Oconomowoc Lake, Waukesha County

[Big_D]

I haven't seen a thread for Oconomowoc out here... so let's get one going with a couple of (late) fishing reports....

Friday 7/21... out from 12:30 - 8:30 PM. Cloudy and cool, low-70's. Water (surface) temps 78-79 F. Light winds out of the N & NE.

Not too bad of an afternoon, at least as far as this year has been going. Put 11 bass in the boat along with a couple of stray walleyes and a small pike. Everything came on tubes.

Out again Saturday 7/22 ~8:30 AM - 3:30 PM. Clear skies in the AM w/occasional breeze out of the N & NE... shifting to partly cloudy with medium wind out of the W by mid-day with a brief shower later in the afternoon. Air temps mid 70's but felt much warmer without much breeze, and water (surface) temps holding 78/79 F.

CRAPPY DAY! Or at least the fishing was. Would have thought to have done much better after a decent Friday afternoon, but it was completely dead into early afternoon. Picked up a couple SMB, a walleye and RB (tubes only, again) as the weather started to shift, to save the day, then back to dead again. Packed it in early... very tough, very futile day. Talked to a couple other boats who said pretty much the same thing. Did throw some musky baits around for an hour or so, but that was uneventful as well.

Well, that's all from D-Land!

Take Care,

D.

[Eric Haataja]

This past Sunday was pretty slow from just about everyone I chatted with as well must have been one of those days....
Thanksfor the great reports!

Eric Haataja

[Big_D]

Out Saturday 7/29, 5:30 AM to 6:00 PM.

Very Hot day, but occasional breeze and occasional cloud cover kept me going. Fairly Humid, light winds out of the W/NW/SW (shifted throughout the day). Surface temps 83-84 F. The front that moved through for about an hour mid day brought only wind and cloud cover... no rain.

Aside from the heat, twas a decent day. Morning was slow. Had a brief hot streak in the afternoon that kinda made up for it. Ended up with 15 bass in the boat, a couple rockies and a micro-pike. Even mix of LMB/SMB today. LMB came strictly out of the breakline weeds. SMB were half/half, breaklines, vs. shallow flats.

Pleasure boat activity was pretty heavy in the afternoon. Understandable, with the heat. Most folks were quite courteous, though a couple spots were nearly unfish-able with all the traffic.

The algia bloom has remained very thick for the past couple of weeks, but it looks like it has started to subside just a little bit. Water clarity was still pretty poor, but noticably better than last week. Maybe a couple more weeks to shake all that out yet.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Out on Saturday (8/5), 5:30 AM - 8:30 PM. Mostly cloudy all day, air temps up into the lower 80's. Water temps (surface) 82-83 F. Occasional light breeze out of the S & SE throughout the day.

Pretty decent day... 19 SMB, 6 LMB, a handful of RB and a snakey pike. All action came on tubes. Streaky in the morning and evening, a couple here, a couple there mixed with a lot of nothing. Hit a hot crawdad feed on the flats around Noon that accounted for about dozen of those smallies. That alone made the whole 15 hour day worth-while. Not much size to anything this day, but lots of of those 13-15"ers that never say die. Did pick up one nice fat 18" LMB in the morning though and lost another nice one at boat-side near dusk.

This is the first day this year that I've seen any evidence of heavy crawdad gorging. I wonder if the odd weather patterns that we've had this summer, have somehow affected thier propulation? By this time last year, we had seen 4-5 weeks worth of the crazy-crawdad action. I know there's a LOT more minnow-forage in the lake this year, compared to last year. Just kinda curious if anyone else has picked up on any subtle differences this year. Shoot me an message if you'd like to talk.

Take Care!

D.

[Big_D]

Out on Monday afternoon (8/21), ~12:30 PM to ~10:00 PM.

Nice day, upper 70's - low 80's not too humid. Sunny with an occasional white poofy cloud. Moderate winds out of the West. Water temp ~76 F. The algia bloom has subsided mostly, but the water still has a light lingering stain.

Slow day. 7 bass fishing till ~8 PM. Switched to musky at dusk. I really have no clue what I'm doing musky fishing in the dark, but it's fun to hear your pacemaker echo across the entire lake when everything has quited down for the night. Anyway, did some casting of weedbeds w/topwater and bulldawgs, and then trolled a jake around for an hour. No action.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Out again on Friday afternoon. 1 PM to ~7:45 PM

Got out a little too early... had to take cover for an hour as the last of the nasty storms worked thier way through that afternoon. After that, twas a fairly nice day, though... partly cloudy, a little humid and occasional winds out of just about every direction. Water temp was down to 74 F.

Threw tubes all day and ended up putting 12 bass in the boat plus a tiny perch and the obligatory rock bass. Fat 18" smallie was the catch of the day. Smallies were up cruising the flats, LMB were in the breakline weeds.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Out two afternoons before and after Labor Day weekend (8/31 & 9/5)... for 13 & 10 bass respectively, mostly smallies. Water temps are holding in the low-mid 70's and any traces of the algia bloom have now subsided.

Have been doing well with the smallies up on the flats and have picked up some nicer bass very shallow in the later afternoons... 19", 18.5" and a few 17"ers in the last two outings. The few LMB were found slopping docks/piers or working the breakline weeds. No size to any of them though.

Should have a few more weeks of decent action on the flats before they shift into their fall feeding patterns. Starting to see a little more musky activity in the lake now too... stalking on the breakline weed edges and cruising the flats.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Out on Sunday 6:30 AM - 2:30 PM. Cool and cloudy all day with an occasional drop of rain. Medium to Heavy winds out of the East. Water temps 70-71 F.

Put 7 bass in the boat as well as a sampler pack of rock bass, perch, pike and gills. Very fat 18" smallie was the catch of the day. Everything on tubes.

Pretty slow day and the winds were making for some tough fishing, so I decided to pack it in early and head home for the Packer game. Good Grief... I should kept fishing! What was I thinking???

Take Care,

D.

[BigMusky]

Saturday morning I boated two 17inch smallies between 7-9am. One on a luckycraft pointer and other on a Big D smoke colored special.

I think I should have been throwing top water instead of pointer because the cast was fouled and lure skipped a little which resulted in smallie attack. Oh well.

[Big_D]

Out on Saturday 9/16, 6:30 AM to ~5:30 PM. Partly cloudy in the AM, Partly Sunny in the afternoon. Heavy winds ALL DAY long, out of the South. Water temps (surface) ranging from 66 F - 69 F.

I've been starting to get the itch... so I picked up a Sucker (Seymour) to tow around with me and split my time (50/50) between Bass & Musky. Seymour was a gamer, drawing two hard takes... but both fish got off. First was an upper 30's but very fat, got to wrastle within viewing distance for a brief stint before he spit Seymour back out - hook set failure on my part. Used and abused, Seymour kept on keeping on and drew another hard take, but a seemingly better set pulled the rig clean out with no hookup and no more Seymour. Seymour Sucker RIP, 10 AM 9/16/2006. He will be remembered always.

Tossed some tubes around for bass, but the fishing was not so good... a 16" Smallie and a couple of shorties. Some additional musky casting in the afternoon yielded a couple smaller musky follows, both ~30", and a follow from a mid 30's Gar as well.

Add in the obligatory rock bass, and that concludes the adventures for this day.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Out on Saturday 9/23 6:30 AM to ~4:30 PM. Nice mix of weather throughout the day, thick soupy fog in the early morning then a couple hours of sunshine, followed by some cloud cover w/light showers and then a full fledged T-storm to chase me off the lake. Water temps holding ~64F, water clarity is excellent and the weeds are slowly getting a little thinner each week.

Decided to tempt fate and bring two suckers (Princess and Barry) with me in hopes that I might get to use them both. The morning hours were very bleak... casted everything in my box and not a follow to be had. Princess was very high maintenance. I've never had a sucker get into so much trouble... but my patience paid off as she drew the first action of the day around 11 AM... looked back in time to see a nice sized musky roll on the surface, peel out some line and let go before I could get to the rod. We casted through a couple more spots and found taker number two... finally a clean hookup and.......... a modest 35"er got to spend a little time in my boat! The musky gods have finally been caught napping... the curse has been lifted. Not really able to take a good picture all by myself, snapped one in the net and was going to try to get a release photo, but she fired right out of my hands the second she hit the water... which was cool to. :)

Honestly could have gone right home after that, but decided to give Barry a chance. As the skys started darkening, action really livened up. Fished on to have close to a dozen follows (several were repeat customers) on bulldawgs, including an upper 30's dancing around figure-8's at boat-side and then swimming shark circles around Barry a few minutes later. Had another taker, drop before I could get to the rod again... and a couple other non-taking sucker-sniffers too. This was all in about 2-3 hours before the T-storms blew through. Probably 4-5 in the mid to upper 30's and one low to mid 40's.

That's all from D-Land...

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Couple Reports...

Out on Wednesday 9/27 from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM. Cloud cover all day with some showers on and off throughout. Heavy winds out of the NW, surface temp 64 F.

Dragging suckers (Mortimer and Dead Head Pete) and split casting time between musky and bass. Morning was pretty dead, one nip from a 30"er on a bucktail and a 40"er followed Mortimer for about 100 yards of breakline but never took a bite. Managed a couple of smallies mid day... then finally late afternoon, had a 40"er take Mortimer for ride. Got it to boatside quickly and it swam right into the net. Was released about as quickly, but Mortimer was toast. Enter Dead Head Pete. I had to put the grip of death on him to get him rigged up... he spent the rest of the day floating upside down. :( Apparently musky don't really care cause not 15 minutes later, I had hooked into a ~42"er that was not so cooperative. After several artful dodgings of my apparently not so masterful one-handed netting techniques, this one shook Pete loose then shook himself loose shorty after one more failed netting attempt. I guess we'll call that one quick-released. :)

Back out again on Thursday ~2:30 - 6:30 PM, with friend and dragging two suckers together (Orville and Cheese). Had a couple smaller follows on bulldawgs, who lingered around to marvel at the size of Orville and Cheese. Slow going till about 5:30 when a fat 40"er followed a bulldawg in and turned on Orville... got him by the tail, so hook set pulled it right out of his mouth. Not to be deterred, the musky turned right around and took a bite out of cheese... tail again, right behind the hooks, pulled out again. Needless to say, this musky was hungry, turning right around and hitting Orville again... and AGAIN right on the tail... gave him a little slack hoping he might try to get a better grip, but eventually had to set it and pulled the rig clean out. Orville Redensucker RIP. Cheese was pretty well mangled too, but managed to hang in there for the rest of the day... no further action to report.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Out on Saturday 6:30 am to ~5:30 PM. Sunny and cool (~60 F) all day. Medium winds out of the S & SW in the AM picked up considerably in the afternoon. Water temps in the 60-61 F range, cooler in the channel and the dam was very much open.

