Misty's Report

[1tofish]

Just got back from another successful trip to the English River. To put it in a nutshell - High Water & High Winds. I couldn't believe how high the water was when we got their. It is up at least 3 ft. from last year, and last year it was up. The wind was blowing straight from the west and pounding the Marina and the little storage building behind it.

Stayed at Reserve Island this year. This was the farthest south we had ever stayed. Firsut evening we fished just on the south end of Indian lake. We were just looking for enough for supper. We just trolled some spinners around a few islands to get out of the wind. The next day the wind was still blowing, but decided to head up to Maynard. When we checked in with Rodney he told us that they had been catching some bigger ones up that way. After a wet ride we finally got there. We were able to drift and troll some spinners around there for a while. Picked up some nice fish, but nothing over 23". Didn't seem to matter as far as bait, both crawlers and leeches were working. We did try to anchor and jig, but it was to windy. Tried some of our other spots back west of the falls and caught plenty of fish.

After shore lunch on the first day, we decided to go on an adventure. With the water so high getting into Dumpy was no problem, but we didn't stop there. We went through the small river channel to Scotty to try for some Lake Trout. I was a little nervous going through that small channel, but we made it with no problems. No luck on lake trout, but saying we fished Scotty was worth it for us.

Second day, still windy, but it was a little less severe. Again, back up to Maynard. This time we were able to anchor and jig. Did fairly well. The fish would come in waves. Nothing for 1/2 an hour then it would be steady for a 1/2 an hour. Fished the falls all morning. Lot more boats with the wind going done. Seemed like everybody was catching some fish. Our biggest in there was a 23 1/2". After lunch we worked our way back to the campsite and tried some diffent spots. The wind finally layed down for us, and we anywhere we wanted. Found one point where I think a guy could sit and jig all day and catch fish. We ran out of leeches there and headed back to camp.

Woke up on our last day to some light showers. We usually fish before packing up and leaving, but with the rain we skipped the fishing and took off when we had a break in the clouds.

All in all a good trip. Nobody got hurt and all the boats made it back in one piece. We wore a little sore from all the wave pounding. Numbers and size were down for us this year. With the high winds we were not able to fish some of our "good spots". The water was also a lot dirtier this year. It was still some of the best walleye fishing a guy can get. Both crawlers and leeches worked well for us.

On a side note... Leeches are getting hard to come by. We usually reserve 3-4 lbs. with Rodney, but he was nearly out. We checked a couple of bait shops on the way up and pieced together about 3lbs. So plan ahead..

[Ret-ro]

There are Lakers in Dumpy also. Start at the saddle in the middle and work your way out deeper. Glow jigs and placstics tipped with a minnow rip jigged off the bottom works pretty well, or rapalas w/inline weights to run deeper.

[Groloe]

Thanks for the update. I assume with all that wind you had you didn't have much problem with the bugs? Flies?

Any smallmouth mixed in in all the action or you didn't really try?

[1tofish]

Bugs were not a problem, except for a few ankle biting files now and then. We try to keep the boat clean and that seems to help on those D**N things. The wind kept blowing even after sunset. So, on that end, it made for comfortable evenings by the fire.

We don't fish specifically for smallies, although we seem to catch a couple every year. A boat that was anchor on the edge of the current at the falls, did boat a nice 19 1/2" smallie.