With a weekend fishing outing planning and the day wide open it was going to take a lot to keep me from getting out on the water. Anyway yesterday morning my brother Spencer and I headed up I-29 to some of our favorite haunts to see if we couldn’t temp a few fish into biting. Waking up to howling wind through the trees was not the greatest sign. Weather report called for winds from 9-13 mph, probably should have added those numbers up to be more accurate. As we drove north the thermometer in the truck kept going down 39,38,37,36, and finally 35 degree. 35 degrees windy and a dusting of snow on the ground. WHY NOT? Lady at the bait shop asked us if we were going snowmobiling the way we were dressed. She just about laughed me out of there when I told her we were going fishing. Anyway we got to the lake and started casting shallow rip rap with pulse-Rs and found a few fish that were willing to bite.
Despite the cold temps they were laid up shallow and willing to take our offering. The pulse-R in orange core color seemed to work the best paired with 3/32 oz precision jig. We worked this patter for a few hours before my trolling motor blew a fuse. Mistake on my part was not having a back up fuse. We continued to attempt to drift this stretch of shoreline, we picked up a few more fish before deciding to shore fish this section of rip rap as fishing in the boat was down right frustrating with little to no boat control. On shore we threw Rapala clackin raps in silver blue pattern. We fished these baits with a hard retrieve and yo-yo jig pattern to lure some nice Smallmouth into smacking the bait. They all hit right on the upstroke of the bait, and close to shore. This made for some explosive hits and intense action. Sorry for the lack of pictures, weather kinda hindered that. Anyway hope you can all make it out and get on some fish, have fun and be safe.
-Quintin
Very Nice!