Skunked on Lake Onalaska

I went out from noon to 4pm on Sunday at the section of Lake Onalaska (see attachment) at the end of Fisherman’s road and got nothing. What was I doing wrong? I tried swim jigs in orange, pearl with black fleck then a T-rigged baby brush-hawg in a reddish color. I’m starting to get the feeling that I should take up another hobby or something. 4 hours and nothing to show for it. Sheesh!

Chris

Did you fish shallow, or deep? Heavy weeds, weededges, scattered weeds,or open water? And which combination of the above? Heavy shallow veg? Scattered weeds in deep or shallow water? Inside or outside weededges? Did you fish rocks? Did you see any bait moving in the area? Did you see any bluegills spawning?

You didn’t really do anything wrong. That area gets HAMMERED on a daily basis by bass guys. Those fish have seen everything in the book by now The lake itself is either ON or almost a dead sea when it comes to bass fishing. The river is really putting out some nice fish now and would be a better alternative right now. There is a lot more water and if you stay out of the community holes, the quality and quantity is there waiting for you Now, if I could get myself out of workaholic mode, I might actually get out there and find a few myself

I saw some bluegill nests shallow so I started there for the first hour… Nothing. Then I went to the inside weed edge for an hour… Nothing. Then I went to the outside weed edge for an hour… Nothing. Then I tried inside the scum areas and got a couple bites but I didn’t have the right equipment to fish that area… Wait a minute, I guess I just answered my own question. In that situation I probably needed to fish the scum. Guess I need to get to Cabellas.

Or am I missing something else?

Thanks for all your advice,
Chris

Mullman,

I just got off the water 30 minutes ago….You need to get some slop equipment.

We caught several like this one , all in the area you have mapped above

and my buddy Hougie landed this HAWG!!

yes, that area gets pounded but it holds good fish.

There are definitely some great fish in that general area Now that the slop bite is starting things are only going to get a little easier to find them

Whoa! Cabella’s here I come. Slop gear shopping spree.

Thanks for the photos. I’m totally inspired

Did you say Hougie? This reminds me about something I’ve been meaning to post. I’ve been visiting this site since it was fishtheriver.com, and I was wondering what ever happened to that Hougie, or Steve Hougom I think his name was?? He seemed to be the original fishing guide and operator of that site. I never really knew who owned and ran these sites or how it transitioned to IDA.