Koya-Ray

Ice ice baby

~ James Skinner

Finally got to ice fish so let’s dive into info.

Long Creek: I finally know how to fish that place. The old river channel runs just past the opening and you want to line up along it for walleye. Pike move into the 14 foot flats at the opening of the bay. Got some fish to boot!

Trenton: annoyingly slow. Talked to peeps who have been doing well, apparently I need to fish a plain hook and minnow on bobber just above bottom. Will try it later and find out.

Skunk Hollow: ice is not good at deep area and is shallow otherwise, so not really an option right now.

Tldr just getting going with ice fishing and more info will come with hopefully good pics.

Kota-ray: not me but people have got some really nice bass there lately and big gills, fishing the flats in the open part on edge of weed bed.

7/16 Kota-Ray

~ James Skinner

Great day bass fishing today. Went out about 4 in the Jackson Kayak and got to do some awesome casting for bass. Spinnerbaits did well as did a Texas rig worm. For whatever reason I didn’t get a hit on a chatterbait. However as dusk moved in I switched to a large perch like minnow bait and fishes the weed edge facing the deep main body of water and got a 19.5 inch 4 lb largemouth, my best ND to date!

Kota Ray 8/17/17

~ James Skinner

Well went out in rooke’s boat to Kota-Ray again today to mixed success. We did managed some nice perch off of the weed edge across from the back fishing dock and got a few small walleye there as well but no big bass. Weather was odd with cooler temps, cloudy, and a storm passed that seemed to shut them down. The smaller spinner jig bait worked well as did minnows on slip bobber and dead stick jigging. Overall not a bad day but not great. Also manged a trout and a nice bluegill.

Kota-Ray on Fire

~ James Skinner

Had another amazing day at Kota-Ray for bass. Ended up catching more bass than I can count, most being in the 1\2 to 1 lb range. But did end up with 3 nice ones at 15, 16, and 17 inches long. Also caught some nice bluegills at 9 inches long! Overall the fishing for the smaller fish was great on a little spinner rig with a small jig head and a small powerbait minnow. The big bass were deep, right off the weed edge and all caught on bass jigs tipped with soft plastics. The blue black jig was the ticket however I did not try another one. Also manged some good sized yellow perch on the spinner rig, might be time to bring some home again!

Kayak Bassin Kota-Ray 

~ James Skinner

Had a great day out on Kota Ray today. Went out in the yak looking for bass and I found some, eventually. Started in the usual spots throwing a chatter bait and got one small one. Then switched to a buzz bait and got an almost identical fish. Then switched to a spinner bait and got another one of the same. However I switched to a Texas rig black worm with red sparkles and that was the ticket, got 2 nice bass at 16 and 17 inches back to back and decided to call it there! Weather was nice, cool but warming after the last two days of cold and rain so that’s a thing. Little wind from the east but less than 10 mph. Had Sam with so got some great pictures! Yellow perch were all over in the bay areas and some were of good size. 


Midwinter update

~ James Skinner

Have been out fishing the last two weekends with little to moderate success. General description of weather, it has been really warm with temp in the 30s.  Still lots of snow on all the lakes though.
  Lewis and clark has been basically dead for walleyes but I have been able to pick up pike right at sunset at the opening of the bay in 14 feet of water. 3 weeks ago I caught a monster 42 in 19 lb fish!

image

Otherwise trenton has been slow, a few fish here and there with the best bite in the morning.  Went out today to the point at the bend and fished that shelf picking up 5 total but bite was basically dead by noon. 
Kota ray was crazy with people. There were perch biting on wax worms and minnows but no size and too many people.
Also caught this guy at lunds in 14 feet. Lake whitefish, my first, kinda cool. 

image

Fishing for bass

~ James Skinner

Went out to Kota-Ray for some post spawn bass. As expected they were hanging under the cattail shelf that surrounds that lake.  Did well using a Texas rig firetiger colored soft plastic crawfish.  Also tried to catch some perch.  Marked a bunch over the main lake flats but all I could catch were less than 6 inches.  They may be eating mayfly hatches since they seem to be avoiding structure.  Next time I will have to try minnows for the bigger ones.  Have a minnow colored gulp bait a try, got a few hits but wasn’t able to hook one.  I was using a surf style rig with the weight on the bottom and 2 hooks off the main line.  Water temp was upper 60s but not crazy warm. 

image

image

Hunting the perch.

~ James Skinner

Took the yak out for the first time this year to Kota-Ray.  Was targeting yellow perch but only brought worms.  Managed to find some at about 10 to 15 foot of water on the main lake point but couldn’t seem to catch any of any size.  Trout were all over the surface but none caught. I also didn’t get any bass but didn’t really try.  Weather was warm, in the 70s and sunny.