Genoa Update

Well…today was our first open water trip this year, and let me tell ya..it was AWESOME!! .

Watson, Tony, and I started off a bit late this morning, around 9:30ish and got Watson’s new boat launched shortly after. Watson’s new motor ran flawlessly , as we headed south from the landing . There were probably 7 or 8 boats holding near the norther tip of an island….So we cruised on by them and settled in, just below them .

The scenery was amazing …Snow falling..open water, and tons of Bald Eagles flying all around us. You couldn’t have asked for a better setting. Wait……we’re 10 minutes in and I’ve got two sauger in the boat already…nice start . We kept below the crowds for a while and were getting some decent fish. Tony and I had 4 or 5 keepers and plenty of little ones. Watson grabbed the only Walleye on the day, nice fish, but we coudn’t quite stretch her out to 15″ ..>Next time bud

As the weather got a little more intense (heavier snow and rainfall) the other boats started to clear out. We decided to run up further where they had been and get longer drifts in.

Kept Pounding Saugers …then Tony gets snagged …..Wait a minute…Do snags pull drag and swim around …don’t think so..Looks to be a good fish as Watson and I await in anticipation….MEEEEOOOWWWW …….nice channel cat….Got her in the boat and she tipped the scales at about 6lb’s…but what a monster fish it was .

Things tapered off for a bit over the noon-1 hour and then I hooked into something big as well…Another kitten maybe?…Nope…33″ STURGEON!!! WOO HOO…My first Sturgeon ever!! Awesome creature to look at. Then Tony hooks into 2 more sturgeon at 34″ in length. Fun time battling those dinasours….

By this time, we were getting drenched and made the decision to make just a few more drifts …We couldn’t keep our lines in the water long enough, we came up on another school of Cats …smaller ones this time, but channel after channel…w/sauger’s mixed in…

Presentation: Jiggin Raps weren’t working (a few..but nothing spectacular). 3/8 oz White jig heads w/smoke color plastics grubs/shad tipped w/minnows seemed to be the trick. Find bottom, and jig only about a foot off and then let it hit bottom…Most of the hits came while the jigs were sitting on the bottom…We tried some sonars and hair jigs, but nothing going there…

Weather…Relatively Warm, Rain, Sleet, Snow, Freezing Drizzle, Little to no wind.

Overall (A-) trip…Great first outing!!

End Result….Tony and I combined for 43 fish, and Watson good ole’ buddy grabbed 6 more for a total of 49 Fish, including 5 Species (Walleye,Sauger,Cats,Redhorse,and Sturgeon)

P.S. Herb =Thanks

Way cool report there buddy !!

It sure sounds like fun !!

(Herb…don’t be giving out too much info….jk)

How did those Sturgeon fight?

They fought well….Rod tips bent completely over….Fighting to get back to the bottom……Those skinny/armor plated things have some power..Just cool to see ’em up close

I can’t say that I’ve ever caught one before. Too bad I had to be in the office all day. Open water fishing is my bag!

Well, needless to say…I got smoked!! . It was still fun watching all these fish come in. I had a blast, it was a little “chilly”, but definitely worth it. I bet the other boats thought we were nuts with all the hoopin’ going on in the boat . I can’t wait to hit the water again. I am going to practice jigging in the tub before next weekend . I need to “perfect” my technique. Slop, thanks for the good time, man I am still tickled.

Today was another fun filled day on the water. I spent the day with two good friends of mine, Tony and JD. We met at the ramp at 9:30 and stayed until 4. The action was good all day . We started off fishing south of the dam in 20-24 feet of water. The presentation that produced consistently was a white jig head with a black/white shad body tipped with a minnow. There were fish throughout the water column today according to the finder. We lost count of the number of fish caught today, it was unreal. They ran a little bigger than on Sunday. I was keeping my eye on the finder and noticed a good number of fish suspended about a foot of the bottom. I then raised the jig up to 2 feet above and just got hammered by something. After a pretty good tug-of-war the fish finally revealed itself…a channel cat. He had that jig buried in his mouth.

The weather was very tolerable with very little wind. Between the three of us we caught just three eyes that were all to short . But the saugers were everywhere.

Here are a couple pics of JD and Tony with some eater saugs.

Since I cannot figure out how to attach multiple photos here is JD with a nice eater sauger

Here is Tony with another sauger.

If you don’t me asking were you fishing north of the power plant towards the damn? Is there open water by the damn? Sounds like a great day. I hope to try it Saturday afternoon myself. Thanks

The dam is still locked up tight with ice. It is open from the long rock rip rap all the way to Desoto. We were fishing South of the ramp about a quarter mile and down. You will see where most of the guys are fishing. But, with the forecasted temps, by Saturday you might be able to get to the dam. Today there were lots of big chunks floating down. The action has been pretty good so far. The warden checked out the boat, the fish, and all our liscenses today. That makes the seventh check for me this license year, unreal. Anyway, he gave me a warning on my battery not being in a box . But other than that, real nice guy.

