Gander Mt. 112 boats out of the Pepin Pickle Factory. Not anything unusual for that body of water – plenty of water between 4 and 5. Just avoid the Pepin area around 6 a.m. and again at 2.

Got it, thanks. The pickle factory – 6 a.m.

74 views and nobody knows? hum…

I haven’t had any problems breaking using the super lines. I have 6/2 fireline and the 15/4 and 8/2 power pro… I maybe don’t set the hook quite as hard. I have been using the polymer knot and never had a break at the knot.

another question, apparently most guys use weight on their plastics… what size weight do most of you prefer for shallower water 3-10′? Last time out I couldn’t get them on the bottom, so weightless seemed to be key… I don’t normally like to use weights unless I have to get down but it seems that most of these guys throwing worms with baitcasters must be using weight.. the senkos are a little different, I can see how you could throw those on baitcasting gear without a problem..

I’m talking of lighter weightless plastics… I was using a 4″ senko, craw tube, baby brush hog, and 5″ worm weightless…

I was using a super-free baitcast set-up that I would say was marginal… I probably need to go down to lighter line on the baitcaster – using 14 lb. It wasn’t the best set-up.. I did have some power pro line that was much smaller diameter 10/2, but it was tough to get backlashes out since it is so limp and it always is wrapping on my rod tip…

what lb. line do you guys use for fishing weightless plastics.. I gave it a go with the baitcaster last time out, but ended up going back to my spinning rod as I was able to control my casts a little better… I assume most of you guys use baitcasters for your weightless plastics as well?

I,ve been happy with my oceanwaves… I read somewhere that they were the highest quality lenses available at any price. Not sure if this is accurate, but they have been good. the glass lenses do make a difference in my opinion..

get polorized for sure whatever you get, big difference

the #5 balsa shad raps dive to 9′ according to the trolling bible I believe and the rapala charts show it down to 13′. I’d need to double check that, but I seem to think the trolling bible is closer than the rapala guide (not sure how that could be)… I think those are both with 10 lb. line…

In the lake with little current, it seemed we were getting down to roughly 10′ with the balsa #5, just based on frequency of bottom contact… definitely not pounding the bottom at 10′.

The jointed are another story. The jointed #5 was definitely running deeper, it was banging the bottom pretty good at 10′. I would say they run closer to 13′ depth…

of course this all depends on how much line and what weight line your using… according to the charts they do flatten out at a point when enough line is let out – an exponential curve… I let a good amount of line out to where it is flat in the curve and I’m using light line – either 2 lb. diameter superline or 4 lb. mono.

The #5 trolls down to 9′ with 10 lb. test… I normally either use super line or lighter mono to get deeper than that, somewhere around 9-12’… the trolling bible is a good source for trolling depths.. rapala has a chart out also that differs slightly on depths.. I think they have the #5 trolling down to 13′ on 10 lb. line, which I don’t believe is as accurate as the trolling bible…. I wasn’t running 13′ on 4 lb. line even…

When did rapala change the design on these… are you guys talking the shallow divers? I picked up a bunch this spring #5 deep divers and haven’t had a problem.. running true out to 3.5 mph at least… I must have got a good batch

tell them thanks for the tip and keep fishing… you may want to tell them you just landed a few 6 lb. smallies down by Maple Springs I think I saw the same boat out there during the week prefishing… what kind of boat were you fishing out of… we were out at Maiden rock on Sunday as well…

where are you launching out of and how many boats signed up?

I’d fish Maiden Rock. We didn’t fish Bay city much because the wind was blowing all kinds of crap into that area today, we ended up fishing Maiden Rock most of the time. We ended up with about 20-25 walleye/sauger, 5-6 sheepies, and a few whitebass for the day… mostly shorties though. we had 4 legals to weigh in for 8.9 lbs. for the LETs league. one was a decent fish, the other 3 were 15-16″. Amazing how many fish just under that 15″ length limit. most of the shorties were 14-14.9″. a couple of big sheepies that fought great… of course dissapointed they aren’t walleye, but fun anyway.. seems like the majority of the boats stacked just in the river near the head of the lake and on the back channel near the head of the lake. Not sure how they were doing though.. Dennis and his partner won this thing with 59 some lbs. of catfish! quite the day they had (this is a multispecies league). we ended up in 2nd, but a huge gap there… basically everyone was fishing for 2nd place after the lunch weigh-in…

