A fishing report pays off

Got a nice e-mail the other day from AJ Schulz. He and his brother-in-law, Doug Storm, read last week's fishing report and decided to try Ballantyne this past weekend.

AJ reported they got into a few bass, with much of the action coming from the weedlines in the 5 to 10 foot range near the northeast basin.

AJ caught a nice 3 1/2 pound, 18 inch bucketmouth, seen here to the right.

Doug Storm also caught a decent bass (below).

I like receiving these types of e-mails. I say why be afraid to tell someone where you are catching fish? They still have to catch fish themselves, right?

I was fortunate enough to get out this past weekend with fellow staffer Tanner Kent. We both hauled in three apiece at Little Jefferson. Here is my 3-pound, 12 ounce hawg I caught. Not bad considering we fished the day after a tourney wrapped up.

Your weekend fishing report

Sunfish action is the big draw on area lakes right now. Madison Lake continues to kick out sunfish in roughly 8 feet, and bass action remains strong along the shorelines and in weedlines under 10 feet of water.

A few walleyes are hitting crankbaits along the shorelines of Washington in low-light hours. Sunfish action remains excellent on Washington in water less than 8 feet. Small northerns are being taken on Washington as well.

The fishing pier on Little Jefferson is kicking out a consistent sunfish bite on waxworms. Bullhead action is also strong next to the pier, and some crappies are being taken on minnows.

Bass action on Little Jeff remains strong along docks and overgrown shorelines. Concentrate on weedlines in 5 feet.

Northerns are going crazy for buzzbaits on Ballantyne, and the bass action has been strong there as well. Concentrate on the weedlines in 5 to 10 feet of water. An important note here is action was stronger when those weedlines ran near deeper water, such as the deep basin on the northeast side of the lake.

Francis is giving up northerns along the weedlines, but few with good size.

River action is slow. A few anglers are starting to get back out on the river, but fast currents and deep water levels have kept the anglers at bay. Expect the catfish action to pick up in a few weeks.

Some observations from a morning of fishing

There's always a few things to observe on an early-morning trip to the lake.

Pulling up at Buckmaster Bridge at Madison Lake early Thursday morning, I noticed how calm the water was. The wildlife was the only thing giving off sound, which I found to my liking because this meant I owned that little spot by myself.

At 5:30 in the morning, life can seem very peaceful. I snapped off a few photos of this peace before wetting a line. I meant to take some video to capture the stillness, except for a few birds chirping behind me and a few fish popping bugs off the top of the water, but then again, I was wetting a line.

After an hour and a half at Buckmaster, I moved over to the German-Jefferson Lakes fishing pier on Little Jeff. A few guys were fishing there, making jokes about taking their whopper catches to The Free Press for photos.

I suppose I could have walked over and offered to take their pictures with my cell phone, but again, I was wetting a line, and when the opportunities are too far and few between, pulling up a line to take a photo of a few guys fishing is low on the list of to-dos.

I did, however, give up on the fishing for a bit after they left, only because I noticed a man and a woman, both with wonderful fishing hats, settle into the pier for some panfish/bullhead fishing.

They looked very complete, the two of them fishing on the pier, standing side-by-side, talking quietly. I admired their togetherness and thought of how I could stand all day with my wife, Mollie, fishing, talking, loving life. Of course, with our son Tyler, we'd never be able to stand side-by-side and talk, because like all children, he has plenty of energy for all of us.

I asked the two of them if I could snap a couple of photos, and needless to say, Diane Fetzer and Doyle Schneider, both of New Ulm, were happy to oblige me. Diane joked she didn't know she'd have to be in a picture when they left for their weekly outing to Little Jefferson. They did, however, get their revenge when she took a few photos of me fishing.

Turnabout is fair play, right?

The quality of the photos I took of them aren't all that great, but that's mostly because I am learning how to maximize the quality of pictures taken with my Blackberry. I think, however, you'll get the point.

Anyhow, Doyle said they catch quite a few sunnies and bullheads from the pier — Diane's favorite, he assured me — and they've seen some nice crappies come off minnows there.

"There was a fellow out here who just left that caught a big bass," Fetzer said.

Must have been the fish they were joking about taking to The Free Press. Too bad I was wetting a line.

Catfish league

Well, I told you John Cross had something up his sleeve for the Belle Plaine Cat League in Sunday's print edition of The Free Press.

He went out with a couple of the guys from the league and what he came away with was some pretty good stuff. I've never caught anything over about a 5-pound catfish, so seeing a guy hoist a 40-plus pound cat always amazes me.

Check out his audio slideshow for some images from the event.

I have a few days off this week after working the entire Fourth of July weekend. Hopefully I can get out on a few lakes and give an update. Hope your Fourth is safe and happy one.

And please, if you're going to be out on the lake or driving around, don't drink and boat/drive. It just isn't worth it.

At least it was a pike

Not much happening with me on the fishing front.

I wish it weren't true, but it is. That's life I guess. As things start to pile up, and family responsibilities get the best of us, sometimes I guess we have to give up some of the things we love.

In this case, it's unlimited time on the water.

Nonetheless, I made it out to Madison Lake on Monday with my brother-in-law. We spent a good five hours at Madison, although an hour of it was spent enjoying a fine burger and a few cold ones at The Boat Landing before heading back onto the water.

Dave, my brother-in-law, pulled in a northern, a bass and a sheepshead on our outing, and just before the day gave way to night, I pulled in a 3.6 pound pike. Not bad. Could have been better, but not bad.

I'm hearing only scattered reports on the fishing front as well. I've had several people tell me that Lura Lake south of Mapleton is difficult to fish right now because of all the weeds. I know I've fished the south bay twice in the past month, and the weeds seem to be clearing on that end, so I'd recommend concentrating my efforts toward the Lura Lake Sportsmen's Club landing on that south side.

