[1eyered]

Fished around 11:30am til 3:30pm. Used leeches (thanx, ZMAN). My lady felt a tug and then it went "zzzzzzzzz!!! zz! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!" She wasn't sure if she could handle it on her 6lb line and then I had to take over on the landing of the fish. Well, finally after like 5 minutes, we landed a 26" wiper. It's still her fish if you think of it. She fought it long enough for the credibility (I'm surprised).

We sat around and as the sun was cooking us, a pair of mallards kept swimming around us and my lady was telling me how cute they were. She was holding her rod (thank God) and explaining the colors on the drake to me and how it shined and stuff and then I heard her go "Oooh, oh sh*t!"

I looked over and she almost falls forward into the lake, rod pointing straight into the water and then SNAP!! That was all she wrote. Dammit.. Must have been another wiper. Bigger too. The schools of wipers swam through like twice and that was it for the day. Polarized glasses helped my lady figure out why the schools of carp were blueish white 

I'm satisfied. We weighed it at that ranger office and the fish was just about a good 9lbs. My lady was one proud woman and still has been talking smack to me til this day. "I got two hits, one big-a$$ wiper and you got sh*t!"

Oh well, it was fun. Will be back when I think the conditions are right.

1eyeReD

 

[1eyered]

Good job man waiting for the pic. Bottom or bobber?

Bobber.. I tell ya. That day they were all around them bobbers when they came through, but didn't want to hit. I tried finesse tactics, hard baits (they are most scared of those), regular jigs and even a fresh lively crawdad. Casted past the school, reeled through em, nogo.. Casted like 15 yards in front of em and waited for them to come through and pick up the bait, nogo.. Even ripped rapalas past em with no go. However, I did get one to chase my jig, but as soon as I saw him, well... He saw me too.

The poor sap that my lady caught was probably just the hungrier one. However, when I gutted it, it had a stomach full of fresh undigested crayfish. I'll just be quiet and take that as a hint

Will be back there for sure when the conditions are right and in cement colored clothes for camouglage. These fish are so hard to catch, some of the people who fish there for them has given up and aimed for other species according to the rangers.

 

[1eyered]

Yeah.. Its kinda good that the slowness is the norm. That way, only the concious (<-- did I even use that word correctly?) hardcores will go spend countless hours working for em. The ranger says that they'd like to see more caught because they rarely see em caught. Not that I'm with the ranger on this, but that tells me the fish are finicky like that which (sigh) tells me the wipers will stick around for some time.

Nice lake though. I'd like to take my 12 footer there, but them winds kinda scare me.

 

[1eyered]

From what I understand, they've got monster smallies there too and some potentially big walleye.. Post a report when you're done, we'd like to know what happened.

 

[1eyered]

Thanks, zman.

Those are some very helpful tips. I've thought about smaller hooks too, but just never got to it. I hope to meet you out there one of these days and you could show me the works. Til then, I'll just be dreaming of that 20 pounder too.

Again, thanks......

As for Slayer, thanks..... I'm sure you'll slay some gargantua fish out there too..... Either a huge broken striped hybrid or a huge holdover trout! I've seen pictures of some big overgrown stockers in the ranger's office too.


1eyeReD

 

[1eyered]

Not a bad day, sounds like the norm.  Were you at the dam?

My fault 1 eye.  When I said "the norm", I was talking about the hits/ # caught.  26" and 9+ lbs is a great catch and I don't hear about a lot of those being caught. 

True, true, true..... No prob AJ, I understood the 1st time. Maybe my response was kinda off, but that's what I meant. But you're right. Them wipeys don't get caught too often over there do they?