Tainter Lake

I have not been on Tainter for awhile. Eelpout how did you do labor day weekend?

Don, fished most of my spots on tainter but really didnt put any numbers on the board.Managed a couple of nice slabs in front of my place, and quie a few whitebass but the eyes were a little elusive. Fished the flats on the upper lake and the humps by Pinepoint usally productive, but this time a bust. A few walleyes and smallies of the rocky points where depths went from 10-18′ but not what the fishing should have been. A couple of days there you almost needed nose plugs. That lake was turning up some real stench! Been such a strange summer weather wise i believe those fish are in an abnormal pattern for this time or year.By the way, where are you getting leeches this time of year? Schimidty had none and the only ones i heard of available were from minnesota and they were of very poor quallity.Should be back up in a month so keep the reports comming. MIKE

The leeches came from a baitshop in Minocqua, it was their last batch though. In past years, this late in the season Duluth was the only place I could get them. All of the eyes I am getting are coming on leeches. Your next trip up should be better fishing!

thanks Don, keep me posted on the reports. MIKE

Mike, did you get a chance to hit Tainter over the weekend?

don, mike’s up there this week. i just got a phone call from him….says he’s catching a lot of small walleyes and only a couple keepers. 1 northern about 29 inches last night….he’ll be up till next tuesday i believe so you may run into him. he got up saturday and said it was really windy so he just farted around the cabin, but it sounds like he has been getting a lot of action, but not much size the last couple days. if i hear anything else i’ll let you know.

Thanks for the update, maybe I will run into hom sometime this week. Sounds typical though, you have to sort through lots of short fish!

Hey Guys,
Don’t have time for a lengthy post, but we got some nice smallies over the weekend on Tainter. Crankbaits, ringworms, and hair jigs on or near the rocks was our best pattern.

Thanks Coot, I have pulled some smallies using hair jigs but mostly dinks!

Have a little time tonight, so I thought I would post a few pics from our Sunday morning outing on Tainter.

Heard this guy all morning, finally got a picture of him!

How often do you see a loon out there coot. Nice photo’s and a dandy perch too. Steve

Thanks for the compliments Steve. I wouldn’t say loon sightings are real common on Tainter. You will see them once in a while, usually in the fall or spring.

Coot, those are some dandy perch aren’t they! Oh nice smailles too. Have you tried any trolling lately?

We trolled cranks for a little while. That’s actually how we caught the perch. Also got some more smallies and one nice crappie. Just didn’t have enough time to give it a good effort. Casting was putting fish in the boat, so we devoted most of our time to that.

wow guys, you aren’t going to believe this. my dad (eelpout) just called me and said he got a 28 3/4 inch walleye last night in the channel by upper tainter. only weighed in at 7 1/2 pounds, nobody could believe it. he said he went in the bar and was getting high fives, hugs, and pictures taken with people he has never seen before. in his 35 years + fishing that lake he’s never caught a walleye that big. he’s really happy. other than that he’s just getting a bunch of small eyes and smallmouth, along with one 3 pnd smally. that one fish made his whole trip…he’ll be back tuesday and i’m sure he’ll give ya his story. the big ones are out there guys. oh ya it was caught dragging a minnow while casting for bass believe it or not.

Mikeyj, No doubt that is a trophy fish out of that system. Glad to here your dad is having some success and fun up there.

Wow! Nice fish! We went after the smallies again Sunday. They sure seem to be tying on the feedbag. We had five 15″ or better fish off our first spot within the first 15 minutes. I believe we only had two sub-legal fish all morning. No pictures, forgot the Nikon at home. Same pattern and presentations as last weekend. Biggest smallie of the day was 19″, lost one at the boat that would have pushed that 20+” mark!

Don, Was nice to meet you, fished that bay the next day 1 13″ moved to where you scooted on the west point 20 eyes, 11 crappie, 2 bass. all on live bait,could have made a meal on the crappies, but 8-9″s will live to be slabs some day.eyes at the point went from 6″ to 14″, didnt have time to drop the pic of the 28+ at schmidditys but i will see if my son can scan it and send it to you, take care, MIKE

Sounds like you had a pretty good day! It is always fun when you can catch a mixed bag like that. Glad you had some good fishing while you were here. Waiting for a picture of the 28er. see you next time your up, Don.