well i guess i’ll start this month off with a report. fished a few hours this afternoon up and down the river. it was pretty slow. we managed a 16″, a short and a goat. along with a handful of other bites. water temp was 56 it should happen any day now guys. i saw jeff but it looked like he was just driving up and down the river?
Hoping to give it a whirl this week to dust off the jigs. Thanks for the temp. Hopefully the temp temp drop and increased water level gets them moving.
Anybody have any luck with crappie on the rock this time of year? Wouldn’t mind a couple for the fryer as well.
D
Fished from 11 till 4 this afternoon, but no eyes to be found. Got 5 white bass, three at 14 inches, 2 crappie , a 10 and a 12 incher, and several goats. shot the breeze with jeff for a bit, and he was singing the blues too. but, like netman said, should be anytime….let’s hope so.
Diesel, got the crappie in 6 fow, while fishing the wood for eyes. One smacked a paddletail, and the other a jig/minnow. Hoping to shake the goat-run from last week, but they seem to follow me around 
….hope you do better.
Well Guys,
Gave it the old college try today from 11 to 5. Skunked. No runs, hits or errors. NOT A BITE. Started fishing crappie in the trees up from blackhawk. Then worked way up to VRW holes then back to blackhawk, then then channel at the mouth, then trolled for an hour on the lake when the wind calmed down.
Pretty tough fishing. Saw maybe two fish on but both lost. Talked to one guy at the VFW and he had two shorts and a 20 pound buffalo for 5 hours fishing.
Still very slow.
Water temp 55 to 56 in the river. 54 in the lake.
Water cloudy.
Good luck all. It has to get better. Right? 
Made it out for an hour by the VFW with no fish.
I made it out yesterday too from 8:30 – 1 PM. Boated a 22″ walleye at 9 AM and that was my only bite – Jeff it was in that same spot. That’s 2 bites and 2 over 22″ for me in 4 tries totalling 10-12 hours of effort so it’s not great yet. Tasted good though. W wind yesterday made it tougher than it should have been, water temp was 52. Both bites for me were on jigs with yellow.
Should be out fishing Weds. Will post a report.
D
Well guys you missed out. Cold and windy. 
Fishing was slow but it looks like the walleye are moving around a bit.
Started at 1100 at blackhawk with about 11 other boats. Talked to Databoy and saw WeFish’s truck so he had to be around somewhere. If we had a couple more IDO guys we could have had a party 
.
First drift past the hole yielded a short sauger. Had another hit for a miss. Scooted back up to where I had the hit and nailed an 18 incher. After that nothing. Worked the area for another hour then motored up river to the VFW and stinkpipe. Nothing at the pipe. Became the sheephead king at the VFW (that is for you Z-man 
) and caught about 8 big white bass. Biggest was almost 16 inches and fat. No walleyes.
Ran around the holes for the usual milk run and caught a couple more short sauger.
Called it a day at 4.
Total one legal, three shorts, bunch of white bass and sheepies.
Water temp 45-47 in the river.
Until next week.
Stay warm.
D
Opps, forgot to mention. ALL fish caught on plastic. Tried minnows but quickly saw that plastic was wanted over minnows.
Sounds like some good action for a few hours on the water, Diesel. I’ll take those goats and white bass over a walleye anyday…..NOT. 
The big white bass can be fun, though. I don’t run into 14 to 16 inchers too often in other waters, but you can almost count on them this time of the year on the Rock. So it looks like the bite might be starting……that’s probably why Databoy, Jeff, Andy and others have lockjaw …..may be out there tomorrow if weather and work cooperate. thanks for the report.
Lockjaw? There just hasn’t been anything to g(l)oat about. Diesel’s experience is common, I’ve been thinking the fall bite is starting for weeks now but it has never gotten better. One keeper for 5-6 hours of effort is common, it’s not uncommon that’d be your only bite. I ended up with one shorty yesterday, one miss, and one bit my plastic in half. I ran into low battery troubles and quit about noon.
To follow up on what Databoy said, And if your lucky, like I was Wed you will find one of these. After you weed through all the short ones.
WeFish
I feel better now, knowing that you guys didn’t fish’em all out. 
Well, we can only hope that it gets better day by day. But fish or no fish, the fall on the Rock is my favorite time there. May have to keep a few of them White bass for the pan if the eyes don’t cooperate….not planning on stooping to goats, though.
Worded well databoy, last time out a week ago Wed. Started some deer scouting and today start the special four day doe hunt. Plan on fishing some of the afternoons this weekend. Hope to fill at least one tag soon, nothing this morning and heading back to the woods now.
PS. I feel last winter ice fishing has something to do with bad days on the water.
