Does “Lake Winona” refer to those two small bodies of water right in town there that are surrounded by like a park and jogging trail??

Thanks for the posts, guys. Sometimes I get too caught up in “smallmouth” or “largemouth” baits. For example, I often associate plastic worms with weeds and lakes…I guess I’m trying to expand my horizons here! LOL Anyway, does the 1/4 oz. seem to provide the ideal weight as far as bait control?

Backwater rip rap for me last week with jigs and shallow runners

With the water low, I’ll probably move out into current areas…possibly wing dams, deeper rip rap. Also want to check out this point that has some vegetation on it…though I’m not sure if the green stuff is up yet

Bob’s Bait and Tackle has a fishing hot spots maps for lake Onalaska. I have it and it is a pretty nice map. (It’s not actually from the company Fishing Hotspots, but it’s set up in the same format with contours and fishing info.

I’ve been to those places before…am planning on heading down to the Bluff slough area as well. Anyone fish those gravel pits back there?

AmWatson, what is this Black Deer place I keep hearing about? In fact, it was mentioned in the Tribune outdoors report. I know it’s up on Lake Onalaska, but I’m not sure if it’s the name of a slough or a place (like Red Sails). Any info on that would be appreciated.

Wow, those are just huge, healthy-looking smallies! Great work on catching them and great work on taking the photos…they really are nice shots! Gotta love those WI northwoods…Leinenkugels, great lakes to fish…I like Holcombe myself!

Bassman, thanks very much for the comment regarding fish repositioning in a same area. I was under the impression that perhaps I should be in vastly different spots.

JC, thanks for the strategy…very interesting. Are bays the only places to spawn? What about a current reduced section of the river? The other spot I was going to look for were these flats off the points of islands…are those spawning places?

I also keep a journal, jotting down results, locations, lures, my guesstimate of water conditions, and rationale for choosing the location.

“they are sitting on logs and on current breaks going from deep to shallow depending on the weather and feeding mode.”

How important is current right now? I ask this because I rolled a spinnerbait down some very very bassy looking logs in a backwater spot with no results. In fact, I’ll tell you where…it was in the channel right underneath the Cass St. bridge just North of the Pettibone boat club. The logs went from the shore out to 5/6 ft., but there was no current. It seems like a decent prespawn spot…out in the channel, shallows nearby (Perhaps Pettibone Park bay) for spawning. But I got nothing. Pettibone Park, btw, was equally dead as we threw some cranks at the deeper rock shorelines. Anyway, what makes your spot a staging/prespawn spot vs. a summer spot? Current breaks are good in summer as well, correct? Do RIVER fish often overlap seasonal locations? I am not asking these questions to critique your choice or get your spots (I have no idea what pool you were even in) but to get an understanding of fish movements…I’m just struggling with that aspect.

“These same fish were holding in 6-12 feet of water a few days before.”

I’ll be heading back out this weekend or perhaps this week, so if I want to be fishing out away from the banks (something I really really want to practice and learn about) what should I be looking for? Was your 6-12 ft. in conjunction with the logs? A guy told me the other day that “sandy drops” had fish now, but I am really unsure of which ones to look for (heck, the black River’s bottom makes our flasher jump up and down the whole way) and how to fish them effectively.

Well, enough of my rumblings for now…thanks for any insights. I’ll let you know how it goes this coming weekend.

Encouragement, huh? Well, JC, for the record I think you are a very knowledgeable basser with a great ability to think critically and objectively. I for one appreciate your informative posts as they’ve given me a lot of info to ponder. You are the master sensei! LOL Plus, you hooked me up with one of the best books I’ve read…the Handbook of strategies. As I’ve said, I plan on bouncing some of my strategies off you this season in hopes of learning from my experience (mistakes?!). Those plans are on hold for the moment as the boat’s in the shop and I have a little fun activity known as finals! Anyway, ignore any negativity as the great majority of us here want to learn from each other, not steal spots or trade insults.

Question to everyone since I strictly fish pool 8 (though I want to check out 7 one of these days)…

What makes you switch pools? Do you just have a variety of spots in all the pools and you’d like to check out a certain rockpile or brushy bank? Or, do you check out water levels and clarity? As a follow up, how do you handle navigating new water? I’m always a bit nervous about venturing off the main channel in unfamiliar areas even though I have a map…I’m concerned about the usual suspects: wing dams, shallow water, stumps, etc.

p.s. Lay oooff us Minnesoootans! We dooon’t have an accent! LOL

I missed when they televised that All-American, unfortunately. I really wanted to see it, too, to see specifically what the pros would do on the river. Do you know if that thing can be purchased anywhere?

