Hey Guys..It has been a real long time since i got around to making a post on here...I have just been so busy lately but finally had time to sit down and give a report tonight.

So far, This fall has brought a lot of surprises. It all kind of sparked back in mid August, when the area recieved nearly 20" of rain in 2-1/2 days. Yes that is not a typo. Almost 20" of rain in southwestern WI!! That just isn't normal. Between getting evacuated from the house, roads washing out, and the river jumping up about 8 feet over night, things were pretty hectic. What really had me ticked was that i had almost a 3 lb average going on frogs, and the rain changed everything.

Since that rain, it seems like we can never get completely dry around here. And the river hasn't really had much time to settle down back to normal pool for a while. It still remains 5-6 ft. above normal pool.

Normally this time of year there is low flow and the smallies are all over wingdams and areas with slackwater adjacent to current and deeper holes in which they will winter. well this year there is almost no such thing as slackwater. And I am finding these brutes stuck right in the middle of the current and voulnerable as can be. Crankbaits, Topwaters, shakey heads, and even swimbaits are getting the best of some really nice fish lately.

The fish will school by size, so when making a run on a line of wingdams, your main goal is to catch one or two fish at 18"+. If you do that, you're most likely in business, and there are many more of that size range around. This is where it becomes very simple to catch huge sacks of fish that hardly seem imagineable anywhere else..and they FIGHT like you wouldn't believe.

Today the main channel bite was a little tough. However I was able to take advantage of 2 smallies that totaled 7-1/2 lbs. One was 4-1/4 and the other was 3-1/4  lbs. What a rush. The big one hit a 5" swimbait (which is big around here ;D) and went nuts from there.

the 5th keeper eluded me today, but i came out with 4 fish for 12-1/2 lbs. I probably should have stayed after the smallies, as I went into some backwaters for largemouth and it really didn't pan out back there, save for probably 30 small fish and 2 2-1/2 lb fish. Overall the last month of fishing has been great. The following are just a few pictures to sample what its been like.

19-3/4" smallie that inhaled a swimbait

She sure warmed me up earlier today when it was only in the 30's out!

an 18" smallmouth that got wrapped up in a log, but we were able to free it and get it in the net thankfully.

my friend with a decent smallie that took a jointed shad rap

One of a few NICE smallmouth that fell victim to a shakey head on a rock point with heavy current a couple weeks ago...

I shouldn't completely neglect the largemouth..they are biting well right now, especially on sand drop offs, but i have just been putting most of my efforts into the smallies, as they are where the big weights are, and the most fun to catch! a few weeks ago however, I had a day flipping deep wood that produced 13-1/2 lbs of nice largemouth with only one smallmouth in that bag. This included a 15" largemouth that weighed 3 lbs! and also a 17"er that weighed 3-6.

A 3 lb 15"er!!

and a 3-6

Thanks for reading!

Cade

Those are healthy, fat fish, especially those smallies are awesome! Congrats! 8-)

Great report and awesome fish!!!

Gotta love those river smallmouth 8-)

Awesome report stranger!!

Those are some sweet smallies you've been on!!  

Wow, those fish are fat!  

Nice smallies!! Great pics. Gotta love those Smallies 8-).

;D ;D ;D  SWEET!   ;D ;D ;D

8-)

Great report with some nice pics. That first smallmouth is a lunker and that first largemouth is a little football. Amazing how a 15 inch largemouth can weigh 3 LBS. Bass that long are usually in the 2LB range.

fall=FEEDBAG

Justin can back up that 3 lber...as he took the picture and saw it on the scale. It does sound crazy but you wouldn't believe what these river largemouth will do when the water temperature is dropping and they have to fight the current too..They have to dramatically increase their calorie intake to survive the winter...and the best way to do that is to gorge themselves on 4" shad..This one went a little nuts, and he wasn't even done yet as you can see, he ate my 4" baby brush hog.. ;D