I made it back from the Alma area a couple days ago after camping up there for 6 days. I was up with a group of 6 of my friends for an annual camping/fishing event. The weather was OK. We didn’t have to deal too-much with the rain except for last Tuesday but most of that fell at night and didn’t cut into our fishing. It was the winds that put a damper on things. I believe it was Monday when we had 30 mph winds with higher gusts. It made it difficult to keep a tight line but we dealth with it. The boat ride from Wabasha back down to Alma was certainly a test of equipment. The fishing was good enough to keep us interested. The walleye bite was so so.
Our best day for walleye was the day we drove down to Fountain City and fished the middle of pool 5A. I believe that we (2 boats) ended up with 12 to 15 nice eaters that day. No big fish caught but lots of short walleye. We caught walleye in pools 4 and 5 as well. All the keeper size fish came off the ends of wingdams on live bait. We tossed cranks all week but only caught short walleye on them. The walleye bite this year down here on pool 12 will be difficult to beat no matter where you fish on the upper Mississippi. I think I have become spoiled. I had hoped to run into some of the large schools of stripers like we usually do this time of the year but they just were not rolling like they usually do. We caught a few but not the numbers from years past. We caught many, many bass. Mostly smallies but a few largies as well. No real huge fish but some very respectable fish. One of my buddies had a largie that went just over 4 Lbs and he told me it was the biggest largemouth he had ever caught. We also caught several smallies in the 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 Lb class. Alot of fun. The number and size of the northerns we caught this year were way up from years past. I haven’t caught that many northerns in 20 years. No 20 pounders but several nice fish. I wish that we could have spent more time fishing pool 5. The walleye bite seemed to be pretty good last Tuesday morning on the wingdams below the lock and dam at Alma. Unfortunately the guys in my boat got all caught up in catching smallies on one of the dams and we ran out of time to fish for walleye. I will say that I have never seen so many smallies come off of one location.
We had 3 people in the boat and must have caught over 25 bass. They were hitting just about anything you would throw at them from cranks and buzz baits to live bait. None of these fish were huge but I believe a couple were close to 3 Lbs. I took a few photos and will try to remember to post a couple. Go Packers!
Eyehunter
Drive safe and watch for deer
and I know that most of you Bear fans are saying thanks. I guess if the Packers have to lose it might as well be to da Bears. I will have an enjoyable season as long as the Pack beats the Vikings twice. I am a life-long Packer fan and I do not live, nor ever have lived, in Wisconsin. I was born and raised in good old northeastern Iowa always within a 15 minute drive of the Mississippi. I grew up loving the Packers and loathing the Vikings and the Cowboys. I can remember watching the famous “Ice Bowl” back in the late 60’s. Bart Starr was my hero when I was a kid.