The cool mist and fog set in on the river to make the after dark visibility even worse… Mike Westman threw his tiny BFT Draggin jig and Moxie toward an invisible spot on the shallow rocky shoreline below the boat and immediately set the hook into something pulling hard, taking drag off the reel…Soon I reached for the net (again) and turned on my headlamp… two big brite eyes of an beautiful overweight 26″ Walleye slid toward the Frabil…
This was the third consecutive year that I’ve met Mike here on Black Friday. My daughter lives about 20 min north and while the girls are shopping, I (happily) get to go fishing!
Mike gave me a heads up that the bigger walleye had scattered from a great wingdam bite to a run n gun up and down the river…fishing anything from a wingdam to a rock pile or shoreline riprap…and NO water was too shallow. We fished several likely spots and finally caught up to Gary R, who had picked up a few off a tiny point of land. We thanked him for some tips and headed up river…Where Mike nailed the first of three very fat 21-24″ Eyes while I struggled with the feel/rythym of casting the 1/16oz jig and Moxie.
We moved up to another wingdam where I changed from 6# Mono to 6# braid in my XS69MLXF and slowed way down… I felt a sharp “crunch” and snapped my wrist into a bulldogging 22.5 incher…Yea! I was on the board! The next few hours we would follow the same pattern…catch one or two fish of a piece of structure then it would fizzle out and we’d move on…
I was surprised to see about 20 boats/trailers parking near the boat I-94 launch…last year there were only 2 boats in the ice jammed river…and two years ago maybe 6-7 boats. The warmer weather definitely moved some more fishermen out in the rainy night. We moved into a backwater area and I see 2.7 fow on the H-bird…wow… “There’s a good un!” Mike blurts out and again the netting ritual…( I am getting good at this by now)…another dandy over 23″. I have to say I wish we had a scale to see how heavy these fish were…they were SOOO Fat!
The later it got the heavier the rain came down. I was glad I brought my Gamehide H2O fleece bibs and Parka, as I stayed warm and dry after over 8 hrs in the cool wet weather. Mike and I both took 23s and a few chunky 17-18″ males off the last spot which was a tapering gravel point that ended up tailing off into the channel.
My eyes were getting pretty heavy as we finally headed in…the last boat off the river (again)…
To summarize our outing…We CPRed about 15 nice eyes…
Mike losing a biggun at the boat…
I used a St.Croix XS69MLXF, Pflueger Arbor 30 series
Mike used a Triumph 70MLF, Pflueger President 25 series
1/16 and 1/8 BFT Dragging Jigs
Moxies…Purple/Chart…White…Firecracker
we used hardline on the reels to enhance the hooksetting capability of the softer ML rods and sensitivity.
The Dragging Jigs are the heart of this shallow water presentation…we were fishing rocks and wood in less than 4 fow most of the night. The few times I tried conventionaljigs I was instantly hung up. I switched to braid and the MLF rod because I was not be able to cast 1/16oz jigs into the wind unless I used a rod with some “whip in the tip!” My LTWS 68MXF was of little use because of its stiffer action.
Finally, If you want to jump about 10 years on the P-2 learning curve…I would strongly suggest booking a trip with Mike Westman. He knows the river, is a great stick, and a fun guy to fish with!
I know where I plan on being on Black Friday 2012!