Saturday I had the pleasure of fishing with Craig Petersen and Lonnie Boyson of Harlan Iowa. We hit the water right after the tournament boats headed out for their day of water thrashing! The community spots got hit hard and heavy, not giving up many fish. Most fish we did see caught were small. We managed a limit, and lost a bruiser next to the boat.
Most of the fish we caught came off of flats, and shallow areas out of the current. (What little current there was!) By shallow I mean 6-8 feet of water. We did manage a nice sauger snap jigging chartruese Super Doos in 18 feet. It is evident that the big push of fish is nowhere close to showing up yet. But as soon as these water temps get close to 40, things should get going in a hurry! We even ventured below the hiway bridge to see if areas like Coville and Youngs would be better. We noticed much dirtier water down there than up by the dam.
Early in the day, the fish wanted firecracker K-Tails by B-Fish-N Tackle. Ringworms seemed to pick up steam a little later, and Super Doos for vertical jigging when the sun came out. The Knuckle Ball Jig by Fin Tech produced well for dragging, and the H20 Precizion jig was awesome for vertical jigging. We used the St. Croix 7 foot Avid rods, medium action with a fast tip for dragging, and 6 footers for jigging. Look for fishing to improve with the temperature!
Tuck