packersooner

Likewise PD. I either wear a camo Packer hat or an OU ballcap. 16' grey Lund. 9 LB...I grew up in the suburbs of Milwaukee (West Allis, New Berlin, Waukesha) during the dark years of the Packers. I remember the Lynn Dickey and magic man days all too well! Did you ever get to do any walleye fishing in Green Bay itself? It seems like once a year or so I catch a fishing show where they are trolling planer boards and tearing up the eyes. Hopefully you can get into them at TR. I haven't tried that walleye fishery. Usually drive past TR on the way to Bull Shoals. Jason

Sam, Yeah I've called the owners of K-Dock a few times over the last three weeks. Talking to them has saved me a few trips. The cold, muddy, debris filled water seems to have shut them down on the upper portions of the lake. Jason

Also got out on Tuesday mainly targeting walleye. We probably caught a dozen and a half or so with two limits. Most came on bottom bouncers. The biggest came on a deadsticked rod with a bottom bouncer/swimming minnow. They all came from rocky bluffs/points with bait on them in 18-22 fow. We did catch one of those goofy humpbacks...or whatever you want to call them. We then tried to solve the crappie puzzle in the afternoon. Managed 4 keepers and a handful of shorts in the Googer area. Caught one big female, but she was over a brushpile in 23 feet of water. She was still full of eggs. We tried areas from the banks out to 10 feet and notta. Found one cove with water temps in the low 60s. Interestingly, my partner caught a nice smallmouth bass in Googer. That was probably the biggest surprise of the day. He also caught one in the Mutton area. The only place I've caught them in the past is on the bluffs near the dam. BTW, I am also from Wisconsin (my profile name may have given that away). Unfortunately, I never got to do much walleye fishing up there. Jason

That's a solid theory Slowtroller. We saw some baitfish popping in a small cove in Sons Creek. Otherwise...we saw very little on the depth finder/side-imager. Just wish I wouldn't have been so stubborn and switched to walleye sooner Jason

EKing, Yeah just read your post. Sounds awfully familiar. We did talk to a few boats Monday and heard similar results. Like you said in your post, it will probably bust lose all at once. Interestingly, the weather is going to get drastically cooler again later this week...enough so that water temps will drop several degrees. It will be interesting to see when they spawn. If the water stays high, it could bode well for the spawning class. We shall see... Jason

Targeted crappie in the Sons Creek arm. The good news is that we left them all there...not intentionally. We tried jigging shallow brush, fishing stumps/trees in the 5 to 13 foot range, and slow retrieving small crank baits and swimming minnows from 1-10 feet near the shore and on the flats. We managed a white bass and largemouth, The water was definitely off color with a lot of debris and averaged from 54 to 60 degrees. The 60 degree water was on the north side of a small cove. We then moved down the lake to slightly clearer water and tried the same stuff. Managed one decent male crappie in about 4 feet of water on a swimming minnow. He must of been lost...or felt sorry for us. We then tried trolling #7 Flicker Shads from 10-16 feet and only managed a channel cat. We trolled those from powerline cove up to Googer in depths ranging from 15 feet to 40 feet. We then threw in the towel and switched to bottom bouncers with crawler harnesses. We mainly targeted bluffs around Mutton in the 17-20 foot range. Of course, we caught a crappie! We also managed 3 walleye (2 keeps) in a little less than an hour before the trolling motor battery died. Fighting current and wind all day took its toll. The walleye were caught going against the wind and current from 0.8 to 1.1 mph. Hopefully someone found the crappie. I have fished Stockton for five years and still not caught a spawning female crappie. I've caught males on the banks. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. Leaves more for you all! Jason

Fished the area from Nemo down to L9. Tough day! Started off fishing deep brush piles (20-35 feet) with no luck. Switched to shallow brush piles (8 -15 feet) and managed a dozen shorts and 3 keepers. I tried some timbered areas/coves and nothing. Used jigs with pink, green, and white being the best colors. Water clarity was about 18" and the level was falling...fast. As was mentioned in another thread, this may have been part of the problem. Water temps started off in the 42-43 degree range around Nemo and warmed up into the middle 40s in the afternoon. I did find some water in the lower 50s in smaller coves. Talked to a conservation agent at the launch and it sounds like everyone was having a tough day. Jason

