Journal of a Minnesota Angler

I went to my dad’s place in Northern Wisconsin this weekend to help him pull the dock up. It’s a sign of the change of seasons and marks what will probably be the last open water fishing we’ll do for the season. However, it also means the fishing should be stellar. The fish should be bulking up for the winter. I brought my new toy up to get some of that action.

Well, stellar it wasn’t. I was out for 8 hours total and bagged only 4 fish. But I did learn some lessons of what the fish up there will bite. Notes I’ll have to keep for next year.

Saturday Morning

My inner fisherman woke me up at 6:30am and while it was just starting to get light, I somehow dragged myself out of bed and hauled my tube and gear down to the water. I was in my tube and floating by 7:00. It was a gorgeous morning. Quiet, serene, and peaceful.

I was out for about 2 1/2 hours and threw a scum frog, several different colors of jig and pig, a texas rigged power worm and speed craw. The only action I got was a little nibble on a Strike King BItsy Bug that I picked up at Wal-mart on the way into town the night before.

Saturday Afternoon

After pulling in the dock, helping my dad mow the lawn, and chain sawing some trees, I was back on the water at about 3:30pm. I worked my way around the bend to the channel I did so well in earlier in the summer. But this day I would not do as well. I was jigging most of the way. Having no luck, I opted to come back out of the channel to try some deeper water. Since I wanted to get out a lot faster than I went in, I paddled steadily while throwing a chartreuse spinnerbait as I went. Still no bites.

I went back to jigging and worked the opposite shore from where I came into the channel. The afternoon wasn’t as peaceful as there were a few other folks getting ready for winter as well. I heard a leaf blower and lawn mower going as I was casting.

The new shore wasn’t producing either, so I started back across the lake to my dad’s place. As I pulled away from shore, I got a hit on my Bitsy Bug again, but my previous few hours had lulled me into being complacent and it caught me off guard, so I missed it.

I jigged across some deeper water where my brother had had success earlier in the summer, but it wasn’t until I got to a little cove that I finally got a bite I was able to land. It was only an 11-incher, but at least it was something. The Bitsy Bug produced several bites over the course of the next 45 minutes and I was able to land two more at 13″ each. One hit on a cast I dropped right in front of an exposed stump. It was one of my better casts and paid off nicely.

The sun set and no other fish were interested before I got off the water at about 7pm.

Sunday Morning

I couldn’t get up as early the next morning because I woke up with a tickle in my throat. But I got over it and manged to get on the water by 7:30am. I was able to watch another beautiful sunrise as the sun came over the trees.

I decided to stick with the Bitsy Bug with chunk trailer that I had success with the evening before. I also traveled over to the stumps that were producing hits. Next to the stump I had my magical cast to the night before, I got three hits on about 6 casts, but I was not able to keep a hook into any of them. On the last hit I reacted faster than usual and had the fish on for a few seconds, but it came loose.

>Having believed to worn out my welcome in that area, I floated back toward the channel. I didn’t get all the way into the channel, but stopped at our neighbors dock where there were a bunch of lily pads. The Bitsy Bug wasn’t doing its magic any more, so I switched to a texas rigged 7″ power worm. On a cast in front of some emergent weeds, I got a hit, but missed it. Another cast back and this time I hooked a good one. It turned out only to be a 12 1/2-incher. That would be my last action of the trip.

I was surprised more fish weren’t biting given the season. I’m not sure if the recent warm weather was affecting them since the air temps were in the 80s all week. That will probably be my last trip to Wisconsin this year, but I’m happy to discover some new lures to try next year. It’s funny, too, because both I picked up both the Bitsy Bug and Berkeley Power Worms on a whim on our stop to get some food at Wal-mart. I guess it was good to follow my instincts this time.