Turtle Flambeau Flowage Fishing Reports - Mercer Wisconsin by Bobber Down Guide Service

[Jeff Robl]

I will be providing a regular fishing report in this thread. If you have questions or wish to share your fishing report for the Turtle Flambeau Flowage just add it in the open box at the bottom of this thread and I will do my best to answer you.

Here is my fishing report for 5/5/13

I fished the Murrays landing end of the TFF this weekend. With the exception of some of the bays and the Grant lake area there was about 5 miles of open water.

It was open past the second set of narrows or for reference past campsite C-9. Saturdays water temps were in the low 30's with the north wind, the conditions were brutal for most of the day.

The fish were in a very negative pre-spawn mood.I picked up my son and two friends later in the morning we concentrated on river channels hoping to intercept moving walleyes.

The results were one caught muskie and one larger muskie that got off at the side of the boat. Of the groups I talked to consisting of around 20 people I heard of 6 walleyes being caught saturday. The walleye fishing was as tough as it gets.

Sunday's warmer weather brought improved fishing but with the cold water and pre-spawn I worked a lot of water to catch some 12-15" males. Fish were found in 12-15 fow. I worked river channels from an anchored position casting an 1/8 jig and fathead upstream and working it back with the current.

I didn't talk to anyone yet who fished the Turtle river end I'm guessing the results were similar.That concludes the fishing report,better fishing ahead.

Camping report: I was concerned about getting one of the few sites that weren't iced in but with the snow and freezing rain all day friday that wasn't a problem, there was only one other group camping. After I got set up friday I felt guilty that I would be enjoying the camping by myself.

I called home a couple times offering to pick anyone up at the landing who may have changed their mind, after the second or third time my wife said don't you get it! no one wants to camp in the snow and rain.

Anyone interested in spending time on the TFF there is a lot of wild life to see when there is still some ice on the flowage.Flocks of migrating waterfowl included:golden eyes, buffleheads, teal, mergansers, & commerants.

I saw three trumpeter swans lot of geese and loons. I talked naturalist Zack Wilson he guessed there were over 50 loons on that end of the flowage. If you're a light sleeper you might want to bring ear plugs. I woken often by the loons and geese.

Ice report: with the warm weather forcasted this week I'm guessing the ice will be gone by the weekend but that is not a given. FYI if there are still floating ice chunks be carefu l the chunks have white porous ice on top but very hard black ice on the bottom they would do serious damage if hit at a fast speed.

[Jeff Robl]

The last week fish have been caught in the river channels on the Murrays landing and Turtle river end. The pictures are from the Turtle river by the cty park on cty FF.

It is a beutiful stetch of the flowage the water is raging over the falls right now. The day I fished the river, fish were caught in holes 14-20ft. with 1/8oz. jig and fatheads

I did the best anchored casting upstream and brining it back with the current,I also saw people catching fish drifting with the current.

[Jeff Robl]

A lot has changed in the last week the ice is finally gone the water is warming up,saw 48-55 yesterday( Friday)and the walleyes have moved shallow and have really turned on!Fished the TFF the last two days and caught numbers of 16-19" fish in fact the majority of the fish caught were in the 16-18" range. we fished mostly rocks 5-9', some wood 6-8' 1/16 oz.weedless with large fatheads some spots,also put out slip bobbers and caught fish on those to.Had the pleasure of fishing with Mike and brothers Tom and Randy, didn't get to teach them anything on how to set the hook or use slip bobbers they had it down,we released a lot of 17&18" walleyes while sharing hunting stories.The smallmouth either weren't in 5-9'or are still a little sluggish only boated three the last couple days.Have a busy fishing week coming up but have lot of openings May 25th-June 1st.

[JBMasterAngler]

Is there alot of good bass fishing on turtle flambeau?