Yea, James, I figured something must have come up on that report… didn’t figure you croaked on us just yet Glad to see your still with us thanks for the updates once again!

oh good … I thought you were not with us any longer James… sounds like you did good today, was that on the lake or the river? I fished most of the southern part of the lake from below Maple Springs all the way up to Maiden Rock today… got some decent bass but had to work for them, not fast action for sure… they weren’t as agressive as I’d think at this time of year… Water temp 66 on the south end of the lake, marked some water up to 69 (surface temp). Water up towards maiden rock was 56.

Dustin,
Great Report and nice fish! You and James truely amaze me at the fish you catch… I don’t think anyone knows pool 4 as well as you two…

I’m kind of a master myself… master of getting skunked on the river.. seem to have my troubles figuring out how to catch fish on the river… get some once in awhile, but no consistency whatsoever, like you guys… Do you guys ever get skunked?

any tips on where to go for bass/walleye mixed bag next week? We were thinking of trying Lake City area pitching ringworms… didn’t do very well on that last time out, but the water was a bit cold then – 51. Thanks, Rigman

did you guys get the other fish on the super doos as well? I think I need to try those next time, I bought some but haven’t tried them as of yet…

“stranger” is a bit unwelcoming… how about visitor or something??

PETA nuff said

as far as best time to chase smallies on Pepin… not yet that is for sure… we got the zippo skunker this weekend. I’m sure someone, somehwere was catching fish, but we covered a lot of water and only saw a couple whitebass being caught with a lot of anglers out in the lake. Tried Pepin area, Lake City area, all the way down to wabash and backwaters…

bassman –
are those LM or smallies? sounds like you had a good day…. what was the water temp out that way?

Jeremy,
your report was very informative, but there just isn’t a whole lot in general posted on this bass forum… There is a whole lot of difference between pool 9 and some others that people are inquiring about. I don’t think anyone is expecting to get spoon fed. There are some of us that don’t have all day – every day to go fishing and appreciate reports on fish activity NOT looking for locations/hot techniques… Just looking for general fishing reports that can give a guy an idea when to try his luck out there… I don’t mind going out and getting skunked, but I may as well try to time it right. time is valuable for some of us.

yea, I think that must be it… the bass fishermen must be a little more competitive natured… I think this site is great, just seem to get a lot more useful information regarding the walleye bite. I know James and most of the guides target walleye the majority of the time, so we have to depend on others for some of this information..

I’m definitely not expecting exact locations, techniques, depths, etc… just looking for some general information to get started… never bass fished pool 4, but plan to start this year. thanks.

anyone bowfish the backwaters of pool 4? I’ve only tried it once, on the upper end… some good backwater areas on the north end, but it looks like down by Wabasha there is more… anyone try that area for carp or buffalo??

anyone know of a good site for bass information on the river? this seems to be more of a walleye site…

We will be out this weekend chasing them on Lake Pepin… I heard the bass were snap’n before all the rain… Not sure what the rain will do… anyone been out on pepin for bass lately? thinking about trying the backwaters near wabasha some also for bass…

yup, merc. 4 strokes above 60 are powerheads made by yamaha… merc. makes up to 60. This is 4 stroke only though…

Stillakid,
that 6’3″ xtra fast Avid is the one I liked and was going to buy. Between the sales guy and some other people recommending the longer rod, I decided to go with the 6’8″ xtra fast. Probably not a huge amount of difference between the two as they are the same action.. Can you feel a big difference between your legend elites and your avids? I did get the loomis in medium – anything higher seemed way too stiff for me. The medium feels plenty stiff.

BassBaron,
These other guys will probably be able to answer your question much better. I can just tell you from what I saw while the sales guy was demonstrating the spines. He was bending them against the ground and showing the differences between the Medium, fast, and xtra fast action. There seemed to be quite a difference in the action between the fast and xtra fast actually. I’d say as much difference going from fast to extra fast as going from medium to fast action… I think that the extra fast may be a little more sensitive since the back bone of the rod extends further from the handle, but i’m not sure if that is how it works. To me the extra fast action felt better. I liked both the 6’3″ and 6’8″ extra fast action rods.