10-28-2013, 03:45 PM
Different... After one month of not being on the water is the only description I can say about the day. Completely opposite of what I saw Sept 28th/the last time I was out. Actually I have never seen it like this since we got a boat a little over 2 years ago.
ZERO bait anywhere up north. Both of my sonars were so clean I was starting to wonder if not turning them on for a month killed 'em. Never seen it so clean. Zero bait balls and never came across any Stripers. Very few fish seen on either sonar all day and I put 40 miles on the boat running around from spot to spot.
There is still bass around but on the tough side to catch/find. Nothing like winter but still the last two years this exact time of the year we were still catching them left and right.
Water temp at lauch/most of the day was 67. Up into the lower 70s later in the day in the back of coves.
Madi took the lead fast on top water right off the bat but in the end we only got 5 on top water before our first spot dried up. From then on it was a challenge to find anything. We went several hours before we caught another and for a weird twist cranking wasn't it at all. This time of the year is HUGE for cranking and it just wasn't happening. They were shallow and with the huge lake turnover happening right now it just wasn't worth the hassle to be casting cranks and dragging in weeds every cast.
For Madi the Spinnerbait was the ticket and to be different I was using a swimming jig. That was about it the rest of the day in 2-4 feet of water and in the brush/shallow flat back cove areas.
In the end we caught 26 and I regained and held the lead for the day with 15 of them and the biggest. One nice fatty between 3 and 3.5lbs. One smallie and the rest LMB.
The fish are healthy and fat. No idea what in the heck they eating though. No bait visible even in the shallows with good water clarity.
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ZERO bait anywhere up north. Both of my sonars were so clean I was starting to wonder if not turning them on for a month killed 'em. Never seen it so clean. Zero bait balls and never came across any Stripers. Very few fish seen on either sonar all day and I put 40 miles on the boat running around from spot to spot.
There is still bass around but on the tough side to catch/find. Nothing like winter but still the last two years this exact time of the year we were still catching them left and right.
Water temp at lauch/most of the day was 67. Up into the lower 70s later in the day in the back of coves.
Madi took the lead fast on top water right off the bat but in the end we only got 5 on top water before our first spot dried up. From then on it was a challenge to find anything. We went several hours before we caught another and for a weird twist cranking wasn't it at all. This time of the year is HUGE for cranking and it just wasn't happening. They were shallow and with the huge lake turnover happening right now it just wasn't worth the hassle to be casting cranks and dragging in weeds every cast.
For Madi the Spinnerbait was the ticket and to be different I was using a swimming jig. That was about it the rest of the day in 2-4 feet of water and in the brush/shallow flat back cove areas.
In the end we caught 26 and I regained and held the lead for the day with 15 of them and the biggest. One nice fatty between 3 and 3.5lbs. One smallie and the rest LMB.
The fish are healthy and fat. No idea what in the heck they eating though. No bait visible even in the shallows with good water clarity.
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