[Jeff Robl]

Fishing has been very good since I last posted a report.Walleye catches on most days are ranging from 15-45 fish, many 16-18" with a few perch starting to be caught the smallmouths are getting aggressive with bigger fish caught and released.The exception was thur the 23rd with the cold front and the strong north wind we had 2 walleyes and 6 smallmouth all day.For me a cold front in May is the hardest conditions of the open water season.Friday the fish were still sluggish ,it took until early afternoon to find some hungry fish then our limit came pretty fast with others released.The fish came on minnows and crawlers in 8-10fow with bottom composition of sand,rock and wood.Saturday I had Bob and Carl who were experienced jig fisherman . We started out fishing rocks and caught some nice smallmouths but no walleyes We moved to humps in the7-10' with sand,rock and wood and found nice walleyes.The fish were not biting aggressively we just felt a little extra weight and figured out we had to give about a five count before we set the hook.We moved to a shallower bar 6-8' and found fish there also.Not all the spots we fished had active fish but we had pretty steady action all day.Yesterday the bite was back on it took us until our fifth spot a transition between soft bottom area with sticks and brush coming out of 12' to 6-8' flat with sand rock and wood to locate fish.The fish were in a tight area on the edge in 8' and were located casting a 1/16 oz. slowfall jig and minnow.My clients didn't have a full day and wanted to have a shore lunch so we settled for a limit of 13-15" walleyes and a few perch.I picked up my son Jack and his friend at the dock we caught some walleyes then I wanted to try a spot in the area, that I had found scouting last summer and had not fished yet.It was a 8' hump with a sharp almost verticle drop on one side into 10'the spot was covered with softball to bowling ball size boulders (determined with my window weight).I missed one caught one then showed Jack where to cast.Kessey who had never cast a jig before traded her bobber pole for a jigging rod.It was a great teaching day, every fish all day gave the classic walleye bite where you feel the "click" or snap when they suck the jig in(it is critical to have a sensitive rod)lower the rod tip count to 2 and give a big hook set.In 45-60 min. we caught 35 walleyes ranging from 11-18".The sun was low time to hang it up, OK a dollar on the last fish we each cast out our jig and half way back Kessey set the hook into the winning fish. Was also doing well some days on rocks before the cold front both shore lines and rock humps up to 6'.

[Jeff Robl]

Try to keep my posts intersesting,sometimes can give info by short stories.Mon. am.got to work an hr. 1-1/2 early threw a few casts at some way points I haven't fished this year no takers.Did some scouting followed a bar out to the point where it dropped fast into 10fow with a few stumps at the base in 10fow,quick threw a buoy out went back with the electric threw a few casts missed a fish, usually would stay and see what was down there new it was a good spot punched it in moved on.Ran the big motor back and forth around the edge of a 4'sand flat staying in 6-10fow found a section with 6-8 sand rock wood shut the big motor off,dropped the electric got the window weight out and moved around with the electric bouncing the cast iron weight off the bottom ping,ping,dull thump,ping,(rock,rock,wood,rock)punched in way point 388,when you find this structure you know it will hold fish.Early in the season there are a lot of places to catch fish I spend a lot of time fishing 6-8 with a bottom composition of sand rock stumps and sunken logs.I got my rod out took three casts and caught a walleye.Looked at my watch it was 7:56 I was about three minutes from fishermans landing (full throttle)Picked up father and son Edward and Simom went back to 388 and in an hr. 1 1/2 secured our shore lunch with walleyes and some very nice perch ,That takes a lot of pressure off a day with shore lunch planned.With a good catch early wanted to try some deep water stuff I usually fish later in year, fished 15-20' some river channel structure and some non river deep holes and did very well on walleyes it was a good numbers morning around 30-35 fish but small size kept 13-16".After lunch Simon and I went out casting he wanted to throw for muskies and I was still working a jig. I caught a couple walleyes Simon no muskies. We went to a mid lake sand flat with a few stumps and rock,mostly sand put the drift sock out threw a perch shad rap and a jointed perch count down made 4 short passes over the flat and caught 7 nice smallmouth forgot how much fun throwing crank baits is.Had a great day today with Brothers Al and Stu and friend Gary had another pretty good numbers day for walleyes (numbers were good but size smaller than most of this spring,today13-16").Had a good morning,mid day pretty slow and a good finish.Our shore lunch consisted of 2 walleyes and some nice perch after lunch we kept 6 walleyes and a few more perch for another meal.They do an annual trip to some great fishing destinations so it was a pleasure to show them around the TFF. DLAMA2 don't care to get into the musky politics but liked your last post, it was a pleasure meeting you opening weekend.If you haven't been up since opening weekend don't want to rub it in but you missed some really good spring fIshing think the next month is going to be better than usuall give me a call for some current info.

