rangerman

If you want to get some different colors try scheels and mills fleet farm. They have some awesome exclusive colors. Scheels pearl ghost is REALLY good when the waters clear. I prolly have a 150 or so in various colors. I buy pretty much exclusively from FISHUSA. They are a great tackle supplier Except when I need my store exclusive colors. I really wasn't happy when bass pro dropped their line in favor of pushing their static shad line. The fathead colored flicker shad is awesome and out of all still one of my favorites.

Awesome report! Glad you were rewarded for fighting such cold weather!

Gotta love it! Good job guys.....

Way to go dd, awesome day. Still pulling them around 1.3-1.7mph?

Dayhem you did some running! Thanks for update.

Hmmmm, I've never been called a troll :-(, however, i check in every day and read through just about everything on the forum, just cause I like to. I was not going to respond to this thread but did not want to be thought of as a non contributor. I'm all walleye and do not allow bass in my boat...rather fish for something hard to catch. ;-0

Last trolling trip of 2014 faired pretty decent considering. Trolled around beaver creek and ended up with 5 large and one short crappie and 4 big whites. Had a couple of 15ish black bass and had a decent 20 or so inch eye come unbuttoned at the boat. Started off slow trolling with #7 fathead colored flicker shads and #9 flicker minnows at .9mph picking up a few suspended fish. After a bit of a lull picked the speed up to 1.5mph and fishys started eating pretty good. Baits were pulled 100 feet behind boards at the edge of the mud flats. Took out at about 1:45. Upon cleaning a couple of the crappie I found juvenile 3 inch yellow perch partially digested. Wouldn't hurt to pull some perch colored baits up there right now I reckon. Seen a pretty Phoenix up that way....don't know whooooo that would be ;-).. God luck and happy new year to all!

No one mentioned trolling....I have found fishing the James river arm, that covering water even this time of year is key to limits. Concentrated on the suspended fish over the river channel. Some may be deep however a majority are around the 15-20 mark which when trolling cranks such as flicker shads 100 or so foot back allow for the fish to rise and strike. Have caught crappie trolling in water as cool as 43 degrees.

Thanks mojo, the great majority of the summer eyes I found were I that sugarloaf arm. The normal places like the contours off the flats usually hold something but I found nada, until I trolled at night at which time I picked up a couple. Hope things improve.... In the meantime I'll go back up to sturgeon bay :-)

I wanna know what the hell happened to the walleye bite?'! Even you guys bass fishing should have picked up one here and there. Kinda concerns me.... Sorry come January I'll have something to add..

Not the most recent..... The colder the better for that lake. Put in many mornings in the single digits. A lot depends on what kind of precipitation they get. Low is generally good with a little murkiness. IT CAN GET MUDDY QUICK IF YOU DONT PAY ATTENTION TO THEIR WEATHER REPORTS. My best hybrid out of Thomas hill was 13 pounds with lots in the 5-10 pound range. i liked the pearl white bomber fat free shads in the medium to large size. Can't remember the size number of the crank. Crappie can be fair but you have to weed through some small ones. Winter basin can be excellent. Caught a lot in the 3-5 pound range while fishing hybrids. It is very kayakable. Most of the best fishing is near or close proximity to the hot water outlet. Shad school up and hybrids and everything else follows. If the bite is on the number of hybrids you can catch is crazy. Good luck!

Jeff, Keep an eye on the lake link website. They have really good up to date reports. Doesn't sound like a bad trip to me though!

On loz covering water is the main goal. Troll cranks and such. If you pick more than one up in a area, go back and fish with other slower techniques, such as jigging spoons or jiggin raps. I like the area below haha tonka from late August til November or so. Havent fished it much pass that point of year.

15-20 foot deep on the smallies. Guys were tossing tubes and goby imitations on drop shot and doing well. Green pumpkin with black flake is about the best color. There is a reason sturgeon bay is the number one smallmouth fishery in the US. You can stay in the bay and catch the 3-4 pounders ALL day. Or go out on Green Bay and do some searching and find the schools of 5-7 pounders. My pops was up there the same time and did just that. He caught 6 on the bay that ran in between 5-6.8 pounds one day. The best time to go in my opinion would be early June. The bass guys put the hurting on the monster smallmouth on top waters at that time.

