Pool 8 Reports

Well, just thought I’d give a brief synopsis of my last two outings (this afternoon and last Wednesday): they sucked.

The water, as you probably know, is quite low. Net results were 6 short bass (all shallow in weeds or off points schooling), 1 “legal,” and a few more quality bass that got off my line. As far as I can tell, you need to be fishing near current or deep water, though that action was spotty. For example, I had the one legal off a wing dam (though several other wing dams were devoid of fish, go figure) and had a few of the other bites off a grass bed near 15 ft. of water.

All in all, a slow and perplexing outing. My question, as always, is where are the fish? Same spots as usual but just in a negative bite mode?? For the record, we turned a few with tubes and one or two with a jig. Strangely, one of the best fish (which did get off the line) came on a crankbait. Well, I’d be really curious to hear how everyone else is doing right now.

Lastly, I’m thinking about just sleeping in tomorrow or visiting the golf course! However, we were considering checking out Lake Onalaska. Should I do it or should I just avoid the slow outing and holiday crowds altogether?! LOL

I plan on fishing 8 tomorrow. I have been in the main channel fishing for smallies but gonna go after the green ones tomorrow

Thanks for the report. Everyday on the water is great fishing but may be not so great catching. We all learn from our experiences on the water and from others sharing just like you did here. We learn what worked and also what lures or areas didn’t produce fish on that day. As a result we are smarter from each experience on the water. Time on the water along with homework [checking out areas, techniques, asking questions, reading what your post tells us, etc] all helps us become better anglers. We all learn from others sharing so everyone please feel free to share your day on the water and knowledge on fishing with everyone. This helps everyone including the person who makes the post as replies to such threads can be very informative. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Bill

I was out today, and it was realitively poor in general. I caught my first fish within 5 minutes of launching the boat. It was about 20 yards from the landing. Caught on baby brush hog along rock bank with lay downs. This was the only fish i caught on plastics all day. The rest were caught on swim jigs…I caught fish on a white and gray jig, a red white and blue jig, and i caught the most on a white and blue jig with a white twin tail trailer. I got 4 legals, but the rest werent too far behind. I got a few that were 12 inches, a few 13s, those 4 legals, and a little 10 incher. I also caught a northern in the low 20’s and a 34 incher as well. One thing i noticed was that the bite was decent in the morning, but slowed when the sun came out. It clouded back up again around 5:30 and i managed to wack several more bass in the same spot where i started with the jigs in the morning.

I have also been fishing pool 8 the last few days. I agree that it has been somewhat slow. The one method that I am really starting to go to when the shallow weed bite is slow is the Carolina rig. I find deep drop-offs that are close to shallow flats and work a Carolina rigged worm from the flat down into the drop-off. This method has also been getting me bigger fish. Tonight in about 2 hours I managed 6 fish, 4 of them were legal and the biggest was a 19″ 4 pounder. Good luck!

You know, I had a C-Rig tied on one of my rods and I didn’t even bring it to try!! (I opted for the crankbait) I’m still learning the deep water fishing thing. Let me just throw this out there to you guys: I was fishing the Black River today and I again thought about all the humps and drops on my way back to the landing as my flasher jumped up and down all over the place. Are those things worth fishing? How do you choose the good ones? I’m such a cover lover that I normally stick around that plus points. Random drops just confuse me, in all honesty.

Bigfish, was your spot in current?

Thanks for the dialogue, fellas. By the way, I agree with the post about sharing/learning…very insightful. I most definitely learned today, but I’m not sure exactly what the right answer could have been, outside of those humps or some other deep spot.

Hey G~

First thing I can tell you is to stay off the Black River It’s just not “on” yet. It’s only a matter of time though, b/c there are HUGE schools of shad in all the right places, the bass just aren’t there like they should be.

The other thing about fishing the Black that makes it tough is the Boat traffic. It’s definitly a recreational body of water. And if the humps and drops you are seeing are in the “main body” so to speak, I would advise that it’s not worth your time.

But like I said, the North end and Lauderdale are almost ready. …so keep checking things out

Feel free to PM me if you want

G love-

My spot was not in current. It is off a small channel that runs in front of goose island park. There is current in the channel, but this is a weedy flat that is off to the side, and kind of tucked in and out of the current. I positioned the boat in the current and tossed the jigs into the weeds and caught a couple, then i went around on the inside of the bay and caught a few more there. It was really shalllow in the weeds, but on either side of the bed, it would drop off to about 4 or 5 fow. it was a cool spot. Fish were swirling everywhere and the shad were popping on the edges. I gave it a shot and it paid off. This is also where i caught the 34 inch northern and the other small northern. Right after school let out, My friend casey and i fished this spot like crazy with spinners and i caught several northerns over 30 inches, and he got his biggest ever which was 38 inches. I dont know why they are so stacked in there but they sure are. He also caught a walleye in there! I fished a few other areas that were somewhat similar and had a little more action. I caught one 14 incher in lawrance lake near brownsville. I snapped off a small northern that i watched eat my yum dinger right in front of me. (lawrance lake is way clear and u can see everything) I didnt have success in current today, but i didnt give it much of a chance i guess. It was my goal for the day to get out and try/master a new technique, and i guess it proved to be successful. I Think i am falling in love with the technique of jig swimming!