[Jeff Robl]

Fished the TFF two of the last 5 days.Friday spent 12 hours on the water by myself scouting,spent most of the day looking for shallow smallmouths for this week guide trips(have some bass guys) threw shad raps and flicker shads found smallmouths on mid lake humps in 3-6fow two humps with small rocks and gravel(baseball size)another good sized irregular shaped flat with mostly sand.Tested a few waypoints marked but not yet fished for walleyes late in the day.I think I got lucky fishing the walleyes late and hit a good feeding window one spot 7-8 rock, wood sand, nice walleyes another spot 13' slope of a river channel with wood, smaller walleyes.If you haven't thrown small crank baits at bass it is tremendous fun! Today fished with Mike and Chip started on a couple 7' rock humps,nothing then a 13' spot with hard bottom and two big stumps at the base of a 8' flat put 4 nice walleyes in the livewell another deep spot nothing.Fished 5 more spots 5-9' kept 6 walleyes 15-18" released walleyes up to 19"Caught smallmouths with the walleyes.After an afternoon shore lunch went after smallmouths in 3-6 had some nice fish.Been fishing with x-large fatheads today got some blacktail chubs from Turtle River Trading Co.(Mercer)Caught almost all the fish including the bass on 4-5"chubs we were waiting about 10 seconds to set the hook with the bigger minnows,fishing them under bobbers.The leeches and crawlers did poorly compared to the minnows.Minnows need special care this time of year, mine are in the refridgerator with an aerator.

[tunrevir]

Nice job Jeff. You ever fish the smallies with 3-4" shimmy shad and a clothespin spinners? I have found these to be a dynamite option on the Flambeau for smallies eyes, pike and even muskies and an occasional channel cat.

Tunrevir~

[Jeff Robl]

Been fishing the TFF everyday for the last 10 days, the fishing has been fantastic.I've been fishing walleyes and smallmouths.The smallmouths on the Tff are known for their girth but rarely exceed 20" We catch over a thousand a season and if they look 18" I measure them.The last two days we had a 19",19-1/4,19-1/2,and 19-3/4 these are big fish!When we switch from walleyes to smallmouths we are getting big fish and numbers.Throwing cranks in 2-6fow lot of baits catching fish crayfish imitations with rattles working best.Walleyes have varied from3-1/2 to 14 fow depending on conditions.Today we kept two small walleyes a couple perch a couple rock bass and a 15" smallmouth for shore lunch all taste good.After lunch we found walleyes in 12-14 fow kept 6 fish from15-20" released many fish up to 18".Leeches worked best the last two days,before that was doing best on minnows taking all three along(crawlers also). There have been days when you hit slow stretches example 6-10 two half day trips, lines in the water before 6am had a good start on walleyes early kept 7 allowed walleyes(7 morning 7 afternoon7 people counting me)mid day slow fishing, afternoon trip went deeper, fish started biting again caught 30-35 walleyes but smaller fish. Today we caught fish on our first spot walleyes few and small, kept pounding away I knew they were biting the guys kept their intensity up and we found nice sized fish in the afternoon.I've had days with a shore lunch planned 11am no fish in the box yet that's pressure.I experienced a new pressure this past week with a camera in the boat filming for a T.V. show with Don from Illinois Outdoors thanks for the experience Don .Want to thank everyone who fished with me it was truly a pleasure.Thanks Neal repeat business is the best compliment!

[Jeff Robl]

Wanted to do a separate fishing report of two days on the water with father and son, Dick and Jeff, two excellent fly fisherman. In particular they wanted to go after smallmouth with their fly rods. We targeted shallow water in the 2-5' range we found good numbers the first day with some large fish. I had not guided fly fisherman before and didn't know what to expect. It was really neat to watch them work the fly rods, Jeff was truly impressive his dad would proudly admit Jeff took what he learned and excelled to another level, his skills are highly polished. The second day the morning brought a nice chop with dark skies Dick wanted to see what the walleye fishing was like so we began the morning looking for walleyes, we found them on the third stop we put a limit in the live well. The fly rods came back out we found big smallmouths two over 19' Jeff caught pike, a 13&14" crappie and the biggest bass on a green and black popper, it was thrilling seeing the fish hit top waters. We had both numbers and big fish on the fly rods on day two. I welcome any interested fly fisherman there is going to be some fantastic shallow water smallmouth fishing the next few weeks.