Flogged it hard all day for one follow ~38-40" on a blk bulldawg. Tossed literally everything in my box by day's end. Drug a sucker (Meat Virginia) all day... a few neveous sucker moments, but no visible sniffers. Virginia hung in there all day... which was good, cause sucker #2 was floating in the livewell by Noon. :( Quite a few musky fisherman out in the AM. Talked to a couple other boats who were having about the same day as me.

Take Care,

D.

[BigMusky]

ran into Big D on Saturday. I saw no musky action out on the lake, but did get to cast at a mid 30's one in the creek on the way back! Had one sucker tore up by 30inch northern next to the boat. that was cool. Could not really find the smallies either as I split time casting.

[Big_D]

I've been wondering if maybe the lake was in the process of turning over. When drifting out over deeper water on this lake, it's pretty common to mark bait fish and etc. at consistant depths on any given day... but on Saturday I was marking fish/baitfish all over the water column, including the deeper areas near bottom... which should(?) be very oxygen depleted unless the waters were starting to mix.

Anyway, just some thoughts that have been kicking around in my head.

Finally developed my disposable boat-cam, to see if any of my one-handed musky pics from a couple weeks ago would turn out. The pictures of the 35"er were pretty much a loss. The pics of the 40"er weren't too bad though... so here they are. :)

[BigMusky]

strong Northwest wind yesterday...fished wind blown shorelines from 1-5pm yesterday with no luck. Dragged two suckers and casted bulldawgs and biggame crank. very stressful day battling wind and getting nothing for my efforts.

[Eric Haataja]

The fall bite is going good on oconomowoc, the best bait was suckers this day right on the sharp breaks in 10-15 feet of water.

Eric Haataja

[BigMusky]

dont see any whitecaps in the background...a little easier to stay on breaks with normal weather!!! I hope to get out again soon and hopefully I can bag one like either of those.

[Big_D]

Nice ski's Eric!

I should be out on Saturday but the forcast is looking pretty grim...
Wind Advisory (>25 mph winds). That'll be a white-cap special, no doubt. :(

Will have to book a chiropractor appt. for Moday, I think. :D

[Big_D]

OK, so I balked at fighting the 30 mph+ winds on Saturday and opted to head out on Sunday morning instead. Fished ~6:30 AM - ~11:45 AM. Sunny all morning, chilly early and then warming up into the 40's. Water temps ~43F in the channel and 46 F - 48 F in the main lake. Still Medium/Heavy winds out of the W/NW, carrying over from Saturday.

Decided to see how much of a hassle it would be dragging two suckers by myself while still getting some casting in. So I rig up Emma and Gertrude and stick them in the live-well as I drive out to my first spot for the day... well somehow in that brief drive across the lake, they managed to tie themselves into one heck of a sucker-knot. Lesson learned: No slack in the livewell! I was mortified... had to cut lines de-tangle and re-tie. After another 10-15 minutes of re-rigging. Both suckers were launched and I plopped the trolling motor into the water to get me back on location... stepped on the foot pedal to spin it around, and the darned thing wouldn't turn left. Right fine, on/off fine, speed control fine... no left turn. What a great way to start to the day... thank goodness for co-pilot or It'd a been a short one.

Anyway... hand-controlling troll while casting in nasty winds made for some pretty imprecise boat control as well as frequent draggings of suckers through the weeds. Got a hard 5 hours of casting and sucker-sitting in. Emma and Gertrude gave it their all, but got no lovin'. I did have one follow from a very lethargic mid-30's musky, but no interest in figure-8's and apparently too lazy to go harrass the suckers.

I did talk to another boat back at the launch who said they stuck a 36"er, but other than that, I didn't see or hear of any other action. Oh well... till next time.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Out on Saturday from 6:30 AM - ~1 PM. Brrrr! Cloudy and cold most of the day... maybe warming up near 40F. Water temps ranging 44-46F. Light winds in the early AM, picking up considerably by mid day.
Casted and baby-sat two suckers (Frisky and Mr. PotatoHead) all day, for not a lot of action. Mr. PotatoHead got chewed up a bit by one of those dirty little tail-grabbing muskys that like to hit behind the hooks (did not see size), and Frisky had an upper 30's harrassing him for a couple of minutes, but it eventually lost interest.

Would have stuck it out for a couple more hours, but I somehow hadn't charged the trolling motor all the way, and ran out of juice. :(

Kosh... the channel has been a little on the shallow side the past couple weeks, but that still shouldn't pose any problems for you. As said... keep your motor trimmed up and take your time, you shouldn't have any problems.

Take Care,

D.

[Wolffy]

I read a lot of fall eye tactics and never seem to find they work for me. I tried Oconomowoc last PM and chased the eyes around, bouncing jigs, tossing cranks, and using 3 ways with not a hit. I watched those things just sit and not feed. I know it is fishing, but I really struggle with the fall. Eyes were in 8-10' along weed lines. Saw a nice one in the river, but didn't see anything shallow on the flats. Didn't see any bait fish swimming there either. Did see schools of fish suspended in 30-15 feet, down 10'. What a great night to be out, but still can't land those fall eyes.
Wolffy:eek:

[Eric Haataja]

Fish exclusively at night use your trolling motor and contour troll in 6-10 feet of water. Take a number 13 rapala use 15 lb test power pro and cast it out back about 75-100 feet pump the rod constantly. You want to make contact with bottom occasinally so at times you can add a #2 split shot. Rouges and husky jerks also work for me. That's exactly what I do.......

Eric

[Steve White]

Wolfy,

In my neck of the woods we cannot troll very much. So most of the time for consistent action it's drifting controlled with live bait. Hit those same breaks Eric spoke of working a jig/minnow this time of year. Glow jigs always seem to work best. Also put a second rod down "DEAD STICk" with bait just 2ft off the bottom. I use glow paint on the last 6" of the rod to help see the bite. We also will send out a few lighted slip bobbers to widen the spread.

Also look to the deep water. Find the the sharpest breaks to the deep water mud flats and work them hard. Your main prey fish out there is going to be perch. They will be in 2 places, weeds and mud. The walleyes will be close behind them. Normally the deeper mud holds the bigger fish, so the bigger eyes will be there. Then again the smaller one taste much better.

Remember it's fall and these fish eat heavy. If your not catching you need to change tatics, locations or both.

Tight lines,

Steve

www.whiteswoodsandwaters.com

[Wolffy]

Well, I tried some of these techniques last thurs night with nothing to show again. :mad: Tried the traditional spots. Saw the eyes, and really tried the stealth method with not a bite. Tossed cranks and worked from 30'-3' H2O. I am not complaining to be out in such nice weather, just slow action for me. Going to try tomorrow night again.
Wolffy

[Big_D]

Out again on Saturday Morning (11/11) 6:30 AM to ~1:30 PM. Cold - 28 F warming up to maybe 35 F by mid-day. Cloudy in the AM, and a little bit of sunshine peaked through for a couple hours late morning. Water temps 45-46F, Medium/Heavy winds out of the N all day.

The post-front action was not so hot, and neither was the weather. Dragging two suckers (Sam & Alvina) produced 1 upper 30's follow, but no takers. Several other seemingly nervous-sucker moments throughout the day, but I was running them deeper so could not see if they were freaking out for a reason or not.

Casted bulldawgs, bucktails, spinners & glide-baits, having to knock the ice out of line guides and reel parts every 4th or 5th cast, but it was all for naught... no action. I did spy a mid-30's musky sleeping on the bottom in about 15-18 fow. I jigged a bulldawg down there, but it wouldn't move until I literally dropped it on it's head. It gave the bulldawg a token glare and then headed for someplace a little more peaceful (I assume).

That sums up Saturday. The launch was in good shape after the storm, barely even slippery. The Dock, however was covered in a sheet of slushy ice... and rather slick. There were only 2 other boats on the lake all day. Not sure if it was the cold, or the IMTT, but definitely all the peace and quiet a guy could ask for. :)

Take Care!

D.

[Big_D]

Out on Saturday for my LAST outing of this year. Out 6:30 AM - 11:30 AM, mostly cloudy this morning, temps warmed up to maybe 35F. Water temps holding in the 42F range. Calm for most of the morning, then a light wind picked up nearing mid-day. Even had a few flakes of snow falling down in the morning.

I should note, for those who still have a few trips left this year yet, the channel is VERY shallow right now. Trim it up and take it slow!

So... was out with a friend, casting and dragging 2 suckers (Forest & Earl the Dead Sucker). Tossed bulldawgs, bucktails/spinners, glide baits and even some topwater. Did spy a ~40's fish loafing on the bottom of a steep drop-off, but he had no interest in our offerings, so no action on the casting.

Meanwhile, back of the boat, Forest was hard at work, running deep and lively all day long and Earl... was apparently on strike, dragging mid-depth, but managing to remain upright most of the time. Forest drummed up some action mid-morning... had a solid take, but the hookset pulled him right out. Reeling up to check out the rig, saw the mid-30's musky still hot on his tail... paused for a moment, he hit it again, but the rig was messed up from the first set, and again, out came Forest. The musky, however, would not be discouraged... a quick turnaround, and he set his sites on Earl. He paused for a good 20-30 seconds, examining the neutrally bouyant, lifeless allure of a true free-loader... and then attacked! A clean hook-set and some nice head-shaking sent Earl plummetting to the deep abyss and a 34.5" musky into our waiting landing net.

