Enough of this wind!

Went out last night around sundown. The wind was bad on the lake again. I caught 1 largemouth, 3 crappie, and 2 bluegill.

Windy and no catfish yet

Went out to Wingra yesterday in hopes of catfish. While it was still light out I did some regular fishing and caught 3 largemouth, 5 bluegill, and 3 crappie. Once it was dark, I put chicken gizzard on a treble hook and threw it out as far as I could. I sat out there for quite a while, but nothing. It was windy with a front moving through, so maybe the fish weren't in the mood for chicken gizzard?

Yahara river at nightfall

Went out last night with a guy from work to fish along the Yahara river (the segment that connects Mendota and Monona in town). I liked the looks of it more than Wingra Creek. The water was crystal clear, there were no weeds, and plenty of big rocks along the bank that the fish hung around. The fish weren't particularly active though. The water was clear enough that you could watch your lure and see if the fish were going after it or not. A lot of the bass didn't seem to care. A couple of them must have been hungry though, because I caught two decent sized largemouth, one crappie, and two bluegill. I also had a carp try to eat my lure but he spit it out before I could set the hook. It would be pretty cool to catch a 20 lb carp sometime.

When little fish are biting, you catch little fish

Right around sundown the smaller fish were really biting on Wingra yesterday.

32 crappie + 8 bluegill + 5 largemouth = 45 fish total

I caught all of them on the small spinner exept for one of the largemouth on the gummy bear fish. It was a little over 12 inches, probably around a lb.

I bought some chicken gizzards & hearts... now it's time for some catfish.

Long day, but I'll take it

Yesterday I exlpored Wingra Creek from its start at Lake Wingra all the way to its end at Lake Monona. It turned into quite a long day! I was probably out there 5 hours at least. It was a gorgeous day but the fish weren't really biting. Too sunny perhaps? I made sure to hit all the shady spots but still nothing. I didn't see anyone else catch a single fish the whole day so I don't think it was my poor fishing skills that were to blame.

I was switching between the gummy bear fish (see last post), the little spinner, and the crankbait minnow, hoping that one of them would work. Finally, down by Fish Hatchery Road I got a bite on the gummy bear fish. I pulled in an 18 inch northern, which is the first that I've caught in years. It couldn't have been more than a lb but it made my day nonetheless. Considering that I didn't see a single fish among all the other fishermen, I'm declaring myself the champion of the day.

I finished up around dusk back at Wingra and caught a few bluegill with the spinner.

Next I'd like to try some live bait. I remember catching all sorts of fish with leaches when I went to Canada years and years ago. I also want to get a fishing scale to keep in my tackle box.