[Jeff Robl]

Wanted to do a separate fishing report of two days on the water with father and son, Dick and Jeff, two excellent fly fisherman. In particular they wanted to go after smallmouth with their fly rods. We targeted shallow water in the 2-5' range we found good numbers the first day with some large fish. I had not guided fly fisherman before and didn't know what to expect. It was really neat to watch them work the fly rods, Jeff was truly impressive his dad would proudly admit Jeff took what he learned and excelled to another level, his skills are highly polished. The second day the morning brought a nice chop with dark skies Dick wanted to see what the walleye fishing was like so we began the morning looking for walleyes, we found them on the third stop we put a limit in the live well. The fly rods came back out we found big smallmouths two over 19' Jeff caught pike, a 13&14" crappie and the biggest bass on a green and black popper, it was thrilling seeing the fish hit top waters. We had both numbers and big fish on the fly rods on day two. I welcome any interested fly fisherman there is going to be some fantastic shallow water smallmouth fishing the next few weeks.

[Jeff Robl]

Been getting asked about the mayfly hatch. There is often more then one, haven't seen anything substantial yet(have not been on TFF last two days) expect hatch soon.The mayfly nymphs live in the silt, until the young of the year perch fry are of eating size they are an important source of protein for walleyes.I often look at what they're eating when I'm cleaning fish and all season there have been mayfly larvae in the walleyes stomachs.When the mayflys are hatching and there is a cloud of larvae rising out of the silt towards the surface the walleyes are dialed in on them and are gorging.I have caught fish while this is going on but it is tough,I'll be trying leeches with a jig if you can find any with black hair that might be a good choice. A walleye digests its food relatively quickly and the mayfly hatch isn't going to foil a groups week long vacation.It is also impossible to plan a fishing trip around the mayfly hatch.If your day on the water is during or immediately after a hatch and the walleyes are tough ,they all eat mayflys but more aggressive fish like smallmouth and pike might be more catchable. I remember a calm evening I was out fishing by myself fishing had been good that day the sun was low in the sky and the mayflys were rising off the water all around me it was actually pretty neat to see (the fish did stop biting my offering).Any day on the water is a good day!Enjoy them.

[Jeff Robl]

Pics from fathers day trip and following day. Starting to fish different depths other than the 5-10 we spend most of the early season in. Most of the spots involve wood of some variety although weeds are starting to come into play. The reason for this post is to inform potential visitors to the TFF of the many catch and eat oppurtunities on the flowage. On most trips we catch enough fish for a nice shore lunch( if they choose) and a meal to take back to the cabin. Mondays trip was enough fish for a fish fry for 8-10 people, they opted not to do a shore lunch. I offer to clean all the fish including boneless pike filets which turn out to be many peoples favorite eating fish. If customers want to keep a few bass I try to keep bass in the 15-16" range, there is a tremendous bass fishery and a little catch and eat might be helping to keep a good balance. I also encourage people to release any walleyes over 20", Monday we had a 22-1/2" released. If people are interested in catching pike, shallow bays with weeds casting spinner baits works. I don't do the 5 piece method I wind up with a solid fillet with the y bones taken out in a single strip of meat that is left for the turtles. I do draw the line somewhere I don't clean bullheads, I think that was Ted.

Good fishing to you.

[JBMasterAngler]

How is the bass fishing on the flowage? I'm eye balling that area for a possible labor day trip.

[Jeff Robl]

The smallmouth fishing on the TFF is some of the best in Wisconsin.The fishing for bass is really good right now in the fall it gets a little tougher right now there in shallow water and are very aggressive .

[Jeff Robl]

The Fishing on the TFF has been very good all season(once the ice was gone). We're now into prime time fishing the water temps are in that magic 70* range the predator fishes metabolism are high and the forage base is not yet in huge abundance like late summer. We're past the May cold front days where a big temp drop and north wind can almost shut the walleye fishing down. Even on tough bite days there are numbers of catchable bass and walleyes to be had. Good example, last two days: yesterday after the morning rain the skies got sunny the wind kicked up and with the big chop came a big bite we had a great numbers day 30-35 walleyes and some nice smallmouths. Today we had flat water most of the day and bright skies the fish in the areas we fished were not nearly as aggressive but we still had a nice catch of fish.

