8-20-14 Pm Report

[nathanhooper]

Got out last yesterday after work for a while to use up the rest of my live bait I had. Not the best scenario, as I have fought the wind almost each time I have been trying this live bait thing and yesterday was no different. First thing to do was to learn from my mistakes so I went to HLS and got me some 6/0 hooks. Man those things looked huge, and they looked even bigger when I put a bait on them, but that was the ticket for solid hookups with the fish. Lesson learned.

So I drove around a little checking a few different spots, refraining myself from settling on one when I only saw an arch or two. Made it to one spot and saw a stack of fish below. Of course it had to be out in the open where the wind is the worst and after a few failed attempts at dropping the bait down, I finally got way up wind and used my trolling motor to slow me down on the drift over them. Put it right in their face and bingo, fish on. Pulled up a good SM and figured since the lines/arches were a little on the thin side. I thought it might have been a walleye as I know they are in the area.

Wanting to target those darn stripers I decided not to let the SM eat any more of my bait and I moved on to the next spot. After pulling over and not seeing much in the area I wanted to fish....I ended up in an area I had seen good sign before. It was in a protected cove, and quite pleasant...

Put the poles out and drifted to the 40'FOW mark I had been seeing most of the fish suspended in right around 30' and to the bottom. Bingo again, nice 3-4lb LM. While I was putting bait back on that rod, down goes another, 4-5lb striper. Finally, I had got it figured out....lol....yea right. I say that because I immediately reverted back to my old ways and thought, 'if they are biting here, they must be biting over there'. Call me stupid. So, instead of staying in a place they were biting, and a place it was relatively calm, I decided to let my boat drift over to the other area which turned out to be the windiest place around and was probably drifting at 3mph and doing all I could to keep the boat relatively slow. Game over. Of course this was the area I before mentioned. It really did not have any fish there anyways that I could see.

Lessoned learned. When your catching fish in one area....drum roll please....stay in that area till they quit biting. I know, it sounds simple, but sometimes my brain does not work like that. So, one lessoned learned before and put into place, bigger hooks are the ticket and not a bite went without a hookup, but one more lesson to put into practice next time.

I did pull over some very interesting looking stuff on my sonar. Not sure what it was, if it was a school or not, but it was something out there. Hope to get back out sometime soon, but the itch for some walleye has me torn now. I still think that I will target the stripers again, and leave the walleye chasing till it gets cooler, but it sure is tempting.

I hope you guys will help a new fall fisher out this fall. Except for going out with friends on the very rare trip, This is the latest I have ever fished in the lake. Usually after summer kicks my butt I am done and ready for hunting. And while I am gearing up for it as we speak, I still want to keep fish on my radar and try the fall bite. I hear it can be almost like the spring, and so I want to try it. Would be nice to have a few packages of whites put back for the winter months, not to mention some yummy fish tacos with walleye.

[nathanhooper]

]

Then a few seconds later.....

[Feathers and Fins]

The fall bite IMO opinon when it comes to stripers is better than the spring bite by 60%. You get a period between mid September and Late October they typically ball up in Prairie Creek, Avoca and the Islands and are very aggressive feeders. People who hang up the rods are missing out on that bite and making it less crowded. As a waterfowl hunter its great for me. Shoot some birds and catch some fish, to me that is the perfect day.

[nathanhooper]

A couple of those thinner lines is my bait, but nothing below 30' for sure.

[Feathers and Fins]

Hard to say Nathan doesn't look solid enough for stripers and kinda stringy like a gar possibly or a feeding bass.

[Champ188]

"Never leave fish biting." Easier said than done.