Chippewa Flowage fishing report for 8-2-2011

[walleyemaxx]

Hi everyone,

Guided Bill for a half day today. it was originally planned for the morning, but severe thunderstorms altered our plans. We finally left the boat landing at 12 noon. It was lightly raining, but no lightning and thunder with almost no wind.

Day started slow but the fish got more active as the afternoon wore on. By 4:30 we had a 2 man lake limi of Walleyes(4) along with some dandy Blugills and Perch. Bill also landed a very nice and heavy 19" SM Bass. the Walleyes all were 14"-16" and 2 of the Bluegills measured 91/2" and 93/4". the smallest one we kept was 7". The Perch were both 10". Some really quality fish. Made for two hefty bags of fillets.

All the fish were caught again on jigs and leeches. I'm catching every thing while fishing for Walleyes as the main quarry. I know that if I scale down, I'd catch more panfish and if I did other things different,I'd catch more Bass. But I have Walleye vision.Quess I was born with it. Since Walleyes are being difficult to catch on the Big Chip right now, it is very rewarding and satisfying to be able to have consistent sucess. I continue to find the Walleyes relating to deep wood. Still try the weeds but to no avail. the Walleyes have Perch minnows in their stomachs. Obviously the Perch fry are using the deep wood for cover and the Walleyes are right there behind them .

The weather was constantly changing. We had heavy over cast skies with a light south wind. then a light west wind, then it finally switched to the North with a good Walleye chop. Just before we were done, the sun popped out and warmed everything up. The air temps were a comfortable mid 70's untill the sun came out. The water temps are still warm at 77 degrees.

I'll be guiding Bill again tommorow. Will start mid morning weather permitting. Good luck fishing everyone.

If you would like to learn the latest patterns and techniques for catching Walleyes on the Chippewa Flowage, shoot me an email or give me a call. We can work up a day.

Walleyemaxx

[Randy Dunlap]

Tom -

You mention above that if you were targeting bass you would do some things differently. Any chance you would not mind mentioning what those things would be......I have little (if any) interest in walleyes. I target smallmouth on my trip to the Flowage (catch and release of course). Any thoughts would be interesting to me.

Thanks in advance -
Randy

[walleyemaxx]

Hi Randy,

If I were going to target the Bass, first for the SM Bass I would target more rock structures both deep and shallow and I'd use Different type of baits. For instance I'd throw crayfish imitating crankbaits over and around rock bars. For live bait on those rock bars, I'd use a split shot rig with a plain hook and a leech. If I were to be targeting just SM Bass, I would also fish the East side a LOT.

For the LM Bass, I'd fish the weeds from shallow to about 8-10 feet deep. For them I'd use minnow imitating crankbaits and I'd fish the West side a LOT.

The other cover option I'd fish for both LM and SM Bass is shoreline wood. The many trees you see in the water will hold both species of Bass.

Since I have Walleye vision, I don't get into worm fishing for Bass like the carolina rig, the Texas rig, or a jig and pig. I catch a lot of Bass while fishing for Walleyes and I'm sure you'l catch a lot of Walleyes while fishing for Bass. I hope you release the Walleyes because I release the SM Bass.

Hope this answers your question.

Walleyemaxx

[Randy Dunlap]

Tom -

Thanks. I stay at Treelands so the east side is definitely a focus. I hear you about the shallow structure (hard bottom, wood or both). This year was a little tougher than previous years for me. We were up over the 4th of July week. It was much warmer consistently (surface water was up around 80) than I had experienced in the prior 6 or so trips. It seemed to effect the shallow structure spots that had produced more effectively for me in the past. There were still fish there but not in the numbers that I had previously experienced. They were definitely not on the topwater bite as well as the prior trips.

I catch scattered bass in weeds (including smallmouth at times) but the deeper structure is not something that I have had to play with before.

Do you ever catch smallmouth bass on the sunken bogs? Any other types of deep wood? I am really curious about other types of structures to try. I spent a very brief time trying a sunken bog this year. I caught some panfish and at least convinced myself that there are fish there.

In the past, I have not had to resort to Carolina rigs or other deepwater plastics. That can get boring. If it gets warm like that again, I might give that stuff a try.