I bought some of the leeches a few years back when Bass Pro had them on sale. I fished them quite a bit using a floating jighead on a bottom bouncer. I may have caught one walleye on them. Crawler harnesses and slow death rigs far outfished them. I believe the shape/look of the leeches has changed since then though. I am curious if Gulp or some other scented plastic worm would work well as a replacement for live crawlers? Main reason is those pesky bluegills rip the real thing off just as fast as you can get a bottom bouncer down there! Jason

Fished out of Nemo from mid morning thru mid afternoon. Struggled for the first few hours but the bite seemed to pick up once the sun started peaking through. Fished brush piles from 20 to about 32 fow. Managed 11 keepers but probably had at least 30 shorts. Used jigs with green/pink and blue/silver glitter both producing. Water temps started out in the upper 30s and were in the 40-41 range when I left. FWIW, the females I cleaned did not seem as far along with their egg sacks as I thought they might be. Later spawn? Who knows... Jason

Echo PD's comment...#7s. Jason

rps, I gave those a try one time out this summer at Bull Shoals. Had something large on but it got off. The only drawback to those jigging raps are the small hooks. You are gonna lose some fish. They are definitely big up north for walleye. Seen many a fishing show/article on them. I'll have to give them another shot this winter. Should be great for deep open water jigging! Jason

Thanks for the report Brad. Been pretty quiet on this board wrt crappie reports. Hopefully we can get up that way a few times this winter. Jason

Fished the mid lake region from Twin Bridges to Birch Branch. Mainly fished bluffs/channel drops. Ended up with 16 keepers (20 if you count a kind gentleman's donation to our livewell) and a 17" walleye. Most were caught between 22 and 25 feet near the bottom. Caught a few as high as 20 feet and as deep as 30 feet. The fish higher up were mainly white crappie chasing shad pods. Most were caught on jigs with a handful (including the walleye) on a jig/minnow combo. Water temp started off at 50 and warmed to 51 in the afternoon. Jason

lmt out, In the handful of times we have gotten out the last few winters, our best success for walleye has been in large main lake coves beneath pods of shad. We usually fish in 35 to 55 feet of water once lake temps get down around or colder than 40 degrees. In many cases, the walleye are mixed in with...or slightly deeper than crappie chasing the shad. Usually, you can't go wrong with a jig/minnow combo. If the shad are near the bottom, you can actually fish a bottom bouncer with a minnow or crawler. Several posters on this board have also stated that they have caught them shallow in the dead of winter, and have caught them jigging spoons near the bottom of the main lake channel near the dam. That narrows it down! Jason

My mistake MOPanfisher. Looked a lot lower than that! My normal fishing partner fished the same area I did last Saturday and had very similar results. I am wondering if I need to expand my horizons a bit and try different parts of the lake. Not sure if the Lindley side is any better than the Pomme side. I just don't get up that way enough to figure out what works and where. Guess I don't have my priorities straight! Jason

Tough day to say the least. Fished from Lightfoot down to Twin Coves. We managed two shorts, a bass, and a drum. Vertically jigged and pitched jigs over brush along the bluffs anywhere from 5 to 25 feet down. We also briefly tried the timber. Even tried trolling some Flicker Shads. Water temps were in the low to mid 60s with a tough south to southwest wind. Water clarity was only 2-3 feet. Perhaps it is turning over? Lake sure is low. Not sure what we were doing wrong. There were shad everywhere. We were marking fish near many of the shad pods too. Jason

Sorry for the late report. Fished the Diamond City area last Saturday. Managed 6 or 7 walleye with two keepers...along with several other "unwanted" species. It was tough to put a pattern together. Water temps were in the 73 to 75 degree range. The one thing that seemed consistent was that most of the walleye were caught in about 30 fow on bottom bouncers. One or two came from brush, a few came from ditches, and a few more came from points. We tried jigging spoons and trolling crankbaits with no success. Jason

Thanks for the advice everyone! Not sure I can afford a new rod/reel combo at this point, but I do have a combo similar to what Mike suggested that I had been using for bottom bouncers. I may give that a shot with braid and a flouro leader. Jason

