Kelby, my 1890 Tuffy, finally got to experience the water for her first time this weekend, in the tail waters below Gavins Point Dam. I meet Wade Kuehl up there on what turned out to be an absolutely magnificent day. Man it so nice to finally, for the first time of the year, be able to get out on the boat with a good friend and catch some nice fish. Now the fishing was by no means fast and furious but we did end up with a couple decent fish and the day was definitely a success.
The ramp on the Nebraska side was a little slippery in the morning as the air temperature was still a little below freezing, but we got the boat in and the truck back up the ramp without to much trouble. The river is still low up there but it seemed to be a little bit higher than it was this time last year. When we got up to the hole we were 1 of 3 boats on the water. That sure didn’t last long though!!
Jig and a minnow was the weapon of choice for the day and Wade ended up striking first, with a beauty of an 8” channel cat. BK would have been proud!! A little while longer into the morning Wade landed our first sauger of the day. It was a nice healthy 19” male that was in great shape. Not to much longer after that came our second sauger of the day that fell victim to a purple/white H2O jig in about 14’ of water. Our first and only walleye of the day came at around 12:00 or so and then the fishing went absolutely dead after that.
In the morning when we got on the water there was just enough of a breeze to ripple the surface a little bit but around noon the wind went to nothing and so did the fishing. I don’t think I saw a single sauger or walleye caught after noon and I would guess that there were better than 30 boats on the water by then. We left the water at around 3:00 so I could get headed back on my 3 ½ hour drive home. It sure is nice to get out on the water but man does it hurt to fill the tank up after the trip. Water is opening up all around us and the time to soft water everywhere is getting shorter and shorter. I hope to see you all out on the water soon and good luck.
Great report Zach.
I bet you couldn’t stop smiling all day in that new rig. 
Nice report
So Zach,how did the new rig perform? Any bugs to work out?
Nice report Zach. Thanks.
Congrats on getting her wet!
Question: Did you guys try dragging out there? Or is it depth prohibitive?
I’m not real comfortable in the river up there so I didn’t get to open her up and play much
She was real nice to fish out of from the front and Wade will have to chime in about how it was in the back. The new Terrova is AMAZING 
Man I love that thing and the birds were nice to use too, though I didn’t get to see the SI much ‘cus Wade was hog’n it 
Tuck, we tried staying vertical we trying drag’n and we did some casting. Catching was just slow.
I got a lot of comments on the boat from people who have never heard of Tuffy. I’m telling you now, they are a boat that you really need to look at when shopping for glass
Nice report Zach
Great report Zach! And thank you for getting me out on the water for the day. I needed that!
We got a chance to put a few new toys through the test for Zach and a couple for myself as well. I loved Zach’s new rig. I hadn’t been very familiar with Tuffy but this rig was SWEET! Zach spent some time testing his new Minn Kota Terrova while I spent some time toying around with the Humminbird 997C SI. Both get a continued thumbs up for me.
This was also the first time I used my Arctic Series Snosuit on the open water. I was really curious about how it would perform in the boat as opposed to on the ice. I gotta say, I loved it. I’m a bit of a pansy when it comes to the cold and I definitely like to stay warm. The Snosuit did the job and I was not at all limited by the suit. In the afternoon, it got warm enough that I had to remove the coat, but was comfortable with just the bibs, a fleece jacket, and a hooded sweatshirt. In a month or two I’ll be changing back to my Gamehide gear. But on these early season trips I’m going to be super happy to have the Snosuit too.
I also took this opportunity to test out the new Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon. I spooled 8-pound clear on a Shimano Sedona spinning reel. This was coupled with a St. Croix Legend Spinning Rod. I really wanted to see how this new fluorocarbon line would do on spinning gear, especially in colder temps. I was pleasantly surprised. It was more manageable than I thought it would be and I’ll definitely continue to use it in clear water this spring. One day of vertical jigging and a little bit of pitching jigs doesn’t have me completely sold, but I really like what I see so far. Here’s to the hope that field test #2 isn’t too far down the road!
By the way guys, I’m not sponsored by any of the above manufacturers. I’m just passing along the results of my personal, very unscientific field test. I suggest you take a day or two off work and get out there to do your own “product testing”!
Great report guys sure is nice to get out for the first time and catch some eyes.
Was anyone else doing any good or just slow all day? Cant wait to see the boat. 
Good stuff Zach. Walleyes/saugs sure are fun this time of year, aren’t they??
Everybody struggled Jake
I also sported my Sno-Suit during the outing and it worked really well in the boat. The suit didn’t hinder my movements and was really comfortable
Great report Zach! Open water….
Jake, like Zach said, everyone struggled and when the breeze died and it went flat calm in the afternoon, nobody brought one in that we saw. Earlier in the day, the key seemed to be staying vertical. They didn’t want movement other than an occasional jigging motion. Dragging jigs on bottom didn’t seem to help either. I’d compare it to ice fishing out of a boat. Obviously, the water is really cold and it’s also about as clean and clear as you’ll ever see it.
Great report Zach, Congrats on the new ride!!
Congrats Zach!!
Did you fire up the kicker? I’m looking forward to hearing more about the new kicker from Suzuki.
Did you guys see any paddlefish caught? I’ve got some buddies who bump into them really thick down there once in a while.
I had to take the hook out of one of them
Congrats on finally getting the new ride out! I am sure it has been killing you waiting for the the first ride.
Did Wade use his infamous secret snapswivel bait?
I promised him I wouldn’t talk about that Dean
The Tow-Tector worked GREAT and Wade will have to let you know what he thought of the Folbe’s ‘cus I didn’t use them.
Ooops! That was a secret wasnt it?
Nice report Zach. Can I borrow Kelby for a weekend? I have to tell you up front “I will use her”
That’s the great thing about her little buddy, she LUVS get’n used
Dean, I only used the Folbe briefly, not enough to get a good read on it, but it worked well when I did use it.
John, There were plenty of paddle fish being caught. I went up the Saturday to check the water level and the ramps and took a little time to fish off shore, casting jigs and plastics. I had four paddles in a half-hour and decided I’d had enough. I had a fifth one that must have been in the 40 to 50 pound range. I couldn’t get it to turn and decided to break the line rather than stress the fish too much on 8-pound line. They’re a really cool fish and need to be protected, but they’re a pain in the backside when you’re jigging for eyes.