Up at the Lake

Well as much as I wanted to update everything daily, we are catching way to many fish and it has been trying to find some time to eat. My Dad, Uncle Dave and I have been fishing since we got up here on Thursday and we figured today was a good day to take a break for the morning. We have been using a lot of plastics and really motoring around to try and find a pattern to help find the fish.

We have really been fishing hard and using a lot of baits to try and find one the fish can’t resist. One of the things that we have noticed is that the fish are not chasing anything. They are looking for an easy meal and we are trying to match the lure up to try and suit this. We came upon this pattern by trying crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and swimbaits and not catching anything. We switched to something slow like a plastic worm or a senko and have had a lot of success. It really seems to make a difference the slower you go the better.

We have also been trying a lot of depths and structure with some different success. The fish are not in the deeper water, the 10-15 feet range, and have kind of been in the mid-level depth of 5-10 feet. They also have preferred to be in kind of medium thick structure as well. They have just wanted to be in a cabbage type weed or the reeds. The big fish my dad is pictured with was in no cover just a sandy bottom and some reeds.

I should have some more pictures and stories in the next couple of days. It looks like it has been in the 90’s back home and some storms so I hope everyone is safe and using their air conditioner. I will keep enjoying the northern Minnesota weather; I think it is going to be sunny and 80 today. We have caught a lot of fish and some really big fish that are pictured. I haven’t mentioned but I probably should that I am fishing in a bass tournament up here on the 4th of July. I really feel like my team is going to win it, we have really figured it out up here and I feel like we have a great chance. Keep tuned for more pictures and the results.

Tight lines,
Pat

Some Light at the End of the Tunnel

Today my Dad and I went up to Clinton to try and see if we could catch a bass or two. I really don't want you to think that we had a good day because of the pictures, we caught 3 but we really had to work hard for them. We went for about 4 hours with out a bite. We were trying everything that we had in the tackle box to try and find something that worked. We ended up finding that a senko pulled over the weeds really slow, and then when the bait hit a pocket of open water we let it sink. The fish that is pictured came out of no where and inhaled the senko. I got a chance to watch the whole thing, it was really cool. It was cooler than actually catching the fish. I am going to try and post some videos here in the future with some guest anglers from Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin. I have already got a couple of people lined up and I should be posting them in a new video link called tip of the week. Hopefully this will help get the word out on a couple of new ideas and help everyone become better anglers. In the mean time the above boat ride is kind of a test for this. This is just a video of our boat going through a stump field at about 50 mph in about 2 feet of water. This is kind of a first hand look at what it is like to go through these backwater areas on the Mississippi. Next update should be from Minnesota. Tight lines, Pat

Slow Days on the Mississippi

Well it has been a couple of weeks, but I am back with a couple of updates and news. I have been busy with school wrapping up and making sure everything was in order, as well as a fantastic wedding last night. Congratulations Brian and Nicole that was a really good time.

On the 6th my Dad, Doug Smith, Joe Hannsen and I headed up to Savanna to do a little smallmouth fishing. If you all haven’t figured out by now, the smallmouth have been tough to come by all year. This day was no different. We fished all morning in a steady downpour without a smallmouth. My dad was able to hook up with a 2 pound largemouth with a giant scar on the top of his head. Not a minute later Joe hooks up with another one on a chatter jig. He gets this one to the boat and it has a giant scar on the top of its head. The fish must have been hungry and not very smart to be fooled by two different bait about a minute apart from each other. We decided to move up to Brown’s Lake, which is a catch and release area of the river. We got into them a bit up there, catching about 7 or 8 smaller fish. The fish were stacked up at the end of the lake and were biting on senko’s with a 4/0 hook. There wasn’t a whole lot going on that day, besides the rain. We came off the river pretty wet, but Joe got to use his new bait caster and did a great job with it.

