February 16, 2017
We returned to our fishing spot one week later to find conditions completely different than the week before. This is not unusual and the reason that fishing reports are put out on a weekly basis. Conditions change, fish react and anglers must do the same.
No Marks on Graph
Last week stripers were deep and spoons were the best option to catch fish on the bottom at 60 feet. This time there were no fish found in deep water so went looking toward the back of the canyon to see where the schools had moved.
We trolled while graphing in case there were shallow plankton eating fish high in the water column where they may not be seen on the graph. The first striper was caught before any marks were seen on the graph. As that fish was played the marks on the graph increased. Another striper was caught while casting behind the troll caught fish. The only technique that did not work was dropping the spoon to the bottom when deep fish were seen under the boat.
After this first fish encounter our plan changed to trolling and casting. We found lots of shad schools along a 200 yard stretch of shoreline in 20-35 feet of water. Each pass resulted in another striper and sometimes a second fish was caught while casting the same Lucky Craft pointer XD 78 in ghost color. Good fishing continued from 9-11 AM. We hit a few more spots on the way back without catching more fish.
Shad school seen with one striper.
We filleted 25 stripers at the fish cleaning station and talked with other anglers that had been fishing. Stripers were caught in Warm Creek, Navajo, Last Chance and Rock Creek. I caught my first smallmouth bass of the year while casting for stripers.
Lots of shad with a few striper fish marks = resulted in good trolling
One walleye was caught on a spoon in Last Chance. This is the time of year to catch big walleye as they are in prespawn mode. Large females are feeding on crayfish and shad. The spawn occurs as water temperature climbs above 53-55 degrees which is usually during the month of March. Male walleye are totally focused on spawning and do not feed much in these conditions. The best time to catch walleye is from April 15 - June 15th and the best location is from Bullfrog upstream. Don’t forget the tagged walleye contest which is still happening and will be in full swing during the peak fishing season this year. Register on line on the main Wayneswords page before fishing for walleye.
Last Updated on Thursday, 16 February 2017 12:01
We returned to our fishing spot one week later to find conditions completely different than the week before. This is not unusual and the reason that fishing reports are put out on a weekly basis. Conditions change, fish react and anglers must do the same.
No Marks on Graph
Last week stripers were deep and spoons were the best option to catch fish on the bottom at 60 feet. This time there were no fish found in deep water so went looking toward the back of the canyon to see where the schools had moved.
We trolled while graphing in case there were shallow plankton eating fish high in the water column where they may not be seen on the graph. The first striper was caught before any marks were seen on the graph. As that fish was played the marks on the graph increased. Another striper was caught while casting behind the troll caught fish. The only technique that did not work was dropping the spoon to the bottom when deep fish were seen under the boat.
Shad school seen with one striper.
We filleted 25 stripers at the fish cleaning station and talked with other anglers that had been fishing. Stripers were caught in Warm Creek, Navajo, Last Chance and Rock Creek. I caught my first smallmouth bass of the year while casting for stripers.
Lots of shad with a few striper fish marks = resulted in good trolling
One walleye was caught on a spoon in Last Chance. This is the time of year to catch big walleye as they are in prespawn mode. Large females are feeding on crayfish and shad. The spawn occurs as water temperature climbs above 53-55 degrees which is usually during the month of March. Male walleye are totally focused on spawning and do not feed much in these conditions. The best time to catch walleye is from April 15 - June 15th and the best location is from Bullfrog upstream. Don’t forget the tagged walleye contest which is still happening and will be in full swing during the peak fishing season this year. Register on line on the main Wayneswords page before fishing for walleye.
Last Updated on Thursday, 16 February 2017 12:01