6/29-7/1 Report

[CentralIowan]

Had the trip this week....down and back already. Buddy and I fished each morning from about 430 til 10 or 11. We fished the area where the Gravois meets the main lake channel alot. Caught about 25 largemouth spread out over the days. Biggest was 18 1/2" and we caught several others around 16-18 inches. One morning while working a shallow flat point, my buddy hooked into a 40lb blue catfish on a Booyah bass jig. Never saw a cat, attack a bait like this one did....jumped clear outta the water like a largemouth when he hammered it. Took us one hour (not an exagerration) to land him as he only had 10lb braided line on so we chased him w/ the troller all over the place. We had more consistent hook ups working slower sloping points than we did working the boat docks. Wasnt too terribly busy until we left yesterday (Thursday)

We did notice something that we wondered...we found along shelf dropoffs around 50-70 FOW there would be loads of fish stacked up on the shelf ledge. That's awful deep to try and fish but we did wonder what those were? Anyone have any idea what that might be?

[fishinwrench]

We did notice something that we wondered...we found along shelf dropoffs around 50-70 FOW there would be loads of fish stacked up on the shelf ledge. That's awful deep to try and fish but we did wonder what those were? Anyone have any idea what that might be?

Those huge schools of blips on the LCR, wAAAAY DEEP are usually Gar. They'll all move up and sip/slurp at the surface from time to time, then go right back down where they were. Those huge deep "arches" used to drive me crazy...until I snagged a few with jigging spoons. Can't say as I've noticed them 50-70, usually it is 30+ though.

L.O. usually thermoclines at 22-28ft. on the lower lake during Summer. But there was one Summer back about '92 where 40ft. was magic in the dam area. A few teams that had it figured out were hauling in 20+ pound limits in little 3 hour jackpot tournaments, all Summer long.

[catbuster]

Had the trip this week....down and back already. Buddy and I fished each morning from about 430 til 10 or 11. We fished the area where the Gravois meets the main lake channel alot. Caught about 25 largemouth spread out over the days. Biggest was 18 1/2" and we caught several others around 16-18 inches. One morning while working a shallow flat point, my buddy hooked into a 40lb blue catfish on a Booyah bass jig. Never saw a cat, attack a bait like this one did....jumped clear outta the water like a largemouth when he hammered it. Took us one hour (not an exagerration) to land him as he only had 10lb braided line on so we chased him w/ the troller all over the place. We had more consistent hook ups working slower sloping points than we did working the boat docks. Wasnt too terribly busy until we left yesterday (Thursday)

We did notice something that we wondered...we found along shelf dropoffs around 50-70 FOW there would be loads of fish stacked up on the shelf ledge. That's awful deep to try and fish but we did wonder what those were? Anyone have any idea what that might be?

what you are seeing at that depth are large blue cats they need less oxygen than other fish

[CentralIowan]

what you are seeing at that depth are large blue cats they need less oxygen than other fish

Thanks for the input guys...we kinda figured that's what it might be. It's awful strange to see all that on your electronics and awfully enticing to try and fish it. When they get down that deep I reckon they aint feeding are they? It'd be awfully cold (relatively speaking) for them to be too active wouldnt it?

[catbuster]

Thanks for the input guys...we kinda figured that's what it might be. It's awful strange to see all that on your electronics and awfully enticing to try and fish it. When they get down that deep I reckon they aint feeding are they? It'd be awfully cold (relatively speaking) for them to be too active wouldnt it?

i set trotlines in 50-60 foot water in august last year my best fish was 86 lbs. try to fish the spot use fresh cut shad or bluegill the size of your hand. hang on and have fun.

[jesse]

i agree with catbuster,big blue's.

i read in the catfish insider that some guy's were fishing over 90' of water and pulling out a bunch of huge blue's from it.

what you seen was almost exactly what they described,big blue's hanging right of the shelf.

where exactly was that at anyway? i've been wanting to catfish on the lake sometime and dont have a clue were to start.

[fishinwrench]

i agree with catbuster,big blue's.

i read in the catfish insider that some guy's were fishing over 90' of water and pulling out a bunch of huge blue's from it.

what you seen was almost exactly what they described,big blue's hanging right of the shelf.

where exactly was that at anyway? i've been wanting to catfish on the lake sometime and dont have a clue were to start.

I'm not saying they for sure aren't catfish. But I can show you a half dozen spots within 3-4 miles of the Gravois mouth where you will find groups of big fish marked deep like that (below thermocline) on the LCR....but if you vertical jig a slab spoon down there in their face for awhile, what you'll come up with (if you do catch or snag one) is more than likely gar.

Catch a few and let us know.

[CentralIowan]

i agree with catbuster,big blue's.

i read in the catfish insider that some guy's were fishing over 90' of water and pulling out a bunch of huge blue's from it.

what you seen was almost exactly what they described,big blue's hanging right of the shelf.

where exactly was that at anyway? i've been wanting to catfish on the lake sometime and dont have a clue were to start.

Really there wasnt one spot that held more than another...anywhere you can find a ledge that has a steep drop to it we marked those on our electronics. Most notibaly the back side of the island right at the mouth of the Gravois arm, then just up into the arm there is an underwater island - one side is a shallower slope and held very few fish, the other side is a steep drop and held that huge group again. It's not very big though, so you'll need a lake contour map probably to find it. It comes up to within about 15-20 ft of the surface rising out of about 60-70 FOW.

As a side note, I'm thinking someone or multiple people have trot lines/jug lines around that island. Each day we fished it there were different groups of jugs and in different spots around the island. It's all starting to make sense as to why they had those out in 80 FOW.

Appreciate the commentary!