Another good day at Trenton, we got 5 different species today. Walleye, crappie, catfish, pike, and yellow perch. Set up on far side on bend at about 10 ft of water. Dead sticks were king.
1.10.2021 Trenton
yellow perch
Hunts Along Bay 7.11.20
Took the boat out of 4 bears down to Hunts Along bay today for the first time looking for smallies. Did not find many of them, 3 total on the day, but did catch a lot of 12-16 inch walleye in 9 to 12 ft of water on spinners and worms. Also lots of small pike. Water was stained but not bad. It was also a large fishing tourney today where they did catch bigger fish so just gotta find them.
We kept 6 of those smaller eyes, along with a drum, 2 white bass, 1 smallmouth, 2 perch.
Kota Ray 8/17/17
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
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!
Midwinter update
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!
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.
Fishing for bass
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.
McLeod
Took the yak out to ray to fish McLeod for a first. Lake is real shallow north of the bridge but the south side is like one big pit that maxes out near 30. Water was warm at 70. Caught about a dozen 2 foot or less pike using a jig head and gulp minnow bait. Was looking for perch and walleye and marked a bunch at 9-10 feet right at the edge of the weeds. Only managed one bitter though on a slip bobber and worm but it was a huge perch. 13 inches long, if I could get a mess of them that would be great. It was bright and sunny and very calm, may have better luck on a cloudy day.
Mid-Winter Fishing
Went out fishing at Sakakawea yesterday with some friends. It has been really cold with highs in the negatives some days but we warmed up this weekend with yesterday at 36. Still fishing was slow. We tried out by Lunds Landing, some submerged islands off in the main body at about 17 to 30 feet of water and got nothing. We then went over to the south side kind of by Tobacco Gardens but a little bit further east at the opening of this bay. We were fishing at 12 to 9 feet of water and managed one yellow perch, one pike, and one 21.5 in walleye! Saw a few other fish on the finder and had a few tipups go but to no result. Caught the fish on a yellow darting lure.
Posted from Williston, North Dakota, United States.
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Summer UPdate
It has been awhile since I have posted anything so I need to record an update of what has happened.
Went out a few times on the lake since last post and did pretty good late summer for walleyes all around the west end here using crawler haulers or trolling raps.
First thing, walleyes do indeed move up into the river in fall. I have been out to the confluence and managed some walleyes (actually sawger) using a three way swivel rig or bottom bouncer pulling a floating jig head with a minnow or slow rolling rattletraps. This was during the month of October mostly.
Second thing, I went out to Kota-Ray today (11-1-2015) in a boat. Yes on the first of November! The water temp was 43 degrees and the air temp was mid 50s with a West/Northwest wind at about 15 mph. It was really hard to find any perch. We found a few small ones sitting in about 6 feet of water across from the second pier on the west end of the lake. They were hitting worms on a double hook ocean rig. Also managed two good sized Large Mouth bass using a Jighead with spinner and a small minnow bait on the end. They seemed to be hold up right on the edge of the weeds in the 8 foot of water zone. Jigged slow and paused in some spots seemed to do the trick.
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Perch Turned Off
Well went out again to catch some more Yellow Perch because they are just so tasty but wasnt able to get very many, or really any big ones. I was using minnows and I thin minnow are over and I should have used worms. Managed five keepers. Also some smaller perch were doing some really odd things on the surface of the water, may be a sign of when the fishing turns off. I heard that others were having a tough time catching them too.
Other news, the lake is still muddy but is clearing up, I hear that the walleyes are starting to bite again on this end on spinners and WORMS so it would seem around 65 degree water temp the switch from minnows to worms happens.
That is all for now.
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Posted from Williston, North Dakota, United States.