Tough For Me

[dtrs5kprs]

As of midnight last night....have 16 hours of overtime and not one minute of not catching anything. Hope to get out Friday or Saturday and breath the clean air! Jealous of you Champ!

Have to say I am with T on this one. At least you aren't stuck in the other KC and looking at muddy snow melt yards. Did get an email from Ned Kehde (InFisherman, other mags), they have started finesse fishing in the open KS lakes and are disappointed...with numbers in the teens. He is preaching (think that is about right in description) a finesse system similar to old school slider fishing using 1/32 and 1/16oz crappie/walleye heads and 1/2 of a Zman ZinkerZ (super plastic senko type). Slow, slow, slow, even for a T-Rock grub guy. Hard to argue with their pics though.

Wonder if those deep guys might be dropping the jigging rapala sort of baits?

[Doug Weston]

I fished in a club tournament the same day as the winter series tourney. Most people had a very tough day. I don't know the exact numbers but I think around 7 boats brought in fish. I happend to be a back seater in the winning boat and we brought in 4 fish that went around 11 lbs I think. I only contributed one however. I caught it slow rolling a 1/4 oz scrounger over deep trees inside a cove. My partner caught his first one on a tube, suspended fish vertical fishing in the same area. We made a move and he caught 2 with a jerkbait. The jerkbait fish seemed to be around trees/cedars in areas with large rocks. Again inside a cove. We could not get bit on the main lake. Deep fish were suspended over 40-70 feet and jerkbait fish were in 30ft or less.

I think another boat brought in 2 fish but the rest only had one. Tough for everyone. We launched out of aunts creek.

[Bill Babler]

Here is what I know, or don't know to be more exact.

Sunday, I put in on a very icy ramp at viola. Water temps at 39 fridgid degree. Kings was frozen from around the bend to just up past Kings Harbor dock. Tried it anyway for two hours and zip.

Drove over to the Knob and launched on a clear ramp and fished 6 hrs. without a bite. Zero deep fish on the humps or in the cuts. Water temps at 38 to 40.

Monday; Put in at Old 86 on a Frozen Ramp and fished the Longcreek to Indian Point area for 8 full hrs. Zero Bites on anything I tried. Surface Temp at 42.7

Tuesday; Launched at Mill Creek at 6 AM and fished from there to Baxter. Had 4 fish in 9 hrs. They were very nice however. one 5 lb. LM off a bluffend and three 18 inch "Toad K's." All fish were caught on a Pro-Blue Ito Megabass. It was weighted heavy and I am sure the bait was in the 20 ft. range when I got bit. Surface temps 41. Those 4 fish would have pushed 15 pounds. Nice fish but not very many of them. This is how guys catch a monster bag this time of the year. All 4 of those fish were caught between 9 and 9:30 on two bluffend points just oppsite from each other. I also had another one on that felt very nice and pulled it off. Had the 3 big sow K's on the one bluffend point, and then usend the trolling motor to cross the the other and the first cast had the big LM. two cast later I hooked another good-en but I slipped up and let it get off. I am guessing another LM as it seems they are running together abit. It is crazy really, fishing for hours for several days and nothing, and then a possible 20 pound bag in under 30 minutes on two points. In the immortal words of Mike Ike,"Never Give Up."

If you get bit, I'm just sayin, I'd hang around that location.

Guided a 10 hr. day on Wednesday. Again put in at Mill Creek and fished the same stretch to Red Barn. 5 Short fish for the day. Surface temp at 43.7 That was a mean day.

Guided again today and put in at Eagle Rock. Surface temp at 44, above the 86 bridge. Surface temp at Rock Creek 40, Surface temps at Big M 39.7. Surface temps at Cedar Creek at 40. Surface temps at the mouth of the Kings, at 40 to 40.7.

Caught all our fish on a jig or the stickbait above the 86 bridge on 3 points. Had 12 shorts and 2 keepers. They both would not have weighed 3.5 lbs. combined. skinny bucks. Also had two keeper walleye, and being without a net, lost a 6 or 7 pound walleye at the boat. Would have released her anyway, but would have loved to have made a photo star out of her.