Forest was pretty tore up, but managed to tough it out for the rest of the day. And that would turn out to be all the excitment for the day. This was my friend's first musky, so it was a pretty nice way to close out 2006, I think! :)

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Made it out on Saturday (5/5) for the opener. Tough day... cloudy heavy winds out of the East all day long.. but at least it didn't rain. Surface temps ~54-57F depending on location. Weeds, in general, were non-existant, but I did find a couple small patches of green starting to form.

Threw for bass all day... plastics and X-Raps mostly. Picked off one lonley 12.5" LMB out of one of those green patches and that was it for the day. Did also spy a couple low 30's musky up on the flats. Both were very lethargic... almost bonked one on the head with the trolling motor before it decided to move.

Other notes... Dam was wide open, so the channel was rather swift, especially up by the launch. Also, they've raised the price on the Season Launch Passes to $73.50. Assume normal launch fees are up too, but didn't pay attention to the amount.

Oh well, that's about average for the opener... at least for me, anyway. One down, a couple hundered to go. :)

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Late Report from Saturday (5/12).

Fished ~5:45 AM - ~6:15 PM. Mostly sunny with a few riffs of clouds at times. Medium winds out of the N/NE all day, picking up a bit by mid-afternoon. Water temps have gone up nicely with the warm week. 62F-65F in spots. Weed growth still spotty at best.

Not a bad day for May (or so my experience goes anyway)... managed to boat 3 SMB, 5 LMB and a couple of token rock bass by end of day. 16.5" smallie was the best of the bunch. Did drag some smaller musky-meat (Fido) in the morning, until a crafty musky managed to pick my rig clean, with nothing more than a slight tug on the hook-set. Saw a guilty-looking 40"er cruising the area not too long after... may have been the culprit. Spotted a few other ski's cruising the flats through-out the day as well.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Out on Saturday (5/19), 5:45 AM - 5:00 PM. Clear skies, sunny warm (~70's), medium/heavy winds out of the SW all day. Water clarity was crystal and we're starting to see a little bit of spotty weed growth on the breaks now.

Slow/tough day. Managed 1 smallie & 3 LMB, nothing of any size. A couple small pike and a dozen rockbass, including a couple of fat 10"ers. Hooked into a mid-30's musky on a tube jig... fought it to boatside a couple of times, but not in good enough control to get the net on it... spit the jig after ~3 minutes of play.

Also drug some musky meat (Guido) around with me all day while I was drifting the breaklines... picked up 36" musky ~3:30 PM. The picture doesn't show it very well, but this musky had a LOT of fairly recent scars... from the spawn maybe? They must really mix it up, if that's the case!

Take Care,

D.

[Finseeker]

Did a guide trip out there on Monday afternoon. High skies and sunny make it tough for clear water. We scratched up 6 smallmouth (15" was the biggest) we boated 2 small largemouth and over 60 rockbass.

Missed a couple of other largemouth halfway to the boat.

All fish were on the shallow shorelines of the small lake. Most fish came on fat heads.

[Big_D]

Fished Friday (5/25), 4:45 AM to 8:00 PM. Cool in the AM, slowly warming up into the low 70's by mid-afternoon. Post-front clear skies all day long with occasional light-medium winds out of the S/SW throughout the day. Water temps 65F-68F, and weed growth is still spotty at best.

Had a friend with me till ~2:30. Drug a small already dead sucker (Mimi) around for the first couple hours but no action there. Bass action was slow all day, but one here and one there, we boated 2 SMB and 11 LMB by days end. 16.5" LMB and a couple of just legals were the only mentionables. Rock Bass action, on the other hand, was almost unavoidable... boated somewhere between 40-50 RB. Add in a bluegill and a few tiny pike and that sums up our day. Everything was released.

All action came shallow up on the flats. Everything caught on 4" tubes, except for 8-10 of the RB, which came on jig/leech. Sited maybe 8-10 muskies cruising shallow on the flats throughout the day... nothing bigger than low-30's. Also got first sitings of the Magic Carp Brigade today... ah what a magistic site they are, but I do wonder some times what they might eat at this time of year... might be a nice way to burn a couple hours. There's got to some 20-30 lbers in there... and they're soon to be everywhere!

Take Care,

D.

[slob sticker]

Made it out for a couple hours on Tuesday morning. The gill bite was good with plenty of em in the 7.5-9 inch range. After we caught all the gills we wanted we went for the bass. We fished soft plastics and ended up cathcing about 20 largies aned smallies. No huge fish but several in the 3lb category. Released all the bass and only kept 12 good sized gills.

[Big_D]

Out on Saturday (6/2) from ~5:30 AM - 1:00 PM. A couple of fronts moved through during the day... 15 minutes of heavy rain ~8AM and T-storms 11:30 to Noon w/Thunder & Lightning (kinda scary). Before and in between the fronts, weather was partly cloudy, calm and humid/sticky. Water temps 71-72. Some of the signature weed clumps have cropped up nicely in their annual locations, but breakline weed growth is still sparse. Shouldn't be much longer now though.


Managed to scrounge up 7 smallies... all sub-legal except for one nice 17.5"er. A handful of rock bass mixed in there too. All action on tubes. Pitched some senkos around too, but could garner any interest in them.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Back at it on Saturday (6/9) from 6:15 AM to 4:30 PM. Brutally Sunny all day, but air temps only into the mid-60's. Calm in the AM with some light winds picking up mid-morning. Water temps 69F and still clear as glass. Weed growth is still taking it's sweet old time.

Spent a couple hours tossing musky baits before switching over to bass... had one hot upper-30's follow on a brown double cowgirl, but she lost interest when I tried to vary my retrieve to induce a strike.

On the bass front, it Was a tough day out there with the high skies. Managed to scrounge up 4 SMB, 2 LMB and a handful of Rockies throughout the day, and lost a couple nice Smallies do to some rather spectacular arial maneuvering. This fat 18"er was the only mentionable.

Take Care,

D.

[Eric Haataja]

Made it out 2 days ago with a client who lives on the lake. I basically showed him a bunch of spots to fish on the lake we fished for about an hour and he caught some largies smallies, and rocko's. Biggest smallie he caught was 20 1/2 inches.



Eric

[Big_D]

Back at it on Saturday (6/16), from ~5:45 AM to ~4:45 PM. Mostly sunny and hot all day. Light winds from SW in the morning. Some heavier winds out of the NW moved in mid-afternoon with the impending front. The weeds have finally filled in nicely, but algia bloom has started now too. Water clarity is down in the 3-4 foot range. Water temps (surface) in the 78-81 F range.

Had a good friend and his lovely gal with me till about Noon. We put her on her first ever Smallie within an hour... a fiesty 16"er. Also hooked up for a smallie double-header a little later. Fairly active morning... had 11 bass in the boat by 10:30 or so. Then things slowed down considerably till late afternoon. Started picking up a few bass again ~3:30 pm but by 4:30 I had enough sun and couldn't stick it out for the evening bite.

Finished with 11 SMB, 3 LMB, a handful of rockies and 3 stray walleyes. All on tubes, and again, most of that came before 10:30 AM.

Fish seem to be slipping into thier summer patterns now. With the algia bloom, you can expect diminished water clarity for a good month or so.

Take Care,

D.

[BigMusky]

fished sunday from 430-10am....good early top water bite, but then completely shut down once sun really started comingup

[Big_D]

Back at it on Saturday (6/23), 5:15am to 6pm. Nice weather... not too hot, partly cloudy most of the day. Light winds out of the S & SE. Water temps back down to 74/75F with the cool week we've had. Algia stained water, clarity ~4'.

All in all, a beautiful day to spend out on the lake... too bad the fish didn't cooperate. Very tough day. Started out very active, but shut down quickly. Ended with 11 LMB/SMB, 4 small pike and of course 1 obligatory Rock Bass. Bass were mostly small ones except for this 19" gift right at the end of long hard day. All action came on tubes.

It is true what they say, though... was still WAY better than being at work! ;)

Take Care,

D.

[BigMusky]

what depth do you fish tubes? I found water clarity closer to 10 feet on sunday...maybe I just have better eyes :)

I tried fishing 5-30ft around weeds and on the flats. tried tubes, drop shotting, the worm carolina rig, xraps, cranks. I did not have any smoke tubes, but they can not be that picky...can they?

[Big_D]

Now that you mention it... I did get into the small basin for a bit this Saturday, and did note that the water is considerably clearer in there... prehaps that's where you were seeing your 10'? I couldn't see 10' down anywhere on the main basin. Or maybe it's time to hit eye-doctor. :)

With tubes, I position right on the breaklines, a few casts to the weed edges on the breaks and deeper, but the majority of casts are up onto the flats. After working the breakline area, I'll move up onto the flats... way up. Working the extreme shallows casting up into literally inches of water. This totally seems like yanking chain until the first time you see an 18" smallie come firing straight up out of 10" of water when you didn't even see it there. And then finally, I'll spend a little time skippin' my tube underneath any docks in the area. Long casts are critical, as the boat can spook them pretty easily up in the shallows.

It's definitly a matter of confidence though... you have to stick to the plan and know that you'll run into fish eventually. The smallies cruise these shallow flats hunting crawdads... they're not up there in schools, and are rarely in ambush positions around weed clumps or holes, etc.

By the same token of confidence... I have had very little success getting action further off the breakline on anything that I've tried. You can certainly find fish schooled up off the breaks over 18-30 fow just about anywhere on the lake, but I can never get those fish to eat anything... and of course I have no confidence in any presentation out there... so after 10-15 minutes, I'm back to what I know will work for me. I would like to figure out the secrets of those suspending fish some day though... I'm sure that's where the numbers of big girls are.

As for color... well I'm embarassingly paranoid about the smoke color I use, the 1/8 oz weight and 90 degree eye on the jigs, to give me the exact presentation. Boring as all heck, but proven effective. Variations of my preferred smoke color work just fine, and I've been told by others pumpkin colors work well too... but I prefer to dance with the one that brought me, so to speak.

[BigMusky]

interesting, i saw guys casting wacky rigs up that shallow and thought....what the hell are they doing. They were not having much luck though. The fish have to be deeper as well.