Sunfish action is out of control on some of the area lakes, if that is your thing. Walleye reports aren't coming across at all, so if you're still hooking into the 'eyes, feel free to drop me a line.

On a side note, John Cross spent some time with a few die-hard catfish anglers. He has something planned for this Sunday's print edition, and I believe he'll have an audio slideshow of the event. I'll post a link here when that is available.

Until then, chase some bass, the weather is perfect for it.

The tale of three bass

The bass action on area lakes has been excellent, to say the least. If it hasn't been excellent, then you're probably not fishing for lunkers anyhow.

I've caught my fair share of largemouths already this year, but three of the bass I've caught, from three different lakes, have boggled my mind, slightly.

The first bass, caught the Sunday of opening weekend in the rain while fishing at Buckmaster Bridge, came in at roughly 19 inches, and hoisting it up I thought that it'd catch 3 1/2 pounds on the scale — or 2 pounds, dead on. I was surprised by this, but I surmised it must have been a postspawn bass, fresh out of eggs and finally ready to feed again.

This past Saturday, while fishing the shoreline to the east of the fishing pier at West Jefferson, I pulled in another whopper of a fish. When I hoisted it out of my net, I started thinking that very few fish bass I've caught had the length of this baby (using the pliers in these pictures, I was able to give some scale; the pliers is 6 1/2 inches long). But when I threw this bucketmouth on the scale, it came in just over 3 pounds.

Seriously?

Well, Monday I took to the shores of Lura Lake, and I pulled in the best of them yet, and this one measured shorter but weighed in at 4 pounds, 1 ounce. A good fight, too. Later I caught about a 15 incher that weight just over 2 pounds. Go figure.

Everyone asks me why I'm seeing such a difference in the fish, and honestly, I don't have a good answer to that. The postspawn, empty belly scenario seems most likely, but the two bigger bass on Lura definitely had full bellies, and the 2-pounder looked as though it might still have had eggs in its belly.

Whatever the case, I'm just glad to be able to pull in quality fish from our area lakes.

Bass-opener thoughts

Well, my friends, bass opener is almost upon, which to me means summer is almost truly upon us.

I have a few places mapped out for Saturday's opener, but the place I'm most looking forward to is Lake Ballantyne, mostly because I will be fishing with a friend who has never caught a bass before, but is awfully excited to get after 'em.

He's asked me a lot of questions lately, and a lot of what he's asked, I'd already been thinking about as I rigged my poles for the morning's opener. So I snapped this crude cell phone picture before I hustled out for work (sorry about the so-so quality), and for you, I'll break down my thought process.

Before we start, I think it is important to understand the one factor I am constantly working over in my head: weeds. Many people see weeds matted along a shoreline and instantly drive off looking for more manageable weeds (because weeds, after all, hold fish, right?).

Taking this approach might make your day a little less stressful because you will spend less time picking weeds off your lures, but I think more and bigger fish will be hanging in those weeds, in pockets, waiting to strike the baitfish hiding out in those same weedbeds. The four lures I tied on for my first outing of 2010 all deal with attacking the weeds.

Scum Frog
The Scum Frog, located in the far left of this picture, is an easy choice for me after watching the feeding patterns of bass the last couple of years. The Scum From can be tossed deep into the weeds, especially those that choke out at the surface top. Often a bass will follow the movements of the frog on top the water until it finds a place to explode through the vegetation for its meal (this same approach can be transferred to fishing lily pads as well).

The general rule here is reel up slack, wait two seconds, and then set the hook.

Texas-rig
To the right of the Scum Frog is my Texas-rig setup. I haven't added the worm yet because I like to keep them fresh by leaving them in the packages until I'm ready to use them. But the Texas-rig is a must when attacking weeds. Rigged to be weedless, this little baby can go anywhere with you on the lake and will do just fine pulling in all sizes of bass.

I like to fish with ribbontail worms, but I'm not against fishing with stick worms (no tail) or even crawdads or similar plastic setups. Colors vary, but for my money, I always have something blue (preferably a blue fleck by PowerBait), something red, something in a greenish/orange blend (the crawdad look) and something with a chartreuse tail. These colors have always worked, so I tend to stay in that category.

Spinnerbait
Second from the right, the spinnerbait needs little introduction or explanation. The spinnerbait works in a lot of ways, but casting and ripping through the weeds isn't the ideal use for this lure. But I still use it when attacking the weeds because I use this lure to roam the outer edges. Since the vibration from the spinner can attract fish from long distances, this lure works well to locate fish. Once located, I can figure out which of my four setups will provide me the best chance to land a lunker.

Flat Rap
Rapala's Flat Rap (far right) may be the best lure the longtime company has put out yet. This takes the best from suspended raps, and the best from the Original Floating Minnow and combines them into a deadly little lure.

Why deadly? The Flat Rap can be worked on top as a wounded minnow (sounds like the Original Floating Minnow, huh?), but the Flat Rap can be worked down to different depths to mimic an injured minnow (kinda like a suspended rap such as a Husky Jerk). It's built to rise slowly, so in essence, a 2 to 4 foot running Flat Rap can be worked down to 4 feet deep or so with the same action it had while struggling at the top of the water.

So far, I've had a northern strike at it, caught a few bass, caught a few sunfish, and pulled in a nice crappie. So the lure is versatile if nothing else.

How does that work to the weeds: Well, in this case I use the Flat Rap to work close to choked out weeds, or above lower, sparser weeds. Both scenarios have worked real well, and I anticipate this lure having a Joe Mauer-like career.

Well, I know that was long, but I hope it helps. Good luck, all!