Still doing well in 7-8' rock, wood, sand bottom catching fish in other depths as well. One of the best flowage structures is big stumps on the edge of river channels(can spend a whole day of scouting to come up with one or two good ones). Last spot today we were fishing bass on the big water side late in the day, had to try a walleye spot to finish the day 10'hump with wood/rock hadn't fished since last august. Love the feel of that thump when they suck up the 1/16 oz. jig and today mostly crawlers, its finally summer!

Thank you to all the people who chose my guide service. Can't wait to get to work tomorrow!

[Jeff Robl]

The Fishing on the TFF has been very good all season(once the ice was gone). We're now into prime time fishing the water temps are in that magic 70* range the predator fishes metabolism are high and the forage base is not yet in huge abundance like late summer. We're past the May cold front days where a big temp drop and north wind can almost shut the walleye fishing down. Even on tough bite days there are numbers of catchable bass and walleyes to be had. Good example, last two days: yesterday after the morning rain the skies got sunny the wind kicked up and with the big chop came a big bite we had a great numbers day 30-35 walleyes and some nice smallmouths. Today we had flat water most of the day and bright skies the fish in the areas we fished were not nearly as aggressive but we still had a nice catch of fish.

Still doing well in 7-8' rock, wood, sand bottom catching fish in other depths as well. One of the best flowage structures is big stumps on the edge of river channels(can spend a whole day of scouting to come up with one or two good ones). Last spot today we were fishing bass on the big water side late in the day, had to try a walleye spot to finish the day 10'hump with wood/rock hadn't fished since last august. Love the feel of that thump when they suck up the 1/16 oz. jig and today mostly crawlers, its finally summer!

Thank you to all the people who chose my guide service. Can't wait to get to work tomorrow!

[Jeff Robl]

May fly hatch

The "big " hatch occurred sometime between 7pm Monday and 8am Tuesday. I got off water mon back on tue between that time the big hatch with the largest type of may flies occurred which was evidenced by their remains on the surface.

How did it effect the fishing? Other then the mayflies we were greeted by completely flat water and hot sunny skies a double wammy. I was fishing with father and two young sons we had enough bites and fish to hold their interest, we were fishing catch and release for smallmouths. Our first spot after lunch we found what we were looking for a school of hungry smallmouths, I lost count but we caught a lot of fish in the course of the day we caught perch and 4 walleyes 3-14"-16" all released.

It looks like what I thought were the worst possible conditions didn't shut down the bite it is prime fishing season. You just have to keep pounding away and hopefully find the fish your're looking for.

[Jeff Robl]

In the last two days we have conservatively caught over a 100 fish. Yesterday we had four smallmouths that were 19"-19-3/4"and many fish 16-18" today we had a lot of fish up to 18".The smallmouth are now spread out in many depth ranges we caught a lot of fish in 3-1/2'-5' we were fishing live bait but I know they could have been caught by many methods. We cast 1/16 oz.jigs and used slip bobbers with crawlers and leeches. Many, many fish and some of the larger fish were caught with a dead stick, I like to put a large leech on the dead stick. We did well on shallow rocks and shallow flats with mostly sand bottom and large stumps. Walleye fishing has been good. I've had customers the last two days enjoying the bass fishing but we have spent time on walleyes today we caught a limit of 13-18" fish on two 9'humps with a little rock, sand and nice wood both a few stumps and log debris, it didn't take too long to assemble some walleyes on the stringer. Yesterday the walleyes came off the edge of a small 7'flat with sand, wood rock and in cabbage weeds in6-7fow. Panfish report: with the walleye and smallmouth fishing right now you would have to twist my arm, if you tell me to pull off the fish we get on to fish panfish I would but I don't think you will.

[Jeff Robl]

Been fishing a lot, sleeping a little, the fishing on the TFF has been as hot as the weather. We're catching fish in a lot of different depths depending on weather conditions. With a good chop sometimes as shallow as 3-1/2' been starting to fish some of the deeper summer structure down to 12-15'.Some of the deeper structure is bottom transitions from soft silt to firmer wood strewn slightly shallower rises with some stumps often adjacent to river channels.

