This last week of fishing has been very good on leech. I have fished 11 straight days and have caught some walleyes!! Early in the week I was fishing flats around goose and Duck points. Jigs have out fished rigs with the exception of one day when they just would not take the jig but they were gulping the leech on a rig. I have not fished deeper then 10ft for the most part and most of last week was in 8ft or less. The size mix is very good with plenty of 15 to 17+ inch fish and many of the 20 to 25 inch fish and a few over the slot. Every thing you want is out there. Most anglers have abandoned the jig and minnow but its still my go to bait for now. I love the action of a jig and how a walleye smacks it.
Tourney report : Thursday before the tournament I had an older couple from Oklahoma for a 1/2 day. It turned out to be the slowest day of the week in terms of getting them there 8 fish. I hit several spots including a spot were I had filled out 3 guys the day before on nice keeper fish. The fish were there but not the keepers, they were all to big and we ended the day with just 4 keepers.
All season I have stayed to the west side of the big lake and not ventured out to the east and I had been wanting to but Thursday was a 1/2 day and I didn’t have time. As it was my 8th straight day I was going to relax on Friday before the tourney but I had not had a chance to fish 3 spots to the east (rocks) that have served me well in the past during tournament weekend. So Friday morning came and I headed out early to fish by my self. I went to the first spot and thru out a jig and minnow on some shallow rocks. First bite was a snag, broke it off and tied another jig. For the next hour I caught many eyes but most were 15 inches and a couple over 20. The fish were there and were hot but not good tourney fish. So I went to the next spot, deeper rocks from 14 to 18ft. Went to waypoint and started jigging. Instantly I hooked a 17 & 1/2 then another and another. These were my box fish I needed and along with some slot fish I decided to get out of there and claimed it my starting spot.
The reason I went to fish new spots rather then going to where I have been fishing is to get away from the crowds and find a higher population of eyes over 17. Even though I had caught one or two fish every day over 26 during the week I just didn’t think I could count on that for the tourney. I figured I had that spot.
First day of the tournament we went to the hot rocks, we started hooking fish right away, no boats with in maybe a half mile, I had this rock pile all to my self. Well the fish we were catching were all over 20 and we caught a dozen of them with out one box fish. I hate to leave fish to find fish but after 2 hours and no box fish I had to leave. I went to the first spot I prefished just to get my box fish. We got there and started catching 17s like crazy and a couple were just under 18,,,good box fish. Once we had what we wanted for unders we changed it up a bit. I switched to rig and crawler and my partner started jigging larger minnows. We only a couple hours to go, I lost a big fish that broke me off just out of net range. Lot of times the big eyes will come up away from the boat and thrash. We were sick as we could see it could have been over 27. My partner then hooked a big fish on a jig and creek chub, turned out to be 26 & 1/4. We had one of two kicker fish we needed and it was time to get in. Was in 19th place after the first day.
Second day: we had high hopes of being able to get all our fish in this spot (shallow rocks, 7 to 9ft) We were just hammering fish but they were all 15 inches or in the slot, we stuck with it and got out 17+s but it took to long and we only had a couple hours to target bigger fish. We could not hook a big fish there and with 30 minutes left I decided to go fish a 24ft spot that doesn’t have many fish but they are usually nice. I wasn’t marking any fish right away on my waypoint. I had a lindy with a crawler one as did my partner. I marked a fish and soon got a bite, I fed it plenty of line and set the hook on a 26 & 1/8 that put us in the money.
The guys that get the big money every year are big fish hunters and I know what some of them do and where they do it for the most part but im just not that kind of fisherman, I know I will need to be if I want to consistently place high but its hard to commit to what they do and I applaud them for having the confidence and patients to stick with there plan. We had allot of fun and caught 100 + eyes over the weekend, I just fished the hot bite too long and did not spend enough time targeting big fish, but we were just plain lucky to get in the money.