Caught walleye trolling #9 purple flash flicker shads. Smallies were caught pulling a 4-6 inch sucker minnow while fishing for walleyes.

Sorry for sideway photos :-(

Had a good trip this year....at the beginning at least then the bite died. First few days we had more 3-4 pound smallies than you could count. You bass guys would be in sheer heaven. Never had a smallie shorter than 15 inches all week. And my bread and butter walleye went very well. Not a lot of numbers but some REAL quality fish. Salmon bite was so,so and slower than in years past due to influx of water they had over the course of the week before I arrived. Had 7 or so in the 15-20 pound ranger. Again highly recommended trip.

Are you taking a boat I presume? I go to sturgeon bay this coming week. The canal loads with 4 year kings, which you can catch cast and retrieving cranks. The brighter more obnoxious colored cranks are the best. Chartreuses/oranges are hot. I use cotton Cordell Wally divers and 800 series reef runners. The smallies get thick at the mouth of the sturgeon bay canal on the Green Bay side. You can catch those using whatever technique you feel comfortable. And the walleye and currently moving up the bay from what I hear. Can't say much about superior though....sorry. The salmon and browns are moving into river systems and harbors so you should be good to go for what it's worth.

Pat, a wall to beat your head on would be a good place to start :-), Most Aggravating fish in table rock I believe..... But I ditto the guys comments on past research. Good luck and buy lots of cranks!!!! :-)

I generally fish the kings in the spring for walleye. I have to say it seems the catch rate has dropped. However, there are other things to take into account. It seems the kings the last few years had not had the flow rate in the spring as it used to have. The combination of the right flow, water temp etc, has been less than optimal to say the least. When the moons align so to speak, there can be an unreal bite there. It is generally the place I go to get my crankbait cast and retrieve bite for walleye. It also doesn't help when you see the nighttime bank fisherman up there with a limit of fish in between 8-13 pounds, which I have personally seen. All females spewing eggs when they lifted the stringer. But it is legal and I am not criticizing anyone for it. Thanks mojo for the info!

Good stuff appreciate the post! Still doesn't look like there is much of a thermocline. At least if I'm reading it right.

I'm going to start working the night bite I believe...I went out late and trolled with lighted boards and pulled two very large whites and one walleye. All in about an hour of trolling. Had another large take but I believe it was a gar. Not sure though. I will have to say Trolling at night was the most peacefulll thing I have ever done. Done it on Green Bay but it was nothing like down south. Really quiet and nothing but the purr of a four stroke. It was also nice not having to dodge and troll brush piles and working set contours like the daytime. Just worked the 15 foot depths which were barren during the day and lit up with fish at night.

In regards to the pro slick colors. I have done so so on them. Crappie at loz loved them. Walleye at bull shoals kinda liked them. However forewarning the finish is not very durable at all from what I've experienced. Walleye teeth seem to scrape the finish off pretty bad.

I kind of agree on the trotline theory...I am like pd, I fish nothing but walleye and bass are a complete nuisance, even the 6 pounders. But i never purposely hurt one. I have kept my share of legal Kentuckies but never smalllmouth or largemouth. I used to trotline a lot on table rock as a youth and can't remember the number of bass I caught using green sunfish. (Even small ones) Even then I never hurt one releasing it. I caught ALOT on the bottom lip. My theory was they would pick the bait up off the bottom and swim up with it, resulting in it being hooked in the bottom lip. I always hooked my bait by next to the anal fin so it would swim up. I used to love trotlining however, I could see some, not all by any means, but some catching one and using the shake off method resulting in a torn bottom lip. From what I learned from trotlining both lakes and the Missouri River, I tried to picture how fish would pick up a bait resulting in the hook set. And this was just from my conclusion, everyone else may have had something different. It seemed a majority of the blues were hooked in the corner of the mouth froma slashing grab of the bait, flatheads seemed to be hooked in the bottom as they would engulf the bait and swim up with it. But who knows just my theory.......

Can't let pd fight this war alone!!! Lol.