Lake MI Browns – 12-29-11

The rifles are cleaned and put away, the bow is resting in its case, my ice gear is still in hibernation; but the boat was far from being put away for the year. With a forecasted high of 41 degrees here in southern WI, and winds 10 to 15 mph from the west, Mother Nature nudged my arm to get out on the big pond for a day of hammering some Browns.
The morning started out a bit troublesome, as everything was coated in ice. Mother Nature did a fine job of following through on the freezing drizzle. 5 am was salting the driveway in order to be able to back up and hook up the boat. Around 5:30 the salt trucks came through. Finally we cautiously hit the road shortly after 6 following a phone call from a buddy that confirmed the roads were in better shape. It was a nerve wrenching drive at top speeds of 35mph with over 12K pounds of truck and boat on the ice covered roads.

I was joined by a young man, Hunter that was bouncing off the walls to go fishing. We scrapped the idea of hitting the power plant, and went to the Milwaukee Harbor instead. A decision well made. Again, we were greeted with more delays. The ramp at the boat launch was coated in about 3/8” thick ice. So off to the gas station for a couple more bags of salt.
Our early start on the day finally got going near 8:00. We headed first to the community wall discharge. I was so filled with anxiety to try out a couple new Quantum Smoke PT rods that I got. The locator was lit up like a Christmas tree with the mass amount of alewives, gizzard shad, and other junk fish. We circled around the discharge a couple of times only to go zero for two. Both hits came on Fin-S in pearl with the tails dipped in chartreuse spike it.
The wind was blowing South-Southwest and we could see the waves were pushing out the main gap. Knowing that was creating a current break along the rocks of the piers, we relocated. Hunter’s first cast to the end of the pier was rewarded with the first boated fish of the morning – a scrappy 3# brown. After reposition the boat, I could see a good number of fish relating tight to the bottom. So off with the plastics, and on with the blade baits! I have to admit it was a lot like ice fishing with the electronics. In 35 fow, I could see both out blades on the screen. As we marked fish, it was a simple as “raise up a couple feet” or “ hey, down on the bottom”. For a period of time, it was so predictable, that I had the camera on Hunter and just told him when to set the hook.

As the winds began to switch more around to the West, the cross current on the top of the water column gave me as much as I wanted to handle in a bass boat. A choppy 3 to 4 foot waves had water rolling over the front deck. But worse was the reality check that Hunter got – Sea-Sick! After clearing his system, he took a 2-1/2 hour nap waiting on the waves to calm down. For me, it was 2-1/2 hours of conflict. Do I take him in calmer water….nope, another fish on!
By noon, the waves calmed down a lot, and the fish had scattered. The 4 other boats that were near us were all trolling. In observation of them, I was watching a fish caught randomly here and there on Dipsey divers. So with that next clue to the puzzle, we began to make long drifts from the gap to well out into the open lake. The fish were very scattered along the bottom 8 feet of water, but still very eager to slam a blade bait when lifted in front of them.

By early afternoon, we called it a day. My boat needed a bath from all the salt and Hunter had held out the best he could with his allergic reaction to the waves. I ended up with just over 20 fish ranging 2# to about 10# and Hunter landed about 10.
A lesson was learned on fishing blades. When we looked at how many fish we lost or shook loose, we identified the majority were on “manufactured” baits with standard round hooks. Our blades that I had replaced with Gamakatsu EWG trebs (#6) were embedded in the jaw and required pliers to remove every time.
So if the lack of ice here in southern WI is driving you nuts, there is a fishery that is still open and accessible! Exceptionally fun to get out the walleye or light bass gear and get in on the fun!