I’m not sure what to do with that X85…it was too expensive to just toss aside, so we might have to look into repairs. That Eagle is tempting, but they are essentially Lowrance. We were told that the X85 was the best thing going when it came out. Seems to me this area of fishing could use some refinement in terms of toughness. We’ve had our boat for about 7 or 8 years now, and as we encounter wiring problems and depth finder problems friends and family members just smile and nod knowingly! I think these occurrences are all too common to the experience of owning a boat.

Wow…cool article! Was he fishing that spot out by the Clinton street bridge? There was someone hanging out there quite a bit if memory serves me right.

Thanks guys…

How would you know if a unit needs to be sent in or if there is a problem with the external wiring or puck? We’ve had just a bunch of quirky things with that darn X85 (the 59.9 ft., buttons not working, etc.) Also, I have never marked a fish with the X85 on manual mode, not one arc! However, put it on auto and, POOF, thousands of fish show up everywhere!

Depth finders, eh? I’m going to start a new thread on that one…stay tuned.

That’s a good point. I also remember hearing about that spot on the Black. I wonder how he found it? Maybe he was searching the river channel in the Black River. Is there even a defined channel in the Black? Anyway, I sure wish there were fishing hotspots maps for the river to clue us in on some of that kind of stuff. Anyone else fishing the river sometimes feel like he is eating at an all-you-can-eat buffet where half the food is covered? LOL

So a bend in a slough or channel = a cut, but does it also = an undercut bank? I know those are supposed to be good spots, I’ve fished a few of ’em that had laydowns and did OK. What do you mean by “cut point?” Would that be an inside turn? Would I be accurate in saying that I could think of various sand points, islands, etc. as flats which fish might utilize for feeding? Likewise, bass might be holding at various levels based on their aggressiveness…hence dropping back into the hole or staying up on the flat. I’m still stuck on the cover thing…I’m not sure when to hit a breakline hard.

Anyway, I plan on getting a lot of fishing in as soon as possible and will let you know on my hypotheses. “Experience is the greatest teacher.” Not sure who wrote that one!

“Other areas are turns in the deeper sloughs where the current slacks. Just like the places you find them in the summer but usually back off the break into the scour hole.”

This really gets at the heart of a problem I have with river fishing. I have little to no understanding of river structure…by that I mean the prevalence, heck, even existence of ledges, rockpiles, points, drop offs, sunken brush, etc. I am very much a “bank beater” who relies on identifying cover. I oftentimes assume that a lot of the sloughs and main channel are just full of sand on the bottom. I know there are drop-offs and I’ve seen and fished a few points, but I’m not sure what exactly would hold them out there in the depths. If I could only ask you one more question it would be: Does a bare drop off hold fish? I mean, is it worth my time to identify any drop off in a backwater and start working plastics down it? For example, I know the Black river is very “contoury” but have no clue what is good and what isn’t. Essentially, when fish aren’t catchable in shallower spots or visible stuff like rip rap, I really have no clue where they are because I’m not sure what else is out there, save a few deeper laydowns or wingdams. Going back to your post, I understand what a turn is and what a scour hole is, but I’ve never really fished either, save a fruitless fan cast or two with a spinnerbait against a bank on an outside turn back in the slough by Target Lake. I don’t know where the fish hold in such an area (are they on bottom, suspending?)I am certainly quite interested in this and would love to hear more.

Honestly, I could ask you hundreds of questions here. I wish they had Hot Spots fishing maps for the river so I could gain an understanding of the bottom content and contours of the river…I mean I just don’t know. Unfortunately, the Handbook of strategies stays quite general at times, so I don’t quite have the understanding of predator/prey relationships in the cold water period, for example (specifically, are the fish in the scour hole you’re speaking of eating shad or crayfish? Are shad still active in the winter?) When you speak of a large movement to the main channel, that is news to me! I would have assumed that the bass would stay out of current in preparation for the spawn (or do they just move out to bulk up then come back?). Anyway, I have much to learn and if you know of any books that deal more specifically with the river, I’d love to read them.

JC, certainly do not feel compelled to answer all the questions I’ve raised here! I hate to sound like a dang spot-stealer so much! I’m just working on gaining a more scientific understanding of where fish are and why, specifically regarding seasonal movements. I am quite amazed at my fellow board members’ knowledge of precise movements…I could go on for another page asking about seasons in regard to bass I’ve caught in springs past. I think the transition stuff is tough…I could name a spawning flat, but do prespawn fish feed on the exact flat, too? Anyway, I’ll shut up for now, and as always, thanks for your time!