My usual strategy is power fishing (poppers, buzz baits, shallow cranks, spinnerbaits, etc) until I get a little bit of a consistent bite. Then maybe slow down and fish that area in more detail with soft plastics. I find the Flowage to be a low density fishery for most species. Moving while being smart about it seems to pay off. The down side to moving around is that you can eat up a lot of time running and gunning when you have limited time like me......mostly a family trip, I am on the clock with the boss.

Keeping fish.........

I used to only keep enough for one meal for my wife and my two daughters (20 or so panfish). This year, I changed my plan. No cleaning fish whatsoever. Everything goes back. It was great. I had more fishing time. Did not have to worry about cleaning fish. It was like a real vacation. I fish (and hunt) a bunch throughout the year, there is more than enough game in our freezer (no catch and release in hunting).

So, you do not have to worry about me keeping any walleyes or anything for that matter. I still do a little panfishing for a change of pace. I find crib fishing an interesting change of tactic from my "normal" opportunities. It is much more fun panfishing knowing that you are not accumulating a big job in the livewell.

As I reflect on another good trip to the Flowage, I am struck by the focus on keeping fish. I realize that for some people the act of keeping fish helps them justify the time and money spent in traveling to the Flowage. There is nothing wrong with keeping fish......I do it from time to time. If I am going to keep fish, I really try to keep mid sized fish of any species (including panfish). Having fished some more tightly managed waters, it does make you wonder how the fishing could improve in the Flowage with certain revised regulations. I understand the potential economic impacts on the resort owners and other businesses that depend on the tourism but you have to wonder about things. What would a slot limit on walleyes do? Or a protected limit such as no walleyes kept over 18 inches? Look what the muskie fishery has done. Were 50" muskies as common back in the 70s and 80s? I highly doubt it. Lots of 34" muskies were killed back then. I understand the concerns with the largemouth (although I caught some nice fat healthy largemouth this trip) so I will leave that one alone. What about an 18" limit on smallmouth? It is already a low density fishery. Why not manage it for trophy bass? It is no coincidence that most smallies caught in the Flowage are nice, fat and healthy but often right around 14". I have seen too many 16" smallies getting filleted by some guy fishing bait on a bobber on a weedline for "whatever is biting". Not my favorite sight in the world. Same goes for crappies.......why in the world did they increase the limit to 25? Crappies get pounded in the Flowage. I have been up there in the early summer. There are some real meat hogs running around at times, especially at that time of the year. I know about the preachers busted last year but I have personally witnessed at least one other group from Indiana (not Illinois) that was way over their limit on panfish. Not even close. It would be nice to give the crappies a fighting chance to get over 12 inches. I know crappies are a cyclical fishery but there are not enough quality crappies running around.

I will step off the soap box now. Selective harvest might do the Flowage some good. I like what I hear from most of the hard core walleye guys. They are letting quality walleyes go and keeping the eaters (12-16 inches). Maybe that will start to extend to the smallmouth and crappies. Muskie guys are already there.

Maybe the resort owners and the fisheries guys will take some risks for the good of a quality fishery. The fishery will be there either way but it is a question of what type of fishery people want to have.......fish or quality fish. An 18 inch walleye, a 16 inch smallmouth and a 12 inch crappie are completely different fish than their smaller cousins. Some meat hogs might not return but the vast majority of vacationers that I see are just up there to catch a couple of fish and have a good family trip. The people focused on filling the freezer are the huge minority. They would be better going down south where the growing seasons are longer and the fisheries can sustain more harvest.

Sorry for the long winded rant on selective harvest. Hope it does not bother you.

Thanks for all of the information. It provides a good break from reality while I am stuck down in the Flatlands earning a living for next year's trip "up north".

Randy

[walleyemaxx]

Hi Randy,

Thanks for your opinion. I agree with a lot of what you said and disagree on some others, but I do appreciate hearing your side of it. I consider myself fortunate to have the chance t enjoy the Big Chip often. Supposed to guide this afternoon but a prolonged thunderstorm has postponed it. Hopefully we'll have better weather tommorow. Maybe meet up with you next time you come up.

Walleyemaxx