Kicking off the fall fishing season

[jwl]

Got all loaded up with my stuff on Sunday night, then made the rounds in the van to start picking the troups for our adventure. Arrived in town, made a quick late night stop at the boat launch so that my buddy Jeff could get his boat in the water, and run it over to my dock, then we all pulled into my camp site at camp about 1:30 in the morning, I got everyone sorted out where we were going to stay, got the water and furnaces going...it was pretty chilly out when we arrived. We got all our gear packed away and proceeded to have a few drinks by the fire. After a few drinks and some fishin talk about what Monday morning's fishing tactics where going to entail, I think we got to bed around 4am so we could try and get an hour or so sleep and be out on the water first light.

 

When we got up in the morning it was a pretty cold start to the day, we bundled up, Jeff loaded up his boat with himself,girlfriend Adelle, and our buddy John to start thier journey. I didn't have the bigger boat in yet, so we loaded up my 14 footer tinny with some bait and a wide assortment of gear, then me and the Bigulgi headed out in the other direction to see if we could come up with anything.

 

Arriving at our spot we though we would try a crack at some pike action for the day. The weeds had our area looking like a bass master's slop haven, armed with some spinner baits and anticipation of the day, we started chucking and hoping for that big one.

 

After a while of chucking our spinner baits, me and Bruce where getting a bit frustrated with all the "short strikes" although it was fun watching the fish come out and miss our baits, we where dying to start the trip off with something in the boat. We where drifting the river mouth in the huge weedbed trying a few points ect along the way, in a few areas we manged to spook a couple huge pike on the surface just enough to get the blood pumping and hopes up for the first day of fall kick off. Finally, I broke the ice and put something in the boat, wasn't quite what we where hunting after but, it was a start anyways.

 

 

 

 

After a while of getting frustrated with the big ones teasing us, I decided to head out into a different area of the lake in search of some eyes. I took us to an area that had put out some decent fish a couple weeks ago for me,so I figured I would take the gamble and see if they where still around.

 

 

I did manage to start off the later part of the morning with this shall we say....smalleye

 

 

 

 

The morning continued, and Bigugli and I stuck it out on our drift for a little while when we stumbled upon a good number of decent perch. It was a small area to work, and you had to stay in the zone or all we winded up with was a load of bluegills for our efforts. It was kind of funny, we knew we where off the perch and soon as someone got a sunny, go back to the start of our drift, and bingo perch again, so we worked the area over just enough so that we could fill our bucket for a livewell up and head back to camp so we could get my bigger boat put in and get on wioth the day's adventure.

 

We headed back to camp wondering how Jeff,Adelle, and John where making out as they headed out with Jeff in the search for eyes as the target species of thier trip. Jeff managed to get into a decent sized one as they where fine tuning the tactics for the rest of thier trip.

 

So first couple hours out on day one, proved to be a bit tough, but we all managed to have the kind of action we where looking for along the way and ended up with the start of a good snack.

 

 

 

 

Bigugli was quick to volunteer his filleting services.

 

 

 

 

We all chipped in and rangled up a big breakfast to fuel up for the day, enjoyed a couple libations, got my bigger boat in the water, and we where ready to get the fleet out and pound some water.

 

Here we are lined up at my dock and ready to rock!

 

 

 

Later in the day myself,Bruce, and John, hopped in my boat back down to the river in hopes of getting into a big one as we had seen quite a bit of activity down there earlier in the day. It wasn't long until we saw some action..well not on the end of our lines but action none the less, we spooked a few good sized fish on the way into the weedbed, and while Bruce was tossing a big buzz bait we got to see some fun when a couple fish missed the bait, then it was time to watch a decent pike come after his bait 3 times on the way to the boat, he took a hit at it, but was gone after a second..I casted my spinner bait as a follow up and sure enough, wham fish on...then oh..fish off, we laughed about that for a few minutes but that just got the blood flowing in hopes. A while later Bruce had a nice visitor come for a look at his spinner bait when a decent sized musky came out of hiding, followed his bait, gave it a little lick and quickly turned away. John finally saves the early afternoon by boating a decent little largie.

 

 

after seeming like I was casting my arm off, I got this hog..lol

 

 

 

 

Day one was wrapping up nicely, everyone caught some fish, no huge ones, but we caught a load of fish, perch,some walleye action, pike, largies, of course a billion sunnies in the search, and one of us even had a sneak peak at some musky action.

