11-7 & 11-8 Bassin'

[river rat316]

Lake for me, then if I get a 20"er early, Ia m gonna hit the river and try for one there to. MN grandslam!

[TonkaBass]

jerkbaits, jigs, tubes, dropshot...

[ShoreGuy1984]

Yeah Im gonna call into work with the swine, lol, and gonna go to Bush Lake, and throw some X-Rap's, Husky jerk-baits, and jigs!!!!!!! I cant miss this day at the lake.

[grab the net]

I have a little yard work to take care of and then I will be out also. Will have some minnows of some kind with. Hopefully see you out there.

[jalberg]

Should be nice out there. There's a 7 pounder with my name on it.

[ShoreGuy1984]

Yeah, theres a 7 pounder with my name on it too! Hope the wind is somewhat calm though.

[Cecil]

We didnt do too well. Caught fish but not nearly the numbers or size I was expecting, oh well, looks like we have another week or two

[Craigums]

Went on knife for a couple hours saturday till it got to windy for my little tin can boat, then went on mille lacs for an hour sunday. Didnt get any fish but it was nice to be out. Wasn't sure were the smallies would be on mille lacs. so we just posted up on some isolated rock piles with the anchor and started throwing spinnerbaits,cranks, tubes. no action though, they must have been a bit deeper

[Larson15]

I fished the st. croix again this weekend chasing smallies. Saturday wasnt very good. Had a hard time finding them and finally got into a few in 15-18 ft of water with a drop shot. I could not produce any fish on tubes, cranks, or spinnerbaits on steeper shorelines. Sunday was much better as I targeted them in deeper water with a drop shot, and a northland mimic minnow jig. I didnt touch my baitcasters all day! This was the first time I used a northland mimic minnow and caught about 12 smallies on it. Has anyone tried these before?

[EBass]

Slow on the lake I went to. 4 bass total. Biggest 18.5" pitching to the deep weededge. My buddy was skunked. Nice day though.

Went to Tonka on Sunday for the big skunk. Sick of that lake.

[jefflake]

Couldn't get the boat out yesterday, so I put on my waders. Waded for 3 hours, had one bite and caught that fish. My biggest MN bass so far.... 7 lb 4 oz. Just a hair over 22.75 inches. Beats my best by 2 oz.

Didn't have a camera since I was in my waders and didn't want to a chance dropping my cell phone in the lake, so just weighted it and measured it and put it back in the lake.

[DeBo101]

A 7lber would have been a sweet way to close out the season. Fished my favorite bass lake for 3 or 4 hours on saturday. Super nice out but the fishing was a bit slow. 1 small on for me busted off a decent one on the hookset and screwed up a few light biters (I need to keep my jigging skills a bit sharper next year - giant bucktails have put me off my game). Had a novice with me who landed a 3lber and a 4.2lber that had to be close to 20inches. Not a fat fall pig but a nice fish nonetheless. He lost another good one and missed a few as well.

Good way to spend a saturday in november. 1/4oz and 3/8oz all terrain tackle jigs with a gene larew craw worked alright for us. Outside weededge in this lake is 4-6 ft. Did some paralell casting at times out slightly deeper but the biters were in the weeds. Musky fishing will be it from here on out.

Did a lot less bass fishing this year. When I did go the fishing just seemed a bit off. Good luck to all of the late season bassers on here.

[EBass]

22.75! WOW - I'd like to see a pic of that. Biggest for me this year was a 21.25" Biggest I've seen was a 21.75" my buddy caught.

[Presco]

JeffLake, can I ask, were on the Mississipp or the Croix? I've seen many 5lb+ on the Mississippi, but never a 7 lb. Wow, what a fish.

[TonkaBass]

I fished the st. croix again this weekend chasing smallies. Saturday wasnt very good. Had a hard time finding them and finally got into a few in 15-18 ft of water with a drop shot. I could not produce any fish on tubes, cranks, or spinnerbaits on steeper shorelines. Sunday was much better as I targeted them in deeper water with a drop shot, and a northland mimic minnow jig. I didnt touch my baitcasters all day! This was the first time I used a northland mimic minnow and caught about 12 smallies on it. Has anyone tried these before?

Mimic minnows are deadly on smallies... I also really like the slurpies jign' tube for the smallmouths...

[Larson15]

It's amazing how the fishing can completely turn around if you ignore your stubbornness and totally switch what you are doing. I definately overlook the idea of putting down the baitcasters, downsize what you are using, and pick up the spinning gear. This weekend was a good example of this.

[jefflake]

Not a river, in a lake. Waded out as far as possible and threw out even further. One hit only that day, but it was worth it. Legs got pretty cold after 3 hours of wading. Maybe try again next weekend if the weather holds out.

[ikeslayer]

jefflake you dirty dog - putting the smack on them every fall!!!

[jefflake]

I've been pretty fortunate. I put in my time and often go hours without a bite this time of year. But usually this time of year I don't catch anything small, usually 4 lbs and up.

Jig and trailer worked slow. Wish I had more time this fall, but it's limited this year to just weekends and not many of those. Took down the cabin and we're building a house on the lake, so next year....look out !!

[ikeslayer]

keep smashing them big guy - do you even know how to catch a small fish?

[jefflake]

I catch plenty of small fish during the course of the year, but this time of year, if I catch anything, it is usually decent.

Boat is getting winterized so only wading now. Next year I will wait to winterize the boat until the lake freezes up.

Hopefully the weather isn't to bad this coming weekend and I can maybe get out and wade again..........

[kt]

Hey Jefflake,

How heavy a jig are you using? I have had luck with a 1/2 oz the last couple years during late fall when working remaining weedgrowth, but this fall I haven't hardly gotten anything on that in weeds. I'm gonna try a lighter finesse jig the next time im out. I hate doing that though when fishing coontail clumps due to the fact that it's hard to get a lighter jig through the weeds.

[jefflake]

I use an 1/8 oz jig. People say you aren't going to catch anything decent on that size jig, but the results are amazing. You have to have patience when working a jig that light. It comes through the weeds pretty well. The head is somewhat pointed, which appears to help it get through the weeds. I use nothing bigger than that all year and I throw a jig 90 percent of the time.