After two trips to SW Minnesota for some pheasant hunting, I figured it was time to get the boat out at least one more time. I hit the water on Sunday about 1:00 pm, unfortunatly alone, for some fall Lunge trolling. I fished first lake exclusively. Within the first 15 minutes I had a 39.5″ pike boatside after she crunched a 9″ Phantom in Crappie. Since I don’t have pictures I’ll just have to tell you where, on the west shore about midway between the access and the apartments. The fish hit in 8′ of water just as I came up on the edge of some green weeds. My second and last fish of the day came at 3:45, after making a few rounds on first along the 8′-12′ range, I decided to look deeper. I went with the Salmo Whitefish, trolled at about 3 mph in the 14′-20′ range. That was what it took, I scored a 42″ Lunge in 16′ of water on the NE side of First Lake, in front of a spot we call “Big Dead Tree”, simply because there is a big dead tree on shore right there. If you were looking at a map it would be very close to the Crappie holes (22′, 21′, 19′) up on the NE corner. The water is really clear and I didn’t mark a whole lot of baitfish anywhere while I trolled. Weed beds are in poor condition at best, with the best ones being found in front of the beach, near the channel between 1 and 2, and out in front of the apartments. My advice to anyone still thinking about hitting the water, cover ground to find active fish, don’t waste time pounding something that looks good if no fish show up right away.
November 22, 2004 at 4:48 pm
#1338411
just a few golden trout.