Fishing report 5/9. - 5/11

[Stein]

10 hours ago, dtrs5kprs said:

Spot on with the lighter heads for the Ned in that situation. We do the same on riprap up here. Only way to keep it out of harm's way.

I think this is going to help me, not only here but Canada.  We normally fish a lot of tube jigs for smallies up there but you don't dare let it touch the bottom for fear of instantly losing it.  The area we fish is actually a huge river system so there is at least some current most places.  If it touches bottom it drifts and rolls and hangs up.  That makes it tough to get it down where it is needed.  I think I historically have always used too much weight with them.  Generally 1/4 oz.  With some smaller weight I may be able to flirt with the bottom better.

[Mitch f]

9 minutes ago, Stein said:

I think this is going to help me, not only here but Canada.  We normally fish a lot of tube jigs for smallies up there but you don't dare let it touch the bottom for fear of instantly losing it.  The area we fish is actually a huge river system so there is at least some current most places.  If it touches bottom it drifts and rolls and hangs up.  That makes it tough to get it down where it is needed.  I think I historically have always used too much weight with them.  Generally 1/4 oz.  With some smaller weight I may be able to flirt with the bottom better.

I fished the Winnipeg River chain lakes up by Kenora for roughly 10 years. We had to use 5/8 oz jigs to get to the bottom because of the current. Didn't have trouble getting hung up so much, our biggest problem was the yellow perch stealing the baits. We started out with live minnows to catch just enough walleye for shore lunch, then cast for muskies the rest of the day.

 

Funny thing about the perch, The local Indians called the perch bait stealers and if caught one they would stick their thumb in their mouth and break their necks and toss them out. Out of nowhere an eagle would come up and snatch it.

[Brinson]

Bill thank you so much for your detailed report. I for one appreciate the information. I live in Texas and have a home on Five Fingers. I don't get up there as often as I would like and information like this is very helpful in getting on track when I do get to go. I try to report any info that I may learn and pass it on. Patterns seem to change very quickly there and it does take me some time to figure them out when I do get to go. I may be wrong but I thing a person can give out general info to be helpful without giving away the farm. If a fisherman is somewhat skilled he will be able to that that info and locate fish. Hopefully there are not too many meat hunters out there. I enjoy fishing B.S. because of the very few boats that I encounter during the day. 

[Stein]

8 hours ago, Mitch f said:

I fished the Winnipeg River chain lakes up by Kenora for roughly 10 years.

That's where we have gone for the last 22 years around Minaki, 20 miles north of Kenora.

[Mitch f]

That's exactly where I went, Rough Rock lake claw to Big and Little Sand Lakes

[Mitch f]

29 minutes ago, Stein said:

That's where we have gone for the last 22 years around Minaki, 20 miles north of Kenora.

 

That's exactly where I went, Rough Rock lake close to Big and Little Sand Lakes

[Bill Babler]

6 hours ago, Brinson said:

Bill thank you so much for your detailed report. I for one appreciate the information. I live in Texas and have a home on Five Fingers. I don't get up there as often as I would like and information like this is very helpful in getting on track when I do get to go. I try to report any info that I may learn and pass it on. Patterns seem to change very quickly there and it does take me some time to figure them out when I do get to go. I may be wrong but I thing a person can give out general info to be helpful without giving away the farm. If a fisherman is somewhat skilled he will be able to that that info and locate fish. Hopefully there are not too many meat hunters out there. I enjoy fishing B.S. because of the very few boats that I encounter during the day. 

What he said.  Plus 1  I don't think I mentioned a single exact location, but what that report did do is make you think.  Where is the channel in relation to the flat runnouts?  How can I position my boat to keep it at the perfect depth and on the right structure?  Have I ever tried a Crawler harness with a spinner?  What about a different top water lure?  Is top water color really that important?  How in the world can someone set in 90 ft. of water and catch suspended bass that are 30' deep?  Lots of questions there to ponder and by golly, that is the fun of it.  You know they are there and you know folks are catching them.  How do I do it?

Good Luck

[Stein]

2 hours ago, Mitch f said:

 

That's exactly where I went, Rough Rock lake close to Big and Little Sand Lakes

That's where I was planning to buy my retirement place before we decided on Arkansas.  I truly love it up there.  For me it's only a 13 hour drive, figure must me 18-19 for you.  In the end my wife convinced me that it was kind of silly to spend that much on a place that I could only use 4-5 months out of the year, she would only use one week a year and reminded me how much I hate cold.  I couldn't be happier with getting a place down there.  Year round fishing, lots of options and species to target, relatively mild winters.  And, $250K would have bought me a boat-to only cabin, no road, no electricity other than solar and no plumbing or sewer.  It's kind of expensive.  That money was better spent in Arkansas and that much bought a great place.  The one thing they DO have is low taxes.  While Arkansas is one of the lowest, up there a $250K place would only be $300-350 a year in taxes.

