Bola and I hit the water at Blackhawk island today, fishing five hours. Action started out slow, but then it really slacked off. Bola caught two carp and two small sheep. I was using plastic and caught nothing. Tried pitching wood and shoreline rocks. zippo. vertical jigging channel edge. Nada.
Last Friday I had a guide job on Rockton (Il) pool. Biggest eye was a 24 incher spewing eggs. Supposed to work Thursday on Rock….catfish are the only game in town–at least for me–right now on this water. All boat ramps full this Monday. Never saw anybody reach for the net. Not once.
Only saw one ‘eye all day…he was a 13 incher floating downstream, belly up.
In about a week fish will be sliding back downstream a little higher in the water column…Shad Raps will work, as will pitching plastics w/ a steady retrieve.
Until then Hanna Banana and me will be chasing cats or fishing somewhere else…or working on my new walleye spinnerbait.
There has to be something said for giving it a whirl.
By the catching cats are a blast, not to mention they taste great this time of year.
Thanks for the report.
Diesel
Ted:
I had a friend of mine just report that they were able to put three 19’s in the boat yesterday a.m. Don’t know what part they were on, other than he spends lots of time between the head of the lake and Fort.
I have been able to get a few brown trout out of the lake and had friends that fished with Capt. Mike last Friday that went 18 for 29. They kept 17 browns and released one laker.
Put the collar on some of those kitties and give us another one of those great reports.
Mark
I’ll tell ya what, I like hearing it all. The good and the bad.
Its “comforting” to know you guys with a little more time and experience 
on the waters do also have a rough day from time. It helps keep my 2 feet firmly planted on the ground and letting things from going to my head. Hopefully, next time out will be better… 
Seems like the bite has died all ’round with the warmer water and higher flows. This will give me some time to sharpen the mower blades, till my garden, and clean up the strawberry beds.
heres a 4lb 8 ounce male, 24 inches ,that my friend Jasen caught in a rockton pool on Saturday. We fished hard. Alot of pike biggest 42 inches. Fishin plastics. Just got a call
from a friend in Janesville got an 8lb, 28 incher tonight.He said she had emptied out her eggs already. I am sure looking forward to that post spawn feeding frenzy.
Ted,
You are not the only one that had a tough day on the water.
My wife and I fished for seven hours around the Black Hawk Island area and the walleye bite was terrible. We used plastics,and leadheads with minnows and we ended up with one small walleye and a sheepshead. The only real good thing was when we went out in the morning at the highway 26 launch the pier was not in and when we left around 3:30 it was. It sure make launching and loading easier. We did see one guy catching some crappies on the other side of the highway 26 bridge toward Fort Atkinson. It was great to be on the water even if the bite was not so good.
The fishing diary I’ve been keeping on the Rock since ’76 says they ought to be sliding back downstream by this weekend…typically a little higher in the water column.
You might want to toss Raps or shad bodies/twisters. I’ve had best luck at upper end of quiet pools just BELOW riffles (the one down by the high school below Jefferson dam comes to mind)
Another thing which has worked in the past is setting up ABOVE easy, lazy riffles and throwing out a split shot 18 inches above a crawler looking for “catfish”.
Ya know where that barn-style house is about 2 1/2 miles above the highway 14 bridge west of Janesville…the one which always flies the Packer flag near the Boy Scout camp? Took a quick limit there two years ago about this time drifting a crawler above the rocky “wingdam” on the west side of the river…gearing up for “catfish” right after logging off!!!
Fished Sunday and Monday from Fort down to the HWY26 bridge. We caught 7 Sunday with a 25″ female being the largest, 15″ girth. She was still hard….no eggs spewing when we took her out of the water. CPR’d. Only got a few little ones yesterday. I’d be fishing today if I could – apparently some are still spawning. I actually haven’t seen many males milking and we’ve caught 20-30 over the past week. Well, keep at it, there’s plenty of nice ones out there.
Got 2 keepers on cranks and missed 4 or 5 on plastic this am. Both males and milking like there’s no tomorrow. Released em both.
gave up on ‘eyes for the short haul and chased bass with Rat-L-Traps…caught some beauties…check my post.
Gave up eyes for Bass ????? That’s just not right.
Yea , the bite is tough right now for me too. NOTHING like it was from ice out to about a week ago. I’m sure the spawn is in full swing right now as fishing always seems to slow down during that time. That does’nt mean you can’t catch fish it’s just that you have to work a LOT harder for the ones ( keepers )you get plus work areas other than the comunity small fish holes.
For me the key is finding fish then sitting on them. Then throw the tackle box at em until they tell you what they want. Like yesterday , I went through 7 different cranks and who knows how many plastics before I found what the fish wanted. Took me over an hour in one spot before I got it right. After an hour or so of casting the same spot with different things I found a crank the fish wanted. Funny and frustrating how fussy these fish can be at times.
The bite should pick up some next week I’d think. Unfortunately I’ll be back to work and not able to take advantage of it. Oh well , I’m thankful for an excelent spring chasing Walleyes this year.