smallie action

I made my annual pilgramage to the lower Wisconsin River this weekend with mixed results. Friday evening I fished in the rain primarily for walleyes with no success. I switched to working a tube for smallies and found instant action. Most of the fish were just off the current in shallow water.

Saturday I started out pitching tubes and found action again immediately. The smallies this day were super shallow, some were caught flipping flooded timber while others came on shallow rock flats in no or very low current. I tried throwing cranks for walleyes again in heavier current with only an 18 inch sauger to show for my efforts. Most of the smallies caught were males although I did manage to snare a couple girls that were 17 and 19 inches long. Hopefully with warmer weather next week the walleye crankbait bite will get started.

Congrats on the smallies and booo on the walleyes.

Congrats on the smallies,the smallies have been tearing it up for about a month now. The river dropped 2 foot this week so that should help the eyes easier to find.Where did you put in,not that it matters,just wondering if we may have been at the same ramp.Send a pm if you’d like to rather than post where.

netman, I was actually fishing from shore. Every year around this time I fish a series of railroad bridges mostly for walleyes. If they don’t cooperate there’s usually a few willing smallies to fill the void.

I think I’m going to add a few weapons to my arsenal tomorrow. I got a feeling the walleyes are there, they just don’t want to chase my crankbait.

Caught two this mourning on #7 rap in silver/black back.Go get’em.Rebel craws work good also.

Fished the trestles again this morning. Once again the walleyes were not willing participants, I tried cranks, one eyes and ringworms without a hit.

I once again worked a tube searching smallies but the bite this morning was alot tougher. The water had dropped half a foot and the shallow water bite evaporated. Things were looking bleak as I had only caught a few smaller smallies. I switched to a Rattling Rogue and fished over a submerged sandbar point. First cast and it was fish on. The smallies seemed to be stacked on this point as it was rare that a cast didn’t at least get a strike. Most fish were from 12 to 16 inches long, no big fish today. It was a little peculiar though that during the bite I would throw my tube periodically and they seemed to ignore it. I also tried a Rat L Trap without success. They really seemed to like the longer minnow bait.

All in all not a bad weekend, hopefully the walleyes will be there next week.

Next weekend came an went, still no walleyes. Looks like a should have brought bait with me if I wanted to catch them. The smallies are still biting but their locations have changed. The bigger females have dropped back into deeper water and some are even relating to heavier current. I did find a bunch of willing males still stacked on the submerged sand point. They didn’t like the crankbaits or larger tubes this weekend though. Most of my fish came on a small baby bug crawfish imitation.

The males were extremely light skinned. It looks like they had been shallow for quited awhile.