shimmy Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 Not quite sure there are too many of us out there...I figure if there are any, feel free to post a report of your trip. I'll be doing more camping this summer and plan on hitting new lakes constantly. I will post my outings here and there. I imagine I might not do too great on new waters, but I enjoy the challenge. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AManWearingAHat Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 Hi there friend! Little south of you. Ive been going out for bass 2-3x a week pretty consistently since March. The small largemouth are juuuuust starting to warm up this last week and start biting. Heading out to Gov. Dodge on Saturday for opening day and Ill post an update with how we do. With the nice snap of 70ies I think they're pretty close to turning on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-rude dude Posted May 1, 2021 Share Posted May 1, 2021 Yes “I’ll have an order of way to windy to launch with a side of, if I do I’m never getting it back on the trailer.” ”Would you like to biggie size your dock scars with that?” ”How about a Tackle Warehouse order of 1000yd flourocarbon line because all of your bait casters are bird nested” ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shimmy Posted May 2, 2021 Author Share Posted May 2, 2021 The wind and temperature drop have been absolutely rediculous. Have hit a couple lakes recently (Lake Bernice and Wolf Lake) and have done terrible. Slow bite and nothing over 5. Caught a 5 a couple of weeks ago in Fond du Lac and have done absolutely terrible ever since. I also find myself forcing a jig bite when it is not on. Such is the burden I create for myself frequently. Water temps have dropped 5 degrees the past 2 weeks for me. Driving on the highway is just dangerous with this wind the past while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AManWearingAHat Posted May 3, 2021 Share Posted May 3, 2021 Wind and waves were pretty bad yesterday on Monona. Spent all day on the water and only got one 4 pounder on a swim jig. Holding on some deep cover around 15 feet. Water temps in the low fifties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilcatfish Posted May 3, 2021 Share Posted May 3, 2021 I'll be heading up to Door County next month, really looking forward to it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shimmy Posted May 4, 2021 Author Share Posted May 4, 2021 Next month or next week? Apparently that crazy prespawn smallmouth bite is supposed to happen around early to mid may. I have never had the boat to explore out there safely so I generally don't bother. Gave it a shot last year, but did not do too great. The boat traffic there was insane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilcatfish Posted May 6, 2021 Share Posted May 6, 2021 On 5/3/2021 at 11:15 PM, shimmy said: Next month or next week? Apparently that crazy prespawn smallmouth bite is supposed to happen around early to mid may. I have never had the boat to explore out there safely so I generally don't bother. Gave it a shot last year, but did not do too great. The boat traffic there was insane. I've heard fishing is pretty hot that at the moment, but I'm not heading up until June 6. Seems there could be spawn, post spawn, and a few pre spawn fish at the time. Will be prepared to adapt as needed. When you were up was the boat traffic heavy as in a lot of people fishing or otherwise? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shimmy Posted May 6, 2021 Author Share Posted May 6, 2021 Boat ramps were packed so you had to launch at the overflow parking on weekdays. I would love a big smallmouth, but I would rather put the time in to catch largemouth. Which is a shame because it is such a world class fishery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shimmy Posted May 10, 2021 Author Share Posted May 10, 2021 Tried Chute Pond for the first time this week. Was pretty cold with that arctic wind. Caught almost a 20 lb bag so it seems like it has a lot of potential. Bass were fat. Ended up catching a musky...Had no idea musky were in town. Musky was not big. Cheap suspending jerkbait did most the damage. Got two lures snipped off. There are some toothy critters in this place. Judging by the weeds out there, I bet this place gets very very weedy, perhaps unfishable weedy in the summer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shimmy Posted May 10, 2021 Author Share Posted May 10, 2021 Caught this 5 a few weeks back. 2 feet of water feeding. My goal is to keep hitting new water and get lucky. The kettle moraine area is gorgeous, but pretty tough to find consistent size. Or, maybe I just haven't figured it out yet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shimmy Posted May 22, 2021 Author Share Posted May 22, 2021 Got out a couple times this past week. Been getting some decent ones. Attached is one pic with my biggest bass of the week. The other 4 pictures are from Fox Lake today. Did not take long to realize I do not know this lake well at all. Eventually, I was able to find a pattern, but my lack of knowledge cost me a lot during the day. I also really tried to force a dock bite, but that was not happening. I cannot for the life of me figure out why the dock bite was off. Overcast is the only thing I can think of, don't know. I ended with a 5 fish limit over 20+ lbs though which was nice. Missed my biggest fish on a senko. Caught a half the good ones on a jig and the other half on a swimbait. Most fish caught were post-spawn. I am not fully certain though I was looking in the right places. Will have to explore that lake more. