Time on the Water with Dad

First you are that little boy running around with Six Shooters on the hips sportin’ a cool cowboy hat on your head, then you are known as the neighborhood kid always riding your bike headed for the water hooked on fishing, from there you turn into the teen under dad’s feet while he’s working on the car or truck trying to learn what you can while imagining the day you will have some wheels of your own. Then it happens, you open your eyes and the years have flown by. All of a sudden before it is even realized, you have been that dad or mom who has gone through the trials of parenting, praying, watching and teaching your own children values, wrong from right, hoping they keep a good head on there shoulders and make something of themselves. This was all a flash before my eyes while heading for the river with Dad by my side.

Mom and Dad arrived from Florida to spend a week in La Crosse. It is there yearly trip and we packed 2 weeks worth of action into a week. Shopping, dining, touring and yes, Dad and I got to sneak out and do some fishing couple times!
It is a chance to pay Dad back for all the patience he showed while teaching me how to fish and a chance to replace some of the tackle I lost of his day to day. My reward is being able to watch the grin that appears on my fathers face with each bull gill that he wrestled to the boat. What fun watching while his Ultra Light rod bent like a willow and listening to the reels drag zing with the tackle being put to the test as the line starts to make big circles with the blue faced critters digging hard trying to make an escape.

Right now the wing dam bite on Pool 8 is second to none. 7, 8 and 9 inch gills cover the face of the rock and they are hungry. Solid thuds vibrate through the handles of the light rods signaling the furious swimmers on the other end.
With a bite like this there is no better time to get the kids out and practice there jigging techniques preparing them for the walleye bite while putting some of the best Table Fare on ice the river has to offer.

Nothing has changed since my last wing dam report a couple weeks ago. Size up your jig according to the flow over the wing dam you are fishing. The size of the jig should get you close to touching the rock, to heavy and you will be spending most your time snagged up. With this said you should still anticipate losing some jigs to the lead eating rock piles.

A 1/8oz was the ticket for us. Orange, yellow and chartreuse all took some nice gills without one color producing better than another.
A small chunk of crawler was the best bait for tipping while I did take a few gills using small white twister tails and 1inch gulp alive minnows.
The bigger gills were holding to the center of every wing dam we hit while the smaller gills held to the inside and tips held numbers of smallies and channel cats. The channel cat fishing is another story

The week flew past. Mom and dad are now on their way back to Florida with a good number of fish fry’s loaded into the Yeti cooler. It will feel like decades before they make the trip back to God’s country. Nothing could be better than spending time over a grill or in a boat with all the family together. Thank you good Lord for making sure your swimming critters were on the chew during Dad’s return visit to the river.
Good luck fishing people