Some days it takes awhile to find active smallmouths and walleyes other days fish are caught throughout the day, on a lot of different spots. If catching fish is a priority it is important to not spend a lot of time in areas that either have no fish or no hungry fish, sounds obvious; how long? Depends how many people in the boat and how your fishing, the way I do a lot of fishing it's about 15-20 min.

Today fished with Todd and Craig two tournament bass fisherman, , fished four 12-14' spots and had 6 walleyes in the livewell at late morning. We then put on the hunt for smallmouth we caught some fish but not numbers on our fifth stop we found the fish in 5-8'on the edge of a small 4'flat there were a lot of stumps with rock/sand bottom. At the time the water was completely flat and the sun hot not counting rock bass we caught around 40 smallmouth and walleyes in two hours for some fantastic fishing. We were hoping to catch bass on artificial(s) had some luck on senco worms but a 1/16oz. jig and leech caught the most fish. In last week have also done well in 8-10'.

Have fished with a lot of great people some very experienced some not from 6 year old Hudson to 82 year old Arlene it was a pleasure to share a day on the TFF with everyone who chose my guide service.

Thank You

[Jeff Robl]

Ever been out when you cast your jig out and the line hangs up in the air? Pretty spooky, that was Tuesday with John and Tim.The approaching front had a little lightning in it so we had to head to an island for a 45 min delay. The fishing had been fantastic before the front after the front passed the bite slowed down considerably. I don't usually count fish but knew the fish were going to be on that day and could tell right away I had some very experienced fisherman. We ended the day with 64 walleyes and smallmouths about 40/60 walleyes to smallmouths we released one 20" walleye and had a lot of very nice fish. I was hoping for a 100 fish day.

It was a good week of fishing even when the bite wasn't real strong we had steady action and a nice catch of fish. Our biggest walleye was a heavy 23"released, and lot of nice smallmouths.

Did the best on the edge of a few different flats in 7-9fow with good stump coverage also caught fish in 12-15fow on the edge of river channels. Caught fish on bobbers and casting. Everyone seems to have their favorite mine for casting is a 1/16oz. slowfall jig. Some days did better on crawlers other days leeches some days they have a strong preference for one over the other.

Shared the boat with a lot of nice people. Thank You.

Looking forward to a lot of good summer fishing, have availability in July and August.

[Jeff Robl]

Video Fishing Report:

Bobber Down Guide Service

Jeff Robl

Fishing Guide

Bobber Down Guide Service

4816 N Little Pike Lake Rd.

Mercer, Wisconsin 54547 USA

715-776-0140

[email protected]

BobberDownGuideService.com

Fishing Guide Service

Turtle Flambeau Flowage

Mercer, Wisconsin 54547 USA

Bobber Down Guide Service - Turtle Flambeau Flowage - Mercer Wisconsin - Fishing Guide Service

[Jeff Robl]

July 22nd, 2013 - Turtle Flambeau Flowage - Mercer Wisconsin 54547

The summer fishing is holding up real well, when the wind is blowing on full day trips 30-50 walleyes and smallmouths is the norm not counting the action from all the other species. Twice recently we had unsolicited action from muskies once from an 18" hooked walleye and almost had a nice musky in the net from a hooked 11" walleye. Even on the flat sunny days we're bringing in good catches of fish usually from deeper water(12=15). Crawlers leeches casting 1/16oz. jigs and slip bobbers. The cover been fishing the last week is similar to last report when the big winds are blowing getting fish in 4fow.

Let's talk about fishing in the wind. I sometimes get asked questions on things I've been doing so long I take them for granted. I anchor broadside to the waves in up to 25 mph winds. This is done with 20-28lb. navy anchors and 100ft of heavy cotton rope and 2 feet of heavy chain attached to the anchors to get them to bite. Letting out a lot of rope gets the boat to hold position and allows the boat to bob up and down with the waves so you don't have waves crashing over the sides. When you get an anchor stuck in a stump(and you will)You tie the rope short to a stong point on the front of the boat and use the motor to pull the anchor off going in the direction into the waves.

I love fishing in the big winds we catch a lot of fish on days you don't see many boats on the water.

