I had the day to myself & thought what a better way to spend it than getting to P4 early in the am to run & gun to a bunch of spots & hopefully have a productive day,with a chance of hooking up with some big fish. 
Well with a little redirection from my other half it became just a afternoon trip. 
Figured as long as its now 11am I might as well stop at our local man store(Fleet Farm)on the way to P4 to see what kind of end of season deals are to be had.Well leaving after an hour of shuffeling through their Rapala clearance bin & walking out $400 shorter in the pocketbook Im thinking now its time to put some of this crankbait addiction to work! 
Im contemplating on the way to P4 what program I should now run being its going to be 1:30-2:00 before I get on the water.That really limits my time on the water before getting dark & I dont have all the buoys marked on my gps. 
After a brief visit with Dean & an exchange of cookies for a tidbit of info while watching whats is out on the counter & what he is now packaging. 
Thinking I could have saved a few $ & bought another Extreem with the money I just dumped on cranks. 
Change of plans is in order. Allthough I’m sure the cranks will get put to use another day. 
I now determined I am strictly looking for larger fish & Im not going to fish less than 12′.A K-grub on a 3/16 oz jig,ringworm on 1/8oz jig & 1/4 oz blades is what I had rigged quickly.I pulled up to my first spot & not a boat to be seen. 
I threw 5-6 casts of each lure rigged into what I thought would be a productive current seam & came up empty handed.Something just didnt feel right & Im not marking much when I pulling up so its time to move on.Got to spot #2 & found lots of fish on graph as I moved from 15’up to the 12’thinking im going to push even shallower into 8′ & pitch into about 2′-3′ as I noticed a little surface activity there. 
I grabbed what I had closest,my blade stick.Three pitches in & a fat & sassy 22″+ simply crushes my blade & with a few surging runs it comes to the boat. 
Allthough it swallowed my blade comepletely & after removing it carefully,the fish was bleeding out the gills. I opted to box this fish allthough I dont care to keep fish of this size! A couple casts later a 26″ comes to the boat. 
I am watching a couple other boats 100+ yds away & Im sure they are looking at me as I just waved a big flag with the net coming out! Decided to slide out & down a bit & see what progresses.Still being able to pitch my blade tight to shore nearly 100′ away & in 12′.I noticed 1 of the other boats had decided to come by & visit.I pitched up to shore & when the boat passed by me close I looked over quick at him & whack fish on. About a 18″ LM bass.He said to me I guess if you dont pay attention to your lure you catch fish huh.I held it up a bit so he might see it & decide to move on.Not the case so I guess I need to keep moving.Another cast into the area quick as im sliding downstream & Bingo another LM bass allmost a twin to the other.I worked allot of water around this 1 particular area & caught numerous mixed specie fish shallow.Including,1 Sheepie,1 Redhorse,1 Crappie,2 LM & 1 SM Bass,8 Walleye from 15.5″-26″ & 1-7″ Bluegill all caught on blades.With a few decent fish coming unbuttoned boatside.Needed Extreeme Netman.It can be tough to net,photo & release fish without others noticing.I will add a few pics of some of the more desireable fish from the days outing. I would like to thank Dean & a few others on here whom have talked indepth about the effectiveness of the 6’9″ St.Croix MLXF Legend Extreeme for pitching blades. 
I have 4 other rods in the MLXF action but they dont perform nearly as well as the Extreeme.I allmost forgot to add I broke the tip on my 6’8″MXF Elite. Dean I was wondering if this would qualify for upgrading to another Extreeme. I have the next week off work & Im sure some of the time will be spent on the river. Best of luck fishing all! 
WHITE TIP
November 21, 2009 at 9:36 pm
#1332287
