Bright sunny day, wind light out of the north. The "Z" was moving slow...too many late nights at work this week. Didnt get on the water until 9:15 am. Surprised to only find 5 trailers in the marina lot. Guess no one else wanted to get up. Not that many boats on the lake, seemed like there was less than 25. They had put a sign up that the dam is closed to fishing, I noticed it too late...it was small, white with red letters by the south entrance. Couldnt slam on my brakes to lead as some one was tailgating me. I figured it would be posted at the boat ramp and I would read it there...nice job by the state <sarcasm>...it wasnt...ok on to the fishing...lots of boats in a line infront of the opening to the marina...talked to a couple not much doing...one throwing cranks (no hits) and one with bait...had a few hits...I had followed the masses the previous Monday and done poorly...decided to head for south end and water running in from the South Platte...figured if nothing else would get into some nice rainbows that were staging waiting to run up the Platte to spawn...water temp was 40 at the mouth of the marina...decided to bait fish that the temp was still low and they werent in a chase mood...rigged two poles up...one with a red bleeding hook...and two small split shot...the other with a red floating jig head and a new product I found at Gander Mountain called Bull Shot...made by Water Gremlin...they are bullet shaped split shot...I but three on to get the jig head to sink...immediately caught a 14 inch Rainbow in 17 feet of water...fish in various depths on the fish finder...caught two walleyes on the red hook and split shot...16.5 inches and 17.5 inches in 14 feet of water and 7 feet of water...then caught a 18.5 inches in 12 feet of water and 19 inches in 9 feet of water on the red floating jig head...fish were scattered and cruising...all in all for the day...caught 11 walleyes and 1 trout...fish caught in 7 to 17 feet...9 of them on the minnow red hook and two split shot set up...and 2 on the floating jig head and bull shot set...but they were the two keepers...I had a couple that were 17 and 7/8ths inches...the water temp in the south arm was warmer almost 43...I know the majority of the walleyes spawn on the rip rap of the dam...but I know from my Minnesota days they also head for inlets and running water...the two keepers turned out to be females with eggs...the "Bull Shot" from Gander Mountain worked great...there are lots of little annoying snags in Chatfield that can get caught while drift fishing...the streamlined bull shot went right through them without getting snagged...late in the day the wind switched to the south and the sky clouded up...didnt seem to matter much...except that it got colder...we left around 5:30...someone was putting a mini house boat on the lake...from afar it looked like someone was backing a Winnebago onto the lake...was any one else out there today...I am headed for Aurora on Sunday...to see what is stirring on the dam...hope the info helps...fish are scattered at all depths and the bites werent light...they hit it good...good luck to all!!!
Oh and one of those walleyes was great...baked crispy, buttered corn and buttered mash potatoes...with a couple of beverages...a great end to a good day...
Oh and one of those walleyes was great...baked crispy, buttered corn and buttered mash potatoes...with a couple of beverages...a great end to a good day...
