Last weekend for open water?

[CaptSpike]

With predicted temps I knew I was fishing open water this weekend. We hit the water at 7am, a little chilly but fish-able with the right gear on. When we cleared the no wake portion of the lake you could see fish on top everywhere. I was quickly into a real nice crappie. My buddy Ed landed a nice gil. With fish on top all around us we thought we would kill'em today. We were humbled quickly as the schools kept moving and we couldn't stay on top of them. After picking a few here and there we moved to the N end of the lake. It was dead. No fish on top and scouting around we didn't see fish suspended either. The lake has completely changed since our last visit. We stumbled across a few schools but were unable to get bit or have them stay around long enough to figure out. We moved back towards where we started. On the way there we stopped on the bottom break and marked a bunch of fish....Dick perch so we moved on. Back in the good area we started to pick fish with more consistency. Lots of fish up top still and lots on bottom. Very few suspended which was odd to us. We made several passes the length of the area and caught a pile of fish. I was also treated to a 3lb largie on my ultra light. He hit a dead stick jig (drifting) 20' down over 30' of water! We also found some other spots that I didn't know were as deep as they were. I thought it had come up shallow in this area, gives us more potential zones to target. I also thing I found where the big white perch hide. We didn't catch any (time of day and lure used) but they came up to look and they were not small fish or crappie. Looking forward to unlocking that key at some point. Heading to a different local lake tomorrow which could be the last open water trip this season, or not.

I did get to try the FLX-28 in auto mode today and it worked great except on a sharp edge while drifting. It was also a pain when I'd tune out Ed's flasher to have the range change and reset my IR which meant I needed to re-tune out Ed's ducer again. That got old. Other than that I'm still loving the unit.

Spike

[Dylan8351]

Sounds like a fun trip. When you say the fish were on the top do you mean busting the surface?

[CaptSpike]

Yeah. The whole school was milling along just like you see in the warmer weather. I was shocked to see that. Later in the day a hatch came off the water and they were sipping as well.

Wont be long before we'll be walking on ice. Smaller ponds are starting to ice over when the temps drop. As long as we dont have any pattern changes we should see some early ice this yr.

Spike

[Dylan8351]

Cool. I'm putting my boat up after breakfast. Hunted this morning with my girlfriend. We saw 5 deer. One buck that offered no shot. Maybe after the boat is done!

[CaptSpike]

Hit a different lake this morning only to learn the water was so low it wasn't worth fishing.

Went back to the ramp and headed back to the lake I fished yesterday.

Fish were up on top again sipping a hatch. We picked a few but they were

Keyed in on the flies. Never knew pan fish to be selective but they were.

After trying a bunch of different presentation we gave up and headed to the

Opposite end of the pond. Picked a few more there and called it a day at 12:15.

It was raw out there today. Nothing like yesterday.

Same screen as yesterday. Few schools suspended. They were either up or down deep.

The fish I saw real deep yesterday turned out to be small yellows not white perch. So the search continues.

We'll see if we get another day. I'll keep the gear ready till Turkey day then make the switch.

Spike

[Dylan8351]

Better than nothing! I filled my deer tag today and put my boat away yesterday. After cutting it up I won't know what to do with myself!

[CaptSpike]

You need a car topper so you can continue fishing till the ice comes, lol. I kept my stuff out just in case we get some more nice weather. With the long weekend coming up it is possible. If not I'll take a trip to Cabela's to buy some more stuff I don't need, lol.

Waiting for ice

Spike

[Dylan8351]

Yeah still plenty of time for nice weather. I remember eating thanksgiving dinner outdoors last year! I've got a car top boat but I didn't register it this year.