Trempealeau Report

I and a friend made it out to try Tremp for the first time this year. The ramp was in as good a shape as you can expect at that landing We launched the boat and were on the water around 1:30 this afternoon and fished until 3:30. We stayed in the 20 fow range with a breakline real close. The first few passes we vertical jigged, I using BFT jig heads and ringworms , and my buddy started off with a hair jig and meat. The first drift I picked up a nice eater sauger . I then picked up a few smaller saugers, and my buddy was fishless. I then offered to let him use some of my BFT tackle and he readily accepted He chose a sour apple head with a chart pepper ringie. I was using a 5/16 black head with a catalpa orange paddletail. When these fish hit these it was difinitive, they really wanted them. I basically just dropped it to the bottom then lifted it up 6 inches or so and held it for awhile. After about an hour things slowed so we then decided to try dragging the jigs. This was the first time dragging for my buddy and myself. This technique really started bringing fish to the boat. A lot of them were borderline eaters, but there was pretty consistent action. The flow on the river today was very slow, so slow we actually would just sit in one place unless I had the trolling motor moving us. I also seen chamberschamps on the water too using plastic as well. We were the only 2 boats that were having any consistent action from what I could see. Every day I use the plastics, I am getting more and more confident in how effective they are. I probably will not be spending money on bait again until a little later in the year. Since using the plastics I have also found out I can vertical jig with much lighter jigs then I would have beleived was possible I must admit the BFT tackle is definitely the real deal and not just a gimmick or fad My buddy is also convinced on using them and plans on buying more of them Until next time….Have a great day

The plastics are great. I like the way there is no guessing about a bite if you get bit you know it.

Yeah, it seem like I have been giving the minnows a free ride on my fishing trips since I started using Bfishn plastics, don’t seem to need em!!

Ringies Rock!!
D. Andrews

Had a decent day out at the Trempeleau L & D, although a two hour fishing trip turned out to be all day. I wound up having pretty consistant action working 12-20 fow downstream of the fishing float. Mostly catching small sauger, but I did catch a 16″ eye as well. I tried a few different jig and body colors and seemed to have the most success with a chartreuse jig/orange (not catalpa orange, Mike , just regular orange) jig body. I agreee with Wats, i’m sold on the plastics, this being the first time I’ve ever used them. The day ended with some nice sauger in the 15-16 in range, right after Mike and Tony left. Of coarse I was fishing for sport at that point, the stringer was full with some smaller sauger and the walleye. That’s OK, I prefer the smaller fish for the table, let the big ones spawn.

chamberschamps-The guy with me was Frank, a co-worker and friend It appeared we were the only 2 boats doing any good that day, and I am pretty sure chamberschamps was outfishing us

Oh. Sorry about the mistake in identity (need a new prescription!). I thought that was Lntony. Too bad you all couldn’t have stuck around longer, the fishing picked up some after you left .

Made it out again this afternoon for a few hours. It took awhile to find the fish and when we did they were running very short. It seemed like they were in little pockets in the small ridges of the sand flats. We tried the bubblegum ringies and lo and behold, the fish liked them I can tell you it was cold with the wind We fished from 11:00-2:30, not the ideal time to get out, but we just get out when we can. Most fish were found in 17-27 fow. Still using BFT tackle and nothing else. I figure the best way to learn how to use them is leave everything else at home and live or die by them The only problem is, I can’t seem to get enough of them I still need to get some K-grubs and Super Doos and more jig heads to see how they work.

I got out at this morning at Tremp and had a nice stretch of action. Tried several jig/grub combos with little success. I switched to a yellow-orange sonar type blade and the fish picked up. Put three nice saugers, a 19in eye, and a fatty-a##-fatty perch on the stringer in one drift. Unfortunately, I didn’t get much action after that run, it was like someone flipped a switch.

Got out today for 3 hours or so. I didn’t get started until 11:30, so I really didn’t expect to knock em dead, and I didn’t I did catch fish, just a lot of short ones. Still fishing with plastics exclusively. The meat guys were catching quite a few fish and most were small as well, with a few nice keepers thrown in. I thought for sure with the cloud cover today I could find some shallow, but everything came in 20+ fow. Oh and the perch that chamberschamps caught was a dandy. That thing was like a football

like one of them little nerf jobs, orange and round

Well how big was it? any pics?

Not much has changed since your post Wats. Alot of short fish. We did keep 5 suagers in the 14-15in. range. We found the eaters in 40FOW. Just not many. It was great to be back in the boat with my fishing partner
Heres a pic of 2 eaters.