[Big_D]

Used to think the same thing... Ha ha... what are those crazy fools doing floating up into 2 fow? Now I'm one of them. I really thought Saturday was going to be near perfect conditions, though... so I'm a bit puzzled as to what's going on. Prehaps the crawdad hatch has not gone so well this year with the odd weather patterns?

[Big_D]

Out again on Saturday (6/30), 5:15 am to 8:15 pm. Nice day. Cool in the AM, warming up to mid 70's. Sunny all day. Calm in the AM, light winds out of the NE in the afternoon. Water temps ranging from 76-80F and the water still pretty murkey with algia.

Not a bad day... No specific hot time or location, but picked up one here and one there pretty consitantly throughout the day, ended up with 24 bass, 3 small pike, a small gar and you guessed it... 1 Rock Bass, obligatory as all heck. This 18.5" smallie was the catch of the day.

Had a little bit of action on a white spinnerbait in the early morning, but after that it was all tubes.

Gar fish everywhere... I've never seen so many in one day. Is it mating season for the SE WI Gar fish???? :)

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Out on the 4th, 5:30 am to ~5:30 pm. T-storms rolled through the night before and it was still overcast in the AM. Clouds parted ~9:30-ish and then mostly sunny for the rest of the day. Temps up into the 80's. Light to Medium winds out of the NW all day. Water temps (surface) ~78F.

Very tough, post-front morning. Had a couple friends with me till ~11am, and even with the 3 of us, we only managed a handful of small bass. After that they slowly started to "wake-up", and I eventually found a fairly nice late-afternoon bite. Finished with 12 SMB up to 16.5", 6 LMB up to 15", a couple small pike, a couple rockies and a bonus dinner-sized walleye right as I was about to head in for dinner.

Was kinda wierd... pleasure-boat traffic was very heavy in the afternoon. I ended the day with a little hot-streak, right at the zenith of traffic on the lake. I guess if the fish don't mind, I don't mind, but I was almost falling out of my chair at times. Was kinda silly. :)

Anyway, Take Care!

D.

[Big_D]

Out on Saturday (7/7) from 5:15 am to 1:30 pm. Hot, Sunny and HOT. Temps up into the 90's. Medium/Heavy winds out of the W/SW. Water temps 78-80F. Weeds are very thick now, and the water is still thoroughly stained with algia. Expect it will be another few weeks before that starts clearing up a bit.

Tough day today. Had a little bit of action on a white spinnerbait in the morning, but couldn't get anything into the boat. Then completely dead till ~noon. Picked up a few smallies on tubes to end the day with 5 bass and a one obligatory rock bass. Decided not to repeat my near heat-stroke peformance from last year, so I packed it in early. I hope someone found an afternoon/evening bite!

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Late report from Monday (7/23). Decided to spend my last day of vacation back on the OC. Fished from 10 am to ~6:15 pm. Hot (80's) and blue skys with very little cloud cover. Light winds out the S/SW with occasional heavier gusts. Water temps ~77-78F. Water is still very thoroughly stained with algia, clarity about 2-3 feet. Weeds are very thick now... they were slow to develop this year, but now it's a good bit weedier than in years past.

Anyway... Found a nice active bite right out of the gate from 10 to Noon, then it shut down hard... should have left at Noon. Finished with 7 SMB, 3 LMB, a couple rockies and a stray walleye. All action on smoke colored tube jigs, but also tossed some spinnerbaits and cranks to no avail.

She's been a tough summer so far... I wish I could get out on a nice cloudy day for a change... maybe some nice drizzle or light slow rain... it's been either sunshine and daisys or T-storm shortened trips for me.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Back at it on Saturday (8/4) after getting knocked out by a nasty cold last week. 5:30 am to 4 pm. Nice comfortable day on the water. Temps in the mid 70's. Cloudy all day. Got a little bit of light rain in the afternoon. Calm most of the day with a few occasional periods of light SE wind. Water temp (surface) at 81 F. Algia bloom still going strong.

Drug some musky meat around for a couple hours but no action there... probably for the better with the warm water.

Spotty action chasing bass today, seemed to follow the wind. When the wind picked up, so did the bite and visa versa. Finished with 3 rockies, 5 LMB up to 16.5" & 11 SMB including this fat 19"er who put on quite the arial show. Not too bad a day all tolled, but it seemed a lot tougher, with many long droughts.

Most of the smallies were spittin' up crawdads. For some odd reason that's one of my favorite sites in the world. :)

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Back at it on Saturday (8/11) from 5:30am to ~3pm. Cloudy calm and cool in the morning... about Noon med/hvy winds picked up out of the S/SE, blew the clouds away and it warmed up to low 80's. Forgot to check surface temps, but assume we're still right around 80F... the good news is that the algia bloom is starting to thin out a little bit, clarity about 4'-6' depending on where you're at.

Morning hours were slow. But once again, as soon as the wind picked up, so did the bite. Ended up with 5 (smaller) LMB, 14 smallies up to 19" (see pic), a couple of rockies and an 8" walleye. Headed in early as the heat was getting to me, but I'm sure the late-afternoon would have been a productive time too. All action coming on the standard smoke-colored tubes.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Late report from Saturday ( 8/18 ). Fished 6am to ~5:30 pm. Nice day to be on the water. Cool, temps in mid 60's. Partly cloudy in the AM and then rain moved in ~11 am and rained all afternoon. Medium/Heavy winds out of the E/SE all day. Water temps have dropped down to 75F, and the algia bloom continues to thin out a little bit more, water clarity now 5'-8' depending on location.

Good action day, not a lot of size, though. Found consistant action pretty much everywhere on the big lake throughout the day up on the flats. 26 SMB, 8 LMB and the obligatory RB. Only 8 of those smallies would have been legal, 16.5"er was the largest. Most of the fish were that fiesty 13-14" range. Everything came on tubes except for the 8" RB, which managed to get a white spinnerbait into it's mouth, somehow.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Out on Saturday (8/25) ~6:15am - ~3:15 am. Post-front blue skys with occasional white poofy clouds. Warmed up into the mid 70's or so. Water levels are VERY high, but with all the rain, it seems to have cleared up the algia bloom significantly. Water clarity is much improved. Surface temps still in the 74-75F range. Weeds are still hangin' in there, nice and thick.

The channel is swift and high... up to just below the deck-boards of the pier at the launch. Never seen it that high before, even in spring. Actually witnessed a 4-5 lb Rainbow jump completely out of the water as if it was trying to get up the dam... thought that was pretty cool! I've heard there are some rainbows in here, but have never actually seen one until now.

Anyway that was the only thing cool on Saturday. Fishin' was very slow... ended up with 1 tiny LMB & 8 SMB up to 17", sprinkled evenly across a long day. FAILED to boat my obligatory Rock Bass... I believe that's a sign that the world will be coming to an end soon, but will try not to despair.

Tubes caught all of the fish... but tried a few other things today. Lots of big bass crashing through the surface in the morning, but I just don't have a clue how to get them darned things into my boat when they're feeding like that... topwater baits not working... also tried spinners, swimbaits, Xrap, wacky-rigged senkos. They're definitly chasing some minnow forage... possibly 2-4" perch that are feeding on the schools of smaller minnows. If anyone had any suggestions for this, would be happy to hear them. :)

Take Care,

D.

[slob sticker]

Big D, I dont know if you tried a zara spook or not but if you didnt it would be worth a try. I would suggest the spook jr. Whenever the surface is calm like it is alot in the morning a spook seems to get em to bite. I have always done well in the far corner to the right in the morning on spooks for largies and smallies. I use silver and black spooks. Work em to the tune of Jesus loves me it usually works for me with most hits coming on the pause.

[Big_D]

Thanks SS... I actually have been experimenting with a Spook Jr. on and off throughout the summer, but no luck on that yet. Maybe wrong color or wrong song. :D Or maybe/probably just not giving it enough play.

[Big_D]

Out on Saturday (9/8 ) 5:45 am till ~4:30 pm, and had a buddy with me for the second half of that. Sunny & warm (^70's). Occasional light winds out of the S & E. Surface temps 76-78F. Water clarity is pretty good now and the weeds are just starting to thin a little bit.

Slow day, for the most part. The bite seemed to come and go with the wind, and there wasn't much wind to be had. Still finding all my action on the flats working smoke colored tubes. Finished with 13 SMB, 1 LMB, 2 small pike and yes, 1 obligatory Rock Bass (Whew!).

Do be careful in the channel... tis plenty deep, but some of the obstacles have shifted a bit... probably during the high water from a few weeks ago.

Take Care!

D.

[Big_D]

Was out Saturday (9/22) from 6:30 am to 3:30 pm. Temps up into the low 70s. Not a cloud in the sky. Light to Medium winds out of the NW, tapering off mid-afternoon. Water temps 67-68F, clarity is crystal and the weeds are thinning out a little more each week.

Another tough post-front blue sky Saturday special... managed to scrounge up an LMB, 3 smallies and 2 Rock Bass, one obligatory and the other confused.

Also brought a fat 15" sucker (Hortense) to drag around for the day. Hortense was alluring, but apparently intimidating as well... she drummed up 4 musky follows that I saw and may have had a few more that I didn't see. 3 mid-upper 30's and one clearly 40"+. If you've ever seen a dog sniff another dogs butt... that's what each of these follows looked like... muskies coming right up to within an inch for a quick sniff (sometimes 3 or 4 times) and then loose interest. A little chase maybe, but no commitment, so I guess they'll be bachelors for another week. :(

This nice 18.5" smallie came out of 18" of water, but I spent most of the day running deeper to keep Hortense out of the weeds... prehaps they were up shallow and I just didn't spend enough time up there. Oh well, such is the dichotomy of the season. :)

Take Care!

D.

[Big_D]

Out this morning 6:30 till ~1:30pm. Mostly sunny and unseasonably warm (80's?) out. Medium/Heavy winds out of the SW all morning. Surface temps 68-69F, water is crystal clear and the weeds continue to subside, despite the fact that it felt like July out there. :)

Still chasing the bass, and there was not much action for me. 4 small LMB and a small SMB and then this one piggie... 20.5" and round as a football, though this pic doesn't show that very well.