Today my Dad and I headed out to the river and we did not catch a thing, not even a bite. We fished the LeClaire pool where we have struggled the last couple of weeks. My Dad and I have talked about this for a little and we really can’t figure out what has happened to the fish. We have caught walleyes and northerns, but we just haven’t seen the bass that we have grown accustomed too. We have fished this section of the river for 15 years now and we know it really well. There have been a lot of changes on the river recently due to floods and whatever else. The pool could be transitioning due to the changes, but hopefully sometime soon the fish will come back so we won’t have to drive or go for a boat ride to find some fish.

Congratulations are in order to Dwayne Goodtime, Corey Conrad, Josh Graham and Jessica Gibson for winning fish of the week. Also Conrad is currently in the lead for fish of the week with 2. Congrats Conrad, keep up with the good fishing.

I will be heading up to Minnesota sometime this next week. I am going to try and give daily updates on my fishing, along with a story or two. I am really looking forward to meeting up with Adam Panther who is a friend of mine from home. He is a good fisherman and will be up on Woman Lake the week after 4th of July. Also Jess will be up on the 4th of July, hopefully it will be nice enough where we can get out and catch a couple of fish.

Keep sending in those fish of the week pictures. I will try to post as many as I can if they are worthy off posting. Hope everyone has a great week and check in and see how the fishing is toward the end of the week. Hopefully I will have some pictures to share.

Tight lines,
Pat

Stinking it up on the Wapsi

Well it has been another great week of weather here in Iowa, which means another great weekend to fish. Saturday morning I met up with my friend Corey Conrad in Eldridge and we went out to the Wapsi for a little cat fishing. Conrad and I launched the boat early and were immediately attacked by gnats. These gnats were everywhere! Luckily Conrad kicked the mercury into high gear and we took off from the boat ramp. We didn’t get 100 yards off the ramp when we ran into Dennis Heintze and Buck Biddle. I have been hunting with these guys for as long as I can remember, and I know Dennis is a catfishing MACHINE! So if we I took away anything besides a good laugh was the fact that we were at least in the right place.

We went to our first spot and caught a couple of small ones, but nothing of any size. We then kept going down the river, stopping and fishing at random spots catching more of a sun burn than any fish. We both kind of made the decision that the main river wasn’t working for what we were doing, so we headed back to the back waters to see if we could do any better. We tried fishing close to the channel and then worked our way deeper into the backwater. We did this with the thinking that the river was going down, and when the water starts to get low or even disappear in spots, the fish like to find an area that is still out of the current but safe enough to not get stranded or landlocked in an area. If they were to stay in the area, they might be easy pickings for a predator or even suffocate when the water runs out of oxygen.

Luckily for us the backwaters really produced for us. We caught a lot of 1-2 pound fish, as well as some smaller catfish. Conrad decided to change it up a little bit and tied on a stink bait noodle with a heavy sinker. He had bought some stink bait in a tube, and was trying to pipe it in the tube liberally and we were trying to figure out how long is lasted in the water. He filled it a couple of times, and realized he was getting a little low and was getting a little irritated with the amount that he got of the money. No sooner did we start discussing it, he noticed the unmistakable stench rising from the floor of his boat. He was squeezing the tube the wrong way, and the tube broke on the backside and half a tube of stink bait lay on the bottom of his boat and his shoe. So there he sat, smelling like blood bait, and trying to figure out how to get this stuff off the bottom of his brand new boat. Luckily he was able to scoop it up and toss it over the side. We decided at this time is about time to head in. It was a great morning of fishing and really just a great day to be outside. If anybody was still wondering Dennis and Buck caught 30+ catfish, far exceeding our total.

I would like to thank everyone for their fish of the week contributions. I have been bombarded with pictures so it is really hard to narrow it down. A personal challenge has been set by my girlfriend Jess. She really wants to be fish of the week, so I told her that if she catches the biggest bass sent in this week she gets fish of the week. So everybody better try to out fish her or I will never hear the end of her “fish of the week” title. Keep sending them my way, unijudkins@hotmail.com


This weekend is really exciting because it is free fishing in Iowa. Anyone is able to fish for free and see if they like it. Go out and try your luck. It doesn’t look like a great weather weekend, Saturday morning looks like the best time to go. Good luck to everyone!

Tight lines,
Pat