Great fishing weekend on the flowage 6/24 to 6/27

[fishharder]

Got to the flowage on friday and after setting up camp went out. Fished the west side in a shallow bay looking for spawning bluegills. We did find some spawning action and did manage to catch 10 nice bluegills over 7 1/2 inches and threw back 15 or so under that all caught on a chunck of nightcrawler below a bobber. The bass started jumping out of the water and surfacing towards night time and after watching them for a while noticed that they were after the dragon flies that where landing on some white slimy stuff on the surface. We then started to catch the bass on night crawlers also. I wanted some surface lure action so I put on a floating rapala. I would throw it out and let it sit for a while then just twitch it and they would bang it. I would wait for them to surface then throw it to them and would usually get a strike. ended up with 5 largemouth bass 10 nice bluegills for Friday night. Saturday morning headed out at 7 am did some drifting in 20 fow over and around some humps on the east side dragging 1/8 oz jigs and leeches and picked up one walleye 13 inches and 4 bluegills and 2 perch. Headed back to camp for a fish fry and then to take my 9 year old daughter out to get some bluegill action on some hot beds I found the day before. After being on the spot for 2 hrs she had 13 bluegills over 7 1/2 inches and had caught about 30 total I just took the fish off and baited the hook and let her do all the catching. She then just wanted to go for a boat ride so we just cruised around looking at the great senory the flowage has to offer. That night I went out to try for some more bass in the same bay doing the same thing with a rapala with no luck then I tried a spinner bait and ended up with 2 more largemouth bass. Sunday we slept in. then in the afternoon went out to try drifting again over some other humps on the west side and ended up with 1 walleye 15 1/2 inches 3 bluegills and 1 perch all caught while drifting jigs and leeches. Monday morning my daughter wanted to go out for some walleye so we drifted over some humps on the east side and ended up with one walleye 16 inches and 2 blue gills that she caught were 8 1/2 inches and 8 1/4 inches and 2 perch that were just over 9 inches. We moved to another hump and drifted it and caught 2 crappie. Then we went to the kindergarden to try for some blue gills. I casted a spinner bait and looked for beds. On my first cast I caught a 26 inch northern and never caught anything else on it. When we got to the back end my daughter fished leeches under a bobber and caught 2 more largemouth bass a perch and a few bluegills. While I was drifting I kept hearing splashing and noticed it was 2 musky flopping on the top of the water. I was seeing alot of bait while drifting and figure they were just feeding on the bait. At one time they were only 20 feet away from my boat. looked to be good size fish. Also while drifting I had to use drift socks to slow my drift to .5 mph or less. Well that about does it for my weekend on the flowage it was great as always. OH yea Sunday night I met walleyemaxx for the first time at the fish cleaing house and chatted with him and his client for a while which was very nice. His client was very happy with the job maxx had done for him and his son that day. I also got a few pointers from maxx and was happy to have met him after reading his reports all the time. until next time tight lines to all.

[walleyemaxx]

Hi Brent,

Thanks for the report. Sounds like you and your family had a great time. Our children are the future of our sport. Glad to see your daughter enjoys fishing with Dad. It was nice meeting you Last Sunday night. Thanks for stopping to introduce yourself. It's nice to know that my posts are being read. If you ever have a question about the flowage before you make a trip up, just post it and I or maybe someone else who reads it can answer. I figure we can all help each other. I try to give accurate and honest info even if I personally don't do good, maybe someone else who did can shed light on how they did it. Good luck in all your fishing ventures and keep posting your Big Chip fishing results. hope to see you again in the future.

Walleyemaxx

[fishharder]

I don't usually eat many bass but I tried the removing of the lateral line on the fillets like Maxx said and I think they taste just as good as the walleye with a slightly different tecture to the meat. I tried them fried at the camp they were excellent and today I baked them in the oven 360 degrees for 13 mins. with melted butter and orange juice pour on the fillets in a shallow baking pan. They didn't even make it out of the pan and my daughter And I had them all gone. They are better eating out of the pan because you can smother them in the butter and juice. The lateral line runs the entire length of the fillet. this is the redish meat just under the skin. I just made a v cut the entire length of the fillet were the lateral line was and it was out. Try this you will like it.

[walleyemaxx]

Thanks for the info Brent,

I always fry my fish, but that sounds like an easy baked dish. I found out a long time ago that if you remove that lateral line, the LM Bass are excellent table fare.

Walleyemaxx