Also brought some meat (Herman) to drag around. Herman drummed up a hot follow from a 40"er. Musky chased him around in circles repeatedly for at least 2-3 minutes, but would not take a bite. But at least it was fun to watch. A couple other nervous sucker momements, but didn't see anythink lurking around.

Take Care,

D.

[BigMusky]

took wife bluegill fishing and smoked them...did not keep any though. Sun hit tree line and started chucking some musky top water and had two follows, but no hits.

[Ben Kueng]

With the cold weather forecasted for this week those followers should start making lunch out of your suckers by next weekend D!!

I cant wait!!!!

[Big_D]

You hit the nail right on the head Ben! :)

Out this morning (10/13) from 7am to 1pm. Nice weather... cool and mostly cloudy with the sun peaking out every now and then. Light winds out of the West, picking up a bit towards mid-day. Lake has cooled down a bit now, 61-62F surface temps, and the weeds are disappearing rapidly.

Split time casting between musky & bass, and drug around a smaller sucker (Gorman - ~12"er). Found one small SMB in the morning and that was it there. Musky casting didn't drum up any follows at all, but as you might expect, Gorman was a gamer and hit a home-run, boating a chunky 42"er. This ski had a really nasty wound on it's upper mouth, left side... you can see it a little in the pic here, but not very well. Looked like it had it for a while, but I could be wrong. Got a great fight out of this one... she jumped completely out of the water, sending Gorman to his demise in mid-air.

Anyway... that was the only action of the day for me. Talked to a couple of other boats each of which had picked up mid-30's fish in the morning too... and there weren't all that many boats out today, which was suprising. Usually when the IMTT is on Okauchee, the OC picks up a lot more non-tourney traffic... but I'm not complaining.

The channel was a little on the shallow side today... so take it slow. :)

Take Care,

D.

[Ben Kueng]

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Nice fatty D!!! Shes bustin at the seams..

[Big_D]

Late Report from Sunday 10/28. Fished 7am - Noon. Sunny and clear skies, cool early, warming up into the 50's. Most of the summer weed structure is completely gone now, and water is crystal clear. Surface temps 55-58F in spots, much cooler (52F) in the channel area. Little to no wind until maybe 11am or so... then we picked up a light breeze.

Flogged for muskies all morning.. Tossed topwater, bulldawgs and a bucktail for a bit too. Not much to tell ya about. Did have one lazy follow from a mid 30's ski on a black bulldawg, and that was it. Drug a larger sucker around all day (General Jelly Jiggler), but aside from a few possibly nervous sucker moments, he recieved no attention.

Right as I was packing up to leave, I heard a bit of commotion a couple hundered yards away... sounded like a boat over there hooked into a nice musky on light tackle. Was running late so I didn't stick around for the show, but they looked like they were havin' a good time. :)

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Fished 9:30 am to ~2pm today. Blue skys, sunny, temps warming up to ~50. Medium winds out of the NW, with heavier gusts on occasion. Water temps in the low 50's too.

Tossed musky stuff all day, and drug a larger sucker (Oscar) around too. Had 2 follows on a black bulldawg. One biggun, maybe low-mid 40's... also stuck around to harrass Oscar for a while... and then a smaller one ~30".

That was it for the day. Need to arrange for some clouds and rain one of these weekends. ;)

Take Care,

D.

[LM Lunatic]

Was the only rig on the lake on the past windy Tuesday. Water temp still hovering around 50-51. Water is very clear, we could still see bottom in 6-7 ft even with the heavy winds. Cloudy for the most part of the trip sun peaked out a few times. We started fishing just outside of the river and had a decent smallie on that shook. Decided to hit the smaller lake on West side to get out of the wind a little and had a 5 minute flurry of action with 1 musky around 36 inches caught and a 19 inch smallie. Took a few photos and released em both. We should have left after that because next 2 hrs we only had one musky follow. Plan on hitting Oconomowoc till around December will post on any luck out there.

[Big_D]

Late report from Saturday (11/10) from 11:30 am to ~3:45 pm. Finally got some seemingly nice weather... Cloudy & cold. Medium/Heavy winds out of the S/SW. Water temps around 47F.

Drug a medium-sized sucker (Petunia) around all day. Started out tossing a depth raider, but after about 20 minutes, my reel got messed up somehow... could hardly even turn the crank... Spare is at home in the garage, so that pretty much ended the flogging for the day. Spent the afternoon chauffering Petunia around the lake while tossing crankbaits for bass. Did not see a lick of action all day. :(

Take Care,

D.

[Eric Haataja]

Was out today in the wind and the chilly weather thought it would be good , but it was a tough bite we had 1 chance and a low 40 inch fish that grabbed a sucker and probably spit it quickly. Tough bite for us today...... :-(

Eric

[Ben Kueng]

Buddy with a Nice pike from yesterday..Hit a sucker in 15 FOW..Lost a decent ski as well..

[Big_D]

Sweet! :D

[Big_D]

Whoa... about time we blow the dust off of this thread, hey? :)

Late Report from Saturday. Was out 6:30am to ~4:30 pm. Water Temps 56F-58F. Mostly sunny and cool in the AM, in the afternoon, clouds moved in and Medium winds picked up out of the E/SE. Nothing much for weed growth yet, was hard to even find anything green. Did manage to scrounge up 2 smallies and 4 LMB all in the 13-15" range. Shakey-head worms and tube jigs caught fish for me, but I tried a wide variety of tactics thoughout the day. Also tossed around some bucktails for an hour and got a lazy follow from a mid-20's ski.

The Slow No-Wake order was lifted on Friday night, according to launch attendant, but water levels are still higher than normal, and the river was pretty swift, especially by the dam.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Out on Saturday (5/17) from 7am to ~2:30 pm. Sunny all day, mid-60's, and windy as all heck. Water (surface) temps 58F-59F. No new weed growth yet, but the leftover winter-weeds are starting to green up a bit. Action was pretty slow for me, 2 LMB, 1 SMB and the first obligatory Rock Bass of the season. Smallie was a spawned out female, just a hair under 21"... refused to sit still for a picture, so I just stuck with an action photo.

Lots of sail boats out today, racing... must have been at least 30 boats... here's a picture of them rounding the bouy. Was fun to watch.

Take Care,

D.

[BigMusky]

Hit OC Sunday with Family...caught some Gills and saw some MONSTER muskies cruising in area where gills were. there were really not many standing weeds, but it was a little pocket where rock bottom transitioned to darker bottom with some little weed growth. I did not have electronics running, so not sure if there was a temp change. Those gills cost about a buck each with launch fee :)

[Big_D]

Fished on Saturday (5/24), 6:45 am to 6:45 pm. Nice day, mostly sunny all day, cool in the morning, warming up into the mid 60's. Light NE winds in the morning, picking up bit and shifting from the SE in the afternoon. Water (surface) temps 59F-61F. Weed growth still very minimal.

The bass were hard to find, picked up one here and one there, ended up with 5 LMB and a Smallie. Nothing over 15". Now the rock bass, on the other hand, are just crazy right now... I cut myself off at 99. NIce way to fill an otherwise slow day. Toss in 3 small pike and that sums up my day. All action camo on 3" tubes, smoke colored. It never ceases to amaze me that even the smallest rock bass can get that tube in their mouths and get hooked.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Back at it again on Saturday 5/31. Out from 7 am to ~3:30 pm. Mostly sunny all day, warming up into the70's. Medium winds out of the W/NW in the AM, becoming heavy winds by mid-morning. By Noon there were 2 foot waves w/white-caps on the main lake and parts of the small lake. Surface temps ~64F, and we're finally starting to see some spring weed growth in spots.

Couldn't find much action, and there were quite a few boats out competing for the few spots that were shelterd from the the wind. Ended up 2 LMB, 2 smallies, 34 Rock Bass and a couple small pike. 17.5" smallie was as big as they got for me.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Out on Saturday 6/7 from ~6:15 am to ~3:15 am. Another windy Saturday. Hot (mid-80's) and mostly sunny all day until mid-afternoon. Heavy winds out of the S/SW all day. Water temps 68-70F and clarity still good. Weed growth still slowly coming along.. but hang in there, they usually pop up quickly when the do come.

Another slow day, fighting the wind and all the frontal activity that's gone through here. Had a buddy with me for a few hours in the morning but even with the help still only managed 3LMB, 4SMB, a dozen rock bass and a couple small pike. All action came on my staple smoke colored tube jigs.

Seems like things were starting to pick up in the afternoon, but a flash of lightning off in the distance sent me packing... and it's a good thing I left when I did, just missed those nasty T-storms. I passed a few boats that were going out, when I was heading in... I do hope everyone made it off the lake safely. :)

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Finally got back out on the OC... has it been 3 weeks already??? :)

Fished 6am to ~2:15pm. The lake was still slow-no-wake when I launched in the AM, but I believe they lifted the order mid-day. Was a nice day for the most part, mostly sunny, low-70's. Medium winds in the AM picking up by mid morning, as a cold front moved through... but didn't make any rain. Sorry, forgot to jot down surface temp. Water was a bit murkey (for the OC) and the weeds have filled in very nicely.

Not too bad of a day... didn't get to all my favorite spots with the slow-no-wake and then the afternoon T-storms rolling in, but managed to boat a dozen smallies, 4 LMB, handful of rock bass and even a couple of perch. Several bass in the 15-17" range. All action coming on smoke-colored tube jigs, but I did spend some time tossing cranks and spinner-baits.

Take Care,

D.

[BigMusky]

took wife and kids fishing yesterday and messed around chasing panfish for good part of day. Finally talked wife into bass fishing for a while and she lost a monster, probably 6lbs right by boat. Then kids started fussing and had to go home....maybe next time she will not be so persistent to catch 8 inch bluegills:D We did end up landing four or so bass in an hour of fishing for them

[Big_D]

Late Report from Friday (7/4). Fished 6am to 5:30pm. Tough/slow day. Typical blue-sky special. Sunny most of the day w/some brief cloud relief at times. Temps up into the mid 70's. Light occasional winds from the E/NE in the morning, pickup up a bit in the afternoon. Water temps (Surface) 73-74F. Water is clouding up...looks like they the algia bloom may be starting.