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunsinger Posted May 22, 2021 Share Posted May 22, 2021 Looks like a nice outing to me. Congrats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User A-Jay Posted May 22, 2021 Super User Share Posted May 22, 2021 Solid bag right there ~ Congrats Sir A-Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User roadwarrior Posted May 22, 2021 Super User Share Posted May 22, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shimmy Posted May 22, 2021 Author Share Posted May 22, 2021 Thanks all. Went out again to Fox Lake this morning to try my luck for a few hours. Caught a couple more nice ones. The second the sun came out, the bite died for me. The lake is very interesting. I am curious if anyone else fishes this lake. The fish go shallow in the morning, but as the sun comes up, the fish have a loooooooooooooong way to go to get to any deeper water. Curious what these fish do during sun up. Do they just travel a long ways away to get away from the sun? Curious if bass ever stay in 2-3 feet of water without vegetation during sun up. This lake is about to get very very green. Once again, missed my fish on the senko today. My wacky rigged senko game is terrible right now! I also am setting he hook too quickly like it is a jig...Need to slow down. Tried a glide bait, but only got northern followers. I also feel like this is a lake that bass fisherman can get away with straight braid on every reel. There are a cajillion northern in this lake. Someone said there are musky in here too? And smallies? Don't know. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User gimruis Posted May 22, 2021 Super User Share Posted May 22, 2021 17 hours ago, shimmy said: I cannot for the life of me figure out why the dock bite was off. Overcast is the only thing I can think of, don't know. When I am intending to fish docks, I target sunny days because I know the fish will be there seeking shade. Overcast days spread the fish out more. At least based on my experience. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throttleplate Posted May 23, 2021 Share Posted May 23, 2021 1 hour ago, shimmy said: I also am setting he hook too quickly like it is a jig...Need to slow down. i just watched a Roland Martin video and he said to give the bass a few seconds to position the jig in mouth before setting the hook. Everyone has an opinion, i give it 2-3 seconds till i set hook. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shimmy Posted August 17, 2021 Author Share Posted August 17, 2021 Haven't been out for over three weeks. Time before that, just couldn't get into bigger fish on local lakes. Such is life sometimes. Stuck this nice one in southern Wisconsin last weekend on a getaway camping trip with the fam. Way too crowded on the lake for my liking, but still paid off. Had another big one on I had stalked for a while. Kept missing her as she kept nipping my bait for a while but not committing down 20 feet. When I finally got her to commit to the full bite off of a boulder, she was heavy on the hook set, but unbeknownst to me, my drag had been loosening up over he past few hours. Unfortunately, she budged just enough on the hookset and caused that dreaded slack. Missed her after a few seconds. Was a grind out there, but got lucky with one bigger one. Big fish came on a jig in 15 feet. Faster and heavier jigs could not get bit. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shimmy Posted August 31, 2021 Author Share Posted August 31, 2021 Decided to go camping to a new area this weekend. We picked a beautiful area that had two lakes that were part of the campgrounds. One of the lakes seemed to be more of a musky lake and was small, so I was not feeling that for bass fishing. Decided to hit the other lake (Cox Hollow Lake), which turns out to be a trolling motor only lake. Fished half a day yesterday and half a day today to give it a shot and see if I could get lucky with anything. Little did I know that this had a million kayakers out there. I swear, it was a Monday and there were still sooooo many people out there...Could always be worse though. Half the fisherman on the lake were panfishing so it did not bother me much. But, there was some zigging and zagging to hit new spots. I ended up doing well both days. First day, did not catch as many due to fishing a lot of unproductive shoreline. Second day, pinpointed the bite a little better and caught some good fish. I had tried slow and light jigs, but was getting more bites with a heavier jig with more movement, so I stuck with that the rest of the trip. Altogether, top 5 fish combining yesterday and today puts me over 21 lbs. Caught one 4 and a half pounder and was excited to get her, but then later on in the day caught a GIANT! I was hitting a shallow cove that had a deeper pocket/crater (14 feet) surrounded by 6-9 feet. It seemed like a place a bigger fish should be, but so did many other places on this small lake. I got a little tap on the jig, missed it, she came back again and set the hook into a tank. I was not expecting the weight of the fish and the battle caught me off guard. She was almost 7 pounds and almost 23 inches. I understand sharing this information does not benefit me and will bring more pressure to certain waters, but my hope with such a thread is that someone who is struggling on the water and wants recommendations of what to use and where to go, that this can provide some direction. Here are the two biggest of the day, tight lines. If anyone has any recommendations for new lakes to explore, just let me know! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User gimruis Posted August 31, 2021 Super User Share Posted August 31, 2021 12 hours ago, shimmy said: She was almost 7 pounds and almost 23 inches. Is the one on the right @shimmy? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Dwight Hottle Posted August 31, 2021 Super User Share Posted August 31, 2021 Just saw this thread @shimmy good read. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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