This labor day weekend ended in a bang as my son and I managed to get out fishing. We caught most of our fish in five to six foot of water. Night crawlers and 1/8 oz jigs worked great and green/chart 1/4oz jigs with twister tail worked best for Connor. This picture of my son on the right getting ready to release this small walleye. It was just one of many we caught that day. When Connor was not catching fish he was going threw his tackle box wondering what lure he should cast next.
We also were catching lots of white bass with the same technique. Here’s another picture of Connor getting ready to release this nice white bass on the left. Connor and I had to catch lots of white bass to get to the walleyes and it was a blast doing it. It was hard for me to get Connor to use a jig and crawler and fish it slow. You know kids they have to keep cranking that’s why the green/chart jigs with twister tails worked best for him.
Now lets see the walleyes that I caught this great labor day weekend. My biggest walleye was this nice 24 incher on the right. I caught this fish jigging around bridge pilers vertical jigging Zone-R jigs by Fin-Tech tipped with a big fathead. The vertical jig bite was slow but will pick up soon with the water temp dropping every night. I didn’t get a real chance to do much vertical jigging with Connor in the boat it was more of a anchor and move and anchor and move bite.
The next day with the vertical jig bite slow I went back to the way I caught most of my walleyes in July. Jigs and half a crawler seem to work best with water temps in the 80. It really didn’t matter what color but I had best luck with chart/green or silver this fish on the left was caught with a silver 1/8oz jig tipped with half of crawler. With the water temps dropping 4 to 5 degrees a night it will not be long when the walleye turn on. This year fall bite will be a great one. So if you get a chance to fish the Rock River this fall do it and you will catch walleyes like these.
good to see you got the little guy on some fish jeff!!
I see the Patricks are on a roll.
the weather must be cooling down.
Yes Andy,water temps are cooling down fast. With these cool nights the fall bite will be hear soon.
Hope everyone had a good summer….Can’t wait to get back over to Ft for the Fall run..I’ve got a feeling it will be a good one…..Good luck out there….Dave
Hey Dave the bite should be soon. Just watch for my post and that should help you decide when to make the trip over.
Hey Guys check out our temps in the 53538 zip code area for the next nine days.
Daytime Highs/Overnight Lows
Wed
Sep 03 Partly Cloudy 80°/50° 0 %
Thu
Sep 04 Partly Cloudy 72°/46° 0 %
Fri
Sep 05 Sunny 74°/48° 10 %
Sat
Sep 06 Sunny 80°/53° 10 %
Sun
Sep 07 Sunny 80°/55° 10 %
Mon
Sep 08 Sunny 82°/55° 10 %
Tue
Sep 09 Partly Cloudy 79°/57° 10 %
Wed
Sep 10 Partly Cloudy 81°/58° 10 %
Thu
Sep 11 Partly Cloudy 80°/53° 10
The Overnight lows is what I’m looking at.
Hey James that Ctrl C then Ctrl V works great. Save a lots of typing. That weather report was a perfect example. Thanks for the tip.
Ah yes… the little computer tricks that make life just so much more enjoyable.
That’s definitely one of my favorites too!
Hey Jeff, I’ve been wanting to get back to the river all summer but never made it any closer than Lake Ripley where I’ve spent most of my time catching some nice big mouths. I tired both my boys on 18″ers to the point their little arms were too sore to fish anymore. How’s the water level on the Rock? About the same as in the spring or has it dropped more yet? I’m hoping to make it Saturday or Sunday and want to target some of those big pike near the creek inlets. Unfortunately though, my kids are back in school and are probably too busy with football and cc to join me and are probably done fishing until the lakes freeze over. If you see me in my little tub stop by but don’t run me over, my electric motor won’t outrun your Johnson!
Databoy since the water temp has drop those pike have moved out of the creek inlets at least that’s what my neighbor has told me. But give it a try and lets us know how you do. If I make it out this weekend I’ll look you up. Most likly I start fishing the Newville area by the bridges first then work my way back to Fort. Don’t be afraid to try the Newville area that would be perfect for your little rig. You could put in at Anchor Inn and fish both bridges with no problem.
Thanks for the info Jeff. Unfortunately I could only squeeze 3 early morning hours of fishing in on Saturday so I went to Monona. I did have a decent morning with a couple 16″ largemouth my biggest fish. I was in Fort on Sunday and checked the water from the roadside. I definitely want to give it a try soon and should have went out Sunday instead of wasting my time on the Packers.