2010 Fishing / Camping Trip

Well, our annual camping trip is in the books. The first stop was by our regular campsite to pay homage (C12). It was one of the islands that was decimated by the tornado in July. It was sad to see, but we found a new campsite and still had an enjoyable camping weekend.

The fishing on the other hand...well, lets just say I was humbled. I covered a wide swath of the flowage; from up in Blair Lake down to Rat Lake, and from Donner's bay over to Horseshoe and Townline. Four guys, and six keeper fish in 2.5 days of fishing...and only one Walleye in the mix. I have fished this body of water (hard) for 11 years now, and it still confounds me from time to time.

Picked up two nice 13" crappies suspended in deep water, one 12" perch over shallow wood, one nice pumpkinseed out of 5' weeds, a 20" northern out of the log jams, and the last (eater) fish was the 16.5" walleye out of an 8' bay over some wood. Everything but the perch and pumpkinseed on minnows. We also had one smallmouth, which we released. I just don't eat bass.

It was just enough fish for a fish fry on Saturday night....thank god we brought some sweet corn along! Stopped at Donner's Bay for the first time and got some oil & gas. Nice place. Also had a chance to meet The Tiny Fisherman and Flambeau Fluffy out on the water...nice people.

All in all it was a good trip...I'm already jotting down notes for 2011.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

We should of had you over for a few barley pops. We enjoy to meet people that post, was good to finally meet you too.

Until next time,

LundAngler,
We're up here now, and you're right, it's been a tough bite so far. This is a rare fall trip for us, but I'm amazed at the lack of people up here. But, hey, there's 2' more water than in the spring, so that's a good thing. Maybe we can actually hit "full pool" next spring.
HRG

I normally don't eat bass either, but if you're eating smallies from the TFF shortly after catching them, they are excellent. We tend to keep all legal smallies to eat as we all like a good shore lunch. We fry them up right with the walleyes, and they actually taste great.

If you take them home and they sit in the freezer for a while, walleyes hold their flavor much better, but as a shore lunch, or even a few days after catching them.....Try em, you'll like em.

I agree. Have eaten several smallies from the Flambeau River and they are delicious. only body of water i eat them from. excellent table fare.