Mike thanks for the post it was fun fishing with you and your family. Great to see young people enjoying the outdoors. Speaking of young people having a great time fishing nice, nice hook set Joey Its like a good golf or baseball swing and its not as easy to teach as you would think.

Thank you to all who shared the boat with me.

[Jeff Robl]

July 31st, 2013 - Turtle Flambeau Flowage - Mercer Wisconsin 54547

SUMMER COLD FRONTS/SCOUTING NEW SPOTS Left the dock Friday. afternoon to pick up customers for afternoon guide trip left the dock wearing a t-shirt an hour later sweatshirt and jacket. Dave and I took turns wearing the only jacket I had in the boat. After 4 hours of fishing Dave and Kevin decided to pull the plug, on the way in we could see our breath in the cold damp air. We fished two 10-12' spots and two 7-8' caught some smallmouths, perch and 8 walleyes one 21" released the others on the smaller side. I think if we could have put the hunt on for a little longer we would have run into more bigger fish. The cold NW wind and big chop wasn't compatible with summer clothes. In May a sharp drop in temp and a N wind almost completely shuts the bite down. In the summer with the water warm and the fishes metabolism high the bite goes on. Saturday same cold weather 46* in morning, cold rain off and on got to fish with son Jack in afternoon we were dressed for the weather. Jack hadn't fished the TFF in a while so I struggled with going out to see how many fish we could catch or going scouting, Jack generously said lets go find some new spots! The criteria was then to fish areas we hadn't fished before. We spent 7 hours in a 1/4 x 1/2 mile area and caught walleyes in 5 spots and a 6th I know will hold fish but not that day. 1) 30ft. out from a steep shoreline we saw a cluster of down logs over hard bottom in 8',quickly caught and released 4 walleyes and a bass, don't like to take fish off a spot like that, save them for guiding. Bounced the window weight on the bottom, nice stuff. 2)A point with two visible vertical trees poking out of the water, figured there must be more below 8-9' a walleye and a bass. 3)Two small sheltered coves with small log jambs and laid down logs in 5-7'(15-20 years ago fishing these log jambs with the wind blowing in was about all you had to know, not many left)perch, walleyes, pike. 4)Anchored in front of a downed tree near a point, put a couple bobbers out near the boat while we cast to the tree. The bobbers started to go down also caught a fish out of the tree, drove back and forth to see what was holding the fish by the boat, heavy stumps in 5-6' perch, walleyes. 5)Submerged bog 7-12' very small % of TFF bottom composition holds all species of fish from May-Oct. Pretty hard to describe this structure found by chance watching the electronics, walleye. It was a dark day with a good chop so we fished shallow. Working areas with live bait and jigs is a slow but methodical approach. It helps to have a partner, Jack is a fine jig fisherman, our time spent together in the boat is cherished.

[Jeff Robl]

August 1st, 2013 - Turtle Flambeau Flowage - Mercer Wisconsin 54547

'Beelzebob', I vowed to myself to post my toughest day you might be interested. Mon. had the pleasure to fish with family,Kurt&Katherine teens Bryce and Sierra the fishing in the morning started out slow we managed to get 5 walleyes and some panfish in the livewll for a shore lunch. The afternoon fishing picked up we kept 5 more walleyes to make a limit. We had our best luck fishing deeper wood in 12-14,crawlers and leeches. Tue. Fished with husband and wife Kieth and Caroline. Was pretty excited about the day, two days after the cold front, dark day, nice chop,30-50 fish day?The fish weren't reading it that way. Other than a cold front in May it was my toughest day this year. I reflected on the day in the evening I recalled 16 spots, deep, shallow and in between we skipped lunch to keep fishing(their choice,I'm not that much of a slave driver). We assembled a stringer of fish shown above I thought we had six walleyes in the livewell turned out 5 a sixth would have been pretty small. I don't meet many people who deer hunt more than I do so the day went fast we had a lot to talk about, they showed me a picture of a monster buck Caroline killed last year. Crawlers worked the best, walleyes in deeper wood panfish in 6-8'wood and rock on the bottom. Incidentally I talked to a fellow guide the following day who told me the barometric pressure that day was 31 which is really high, I don't like to have excuses all you can do is fish hard all day and let the chips fall where they may.

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Turtle Flambeau Flowage

Mercer, WI

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