig and give the Gulp a try. Fishing should improve over the next few days with the warmer weather.

A neighbor told me several nice muskies, including a 51", were caught last weekend around the rock bars near Fisherman's Landing.

Water level is just below full pool at about -.2 feet and surface temperatures were 51-53 degrees. Things are still stirred up a little and the water is very dark, but visibility wasn't as bad as I expected, and in some areas it was already starting to clear up nicely.

Fall color was a little past peak around the lake, but Flowage Road was beautiful on Sunday. I posted some pictures in the album. West of Park Falls many of the trees were already bare, and it was past peak to about Barron, where it started getting colorful again.

Here's a cool screen shot from Townline - a couple cribs surrounded by clouds of baitfish.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_ER5QJ7wzZ0Q/TKkdB8U7QkI/AAAAAAAAEtU/chLWQNSb1G0/s512/S00168.jpg

[George G]

Hi Blue, experienced the same weather, Thur was nice, friday not so nice, Saturday exactly as you described it. Fished mostly at the dam and big water, not even a bite, it was lousy. Donners Bay fishing contest winners were over 12 lbs of fish with the first and second place entrants just 5 oz apart. I have no idea where they found the walley. I was marking fish all over but could not encourage a bite. So it was still a nice getaway and I had an enjoyable 5 days. Always nice people in the area to talk with. I was not alone on the no bite thing. Several others had the same results. Have a nice day.

[DonH]

Didn't have enough feeling left in your fingers to tie on a heavier jig? Been there. Is fall fishing getting tougher, or as I get older does it just seem tougher?

We were up there and on the water a little before you, from the the 25th through the 28th. Water was a mess from all the rain the week before which made the fishing really tough. On the first day I had on a big fish that I couldn't get off the bottom and she wrapped me in a log. I had another fish on the last day that did the same thing, and my last bite on the spring trip also took me into a log. That hasn't happened to me in years and 3 fish in my last 5 days on the TFF? Go figure.

At one point, I was anchored in 25' of water in the channel and marking fish like crazy. I have my fish alarm set for the 2 largest sizes and it was going off like an alarm clock. At one time I had 11 fish on the screen. They were all right on the bottom. So I dropped a minnow on a slip bobber right in my cone and about 6" off the bottom. That's one rod. On the other rod was a 1/4 oz. jig with either a 3" GULP minnow or a 4" GULP minnow (I was switching back and forth) and I was bouncing that right on the bottom. How did I do? Not a bite and I hung there for close to 2 hours, marking fish the entire time. Talk about negative fish!

Where can a guy find a net with a 25' handle?

[St Croix Kid]

I am heading up tomorrow. reports from my friends say the fishing has been nothing short of phenomenal this week especially the smallies. lots of big fat 17, 18, 19" fish. weather appears like it will remain stable and quite warm for this time of the year. if you see a couple guys in a black/tan c-liner with a 90 Merc on back stop over or give a wave. will be on water thurs aft, friday and saturday. last chance fishing trip for me upnorth for me. will be fishing the dam in Red Wing after that.

[Musky Mauler]

I remember a time that I went fishing on the Flowage and didn't get a bite.

Let me see, that was back in - - - (Yeah, sure!)

Hey, if it were that easy, we wouldn't do it, right? Of course, in the old days, there used to be the trout farm to fall back upon. But, I'd never admit to doing that - - would you?

Musky Mauler

[George]

Absolutely beautiful pictures Blue. Check 'em out guys!

[BlueRanger]

StCroix kid - pretty sure I saw you a few times - lest you think I was being unfriendly, I had taken half the week off and went back up Tuesday night, so I missed your post, or I definitely would have stopped to talk.

Another tough weekend, but I did get in some late season tanning. I can't remember the last time we had fall weather like this. A warm spell is nothing unusual, but five straight days of it with very little wind and completely cloudless skies? Surface temperatures were back up over 60 in many locations in the afternoons, and Baraboo looked like it was re-stratifying - I was marking a very distinct area of noise from about 25 feet to the bottom by Saturday. Everybody I talked to was having a horrible time - lots of fish showing up on sonar, but only 8" walleyes biting. I pulled a few perch and rock bass off the cribs again, but went 5 days without seeing a musky. I fished deep, shallow, fast, slow and everything in between. Wednesday morning, big muskies were porpoising all over Baraboo, and I saw a lot of big blobs on the sonar out in open water and above the cribs. I even spent an hour throwing jerkbaits and topwaters out in the middle of the basin. Crazy!

Water level is down a few more inches at -.55 feet as of this noon. The majority of the leaves are down, and I didn't really encounter any areas of peak color all the way home. 49 new pictures are up, captioned and mapped.

[St Croix Kid]

I thought I saw you. no worries about not stopping over. we scraped up a few fish but we had help.

all in I guess we caught 15 walleye, some crappie, perch and a couple of nice smallmouth. we worked hard for them though. 5 guys, two days of fishing, 8 hours a day.

[teenfisher]

i fished tff sat and sun for 5 hours each day. first day couldn't get a fish. tried a river channel bend and some brand new cribs put in this winter in baraboo and marked fish there but couldn't get a bite. second day, i tried fishing some rocky dropoffs (16-22ft) in baraboo and got a couple of small hits then went to the cribs again and marked schools of suspended fish coming through and got 2 crappies and a rockbass. if anyone saw a white bayliner trophy center council, that was me. st. croix kid... what kind of structure were you fishing to catch the fish if you don't mind tellin. thanks.

[St Croix Kid]

River channels and tried some humps. Most success out of the channels