Before you all jump in the truck and head for Eagle Rock, it was a bite, but not that great. That water as low as it is fishes pretty small, and there are lots of folks out. Did talk to one guy trolling for white bass and he said he had 6 and 1 keeper walleye, that was above Holiday Island.

There is a bite out there if you get the right condition. You all are going to hate this, but it is the float and fly. Bill Richie is catching them pretty good on it. He had a limit yesterday, but struggled the day I had a big set of fish. There is alot to know about how to do this type of fishing and it takes special equipment and a very patient skill set. I believe he is using a 1/32 oz jig on this and that is some little stuff.

Good Luck

[exiledguide]

I don't even try in Jan or Feb anymore. Probably in the last 20 years unless I've fished by a power plant warm water discharge, except for a club tournament that I won on a cold Febuary day in 2003, I probably have not caught more than 10 fish. I actualy have had a lot more luck fishing streams for smallmouth in the winter. I've given up on winter lake fishing the fish are smarter than me.

[dtrs5kprs]

Like Billy needed to learn how to whack them some other way. He's gong to need a longer boat just to tote that f & f rod.

Bill...if the stick fish are as deep as 20' would that explain the fizz factor mentioned above? I usually don't see that until I cathc them in 30+ but maybe they are coming up from farther below the bait.

[rps]

I fished Beaver town to Haddock Creek last Sunday without a single bite except for once when my grub sorta, kinda moved sideways. No resistance to the hook set and no damage to the grub. I will go out again this weekend.

The March full moon in two weeks should mark the beginning of the walleye movement up river.

[glennL]

DID SOMEONE SAY DRUM????

What they hittin on????

[Bill Babler]

I am seeing some fish suspended off the bluffends and along the sides in 20 to 30 ft. most of these are suspended in anywhere from 90 to 150 ft. They are relating to the bluffends and the very end sides, but not on the top of the bluffend. I am sitting my boat a full cast from the bluffends, just hitting on the top. I am twitching it off and letting it fall with a weighted bait and using fluracarbon, to sink the bait. All of those K's hit half way back to the boat and "DEEP." I can see some out there, but when I either drop a spoon or a grub on them, they just dive for the bottom, out of the screen. I have had at least 30 fish this last week come up to meet the grub, and then just absolutely dive away from it when they get near it. Almost sounds like a cat has been in my tackle box, but the other boys are saying the same thing about these suspended fish. A month ago, they were rushing up to inhale it. Not now.

Bill ordered a 22 footer. I guess he needed the room for those long rods. Beck and I are going to float and fly fish tomorrow, weather permitting. I have two 10 ft. okuma steelheader rods,I was trying for trout. Hope they might be the ticket, they were a little heavy for trout, but should work well for bass.

Do you twitch that like a stickbait?

I have jerked that durn thing so many times in the last week, my wife said I was fishing it in my sleep. Didn't have to worry about to many hook sets however.

With the lake at this level, as soon as that lake hits 48 plus, it is going to be a Mas-a-cree! Would just about bet the farm there will be several double digets caught this year, along with multiple Jaws and K's in the 5 to 6 pound range. With the lake at this level, it will happen.

Hope my arm holds out until then.

[Jackie D]

got out yesterday for the first time in like 4 or 5 weeks. Fished the big end and had a real nice trip for this time of year. 44 degree water,I had ten bites with 3 keeper blacks and two kentucky keepers. Had two more on that were pulling hard but they escaped before they made it to the boat, and my Dad had 3 bites with one short fish and missed two. Didn't seem to matter if the wind was blowing or not but we did catch the biggest fish after the wind picked up. I attached pictures of the best three blacks.

[dtrs5kprs]

Bill ordered a 22 footer. I guess he needed the room for those long rods. Beck and I are going to float and fly fish tomorrow, weather permitting. I have two 10 ft. okuma steelheader rods,I was trying for trout. Hope they might be the ticket, they were a little heavy for trout, but should work well for bass.

Now he will need more truck to get to baxter. Might have to fish with him now, his old blue boat was too short for old fat guys like me.

Anyone swimming the old white hair jig or gray road runner deep?