I fished the last 5 weeks about 3 times a weeks and was on the water every day from the 20-24 took off the 25 for preparation for the NWT. We were able to pull big fish nearly every one of those days on the water using the BFishin precision jig (unpainted) and 3.25 paddle tails. We tried other but the paddle tails were what they wanted. The color was chartreuse pepper and we also boated a few on Northland Impulse electric chicken. NO big fish were caught on live bait. Minnows did produce smaller fish. Water temps went from 36.7 to 46.1 (Friday and Saturday NWT). I had a spot that I was pulling fish out of about 1 an hour but the size was consistent to the picture attached. I did not want to work this spot more than once during the week of prefishing. During that 1 day we pulled a fish in the same manor and water temps were consistent (under 40) see picture and look at the bait in the upper left. Friday NWT I get the spot I want, boat number was 47. Now remember I did not fish Thursday even so I would not have fished that spot. Worked the spot for 4 hours and NOTHING. I made the move to handline which I was boating fish but the biggest during prefishing was under 20 inches. I was pulling Rapala floaters. I pulled a spot where I was consistently pulling those smaller fish and they were gone. I went to a well-known spot, that I did not prefish at all. Within 15 min I pulled a 5.17 lbs fish. This was on the same bait pictured but on a Dubuque rig with a plain hook and a minnow. The fish was on the jig. I worked that same spot until my flight time of 3:15 and only boated short fish caught on the plain hook and minnow. At the end of day 1 I was in 31st. Saturday day 2 NWT worked that same spot and only a 15 inch on the plastic (Same bait pictured). Made a move back the original spot pulling the same Debuque rig and nothing. Made the move to a way out of the way spot. My Co Angler was not thrilled about the spot the look on his face was “WTF?”. The water was moving pushing the boat nearly 6 MPH. I had to use the Evinrude 250 Etec to troll the spot on a 3 way with 4 ounce weight in 12-15 FOW with 72 of line outgoing .80 MPH up river. I worked within a few feet of the bank to get my bait in or as close to the seam as possible. Within 5 min we boated a nice 4 pounder and 10 minutes later lost a 10 plus. We finished the day looking for other fish but were unsuccessful. I finished day 2 in 31st place the last place to earn a check. So what changed for the NWT over prefishing? The temps, the water and the spot the fish wanted to be in. The 3 fish I found were all near creeks or shoots. The fish should really be turning on now and the remainder of the week, even if it gets cold again I think those key spot will hold these fish for the next 2 weeks. I will also mention that all my prefishing and NWT fish were caught on pool 4. I did spend a day on pool 3 even wrecked a prop, make that 2! (Both the SS and the Minn Kota on the same wing dam, rock). Went to Wabasha and worked our way through the lake and weren’t even marking any fish.
April 29, 2013 at 3:40 pm
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