Fished Dresbach most of the day. The morning bite was OK at best. This was my first trip out using BFT tackle. I’ve always fished with a jig and minnow and I’m happy to report I was able to land a 4lb eye using only my jig and BFT. This was my first time fishing all day without a minnow. It was slow day overall but the fish I did manage to catch were keepers.

I have not been up towards Dresbach lately, are either landings open up there? I heard the landing at 7th Street was open but that is a chilly ride up river.

The upper landing at Dresbach is open and good from what I have been told. I have not been there yet this year, but will soon.

Fished Tremp today for a few hours and did pretty good. Today was not a numbers day, but the quality is improving. Started fishing near the dam with 1 small sauger caught. We then headed south a little ways and found a pocket of good fish My presentation included a knuckleball jig and a bubblegum ringworm dragged in 17-21 fow. The first fish I caught came in at a whopping 22″ That was my biggest fish of the year so far. We then dragged the area up and down stream and caught several fish in the 16-19″ range with very few non-legal fish. The wind was a pain to deal with and very cold on wet hands Sorry, no pics due to leaving the dang camera at home

How is that Tremp landing? The last time I was down there it seemed that there were a lot of rocks and/or a large silted in area just behind the ramp and slightly down river. I know I dinged up the prop pretty good.

Thanks for the fishing reports!

The ramp is still somewhat shallow if you drift to the south too much. It could use some work that’s for sure. If you use the ramp closest to the dock right now, you will be okay. I also have to trim up the motor to get through that shallow area

Way to go Wats Sounds like some of the nicer fish are getting hungry

One thing I forgot to add. The water is very dirty right now. Sundays warm weather finally gave us some runoff and stained the water I think this is one thing that helped with the daytime bite. You could not see a bubblegum ringworm more than 6″ under the water.

Today chamberschamps and myself decided to brave the cold and try and get on some eyes, and we did We started off the day at Genoa at 8 this morning. After getting my new kicker motor put on the boat (Thanks Jeff Matura ), we headed just a little south of the landing to try dragging in some shallow water. This didn’t turn on any fish so we then headed north to try below the dam on the flat. It was slow for awhile until Chambers hooked into a nice 20″ fat walleye. We wanted to get a pic of her, but it was so cold she was starting to freeze . So we just got her back in the water as quick as possible. Let us tell you, it was very cold this morning and the wind was just plain raw Chambers picked one more nice eater fish there before we decided to pack it up and head to Trempeleau. After getting unthawed and getting a bite to eat, Tremp was worth the time to go there. We caught several eater fish as well as quite a few sub-legal eyes and saugs. We pretty much caught all the fish dragging plastics, some were caught vertical jigging as well. The water clarity was better at Tremp than Genoa. We did see several good fish caught at Genoa, but we were about the only ones catching keepers at Tremp. I did get a few pics of the fish we kept. Thanks chamberschamps for the great day

Here is one of me

And here is a group pic of the keepers we brought home

Way to go Wats You guys be the men!!! Were you guys actually jigging or just shaking that hard

Hey AM,
Was wondering if the backwaters have opened up in Tremp yet up around the dam area, if you have any info it would be appreciated thanks.

The first cut below the float was open. One boat went in there a little ways. I haven’t been too far south yet to see if anything has opened up. Sorry

Good Job Mike and Chambers!

My first pic in IDA! That would explain all the PM’s from supermodels i’ve been getting. I think my eyes and mouth were frozen shut. The day was just like Wats described it, except he forgot to mention a new technique we developed. It’s called the hypothermic shake jigging, most effective in severly cold weather.

I got out to Tremp this afternoon and the bite was completely different than yesterday. I spent an hour jigging-dragging where the nice eaters were caught yesterday and did not produce a single fish. I went deeper and ran into small sauger, but everyone that was caught was spitting up it’s air bladder so I moved shallow again. The best fish was a 15″ male taken on the first wingdam, but altogether it was slow. It did seem that there was a lot of water coming through the dam on sunday, and I don’t think there was much on saturday.
Also, Thanks Wats for braving the cold. Glad to have found a fishing buddy with antifreeze for blood. CC

Spent a few hours fishing today and I got spanked by my partner for the day I managed 1 small sauger and my buddy landed several small fish as well as 2 nice eaters. Like CC mentioned above, the fish moved out of the hot spot. All our fish were caught in the main channel dragging ringworms. The current and wind has picked up making boat control difficult. I am attaching the 2 eaters my buddy kept for the table.