Action was quite slow all day, but with one here and one there... managed to boat 8 SMB, 6 LMB, 3 pike and a couple rock bass. Had a buddy with me for the morning hours too, or it might have looked even slower. Fish of the day was this 18.5" smallie, don't mind the ugly guy holding it up. ;)

Tip-uup!, I buy the season pass, but I believe the daily launch fee is somewhere around 8-10 bucks, depending if the attendant is there or not.

Take Care,

D.

[BigMusky]

Hit the OC today....weird day. No muskies to be seen anywhere....bass were not on wind blown shorelines until sundown when we started throwing topwater. Seeing some largies and smallie blowup topwater saved an otherwise tough outing. Brother caught a bass by trailing six inch perch as well.

[Big_D]

Late Report from Saturday (7/26)... out from 6am till ~3:30 pm. Nice day to be outside, mostly sunny and temps up into the mid 80's, with medium winds out of the NW all day with occasional stronger gusts. Water temps (surface) 78-80F in spots. Water clarity is very poor, thick with algia. Weeds are in thick now... thicker than I've seen out here in several years.

Very slow morning, but things started picking up mid-day and found a nice bite up on the flats and along the breaklines... then it shut off like a swtich ~2pm. Finished with 11 SMB, 4 LMB and of course, the obligatory rock bass. Mostly smaller fish today, but did land this 19" smallie... and had a fat 18"er as well (no pic). All action came on tubes.

This was my first trip out since early July... the channel is still running high and fairly swift, and there are a few new obstructions (ie downed trees) to navigate around... so if you haven't been out in a while, keep eyes open next time. :)

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Out today (8/2) from 6am to 4pm. Blue skies and sunny all day, temps up into the 80's. Light wind out of the N/NE in the AM, picking up considerably by afternoon. Water is thick with algia, clarity maybe 1-2', surface temps 82-83F.

Slow day for the bass, but a few bonus species helped fill in the void... finished the day with 9 SMB, 3 LMB, 4 Rockies, 5 walleye and a small pike.

Had a little luck with a white spinnerbait in early AM... taking 2 Smallies including this 19.5"er, the pike and one of the walleye, believe it or not... then everything else came on the textbook smoke colored tubes. Tossed a topwater popper bait around for a while in the AM too, but no luck with that. Walleyes went 17", 15" and 3 little guys... so no legals.

The channel water-level is getting back down now and current has slowed down a bit. That's it' from D-Land... now I'm off to the couch to pass out. :)

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Got out again on Sunday 8/10 from 5:45am to 1:15pm. Cool and mostly sunny, temps warming up into the 70's. Medium winds out of the North, with heavier gusts at times. Water temps (surface) 75/76F, and water clarity is still very poor.

Very nice day to be outside, but the cold front that moved in, really seemed to shut things down... at least for the morning hours... Couldn't find any action until ~11:30 am, then managed to stumble upon a quick flurry before I had to pack it in for the day. Finished with 3 LMB, 5 SMB, a walleye and a couple of rock bass. Mostly smaller fish, but did get an 18" smallie in there.

The channel has come down a good bit now, but it's still not too bad for navigating, depth-wise. Again, if you haven't been out in a while, there are still a few new downed trees to avoid.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Broken trailor has had me out of commision for a while, but was back at it again on Sunday (8/24). Was out from 6am to ~1:30 pm. Mostly sunny all day, but cooler (low 70's). Light winds out of the North in the AM that picked up a good bit ~9am. Water temps (surface) ~75-76F and water is still thickly stained with algia. The bloom is usually starting to clear up by this time of year.

Anyway, it was a fairly tough day. 8 SMB & 4LMB, but with the exception of this 18" football, all of them were somewhere between small and tiny. Also picked up a couple stray walleyes, a suicidal bluegill and one highly obligatory rock bass right before I packed it in. Whew! Was starting to think that rock bass wouldn't come! :o

Tossed some spinnerbaits and also tried working a jig & craw for a while, but I seem to be technique-challenged, all of my action came on smoke colored tubes once again. :rolleyes: Oh well, I guess you gots to dance with the one that brought ya. :)

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Late Report from Saturday (9/13). Fished a few hours in the afternoon... cloudy with occasional light rain, temps in the low 70's w/occasional gusty winds out of the south. Water temps 69-70F and water is still pretty murky. Not sure if it was all the rain, or if it's still the algia bloom, but visibility was 1-2'.

I was only out for a few hours, so have little to tell, hit my favorite afternoon spots and only managed to scrounge up 2 smallies and a perch and a small pike. Seems like the fronts that moved through may have slowed things down... or maybe it was just a slow afternoon.

I've been out of action for a bit... had to get the computer replaced on my Opti... and of course you have to go through the break-in period all over again, when you do that... so if anyone was wondering who that crazy guy was, just a drivin' around the lake for a couple hours, well... that was me. :)

Take Care,

D.

[Sig and Gus Hanson]

Hey Big D,
Thanks for the post, my buddy and I were wondering what the heck was going on, seemed like we saw you buzz by every 20 minutes or so, at least now we know. We wanted to wave you over to find out if you just wanted to burn off the extra fuel on board??

Action finally picked up around 6pm ( feeding time ) and of course that's when the rain started as well. Saw a big Musky sniffing my worm and bobber when we took a break and soaked some worms mid-afternoon, was fishing a 4 1/2 foot very light action rod, thankfully he didn't take the worm, wouldn't have ended up well for the tackle.

[slob sticker]

Big D, I know you like the skinny water and tossing plastics, right now would be a good time to do it. We pounded the smallmouth and largemouth recently. They are moving up onto the flats in the morning and staying most of the day. Seemed like anywhere you found a little bit of weeds growing on the flat there were a couple fish. Caught several in the 3-4 lb range. Best tip is long casts and if you have a person fishing with you have them cast in the area where you are reeling your fish in, there were multiple chasers for us, we doubled up 3 times.

[Big_D]

Great news... thanks for the note! Am taking a buddy out tomorrow, and that was pretty much my game plan. :) I always seem to have the worst luck getting this friend out with me on a good day, so maybe we'll change that streak.

[Big_D]

Out with a buddy this morning ~6:30am - ~1:45pm. Mostly sunny, warming up into the 70's. Medium winds out of the West starting up ~9am. Water temps (surface) 68-69F. Water clarity is improving, algia bloom is finally clearing up. Weeds are just starting to thin out a bit, but plenty of green weed all over yet.

Not a busy day for us. Had a hot-spot up on the flats right after the wind picked up in the morning where we boated most of our 8 bass. Lost a couple more as well. 17.5" smallie was the fish of the day... very fat, though you can't really tell next to the fat-boy there. ;) Also picked up a stray Rock Bass, perch and bluegill to round out the day. All action came on tubes.

We also drug a ~10" sucker ("Sucky") along the breaklines with us most of the day. Sucky had one follower who harrassed for 3-4 minutes and then lost interest... was upper 30's, maybe low 40's with a huge head. Note to self: Don't let boat partner name suckers. :p

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Late Report from Saturday. Out from 7:15am to ~3:00pm. Nice day, if you're a sun godess. High skies and abundant sunshine, temps sneaking up into the upper 70's. Very little wind in the morning, but picked up a bit by mid-afternoon. Lake is in pretty much same condition as last week... but has warmed up a couple degrees.

Not a stellar day, but I managed to scrounge up 7 SMB, 3 LMB and a suicidal 4" perch... all on tubes casting up onto the flats. Also towed a sucker (Gilligan) around most of the day, but I think he spent more time upside down than right side up. Did not get any action there.

Upcoming cold snap aught to start mixing things up a bit. Should be back at it next weekend.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Got out again on Saturday ~8am to ~3:15pm. Chilly and foggy in the morning, eventually warming up into low 60's. Fog lifted ~9am. Not a cloud in the sky all day long. Occasional slight breeze from the West, but barely enough to ripple the water. Water temps (surface) ~63/64F and the water is getting very clear again. Weeds are really thinning out fast.. barely recognize the place compared to just last week.

The fishing was almost not worth mentioning... Another bluebird special... 7 hours for 1 smallie and 1 perch. Missed a SMB and an LMB, and that was it for the day. Drug some mini-musky-meat (Ralph) around all day, but that did not dredge up any action either.

Was a nice day to not be working, though... and I took this neat fog pictures in the AM... Was puttering along in pretty much complete blindness in the AM and a clear pocket opened up in the middle of the lake, and I took these pics... and then of course, I puttered right back into that wall of fog. :)

Take Care,

D.

[luv2fish]

Cool Pics...:)

[Big_D]

It's funny... the camera actually filters out a lot of the fog. Those pictures look a lot clearer than it did to the naked eye. :)

[Big_D]

Out on Saturday (10/18), 8am - 2pm. Cool, calm an blue skies early, then some cloud cover and occasional winds out of the SE & SW by mid day with temps warming up to ~60F. Water temps 57/58F. Water is super clear now, and weeds are disappearing quickly.

Threw some topwater and bulldawgs for a few hours to start the day. Drug a small sucker (Fernando) as well. Had one upper 30's chase a black bulldawg out of a shallow weed clump, but tucked tail an ran at the site of the boat... and that was it for musky action for me. Fernando didn't get so much as a look all day long.

Tossed tubes around for a few hours as well. Managed a pair of LMB, a pair of SMB and 3 suicidal perch. When the wind picked up a bit, seemed to help the bass bite... and it would die down again when it stopped... and finding areas with some green weeds yet, was also key.

Take Care,

D.

[Eric Haataja]

Hot bite out there now as a client canceled a trip so I fished for 4 hours and landed 3 ski's today with a 40, 44, and 47 incher. White bulldawg did most of the damage along with dragging some meat! Wind blown shore line held fish and green weeds action is going good and not many people out there! My fish came in 12-20 feet of water if that helps.


Eric

[Eric Haataja]

last 2 pics

[deadeternity]

ERIC, NICE MUSKYS

BIG D, Beautiful scenery pics. That is a awesome photograph....

[luv2fish]

Nice work Eric....Sweet underwater pic!!!!