Weed edges and wood just off the main chanel with a 4 to 5 foot drop nearby was the ticket for us yesterday during the MSBC tourney. Caught fish everywhere we stopped on pool 7 and 8. Lots of 1 1/2 and 2 pound fish. We caught around 30 fish with 15 of them being keepers…just couldn’t find the bigger fish, but I’m sure they are there. Yum creature baits, lizards, and flukes worked for us. Had to fish very slow and the bites were very light. Current flow and bait fish activity didn’t seem to matter much, just think location was the key.

I had a good day today on 8. Was by myself so pics are kinda hard to take. My first try at a group pic was on my front deck and 1 of them jumped ship So i put the rest in a net. Not a good pic but

Dan, just curious of what was working for you and where you were finding the fish.

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Dan, just curious of what was working for you and where you were finding the fish.

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Dan can you leave the keys to your truck in the ignition, with the boat gassed & hooked up, also the numbers to your savings account would be great too?

Sorry for the sarcasm.

Some nice footballs there Bug-Man!!

This is a web-site set up for anglers to share fishing methods & techniques, isn’t it? Maybe every once in a while share some fishing knowledge to help us novice fishermen become better anglers.

Northwoods…Not a problem. All my fish in the pic came in shallow water. Less then 2ft on top water. I did manage a few off of the bottom working a critter bait slow but nothing of any size. If you want i can tell you where i was. Something in the Pit of my stomach told me to try it there
Bug Man!!!!….. you crack me up monkey boy
Blue…..for you. anytime time bud. I’ll leave the keys in my truck and the boat hooked up but you have to buy your own gas

I think all of us here on Pool 8 (La X area) should all go out on one massive fishing outing and figure out what in the blue heck these bass are doing!!! LOL Can you imagine the learning platoon of boats all going out, like 7 boats, and hitting the same spot at once! Get ’emmmmm!!!! Grrrrrr!!! ha ha ha

Thanks Dan! No need to disclose your honey holes, I was just wondering about generalized areas.

Either that or a EPA shut down from all the floating BS

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This is a web-site set up for anglers to share fishing methods & techniques, isn’t it? Maybe every once in a while share some fishing knowledge to help us novice fishermen become better anglers.

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Yes Northwoods you are correct. Sharing is paramount on this site. I was just poking fun. No harm intended.

I will share this. I listened to what the winner of the La Crosse Everstart used as his winning technique, and have been applying it wherever/whenever I fish. It has been putting good numbers of fish in my boat.

If you are not sure what he used, it was a Snag Proof frog worked over areas of open water where the weeds didn’t reach the surface. I got some of the Bobby’s Perfect Frogs thru http://www.teamsupremetackle.com. They work great, and you can really ‘walk the dog’ with them.

I’ve been working these frogs thru stands of rice and reeds. The fish smash them. I can see where this technique will work really well later into the fall. Some of the places I throw them don’t even have aquatic weed growth. Mostly working them along banks where the marsh hay reaches the water.

The best key is using the natural colors. Greens, browns work great for me. I use the whites, and other brighter colors for slop.

There’s no water too deep for this method. The true blast is fishing ultra shallow water and watching the headwake come screaming in and anticipating the smashing bite.

How’s that for sharing fishing methods & techniques.

Blue Raumbanis…lol…

I know i know…hater..

Laugh all you want.

It works.

Another place this works well is areas where duckweed has blown in, but the weeds are sparse to non existant below the duckweed.

Blue, have you tried any “conventional” topwaters (spooks, poppers, etc.) alongside the frogs in these situations to see if the fish were just on a topwater bite, or if the frog had some special appeal?

Yes, I have tried the conventional topwater baits. In most instances, the fish were eating the frog much better that a spook or other topwater bait. I believe the frog presentation best represents the basic forage in the area.

On a side note, lately the amount of dying/floating weeds made it difficult to fish a Spook and/or Pop-R or Chug Bug. That’s where the frog excelled.

One thing I failed to mention in my previous post, is using water to your advantage. Fill the frog with water so it sits nose up, then twitch the tip of your rod so the frog looks and acts like a bobber in the water. That can seal the deal when fish just don’t act in a positive manner. As a bonus it puts the hooks in position for a better hook-up ratio.

You can stop any time now…….
jc

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You can stop any time now…….
jc

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Dude, what does it matter? Didn’t we decide we were taking up bowling and needlepoint next year.

Bassin’ is SO overrated….

One things that was not mentioned was that they are trimming down the legs so they don’t kill the motion.

Both BASSMASTERS ande Bass West magizines did articles on this method last year.

Thanks Blue…..caught this one with a twitch

Way to go Dan!!!

I went out Sunday morning with my Dad. He was looking to find some panfish and I was looking to find something/anything to make fishing fun again. I may have found it.

These fish were caught in Gibbs slough, out near the end on a Perfect Frog. There was no flow through the slough and these fish were right in the middle of the slough. I love how those Bass hammer these frogs in open water.

I had a full limit of nice fish. Probably in the range of 13lbs.

This was the first fish from this spot. Not a bad way to start off the am.

BTW I was casting the width of the slough as my Dad was fishing snags for ‘gills. Most times the fish hit when I got bored fishing the frog and just let it sit in the water.