Ya, I know I’ll take some heat…but these smallies are FUN! Saturday I was out with a buddy of mine, Mike Muth (reels&lurs on IDO) in his Mirrocraft, and we first hit the dam trolling. Surprisingly, we trolled up more crappies than we did eyes! 2 crappies and 1 walleye, trolling pretty slow, even with the higher water temps. We then decided to do something that Mike wasn’t real familiar with- pitchin plastics for smallies. I’m not a bass guy by any stretch, but I do like to throw tubes here and there for these guys, and I’m glad we did Saturday. Famous words were "now, how do you do this?", as Mike tossed his tube for the first time. Barely hits the water, and he gets this nice 15 1/2 incher!
About 5 minutes later, he betters it with a nice one that was just over 16".
We also managed to catch some more in there as well, along with a couple more crappies. My big was 14 1/2" for smallies. Doesn’t sound big, I know, but it’s not bad for our mudholes here in the middle of the state. We do hear of bigger ones caught from time to time, around 17-19", but not very often.
Monday, I headed over there again. This time my buddy Dave Polk from Lincoln met me for some fish action. We weren’t 5 minutes into the afternoon and I got this nice 15" largie. I don’t catch many largies in this area, but when I do see them, they are usually nice fish. Our presentation is pretty basic: just tossing power tubes and swimming them back, kinda like I do with crappie jigs. Sure is a blast! The wind was kicking up at times, but since I put my WhiteCap splashguards (whitecapmfg.com) on my little Lund, I was able to stay right on top of these fish and bring em in.
We then headed out on the lake in search of some walleye action. Didn’t take long to find it. We fished a drop and were constantly busy with 4 rods, of which we usually had time to run 1 each. The problem with today was that they were real light biters, and these fish didn’t really want to commit. It was tough getting them hooked, but I did manage a nice 17" sauger and a rarity for our area: a perch. Not a jumbo by any means, but still a nice change of pace. Dave was busy at the front of the boat trying to get walleyes to take the jigs completely, as I was also. It was real tough to get em hooked, but gave us good practice.
My buddy Big Mike McClure and I were going to run the canal tonight for some flathead action, but there was enough illegal activity in the canal to keep us from fishing the areas we wanted to fish. Seems a good sized group of people ran lines all over the canal without paying much attention to the laws, so that made things tough. Hopefully something is done about this constant problem, especially since the proper people were notified and even shown what was going on.
All in all, not a bad couple of days of fishing. Not too bad for a walleye/catfish/crappie guy who doesn’t fish bass but a couple times a year! Won’t be long before that water temp really shoots up and changes things. Get out while you still can.
By the way, I haven’t heard the story yet, but here’s a pic of Mike’s catfish he caught at Elwood when he went out there Sunday. Like I say, I haven’t talked to him yet, but it sure looks like a flathead to me! That’s interesting, too, because I’m pretty sure flatheads have never been stocked in that lake. I know there are a few that get in there when water is put into the lake via the Tri County Canal (which is the only way that lake gets water), but it’s not many. It went 29″, 9lbs……I’ll have to call him tomorrow for the story!
Oh, and Mike? What’s with the glove? C’mon…man up!
hi Brian,
Nice day on the water, Congrats !!!
I’d say the Cat is a Channel Cat; Flatheads do not have a forked tail, and this one does.
Hoping to hear more this summer.
Jack..
Yup Jack, I think you’re right. I knew there was something that didn’t look right, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. It does kinda look like a flatty, but the more I look at it, the more I think it’s a channel. The jaws look like a channel too, because the bottom one doesn’t go past the top. Sure is a dark sucker though.
Nice job on the smallies Brian! They are a blast!
Great post Brian and congrats on some great looking smallmouths!
Please be careful not too spend too much time over there on the dark side (bass). 
Super job again, Brian, you do a nice job on your fishing reports.
Do you think that there will now be any room on the dam? Just wondering cause Ken and I might just have to slip back over for another dose of Johnson Lake fishing.
jorg
I caught three catfish, casting a rapala lure on long sloping grassy areas in a cove on Elwood. The biggest one pictured hit it like a musky or pike. Had a pattern figured out and then the sun came out and the pattern was over. First time I ever figured out a casting pattern for catfish. By the way it was a channel.
Also picked up a 17 1/2″ walleye in 2 ft of water.
Oh don’t worry, Brad…I don’t usually spend THAT much time over there. It is pretty dark….
Sounds like you had em goin Mike. I’m hoping to hit Elwood tomorrow before the weekend crowd gets there.
You’ll be able to fish the dam pretty much about all you want, Jorg. Just gotta watch out for the skiing idiots. The lake can be completely calm, but they still always ski by the dam. A real aggravator.
Nice report Brian. I might have to make a trip out that way to hook up with some smallies.
Jason