[Neal/CO]

Hit Aurora for the first time this spring. Was windy and cold all morning but worth it!!! Got four walleye off the dam. The first one was 18" and hit a X-Rap on my fifth cast. I fished the X-Rap and Pointer 78 for the next two hours and hads lots of fish following but not striking. Switched to 4" Power Minnow and started snap jigging and thats what they wanted!! I must of missed about a half dozen hits before I switched out my spool to Fireline. Between 11 to noon I caught three eye's including a pretty nice 20" eye that really fought! I didn't bring a plastic bag or stringer so i let the two keepers go. STill it was alot of fun to finally find some eye's there!

The fish were in full spawn and all squirting lots of milt and seemed to be holding at about five feet deep.  I would let my jig flutter down and they would just be there when I lifted my rod for the next stroke. Do yourself a favor and start with some kind of braid or you will miss alot of fish like I did

 

[Neal/CO]

They were all males that i caught today, and they were squirting all over the place! Makes you wonder how many big female eye's are out off the dam in deeper water waiting to come in this evening and lay their eggs?

 

[Neal/CO]

I caught my first fish at about 9:00 AM and my last around noon. Unfortunately you can't fish at night there!

I was fishing off the dam. The wind was blowing in to the dam today and it was kind of overcast. Perfect conditions really?

 

[Neal/CO]

I tie in 3' of 10 lb Floro with a blood knot. The Fireline allows you to cast farther in the wind and keep in touch with your jig! The dam at Aurora isn't very rocky and you rarely snag up.

 

[Neal/CO]

It doesn't have to be Fireline! There are lots of good braids. I could of really used a High Vis line yesterday, since they were hitting my jig on the fall! All I felt when the first fish hit the X-Rap was a tick! And I don't think I would of felt that using mono

Cabela's Ripcord is excellent also!

 

[Neal/CO]

In the past I have mostly used Rogues and Husky Jerks. Last year I bought about a half dozen X-Raps, but barely used them. I had been reading so much about how effective they are when the water is really cold, so that is why I made myself fish with one yesterday. I haven't gotten any of the smaller models yet.

Don't be afraid to use the bigger versions! The majority of my baits are 4 1/2" long.

 

[Neal/CO]

Over the last five years, I have had the pleasure to fish with alot good walleye fisherman that I have met thru Walleye Central. Dave Kooser, Eric Ewing, Work2fish, Scott Golden and Walleye970. Every one of them has at least one tray full of Rogues and Husky jerks!!!!

I plan to fish X-Raps, Pointers and the new Excalibur baits alot this spring also! If you can find some of the old Yozuri Twitchin Minnows, they are great trout lures!!!!!

 

[Neal/CO]

Yep, that was me. Sorry I didn't realize that was you! Glad you caught a couple.