Wow, thanks Bassman! Have you tried the spot during the summer at all? I was just wondering if the deep brush still attracted fish in the warm months? Or, perhaps they prefer nearby flats for summer??

Once the fish start feeding aggressively, I love Pop-Rs and buzzbaits. I don’t have tons of experience in early spring but did have a bass or two in the past on suspending jerkbaits. If I can get out there yet before spawning movements, I’d be fishing a light jig…now I just have to figure out the location part! I do have a few places I’d like to experiment with…I’m thinking reduced current, access to deep water, and rocks to collect heat.

Is that the specific title, “The In-Fisherman Handbook?” I have several small pamphlet type books from when I subscribed to them, but don’t they have a whole huge series of those small publications?

JC, Riverfan, Gianni…

I have one question relating to JC’s statement: “they need to first learn a little biology and then a little more. Once they understand and apply what they know they will figure out this without me marking up a map for them.”

Where can I learn this information?! I don’t know where to start. Is there a good book you guys know of? All the books and info I see or have contain info that is hard for me to apply to the river (FYI, I’m a college student and a decent bass fisherman that has a lot to learn, especially about the inticacies of the river). I used to ask a lot of questions on this board, but I felt like I was just picking for hotspots (and judging by some reactions, my feelings were accurate). For example, what’s the deal with sand flats? What exactly are they? Where are they? Where are the fish on them? I could go on and on… I want to know about that biology stuff as you say, but it seems to be aa bit elusive. I mean, there are days when a bare bank will have a bass or two while the prettiest little laydown will be void of fish. What’s up with that?!

Well, any help is appreciated! Thanks guys.

BTW, my last outing on the river was pretty decent…quite a few smallies on rip rap banks with flukes and cranks, no real big fish. That was two weekends ago before that water came back up to haunt me like it did all summer!! lol

We fish this little bay and there were many schools of big shad popping all over with the occasional bigger splash of what I’m assuming are larger predators. One problem: didn’t catch one bass there…not even one bite! Not sure if there are just shad, no bass; or, shad and bass, but no bite. Anyone encounter such a situation? I tried traps, Pop-R, buzzer, and a black plastic worm.

Is the gravel pit the round, widened part of the slough behind Lutheran hospital way at the end of Bluff slough? Beyond that, it then goes into another thin channel then stops according to the map. Is that correct? We drove back there once just to see what there is to see. I’ve heard “the gravel pit” mentioned before. Worth fishing?

Well, I’m not sure which pool buffalo city is in…it’s up there somewhere…we just fished there a little bit Saturday. Nailed about 10 bass stacked around a woodjam at the tip of an island. Current was pushing up against the sides and they were chasing some bait. Small crank and traps got em.

Does Mormon slough = Bluff slough? I have several maps and I thought one of those had 2 names on two different maps. Thanks

Wow, great insight, guys! I appreciate it. What kind of lures do you use? I would assume shad imitators. Kind of a stupid question, but what type of bottom makes up the bulk of the river. Say you just pick out any old main channel spot…I always thought of it all as sand and silt.

I agree…the more I think about my experience on the river, the more I believe largemouth take to the current every bit as well as smallies. I’ve had plenty of lm in the summer time from main channel rip rap. As for wingdams, I believe I actually catch as many largemouth off them as smallies, maybe more!

I’ve been trying to uncover some deep water bass as well. This is the thing that frustrates me: Sunday we went out and caught 6 small bass off rip rap, none on 2 traditionally productive wing dams, and none in some backwater rip rap or docks or laydowns. It’s like, “What am I doing wrong?!?!?” As for deeper water bass, the best and only spot I’ve found is a double sandy point that juts out across a slough. There was like a depression in between that had some largemouth. It was 2-5 feet on top and dropped really deep on the downcurrent side. Caught them on spinnerbaits. On the day we found that, there were about 4 other sandy points that were unproductive. I can’t figure those underwater sand points out, yet. Some are just better than others I guess.

So, the bass are still relating to the wing dam, not the sand flat behind it? Is that correct? Or, are you saying that the entire depression created there is worth fishing as well? For the record, I have always fished the wing dam rocks only. Perhaps that depression is a good place for the fish to back off to when a cold front moves through or there is heavy pressure.

Can someone explain fishing sand flats to me? Are you basically talking about any stretch of river with a sandy bottom? Wouldn’t that be the entire channel? I understand flats in terms of lakes, but there’s usually weeds or something to be fishing. Do you go out and cast to like a “nothing” or essentially barren spot?