Well, made it out today from 1pm till dark, and got a taste of “humbler” pie. You guys called it right, but no legals in my boat today. Only got two shorties, one at 14.9999 inches plus a smidget, and a 14 incher. Lots of white bass though at hole down from VFW, to keep the action up for me and my guest. Boated two or three every drift, and took off after only one dink eye landed after four drifts. Plastic was the ticket, though, for all the action, two eyes, bunch of whites, and one 12 inch crappie. Only 5 or 6 boats seen all day…..that should have told me something. Launched at the Riverfront tavern, and went in to pay as we landed….owner said that one boat reported 4 legals, so I guess they’re in there, but we sure didn’t find them.
So go get ’em fellas…I sure didn’t deplete the population today. Have Monday off, so gotta figure out where to go.
slow slow slow that about sums our day today. we fished every where we thought there would be fish. 1 legal, 3 shorts, 2 whitebass and a small northern. no pattern to speak of. not a lot of other people catching either. only shorts water around 43-47. did get 1 report of a guy getting a few crappies in the trees
Saturday was certainly an easier day to fish than Sunday, that wind made it difficult to feel the good bites so I missed those. Saturday I checked it out from 3-5 PM and got my share of shorts and lost a keeper. Sunday I got my shorts again and my first ever rock bass on the Rock. There seems to be alot of baitfish everywhere which is likely why they’re hard to catch and scattered. Deep wood is holding some of the shorts and where I’m missing some good bites.
What’s wrong with this picture
Well 
went deer hunting for four days and never saw a deer and when I go fishing my reports sound like the IDO gang reports. I think it’s time to take up some new hobbies
Ahhh Jeff don’t go going that Jeff. 
May head out today to the Rock or Delavan. Either case both places are very slow.
D
Got a few to keep yesterday so I’m not ready to give up. You just need to think like a fish and know where to look for them. It’s not at Blackhawk or where everybody else is fishing. Best bite was during the rain early in the morning when I was the only boat on the water.
I too was out yesterday but from 1030 to 430. Water level has dropped and trailer was off the ramp before the rig floated off. Be careful guys .
Fished Blackhawk with about 8 other boats. Saw more legals caught than the past couple weeks combined. Most were caught on minnows. I had two shorts and not much action. Both on plastic. One white gulp minnow and chartruese ringworm.
Decided to try a theory I was working on and it paid off. Trolled the lake. Ended up with a 15, 16, and 28 inch northern. Lost a nice walleye. Also caught three other shorts and a 24 nort. Had several drive bys. Not fast and furious action but consistent.
Water temp in the river back up to 50 to 53.
Derek
I am looking forward to tonight fish fry, I have been on vacation fo the last week and a half and have put alot of time on the river with good results and like Databoy suggest stay away from the usual hot spots and find new areas and you will catch fish.
WeFish
O, Man!! You’re killin’ me! here I am trying to enjoy my apple for lunch, and then you go ahead and post something like this. Gonna have to go look for an afternoon fish fry now 
Thanks for sharing the recipe and increasing mty urge to go out and catch some fillets.
my friend and i fished for a couple hours tonight down here in janesville. we got 3 legals, 1 short, a whitebass and a pesky northern that decided to take my knuckleball with him. all from shore and all caught on plastics 
To the rock river IDO gang, what’s your opinion on this years walleye fishery in the rock river?
The walleye population seemed to have peaked a couple years ago. The spring and fall of 2007 was hot, I rarely caught shorts and averaged 20″ plus fish. The spring of 2008 was still producing and then the flood waters hit. Fall last year was my worst ever and the system seems to still be on a rebound. The huge harvests last winter certainly didn’t help. On the plus side I’m seeing a lot more baitfish and catching more shorts like a few years back, but quality fish by the numbers aren’t there yet. A warm winter with bad ice and a non-flooding spring-early summer next year should help bring it back. Enjoy it now though, once they dig those islands on the big K the fishing pressure will more than double with bigger boats from the south!
Its been a good to average year for me, noticed more fishing pressure weekends are worse.
People are taking there limits and Keeping bigger fish because they drive from a distance. 2009 ice fishing on the big pond well, lets not go there. And the way I see it the DNR has no plans to protect the great fishery. Yeah, I know I will just have to get over it.
WeFish
this spring was really productive for us. but last fall and this fall we cant seem to find the fish. between last fall and this fall we’ve only got about 10 fish total. but i know there still in there. will be up next week on Tuesday or Wednesday morning as we got a couple half days of school so will have to sneak out in the early mornings.
Hard for me to judge, as haven’t been out there a lot yet. Have struggled, though, on the few trips I made. Will have a better idea at end of November, as some of my best days have been in the coming weeks, till ice. that will give me a good basis for comparison. Let’s hope for the best.
I have been attributing the strange bite this year to the variable weather and water levels. Can’t really say if the population has fluctated or if overharvest is partly to blame for the slow bite.
There are fish there and my catch rate is about normal even though I have been on the water more this year.
D
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