Last night, all four of my brothers piled in my 17 foot Tuffy for the second annual Witham Turkey Bowl. It’s a chance for us to have some time together as boys, while chasing my favorite fish, in what is becoming my favorite stretch of water. Pool 2 on the mighty Mississippi. With the bite being a far cry from good in the past couple of weeks, I decided these fish have to eat at some point, and there are high percentage spots in my arsenal that I thought with some hard work we might intercept a couple of willing biters. Here’s a pic of the winning girl last year, a nice 27 caught by Ben who WAS the reigning champ until last night.
The walleye fishing on Pool 2 has been a bit off in the past 2-3 weeks. The day bite was pretty hot a few weeks ago and then the water temps really started to drop. This in turn killed a lot of the shad in the system which meant thousands of seagulls flying over head, and unfortunately the walleyes that normally set up on the wing dams seemed to vacate the area chasing dying shad, or were just plump full of enough “real” food they didn’t need to chase a ringworm we threw at them. Here’s a pic of the winning fish tonight that had just been to the buffet! 26 inches and between 7-9lbs.
Persistence, confidence baits, and proven spot yielded our boat 3 fish. Two of them went 26 (which resulted in a “sister kissing tie” and co-champs for the Turkey bowl) and one fat and sassy 20 incher. Light to virtually no wind made the freezing temps quite bearable last night except for the ice chunks. Dark profile baits like purple/pearl tail, and pro blue were the winning tickets in the ringworms. We bumped up the size of the jig I would normally throw because we were forced to switch to mono with the freezing temps. Here’s a pic of the Turkey Bowl trophy with winning jigs.
All in all, it was a great night with the boyz, with a couple of really nice fish a bonus. It looks like these temps coming down the pike may cut the season a bit short depending on the wind and how it blows. Be careful out there and make sure you double check your safety items and try to be prepared for the worst case scenarios. Wouldn’t want to be stuck out there in the cold in the middle of the night. Good luck and be safe.
Good stuff, Micah!
Micah, What time were you “boys” out? And what seemed to be the best fish catching times?
we launched right at 5pm and fished till about 8.30. The three we caught came from 7.45-8.15 in about a half hour time frame. The only bites I have been able muster up in the past 3-4 weeks have all before light or after dark if that tells you anything.
Way to stick it out and find some fish guys. Sounds like it was a fun trip. Let me know if you guys want some more competition in your turkey bowl in years to come.
sounds good Mike, did you make it to p4 yesterday? i may head down on monday
Yep. Wouldnt say we killed them but it was still good fishing. Spent most of our time down towards the lake. Fished the dam area towards dark. Found fish in most places we tried. Was hoping to hit pool 2 this after noon looking for saugers but the wife has other plans for me. Maybe later this week.
way to go, Micah,
Nice eyes
Jack
Great Report Micah
A couple of beauties to boot