[rps]

On 5/17/2016 at 6:13 PM, Bill Babler said:

Fish pattern seasonally so any thing you say today has a very good chance of being old news next month.  Sorry I stirred up such a frenzy just wanting to hear more about Rich's trip.  No Old Plug, I could care less about getting information for guide reasons.  I have been guiding on Table Rock, Taneycomo and Upper Bull for 26 yrs. and I'm not trying to scratch up money on someone's private fishing locations.  I did 286 trips last year and gave away about 1/2 again that many.  Already this year I'm up to well over 100 trips, so I'm not looking to make money off anyone.

For cripes sakes you would think I have made enough post on this forum for everyone to know I'm not after someone's most secrete of locations they have found after 30 yrs. of fishing a pond.

Now here is a quick Bull Shoals report.  I launched at Tucker yesterday morning in the rain at 6:30 AM, there was one rig in the lot.  Fished until 4:30 between Tucker and Diamond.  Did not see a boat on the water in 10 Hrs. other than mine. I thought I might have heard one somewhere.  Just fished for fun by myself on my day off.  We usually go down there starting the 2nd. week of May and catch walleye.

Usually fish the H. Shoe bend to Elbow area cause there is just no one there.  I have fished it in middle June and saw no more than a dozen boats in a day.  Yesterday was a real fishing day, cold, wind and rain and the lake was empty of anglers.

Could not resist trying top water to start the day.  Worked the Whopper Plopper of both sizes off the main lake buck brush flats with very little action.  I did have one boil on it and decided to switch to a Spro Rat.  I threw the Rat back almost to the bank on any clear path.   This is a very slow moving bait but looks identical to a live mouse or rat.  It clicks as you reel it in and it should also eat cheese for the $28.00 price tag.  Putting it very bluntly they ate it up.

I also fished a middle size 3.8 inch Keitech swim bait on a 1/4 to 3/8th. head and caught some pre-spawn LM off some of the deep stuff.  I mean deep.   These LM and also some of the K's are just ready to pop with there baby business extended and red.  They are just like that on the Rock, and will have at it in the next week.

 You could see these fish suspended out there waiting to move in on this weekends full moon.  30' was the magic number for this deal, suspended over depth I now had two things going.  Top Water Rat and Deep Swim bait.  I only fished the deep bait on 2 locations, and caught 3 solid keeps on one and 2 on the other.  I did lose 2 other fish.  At times In May and June and then again in the Fall, you can catch big walleye suspended like this off the ends.  

 My goal however was to see if the walleye were there  and ready.  Yes they were.  Again the walleye are where they should be right now. I caught 18 with 2 really nice keepers.  I kept one. Had at least a dozen between 14" and 17"  Look for them on the flat roll-offs where you get a sudden drop to the channel, they are on the edge in 16' to 20' pretty steady off the flats.  Trouble is the blue gills are really out there.  If you are dropping crawlers or using a harness they will eat you alive.  I used 5 dozen worms.  If these were Table Rock BG we would be in business, but for some reason the gills on Bull are not the dinner plate size they are on the Rock most of the time.  They are just bait stealers.

I believe this is another reason the walleye really like it out there, cause they feed heavy on these 3 to 6 inch gills along with both the gizzard and the threadfin shad that were also out there.  I had at least 3 walleye and a couple of SM on the bottom bouncer cough up small BG.

I also caught a couple of very nice K's out there on the crawlers, but it usually happed when I turned or let my boat get over the channel.  I'm guessing the K's were in the 25' to 30' range.

I constructed my 1/2 oz. bottom bouncer with 3 ft. of 15 pound leader I first threaded on a no. 3 pink or bright green teardrop spinner, followed by a bead,  2 small floats, 3 beads and then a size 1 Owner hook.  I used my MotorGuide Xi5 with pinpoint thru my Lowrance Gen 3 to slowly bounce these roll offs keeping in contact with the bottom at all times at..5 to .7 mph.  and maintaining the edge of the channel.  You can do the same with the Hummingbird and the ipilot   Learn how to use these combinations and your walleye catch will just jump thru the roof.  You can set speed an path and just fish all over the boat without even looking at your units.  Just unbelievable.I

I even caught a nice crappie on a crawler while walleye hunting.

For yesterday that was what was going on down there.  There are several of us that usually spend time on TR but will fish the BS flats pretty heavy for the next month or two.

I've had some friends fishing Bull catching some chasers from Diamond down stream, but it is a super early morning deal and then they suspend. 

Good Luck on all your fishing and I hope if you venture to Bull in the next month this will help you just catch a few.

 

Talk about a lesson. Thank you Bill. For those of you trying to learn TR or BS, this stuff is solid gold.

[rps]

13 hours ago, Mitch f said:

I fished the Winnipeg River chain lakes up by Kenora for roughly 10 years. We had to use 5/8 oz jigs to get to the bottom because of the current. Didn't have trouble getting hung up so much, our biggest problem was the yellow perch stealing the baits. We started out with live minnows to catch just enough walleye for shore lunch, then cast for muskies the rest of the day.

Between 10 and 17nyears of age, that area was one of two where my father took me with him to fish. In alternating years we went to Rainy Lake. I was very young, dumb, and lucky.

Three of my "largest ever" species remain from those days - largest Muskie on the line (not landed, but in the 20's), largest smallmouth (5), Northern (12).