 

We all got back to camp at about dark to get some dinner on the go and swap some tales of the day's adventure, over a few drinks. Headed off to bed fairly early this time to get a good night's rest for the next day's trip.

 

Day 2 was turning out pretty much like a repeat of day 1,Myself,John, and Bruce headed out in my boat on the quest for whatever we could get into while Jeff and Adelle set out again on the hunt for walleye. Our day was filled with the mixed bag that we had gotten into the day before, no monsters but some great numbers of fish, we managed a few more perch to add to the collection for the fry, and headed back to camp waiting too see how the others made out on the walleye mission.

 

 

It was mission accomplished for those guys when they came back with some decent eyes

 

 

 

 

The afternoon, I suggested that we load up the big guns and take a few mile journey in my boat to a spot I know where the river opens up to a big lagoon area for a crack at some monster musky action. We tossed around the big baits for a good couple hours in anticipation, but we all know that musky fishin..isn't always musky catching, we tried all sorts of different tactics, but it just wasn't going to happen for us.

 

Here is a great early fall view from the area I took us to

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to head back into our part of the lake and finish off the day on a lucky note,all in all a pretty productive day, and a nice boat mission too, it was great fall weather for making the few mile trip on the hunt..everyone was into decent numbers of fish and having a great time.

 

We needed to fuel the fire from the day, as usual we eat like kings and queens at camp, and this was no exception

 

on the menu was a concoction I made up of the night before's bbq'ed steak and chops, combined with some sauteed veggies and some of Bruce's left over venison chilli from Monday night, some crispy fried taters

 

 

we got some burgs and dogs rocking on the que

 

 

 

 

and Bruce got right in there with the fryer pot for some good ole fashion beer battered perch and eyes..mmmmm

 

 

 

 

Yesterday morning we headed out for one last kick at the cat....Jeff, and John headed out for thier walleye quest of the day...if you can't tell by now, that was Jeff's mission for the trip..target walleye...that's it, that's what he wanted to do...ya ever been beside someone in a boat that yells out oh @$%## because all they caught was a couple pound bass..lol, well Jeff does, he hunts the wlleye and he works hard at it too with great success.

 

Bruce and I could not pass up the option of catching one of those monster pike, or that musky that had been teasing us for 2 days so we headed down the river again.

 

I came up with a couple more snotters for my efforts

 

 

 

Bruce started the morning out in the same area with some spinner bait largie action

 

 

 

 

 

 

after a while of trying this out, we decided to head out into the main lake and see how it was turning out for Jeff, and John on thier quest..and working hard at it they where, with a couple nice eyes in the boat to show for it..Jeff;s trolling tactic of the day was to work a hump area, as slow as they could,drift sock out,back trolling with 3 ways and harnesses, proved to be the ticket for them.

 

 

 

Bruce and I decided to work an area where Jeff had thrown out a marker....it was funny, those guys where catching the walleye, while we where getting huge numbers of smaller bass, and a load of worm scarfing sunnies

 

here is Bruce with one of our double headers from the day, holding both our fish while I snapped a quick pic.

 

 

more "smalleye" action for me..lol

 

 

 

 

It was soon time to call it a morning and get back to camp and start breaking everything down,pulling the boats out,tidying up the trailers while getting ready for the sad part of the trip....heading home...boo..hoo, I hate that part.

 

One more round of fish to clean up from the morning, some nice eyes from Jeff and John's mission and a couple perch in the mix from my boat

 

 

 

 

 

So concludes another great adventure at the JWL camp..we could not have asked for better fall weather, we caught a tonne of fish in the mixed bag..got a couple hundred fish all together if we counted some of the sunnies..specially the ones Bruce was getting 2 at a time on the pickerel rig..lol. we got a great variety for the trip...walleye,perch,pike,smallies,largies,well of course sunnies, and although no-one hooked up with one, we did get one musky to play with someone from the group.....I think next time we should just head out on a sunfish trip and maybe then someone will hammer a 30lber..lol

 

 

It was a great trip, and I would like to thank some good fishin friends for sharing in a great time with me, these folks are all first class people to send any day on and around the water with, I hope we can do it again really soon, heck on the way home I was already trying to plan out how soon I can get back to my camp, I need to get a couple more good trips in this fall for sure.

 

Probably more pics to come once we get them off everyone else's camera too.

