Wind from the East, fish bite the least

[The Bait Shop Guy]

NOT! Bite was hot tonight, south of Gladstone in 30 FOW.

Ran out to pull my shack off the ice this afternoon, and ran into one of our customers that's been fishing near me. He had a fantastic trip in the morning, and was heading back for some more fun. He caught a 23, 24, 28, and a 29 on tip-ups with small suckers. After hearing a report like that, I figured it would be worth fishing in the rain.

Brought the shack home and grabbed the portable. I drove the truck out to the spot, but after the rain today, I'll be hoofing it from now on. Doug got a flag while I was still setting up. Turned out to be a nice eater around 18 inches. I had a flag pop a little while later, and lost a 20 inch class walleye right under the hole. Things were a little quiet after that, until about 6:30. That's when they started moving through, and the jig bite was on! Caught the first fish on a #1 Red Grape Shiver Minnow, but a #9 Firetiger Rap did most of the damage. They liked that bigger jig being worked aggressively, about 5 feet off of bottom. Ended up going 7 for 10 tonight, and missing several hits while jigging. Two of the fish were short, the rest were between 18 and 24 1/2 inches. I caught only one of those fish on a tip-up. Doug was only fishing tip-ups, and got one more eater and missed another fish while I was there. Jigging was definitely the way to go tonight!