Watson..Nice job …Glad you got on an abundance of fish this time ..That’s a nice kitty you’ve got there!! We’ll have to go out soon!!!

No sturgeon caught this time?

No sturgeon. We really wanted to get one for a pic . I did hook into something HUGE. I am assuming it was a cat, but not sure. I had the pole bent almost in half and it slowly came off the bottom. Once I got it up a ways it started pulling out and away, and then came off. The warden said the sturgeon can be kept. Lake sturgeon cannot. It was wild for awhile. JD was having trouble catching fish, might have been because he was busy netting fish and grabbing minnows . The price you pay for sitting in the middle

How’s the landing? Do you think I could get a Crestliner 1650 Fishhawk up it?

The landing is actually pretty good…There is a lot of sand on it from what i remember, but if you have 4wd, you should be fine.

I also think you will be alright. There were a lot of Lund’s, MirroCraft’s, and Crestliner’s out on Tuesday. With this weather it should not ice up. If it does, there is a pile of sand at the top of the ramp to use if needed.

Who all plans on being at Genoa this weekend? Weather looks to be very nice. I wonder if we will get to the dam by then? One more day and we will know. Come on Saturday!!!!!!

I don’t think the damn will be open tomorrow. Got the boat out today and she ran like a champ Weather was perfect. Lots of ice chunks coming down stream. Not too much to report for caught fish. I didn’t see many guys catching any, a few small ones here and there. I did manage one fish; a walleye that measured a little over 20″‘s but was she fat. The guys around me were a bit surprised when I plopped here back in the water. One guy even questioned why I would do that. Don’t get me wrong like to keep fish and usually do when I catch a few but that girl was so full of eggs (it had to be well over 4 lb) I thought she would be served to spawn instead of being served with tartar sauce. It felt like the right thing to do. Either way that was a great way to end my day. See ya out there tomorrow afternoon.

If you feel putting the fish back was the right choice, then that is all that matters . I personally feel the same way when it comes to female walleye. There are plenty of sauger and smaller males for the pan. We will be getting there in the morning around 7:30 or so? It looks to be another good day weather wise . Did you fish with the main group of boats south of the dam?

I actually moved further down river to the left side of the river near the rock pile/marker by shore and drifted through there most of the afternoon in 18 to 23 ft of water. By the afternoon the ice chucks were everywhere, kind of freak you out when you hit one.

Yep, I know right where you were. We made a half hearted drift in that area last Sunday. That is some pretty nice water over in that area. We were also thinking of getting away from the pack and going farther south tommorrow. We will see what happens. Look for three guys in the Alumacraft. I am sure one of the guys will have on a blaze orange/camo coat on. Slop will more than likely have his guide wear on, and I will have a realtree coat and bibs on. Make sure to stop and say hi, we might be on the “hot” spot, or not . Oh yeah, that was a nice eye you caught this afternoon .

Sounds good. I was thinking of taking a little ride myself down river towards Victory if the crowds are too big. Good luck.

THE GENOA DAM IS NOW OPEN!!!! It wasn’t this morning when we got there (7:30a.m.), but there were a few boaters up there chopping it , and running waves up on the ice to break it up ..When we left @6p.m….you could get all the way up. There is one nice chunk still up there, but for all practical purposes, IT’S OPEN . In the next few days, it should be clear as a whistle.

The bite was pretty good this morning. We weren’t catching huge numbers of fish, but the ones we did catch were of good size. Mostly Sauger, and I did catch a really gorgeous 17″ Walleye. I had 5 eaters in the livewell by 9:30-10a.m…So not bad at all….The bite slowed down during the noon hours, so we pulled boat and went and got more gas…food…stretch…etc…

Came back and started trying out some new places. By this time, most of the boaters had moved up towards the dam area..Not sure how they did, it was too hectic up there during that time…didn’t want to play bumper boats. Maybe Buctail was up that way?

We went south again and fished a large rock pile, and kept drifting downriver. Watson managed 1 measly sauger, but for the most part, all we were catching were snags. Went back upstream to where we had been that morning and things were dead . Nothing was biting, Didn’t see any of the other boaters catching fish either. .

After a while, the kittens started biting, so we spent some time catching a dozen or so channel cats. Many of them were small, but lots of good eaters (we didn’t keep any though )

Watson did manage to land an awesome FAT pre-spawn sauger (released), but that was about it the rest of the day.

Temps were very pleasant, and we were’t cold at all. The wind played a bit of factor today, as it was coming from the south, and pushing us upstream. Watson trolled us pretty good and we managed to stay vertical.

