The Saga of "Lonesome Kermit"

[Ed Carlson]

Its that time of year again, the adventures of Kermit..revisited.

The Saga of "Lonesome Kermit"

By Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Scene one...*Fade in*..(Kermit on the range)......Fall temps drop, rains begin, open free-range Kermit's with fat bellies full of hoppers and bugs but rapidly loosing cover due to harvested crops, frog herds form in mass, Kermit and the herd start to mosey (yup...frogs do mosey..at least they do in my stories) to low laying areas funneling into lakes and rivers where they hope to winter comfortably. All is right in Kermit's world.

Scene two...(The gangs all here).....Miss Piggy and her gang have been enjoying a fine late summer and early fall raiding weed lines and wondering progressively closer to shallow pastures. Pick'ns have been good, minnows, chub's, nibbler sized panfish, the stray cisco on the breaks sure make up a wide range of chow for the girthy gang. New and old faces join the gang daily, the motley crew grows in numbers. Wind and rains come more frequent now, weed growth now diminished and that sun sure is get'n kinda bright. Raiding now gets better under the blanket of darkness, and the shallow shoreline makes a handy coral to push them strays into.

Scene three...(The Hole in the Wall)....A bright October moon lights up the sparsely clouded cold night sky. Steady light rains have been ebbing in and out for a week now and the gang has setup camp near a creek mouth that feeds through a wide marsh. The gang is restless, they sense new flow feeding out of the creek. Miss Piggy keeps a vigilant eye pealed to the sky, and nose to the wind. Miss Piggy knows it won't be long now.

Scene four...(The Winter Crossing)....Kermit and his clan have now grown in numbers to the 10's of thousands. It has been a tough slog through the heavy cover and the falling temps is taking it's toll on them. This is not Kermit's first crossing and he knows what is likely to lay ahead for the crew. But he knows it's a numbers game, we all hit the water, most will make it, many will not. It's the Veterans he has the most sympathy for...they know what is ahead. As for the greenhorns, well....if they make it, they will know how he felt come next season.

Scene Five... (The Bushwhack) ... Kermit looks left and than right up the beach, every one looks back at the Ol wise Bull waiting for the sign. Kermit's mind wonders to warm summer nights when the air would be full of singing again...but not now...nothing to croak about now, maybe he will sing again come spring. Kermit looks ahead and leaps, than others soon fallow. Thousands fallow, 10's of thousands splash into the water sending out a dinner bell chime to the awaiting Miss Piggy gang. The Bushwhack is on.

SLURP.....SLURP......SPLASH.....SLURP.....SPLASH....this will go on all night and into the early morning. Many will never reach the mud, some loose there resolve and return to shore and will try again the fallowing evening, and they will repeat this tell the ice blocks the pathway to there winter slumbering grounds.

Next season the rookie will be the new bull Kermit, and a veteran of the fall run Bushwhack. And Miss Piggy and her gang, will be waiting.

The

END

Fall frog migration pasterns are one of my favorite peek periods to catch/photo/release sumo class walleye. Not only sumo's but numbers of eager to feed walleye of all sizes, often in large numbers, in easily defined areas.

Crankbaits or jigs rigged with 5" twisters in white, or green and white, have served me well over the years. Live frogs on jigs work very well too, but if they are on the chew...the plastics do best.

The formula is simple, lots of food (Kermit and his herd) headed one way.....and lots of eager hungry walleye (Miss Piggy and here gang) facing the other way. When the two meet, things get ugly...at least they do for Mr. Kermit. Miss Piggy and her posy however are as happy as a herd of Swedes gathered for a family reunion at a Golden Coral all ya can eat buffet.

I can hear Miss Piggy Walleye now......."Come-on in boys...Da waters fine!"

[WalleyeGod]

Excellent story Ed!

rib-it!

WG

[solbes]

I just painted a Megabass knock off in a Mink frog pattern. It's the one with the bulging eye sockets. Will be using it in two weeks on the Oct Full Moon. I tried to lose this lure 10 feet up in a tree this weekend, but luckily got it back after 5 minutes of work.

Incidentally I saw three frogs hopping across the gravel road when returning from fishing at our property up north. Won't be long now, if it hasn't started already.

[OnAFly]

I've been seeing them around my place running across the roads towards the bigger water. I think I'll go fishing.....

[Rick G]

I couldnt agree more find some frogs, salamanders or mud puppies and head to your favorite creek mouth and catch the fattest walters of the year.

[Ed Carlson]

Not to be misunderstood, even though the forage of availability/opportunity is Kermit's...cranks are often the way to cover water more efficiently.

They may have showed with Frogs on the menu, but a slow wobbling wooded looking minnow forage sliding by slowly overhead...is awful tempting to a sumo walleye.

I carry a staple late fall arsenal of 5" to 7" shallow running minnow-baits to tempt shallow roaming sumo eyes. Bomber Long A's, Husky #13 Suspending jerk-baits, Smithwick Suspending Roughs, Salmo Whitefish, and Salmo Suspending Stings.

The other category in artificials I use are 5" Twisters and 4" and 5" Sassy Shads and Swim Baits.

All can be ran S...L...O...W...and shallow, slow being the key element.

They cast far and cover water well. As the water clears getting out there often means less spooked fish at night.

Larger than average, shallow to mid breaking depths near shore, and slow as you go. This well proven tactic will put a hog in the net for you this fall.