First time fishing the Diamond City portion of the lake. We targeted walleye with the main focus being flats between Elbow and Shoal Creeks...but we did fish a point or two. Target depth was 23-30 fow, but we did wander out to 40 fow on occasion. Managed 2 shorts and one that went just under 23". Caught several quality bass and bluegill...along with a cat. Most fish (and all walleye) came on bottom bouncers, with a few bass caught trolling cranks and on jigging spoons. Speaking of jigging spoons, I am curious what you all use for rod/reel/line when jigging with spoons? I had one break off which made me think I may be a bit on the light side. Was using a medium action rod and a spinning reel with 8 pound mono. As has been mentioned in other threads, we marked a lot of fish around 24' down or so. Water temp averaged around 81 degrees. Jason

PD, Thanks for the info. Still not sure if we are heading to Stockton or Bull Shoals. Just want to get the father-in-law a walleye. There have been very few reports from either lake. Jason

Was thinking of heading down there on Tuesday and see the lake is 3 feet low. Is there a certain place at K Dock where it is best to launch? If it helps any, I have a 16' aluminum deep V. Thanks, Jason

Col Ron, I wish I could help you out with the yellow perch. I haven't caught one big enough to throw in the live well. All of the them I have caught have been by accident on the upper end of the lake...mainly on humps. I have to think that the walleye would key in on these things for a meal. They don't have the large and spiny dorsal fin and are relatively soft. I have heard others talk on this board about the walleye gorging themselves on trout fingerlings in the past. Could be a similar scenario for the perch. Either the walleye eat them, or they get big enough for us to fry up. A win/win situation PD and RM, your advice is much appreciated. I guess I have to get over the fear of losing cranks when bouncing them off the bottom. I have had them break off in the past, but have (up to this point) always found them floating in the general vicinity a few minutes later. RM, is there a specific "point" you are talking about near HS Bend? My approach with bottom bouncing ditches has definitely been wrong. Haven't really followed the contour in/out. Have you all tried jigging spoons when marking a bunch on a ditch, or do you primarily jig over brush piles? Keith, I did see that launch you eluded to. May have to give it a shot some day. Jason

PD, You've got way more experience than me fishing for the eyes. Been reading your posts for a couple of years. Makes me feel a bit better that we're not the only ones that struggled on Saturday. That's a nice crappie though! Crappie have been a complete mystery to me on Bull Shoals. A much different world than Stockton or Pomme. Last year, we had some fair success trolling the 30 or 35 foot contour on the flats between Bear and Bee Creek. It seems like our best success came off the points/ditches from those two little coves between Bear and Bee. We had one last year that went just under 27". When we first starting fishing Bull Shoals 3 years ago, we had some success fishing bottom bouncers on humps (flats side) between Hogan and Mincy Creek. Generally fished the 25 to 40 foot range. We can usually catch walleye doing this, but the majority are shorts. The bluegills and perch are a nightmare too! I have considered trying plastic worms versus night crawlers. Thanks for the advice on Horseshoe Bend. I live in Republic, so we usually end up launching at K-Dock or Tucker. Part of me really wants to explore other portions of the lake, but a 40 horse kind of limits you. I need to at least wander up to the Sugarloaf area one of these days. Jason

Jeff, Although we haven't figured out the walleye around Horseshoe Bend, we usually catch a few around Bear Creek. The flats around Horseshoe Bend look great on a map, but all we seem to catch is bass. We marked a lot of fish around 25 feet. Not sure what they were. They were bigger than panfish. Maybe white bass? The walleyes that we did catch on the bottom bouncers were not aggressive at all. We may head back down there late this week or early next week. My father-in-law is coming into town from Louisiana. Would love to get him a walleye. Jason

Fished Saturday afternoon in the mid lake region. Would have fished the morning too, but lightning and aluminum boats don't mix. All in all, fishing was slow. Tried trolling reef runners in the 25-30 foot range on the flats around Horseshoe Bend and then back towards Bear Creek. Caught a few bass and about a 10 pound cat. Then switched to bottom bouncers in 25 to 40 fow. Managed three sub-legal walleye. Couldn't keep the bluegill off the hooks. Talk about frustrating...lol! Also caught a handful of yellow perch. Perfect eating size for walleye Not sure what we were doing wrong...but good to be back on the lake. Jason