As far as tackle, I started off w/a 3/8oz.Jig head w/a smoked colored grub, and also used a 5″ White(glow)BfishN tackle grub as well. Watson was also using grubs and shad type lures, all were tipped w/minnows. Stinger hooks were a must!!

Overall, not a bad day, I didn’t have the digital, but I did get pictures, I’ll try to post them soon.

Spent the afternoon up by the dam. Action was good all afternoon. 4 of us boated 30-40 fish in 4 hours on the water. Lots of smaller fish to sort through, but a good bunch of fish in the 13″-14″ range – mostly sauger. We did boat two nice walleye’s on the day that weighed in just under 3 lbs. Techniques varied on the day as two of us used plastics and the other two live bait. Plastics outproduced live bait by a slight margin. When the sun was out purple & bright color ringworms produced best. When the sun was under the clouds pro-blue and tequilla sunrise were the best producers. All in all a great day on the water.

Fellows, I did head head for the damn and did alright in 4 hours of fishing. I took home a limit of sauger/walleye for the frying pan. I probably caught at least two dozen saugers and a nice fat walleye to end my day. Very enjoyable. I looked for you boys but figured you went south. Started out using a white 3/8 oz jig with a black/white/metallic 5″ K-Grub with little success. Switched to a green 3/8 oz jig with a green/orange 5″ K-Grub and the rest is history. I will try and attach a picture of my days catch, along with with my two fishing cleaning assistants.

Once again Slop took me to school . The man was on fire for quite awhile there. All I could do was shake my head . I still think he is a walleye guy in disguise. I am afraid to see how bad he whoops me BASS fishin’ . Anyway, after some boat control and operator issues were settled, the day went pretty good. Like Slop said, not large numbers but good overall size.

Well made a trip this morning to the dam. My brother-in-law and I had a great morning of fishing. We boated close to 50 fish for 3 and a half hrs of fishing. Mostly sauger in the 15-18 inch range, along with alot of small ones. Did catch one 4lb female walleye which was released. Caught 2 other male eyes, one short and one about 18 inches. all were caught on 3/8 or 1/2 ouce hair jigs, tipped with minnow or plastic. Didn’t seem to matter which you used so long as it was kept as vertical as possible. Good luck to all who go fishing.
John

Fished about four hours this AM with about 30 fish between two of us wth both getting a nice limit of saugers. We used green 3/8 oz jigs. My partner had a bright green twister tail and I used a dark greenish/brown 5″ K-Grub, both tipped with minnows. Nearly got pinched between the last big piece of ice to break loose from the damn and the ice that remained from shore. Very nice day out, not much for wind. A very good weekend of fishing. too bad it is back to work.

Hey Fly Guy, was you down with your dad Saturday? Jay and I were on 9 all day and didn’t see you out there. We had a good outing as well, but seemed to have boated almost as many eyes as saugers Saturdy. We fished from the dam to Desota and found fish to be scattered all over (10-13′ was are best depths). By the end of the day, purple or yellow killer jigs out performed all plastics, but was glad to get bite on my new ring lizards.. – they look too good not to work.
See you soon.
Rick

Well if today is any indicator of the fishing to come, it’s going to be a Great year!! . We got launched a little before noon and headed up towards the dam. I lost count of boats at 60 …It was a mad house for sure.

We started off just a bit south of the main crowd and I managed to get a few off the bat…Including a nice 17″ Walleye . Decided to move closer to the damn and drift down and it really paid off . We were putting fish into the boat so fast it was amazing. There were times I could barely fish because Tony would get one on, then Watson would get one on, and i was netting fish left and right . I guess that’s what i get for sitting in the middle of the boat.

The majority of the boats seemed to be holding to the west side of the channel, we were one of the few boats on the east side, and I don’t know how they were doing, but we were catching fish after fish. The Walleye’s/Saugers were really hammering our lures. They meant business today.

We started off using 3-5″ plastic grubs, ranging from white,chartruse, and smoke colored, and did well..When the bite slowed down, we made the switch to hair jigs, and they really started pounding. Once again, Stinger hooks were a must. I’d say 85% of the fish we caught today were all of “keeper size”!!.

The biggest sauger of the day belonged to Watson, a nice 17-18″ 2lb’er. Tony caught several Walleye in that range as well. It felt good to release as many BIG fish as we did today.

The only mishaps we had today was Watson broke a Rod tip on a snag, and Tony lost a Monster walleye near the boat. But overall, I’d say between the three of us, we boated 60-70 fish, and since we were the only ones on that side of the river, it was a great day to fish….like somebody said above, back to work tomorrow .

I have pics, will post them tomorrow if I can.