[Ryan]

OK..I will try this again! I have had the opportunity to get out rather frequently in the past two weeks and here is what I found. 1. The weeds are still green in the areas I fished actually the weeds are quite deep down to 15ft -18ft of water. The water is extrmely clear which makes for an interesting bite. I have caught gills and perch anywhere from 5ft to 20ft. Black or darker colors seem to work better with two spikes. The northern action has been picking up from my last post except no legals have been iced. My 7 year old son caught his first walleye on a tip-up in 8ft of water Saturday night that was 24" and about 4lbs (5pm) he was very happy. I didn't even see the flag since I was packing up and ready to go. Beautiful fish and I will post the pics soon as I get them donwloaded. We had to keep it since it was hooked into the gill and bleeding bad. I haven't found the crappies yet, the gill bite seems to be sporadic all day with good fish being caught (have to hole hop alot) then about 3pm the bite seems to be pretty consistant. The nice thing is in the 5 times out only one other fishermen is in our spot. :D

[Big_D]

Finally back on the water after a month lay-up to build a new garage. Fished ~6:30 am to ~2:30 pm today (5/16). Partly sunny and cool all day. Vicious winds out of the W/NW/N right from the get-go and getting heavier as the day carried on. Surface temp was 59F and water clarity was good if not for the wind stirring things up. Weeds are pretty scarce around most of the lake yet, but a few clumps of green weeds are popping up here and there, mostly in the small lake area, so far.

Spent the entire day pitchin' smoke colored tube jigs and managed to scrounge up 8 LMB, a smallie, 3 small pike and about 3 dozen rock bass. Everything came shallow today, working piers and shallow clumps of weeds.

River is still at early spring height and flowing pretty fast, so be careful around the launch area.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Got out on Saturday (5/23), fished ~6am to ~3:30pm. Rainy and calm all morning. Sun finally broke through about Noon and brought medium winds out of the N/NW with it. Temps go up into the low 70's. Water temp (surface) have jumped up to 66 F. Water clarity still good and start to see a little more sign of weed growth around the lake.

Tough day for me. There's lots of bass cruising the flats and breaklines, but didn't have much luck getting them to bite. Worked tubes and some shakey-head worms and tossed spinnerbaits for a while too. Managed one 14.5" LMB, a couple of dink LMB/SMB, a couple of tiny pike and 32 Rock Bass... but even the RB seemed shy today. Not sure if it was the weather/fronts or if bass just have other things on the brain with the warming water. :o

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

LATE report from last Saturday (5/30)... Fished 5:30 am - 12:30 pm with a buddy. Cool and cloudy most of the morning with occasional light rain and light winds from the W/NW. Sun finally peeked out about 11 and the winds picked up considerably. Water temps 61F-62F... that's a sizable drop from last weekend. Weeds are starting to take hold... they should fill in pretty quickly now, if it's anything like past years.

Tough day. Think the water temp drop has pushed the active fish deeper. Manged to scrounge up 1 smallie and 5 LMB all in the 14"-15" range, and all pretty lethargic. Also picked up a few rockbass and 3 pike, including a 27"er. All our action came around green weeds along the breaklines. Bass were caught mostly on shakey-head worms and the pike came on white spinnerbait and tubes.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Was out from 6am to 4pm today. Started off cool/cloudy/rainy, but that burned off ~11am or so and left it warm and mostly sunny for the rest of the afternoon. Light winds from the E/NE in the AM, and shifting to W/SW later in the day. Water temps (surface) ~67-68F and water was slightly murky today. Weeds are really starting to fill in, in many spots on the lake.

Not a barn-burner today, but managed to boat 8 SMB, 7 LMB, a pair of walleye and one complimentary obligatory rock bass por favor. Everything came on tubes today, either casting up onto shallow flats, or working around isolated clumps of weeds on the breaklines.

Lots of scenery today... musky and gar all over the place up on the flats... and packs of HUGE carp-o-saurs cruising all over too.

Take Care,

D.

[Eric Haataja]

Nice to see you got into some fish!

Eric

[Big_D]

Got out on Saturday (6/27), 5:15am to ~3pm. Nice day to be on the water. Warmed up into the mid 80's, mostly Sunny all day. Light winds out of the S/SE in the morning shifting to medium winds S/SW by afternoon. Surface temps were ~82-83F and the weeds have filled in pretty much everywhere and are getting fairly thick. Water had a slight algia stain to it... so would expect the algia bloom is not far away.

Fishing was pretty slow for me. Finished with 8 SMB, 3 LMB, a couple rockies, couple small walleye, small pike and a suicidal 5" perch. Everything caught on 4" tubes with the exception of one LMB that I caught on a topwater popper-style bait in the early morning. The smallies were caught up on the flats, and the largies were a little deeper in the breakline weeds.

Noticed a new tree down in the channel, right after the shallow bend (heading out). It's more of an eye-level hazard than a prop-level, but keep 'em peeled if you're heading out in the dark.

Take Care,

D.

[BigMusky]

After fishing Okauchee Friday afternoon with wife, took father in law out for top water bite on OC....we got a million rock bass, one large mouth and a walleye. I need to go back out during day and GPS the rock on flats because we spent way too much time over barren sand. Memory is not as sharp in the dark.

[Big_D]

Late report from Sunday (7/5).

Fished ~5:15 am to ~2pm. Cool, foggy and calm in the AM, but the sun took over quickly and it was blue skys and hot from there on out, with light to medium winds out of NW building up by afternoon. Surface temps in the mid-70's and weeds are at full summer plumage now. Water clarity was spotty... some spots have been taken over by the algia bloom and visibility = 0, other spots are still fairly clear. Would imagine that a couple windy days and we'll have algia stain, pretty much everywhere.

Fishing was slow in the early morning... then things heated up for a few hours, and then it shut down hard, mid-day. Odd, because that 11-1 window is usually pretty productive for me. Anyway, managed to scrounge up 3 LMB, 10 SMB, a perch and my obligatory Rock Bass, mostly between 8-11am.

Decided to try something new (for me) and brought a dozen shiners with me. Drug one around tail hooked ~6'-8' under a float, with a split shot half way to keep it down. This was good for a couple bass and a couple of thievings.... and everything else came on smoke color tube jigs. Largies came on the breakline weeds and smallies were up on the flats.

Channel is running pretty thin right now, so keep them motors trimmed high.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Got out with a friend this morning (7/16) ~5:30am to ~1pm. Cool and sunny warming up into the 70's. Stiff winds out of the NW right from the get-go... and getting stronger throughout the day. Water temp (surface) ~74F. Lake was pretty thoroughly stained with algia pretty much all over now. Clarity was 1-2' at best, in most spots that we fished.

Fishing was pretty slow, but we picked away at 'em and ended up with 10 SMB, 2 LMB, a perch, a couple small pike and a bonus 36.5" musky... which made it all worth while. Most of our action came on tube jigs up on the wind-blown side of flats... but as the wind continued to pick up, even that bite shut down. A couple of nicer smallies 18.5" and 19", and the musky pic attached too.

Take Care,

D.

[deadeternity]

Big D, beautiful musky you caught there, love the spots on that fish. Good catches......

[Big_D]

Out again on Saturday (7/25). Fished 5:30am to 4pm. Sunny in the AM, warming up into the 70's and some patchy clouds moved in afternoon and actually dripped a couple drops of rain. Tough winds out of the NW all day... getting particularly gusty in the afternoon. Surface temps ~74F and the water is still pretty thoroughly stained with algia... clarity ~2-4' depending on location.

Morning was really tough. Think I had all of 5 fish by noon, but I stuck with it and things picked up ~1-2pm. Finished with 3 LMB, 15 SMB and a couple of perch. Lots of little guys today, but a few nicer bass mixed in there, including these two 18"ers.

Channel is very shallow right now. Still navigable, but bigger rigs need to keep that motor trimmed up and take your time.

Take Care,

D.

[Sig and Gus Hanson]

Captain Sig and I got out at 4am and fished till about noon Saturday 8/1, cloudy, breezy, scattered rain in the morning...lake virtually empty, think we saw 3 or 4 boats out....

Slow day, picked up a total of 8 SM, 4 LM, and 3 Rockies.....two biggest fish were 18.5 and 16.5 Smallies, both caught in the 1st 30 minutes once we got to our spot. We were concentrating on the large shallow flats early, backed off to working from the dropoffs once the sun started to come out. Caught em all on wacky worms, tubes, and swimbaits.

Had some toothy critter inhale a spinner and ate through the line as immediately as I felt the bite. Line was "scarred" a good 4 inches up from the spot he cut the line. Either it was a blind Northern attacking from the front, or something big enough to get the whole spinner in it's mouth, and no, I didn't have a steel leader on...oops.

[Big_D]

Out again on Sunday (8/2), 5:30 am to ~Noon. Beautiful day... cool early, but warming up into the 70's... Blue skys, Calm early, then wind picked up out of the West late morning. Water temps 72/73F and the algia bloom seems to have thickened, water clarity is down to 1-2' in most spots.

I think most of the check-list components for a tough day on the OC are checked off above.... and a tough morning it was. Managed to scrounge up 4 little smallies, and that was it.

Take Care,

D.

[Sig and Gus Hanson]

Got out today without Captain Sig, instead fishing with my brother in law who just bought his first used boat. Hit the water by 6 am, cloudy, temp in mid 60's, water in low 70's, flat calm condition. Picked up one of two smallies in the first 3 hours and then we finally started to get a little breeze and of course the fishing picked up as well.

We'd pick 3 or 4 in a spot and then it would shut down and we'd keep moving searching for a bite that would lead to 3 or 4 fish in a spot and so on.

Did have a, either a huge Northern or smaller Musky attack my tube....whichever it was, it went 35" - 40", broke me off when it did the jump and roll.

Rain moved in around noon, we hid right next to shore for a half hour and went back to a spot with the mindset of either we catch something right away or call it a day. Caught a small smallie, then on back to back casts we each picked up smallies that went over 18".

Ended the day with 11 smallies, 4 LM, and 4 rockies ( all over 10" ).....once the wind started blowing, fish started biting.

[Eric Haataja]

Thanks for the report! Are you Sig from deadliest catch?? :-))) J/K that show is awesome though!!

