May 5-7th fishing report

[Ty Sennett]

We did some walleye fishing over opening weekend. Deerfoot had a tournament and the new owners over at Deerfoot were very generous. We had a great time with friends and family.

The fishing was a little tough on the Chip for some. Either you caught a lot of small ones out deep or you caught a few big ones up shallow. The males and females were not anywhere close to each other. Rachel and I didn't catch a small one in the three day tourney. They wer all 17 to 23 inchers(all female). Jason Hammernick and Jon Hoyer stayed at our house during the tourney and they won with the same kind of results;not many fish but big ones. They had a 26 1/2" to win. One of my buddies caught a whole bunch of walleye but nothing over 15 inches. So, either you target small males or you target big females. Things will change this week with the warmer weather. The males should gradually leave the spawning areas to join the rest of the females to look for food.

[IllinoisRip]

Saw you out there this past Monday. Who was the fisherman in the large white center drive Bass Pro shop boat? That boat really stood out. Don't see many center drives on the Chip.

[MCR_at_BigMusky]

Pete? Fishing the dead sea – no way – can’t be… LOL

[IllinoisRip]

That is who I thought it was. Very impressive boat. All by himself.

[Ty Sennett]

It was Pete. He was out doing some crappie fishing.

By the way MCR_at_BigMusky thanks for the baits. They look awesome.

[Mark Benson]

Saw you out there this past Monday. Who was the fisherman in the large white center drive Bass Pro shop boat? That boat really stood out. Don't see many center drives on the Chip.

I was thinking Pete also and then when I saw him and his father with Gillespie on Waters and Woods on Saturday, I thought he might have been prefishing for the show... I have seen Hammernick fish with Dahlberg out of a similar boat on Dahlberg's show, but I suspect that it was Dahlberg's. Having been fortunate enough to fish out of them in FL, those center consoles are very nice to fish out of if you are going to have a steering wheel.

Mark

[MCR_at_BigMusky]

You’re welcome Ty. I’m heading up this Friday to chase some crappies too; I’ll keep an eye out for you.

[Ty Sennett]

Give me a call and I'll send you a few spots over the phone. It's the least I could do for those baits.

Ty

[Ty Sennett]

Mark, I always thought those center drive boats took up too much room. I totally get why they use them deep sea fishing or flats fishing but you get way more room if you leave the console off to the side for inland waters don't you. I don't know, just wondering.

Ty

[MCR_at_BigMusky]

Well we usually do pretty good right from the dock lol, How about I cash that spot phone call in after the musky season starts ;)
Please let me know how you like those double frog hooks after you try them. I’m testing them out, so far mixed thoughts on them.

[Mark Benson]

Ty:

I pretty much am a tiller guy running a 75 now and really with the power steering still think if I upgraded in the motor I would still be inclined to do the tiller to keep the space. I guess the only thing I see in the center vs. the side is two ways from front to back. The biggest plus from my prospective I think is the ability to stand while driving giving you better view of things.

There are a bunch of things that are making there way to fresh water from salt. The power pole/talon is certainly one of them. I am seeing lots of guys with them on their boats across the street at the Musky Shop.

More use of leader material at the end of braids as most salties tie in leader material even on their mono lines. We tie snaps and swivels, they use knots...

Dahlberg has been kite fishing on Mille Lacs and I have a friend over here who spends a fair amount of time on the Atlantic side using one. We've talked about it up here for muskies, biggest question being bait. But as I told him, panfish can be considered bait so long as you count them toward your bag limit for the day.

Circle hooks are something that I am starting to use under slip bobbers more and more. Why... when I am drifting slips on to or over a weedbed/hump, there can be times where there is a bow in the line. With regular hooks, it always seemed like you had to sneak up on them while bring in the line and consequently would get a fair amount of drops. With circle hooks, I just start reeling like a banshee as that is the setting process... lots less drops/more hook ups.

Enough for now... Good stuff!!! Friends in town for the rest of the week, so let the fishing begin!!!

Mark