Edited September 25, 2008 by jwl

[Leecher]

Great report and pics jwl

 

That was a good read and looks like the walleye mission worked out pretty good

Good job for the mix bag of fish

 

Your camp is situated in a beautiful area.

 

Thanks for sharing

Leechman

[ecmilley]

man wish I was there thanks for that awesome report, that's what it'a all about

[bigugli]

It certainly was a great trip. No one could complain about the lack of action, even if they were smaller fish. The highway #7 is a beautiful area to be out fishing.

We had far too much man meat for our gang. Enough to feed 10. I guess I'll have to go meat free for a few days to level off the cholesterol. We had meat with a side dish of meat. Meat for brekkie, with a side of fish. Pepperoni and sausages for snacks. Of course, there was the Roadkill Chilli ( we just told Jeff it was venison ).

A few more pics

 

And , yes Virginia, Santa now has a tan to match his red suit.

[jwl]

thanks for the added pics Bigugli, hopefully we get a couple more good ones from the other's cameras too...geesh I just noticed in that fish fry pic..umm don't ya think you used a little too much beer in that batter

 

so when we doing it again??

Edited September 25, 2008 by jwl

[bigugli]

No such thing as too soon is there?

 

Maybe a little less meat in the diet next time. I gotta see the roto router guy tomorrow

Edited September 25, 2008 by bigugli

[Streamerguy]

Food,Beer and Fishing ??? and i wasnt invited ahh wait roadkill stew

 

great report guys,thanx for sharing

 

cheers

Streamerguy

[Ramble]

Great report, and good job on teh fish.

 

I can't wait till the hard water, and the 1st perch feed.....mmmmmmmmmmmm

 

-R-

[Moosebunk]

OK Man!!! Best part of the report was the meal. That was sick... fried spuds, steak, chili, burgs, dogs and fish. That poor poor outhouse. lol.

[b2kptbo]

Great report, looked like a hoot...

[Wild]

Great adventure Jack now start packing again git back out there for that monster ski!

[jwl]

OK Man!!! Best part of the report was the meal. That was sick... fried spuds, steak, chili, burgs, dogs and fish. That poor poor outhouse. lol.

 

breakfast/brunch menu was just as good for 3 mornings..sausages,bacon,eggs,fried taters onions &peppers,panfried fish..coffee with the recipe(wife's home made Irish cream..she made us 3 bottles..lol) a few beers.

 

Man, ya gotta fuel up when you are spending the better part of 12 hours on the water

 

 

And thanks for the great comments folks, it was a great time spent with some great people,no monsters to brag about but we caught a couple hundred fish easily between the gang and had a blast doing it and that's what it's all about right there I am lucky I have been able to share alot of experiences like this one over the years with some great fishin freinds,my wife and kids, and relatives alike since I have had my trailer there on the lake front

[Reef Runner]

Awsome report JWL! had my stomach growling and chipped a tooth taking a bite out of my monitor. Great job out there guys.

[Joey]

Great report and pics. Looks like it was a super time.

 

Pickerel Cheeks, mmmmmmmmmmmmm!!

 

Joey

[Rich Clemens]

Now that's a great start to the fall season. Gonna be a wee bit tough to beat that. great read and thanks for sharing.

[bigugli]

OK Man!!! Best part of the report was the meal. That was sick... fried spuds, steak, chili, burgs, dogs and fish. That poor poor outhouse. lol.

You haven't been to one of the BigUgli's pot luck fish fries. 20lbs of fish, 20+ side dishes and a whole lotta beer. Nobody needs to eat the next day.

Edited September 26, 2008 by bigugli

[TroutnMuskieHunter]

Great report Jack....looks like you ladds had a blast!~!!

[fatherof3]

great report,looks like you guys had a great time.Thanks for sharing.

[Bly]

Great report! My stomach hurts just thinking about that food LOL Fall fishing.....I love it!

[yellowboat]

Looks like a great trip.

[jwl]

thanks again for all the great comments guys and gals.

 

getting out there with some great fishin friends is what it's all about, we did pretty good for the fishing being "slow". It's only the start of the fall fishing, I will get a couple more good trips in.

 

Yellowboat, if you are going to shut down your place Thanksgiving weekend...maybe see ya out on the water then.....look for my green/cream Viper..don't be shy run on over and say hi, will share any good fishin news with ya no probs

Edited September 26, 2008 by jwl