Some biggin's

[cliffy]

Spent 6 days fishin the bay from Sat. the 24th. to Thurs. could not complain about the weather. The three bigger ones were 21,23.5 and 25.5 all were caught casting in the shallows after dark on 4" jointed rappalas and some straight 4 to 6inch rappalas greys seemed to work the best. Did nothing but catch pike trolling cranks and harnesses during day and night one 34 and one 36" and many hammer handles. When fishing the shallows at night we had a few follows and saw many eyeballs gleeming at us but they would just sit there and watch the lure go by. All the walleyes we caught had nothing in thier gullets, so does this mean they are not finding food in the Bay? Chris (Baitshopguy) Thanks for your pointers once again and we look forward to seeing everyone again next year.
Thanks, Cliff.

[The Bait Shop Guy]

No problem, Cliff. Glad to help out. Actually it's more uncommon to find fish WITH food in their stomachs, than without, up here. That said, the last couple 'eyes I caught both had huge gobies in them. I don't think there's any shortage of forage out there. When you pull off the breaklines, you'll mark large pods of bait. It appears that there was a bumper crop of shiners this year. It probably doesn't take too long for them to digest shiners. That may also be yet another factor contributing to the tough bite this year - too much food. We see the same thing in mid summer when the alewives pull in to spawn and the mayfly hatches start. Too much natural food to compete with!

On a side note, the bite seems to FINALLY be improving! Doesn't hurt having a few days of relatively stable weather and a full moon. The few reports we've had from Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights were promising. Weather looks like it will cooperate through the next week. Hopefully the fish will, too!