[Sig and Gus Hanson]

Hey Eric,
Yup, I came up with our name based on "Deadliest Catch", great show!!!....three reasons, when my buddy Jim got his boat, we were 'grinders', until we started to figure out the different lakes in the area so we weren't very efficient but we'd keep fishing until we caught a respectable number, secondly I'm Norwegian as is the Hanson family, and thirdI know Captain Sig's brother is named Edgar, but we also like to play poker so I incorporated Gus Hanson ( famous poker player )into our "handle"....lot's of time to think sometimes out on the water obviously huh?

Love the website and some of the tip and tricks I get from the Super Moderator's...

How do I post pic's on this site. Don't have a digital camera but do have my photo's on a CD which is loaded into my PC.

[Eric Haataja]

I bet some of the mods like big D can help you walk through the pic process easier, but if you scroll down under submit reply it says upload pictures, click that then grab the pics from your disc or save them to your desk top or C drive and grab them from there it helps to resize the pics and make them smaller before you post them.

Thanks again I love poker but never enough time to play!!!!

[Big_D]

Out again on Saturday (8/15), fished 5:45 am to 5:30 pm. Mostly sunny all day, temps up into the mid 80's. Variable winds (heavy at times) from the SE/S/SW.. mostly SW. Water temps (surface) were ~77 F early morning. Algia bloom is very thick now, everywhere that I fished.

Action was slow/spotty all day, but after ~12 hrs I managed to scrounge up 8 SMB, 11 LMB, a perch, a pike, a bluegill and 2 Rock Bass. Not much size to anything except for this fat 19" smallie, and I missed another one that caught me napping :( ...would have gone about the same size. Picked up a couple tossing a white spinnerbait in the AM and then everything else came on smoke colored tubes.

Channel depth is back to normal after the rains last week, so it's a little easier to navigate now.

Take Care!

D.

PS... Sig/Gus... if you're having trouble posting pics, send me PM. I'd be happy to help you out.

[Sig and Gus Hanson]

Let's see if this worked.

[Big_D]

Looks like a nice OC Smallie to me! :D

[Sig and Gus Hanson]

Ditto to yours Big D...picked up one a swim bait, and picked up 2 more ( each of us on back to back casts ) on a purplish/megenta silver flecked wacky worm 5"

[Big_D]

Late report from Saturday (8/22)...

Fished ~6am to ~2pm. Cool and mostly cloudy all day. Chilly winds out of the NW shifting to NE by afternoon. Water temps (surface) ~73F, and water is still thoroughly stained with algia.

This cold front really seems to have slowed things down... managed to find a little spurt of action mid-morning, but that the rest of the day was mostly barren. Finished with 3 LMB, 7 SMB, a couple tiny pike and the most obligatory rock bass that I've caught all year. 18" smallie and 17.5" largemouth were mixed in with little-n's. Everything came on tubes.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Got out to play in the wind and waves today. Fished 6am to 2pm. Cold and cloudy all day temps ~60F. HEAVY winds out of the NW all day. Water temps (surface) 69-70F. It "appears" as if the algia bloom is thinning out a bit, but it was hard to be sure in the wind/waves.

Wind really made things difficult today, but I stuck with it and ended up with 6 LMB, 6 SMB, a pike and a walleye. Threw tubes all day. Windblown flats and breaklines were producing better than wind-sheltered locations. Pics from left to right... 18.5" smallie, 20" smallie & smallie vittles (sorry couldn't resist).

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Late Report from Saturday (9/12). Fished 6:30 am to ~2pm. Blue skies and sunny... temps up near 80F. Occasional light winds from the NE. Water temps ~72F and the algia stain is still lingering on.

Tough day for me. Managed to wrangle up few bass in the morning hours and then things shut down hard after 10am. Finished with 4 SMB, 4 LMB a couple small pike and a couple of rockbass. 14.5" LMB was biggest fish of the day. All of my action came on tubes except for one of the pike, which hit a white spinnerbait.

Channel is running a little thin right now... could sure use a little rain.

Take Care!

D.

[Big_D]

Out again Saturday morning, 6:30 am to ~1:15pm. Mostly sunny, warming into the 70's Occasional winds out of the E/NE, but was relatively calm most of the day. Water temps ~71F and water is still thickly stained with algia. Weeds are looseing up now...should be starting to thin out soon.

Tough one for me... 1 SMB, 2LMB and a bluegill. Had a little flurry in the morning, where I hooked 3 nice smallies in ~10 casts... Lost ALL THREE of them to arial acrobatics. I shoulda just pitched my rod in the drink and gone home after that mess... didn't have another bite all day.

Also drug a small musky sucker (Merle the Magnificent) behind the boat all day. Nothing doing there either.

Channel is running very thin right now. This is about as shallow as it's been all year. Could really use some rain!

Take Care,

D.

[BigMusky]

hit OC from 10am-3pm on Friday....dragged suckers and casted mag dawgs. Caught one pike on dawg...highlight came 10 minutes into trip. Musky took sucker down and I set hook hard...fish came straigt up and jumped about 3 feet in air. Upper 40's fish and then took another hard run next too boat. Couple good head shakes and was gone.

[Ben Kueng]

Hit Pewaukee for the opener and after putting 2 mid 30s in the boat, the wind picked up in a major way and blew us over to Oconomowoc where my client popped a very nice 44 on a sucker and lost a low 40s casting a tube.

I was supposed to fish with him today as well, but the client he was taking out called in sick yesterday before we got out here. Soon as I netted the 44 all I could hear in the backround was "paid day off tomorrow" LOL...The fish was literally hooked by just a thread of skin and had it pulled one more time we would of lost it.

Spent the day with friends, the fishing sucked but It was a great day on the water regardless!

Hope everyone had a great opener!

[Ben Kueng]

As usual, these guys pushed it till the wheels fell off...lol

[Ben Kueng]

Fished a half day today with some regulars from 11-4pm (there choice). With the WMT on pewaukee today we fished out here instead. We ended up boating one nice fish and that was the extent of our action. Trolled for the last hour and a half without a rip. Fished the breaks and deep, green weeds in 15-30 FOW where we could find the highest concentrations of baitfish.
I've only been skunked on one half day trip so far this year, but the fish are definitely not breaking loose yet either... Soon!!!

In addition to doing full-day trips 7 days a week, I will also be running 5 hour evening and night trips all summer for $200. Please give me a call for open dates, I am having problems with my email.

Good luck!

Ben

[Big_D]

Hi All!

Sorry I've been delinquent with my fishing reports this spring... just haven't had much time for fishing forums lately. I've been out several time throughout the spring and the bass fishing has picked up nicely in the past two weekends.

Last Saturday (5/29), Fishe 6am - 5pm and boated 15 LMB, 4 SMB and 20 Rock Bass... majority of the bass were in the 14-16" range. Working piers and shallow weed clumps slowly and methodically with tube jigs, produced the majority of the LMB and Smallies were up very shallow cruising the flats.

Yesterday (6/5) had nice cloud cover most of the day until the downpours started (~5pm). Fished ~5:45am - 5:30pm and boated 15 SMB, 14 LMB and a handlful of RB, Pike and Perch. It still never ceases to amaze me when I catch a 3" perch on a 4" tube jig. Also picked up a bonus 35" musky who attacked one of the SMB on the way in. Refused to let the bass go, so I netted both of them and snapped a pic. :) The bass bite has shifted... piers and shallow weeds were much less productive this week. Smallies are still coming up on the shallow flats and LMB are coming from breakline weeds. Size was down too... majority of the bass were 12-13"ers.

The weeds are just starting to fill in now. They usually come in pretty fast, so expect it to be the usual summer jungle within a week or two. Channel conditions have been pretty nice so far this spring, and I'm sure the recent rains will help keep it that way for a while longer.

Take Care!

D,

[Big_D]

Back out with a buddy on Saturday (6/12). Fished 5:45 am to ~3pm. Nice weather... cloudy, temps in the mid-60's and varying winds from the East throughout the day. Some cool fronts moved through, but did make for any rain. Water temps ~72F and the weeds have now filled in nicely in most spots.

Action was pretty slow throughout the morning, but we found a nice bite mid-day as one of those cool-fronts moved through the area. Finished the day with 14 SMB, 4 LMB a 25" pike, a perch and and a couple of Rock Bass. Half of the bass ranged from 14" to 19" and the rest were shorties.

All of our action came on tubes. Smallies were found cruising up on the flats... possibly feeding on the numerous yoty pearch that are littered all over the place right now. LMB and the pike came off of deeper/thicker weeds along the breaklines.

Channel is still in good shape with all the rain we've been having, but there was a new larger branch/log that hasn't settled into an exact location yet... so keep your eyes peeled as you motor in/out.

Take Care!

D.

[Eric Haataja]

Nice work Big D thanks for the reports!

[Big_D]

Sorry... I'm getting delinquent with my fishing reports again...

Have been out the past 2 Saturdays and the bass fishing is still pretty good out there. Both days were high-skys and after T-storms had blown through in early morning... ususally very tough days on the OC, but I still managed 17 bass 2 weeks ago and 24 last Saturday (both 10hr days).. 2 weeks ago it was cookie-cutter 13"ers with a few nice fish mixed in... last Saturday was the exact opposite... the piggies were out to play. I attached a few pics... all 19" - 21" smallies.

All my action is coming working shallow flats with smoke-colored tube jigs now. Catching mostly smallies. Breakline weeds have not been productive past 2 trips for me. Weeds are nearing their full summer plumage and you should start seeing that familiar algia stain any day now, but it was only a very light stain as of last Saturday. Channel conditions are good with all of the rain we've been having.

Take Care,

D.

[Big_D]

Got back out on the OC on Sunday morning (7/11) fished from ~5:45am to ~1:45pm. I think this heat wave has slowed things down considerably out there, and the algia bloom has also set in thick since my last time out.

Managed to scrounge up 8 SMB, 2 LMB, a RB/perch/pike trio... and that was it. Several 14-15" Smallies, but nothing bigger than that.

It was a nice day just to be outside, though... Sunny all morning with some cloud cover finally moving in early afternoon. Medium winds out of the SW/W all day. Temps up into the mid-80's. Water temps in the low-80's and water clarity is down to around 2-3' feet now.

Take Care!

D.