Mississippi River - 9/27/09

Mark and I hit the river about 7:30 this morning. It was a beautiful morning. Crisp air, fog rolling off the river and a smooth ride to our first spot. We were targeting white bass again. We were fishing a dike break between two islands and the water really flows through there. We got nothing on our first spot so we decided to move. This time we headed out to the main river. We fished a U shaped dike on the outside, main cannel side. We caught 2 at this location. Then we moved over to the ouside, bank side of the dike. Again, we caugh two and I had one on, run straight at me and then under the boat. I had my drag too tight and as he went under the boat he came off the hook. He had that pole doubled over. I know it was a good fish. The key to this spot was we were sitting in about 2 feet of water on the inside current break and fishing out in the current where it dropped to about 8 feet. I think they were sitting on that ridge. Anyway, we worked our way down river fishing the same spot on 2 other dikes, but they produced nothing. Then we fished the backside of a partially submerged dike and caught 2 more. This spot has a LOT of potential. The back side of the dike has some sand on it and the water rolls over the rocks and creates a lot of turbulance. Then it drops to about 10 feet. We went back to our first spot and fished the opposite side which only produced a drum (on a spinner bait at that). It was a good day and we pulled out at Noon. A big thank you to Mark for going along. We've been trying to do this for quite a while. Now to get Matt Douglas out on the water with me!

Mark Twain, Salt River & J Lake

This past weekend we got together for the annual bowling team fishing trip up at Mark Twain. Some took off on Friday, while the rest of us got up there after work. On Friday, the forecast was for rain and cooler temperatures all weekend. Luckily the rain didn't make it to us, but the cooler temperatures did. Jeff and I hit the lake at 7:00 Friday evening where we were greeted with high, muddy water and lots of trash floating in the Lake. The other guys had been up in Little Indian Creek all day and only had 3 fish, so we figured we would try somewhere else. We got the boat in the water and ran to Dry Fork. Dry Fork was really, really muddy and only 55#&176;. Not knowing where they were yet, we dabbled the edges of the shorline about 3-feet out with a jig and minnow combo, but caught nothing. We ran out of there about 8:30 and pulled out. The following day we ran north to Little Indian Creek and started with the same pattern we were using in Dry Fork. We dabbled the shorline edges about 3' out with a jig head and minnow (no skirt) and again, nothing so we moved to working the trees. This produced a few fish, but they were scattered and hard to find. The combo seemed to be 18-feet of water at about 3 to 6-foot down right against the tree. The water temperature was about 64#&176; in Little Indian Creek, while the air temperature started in the 50s and got up to the upper 60s. We worked several coves in Little Indian and then ended up working bobbers along the shorline, 12 to 18-inches below the surface at 1 to 3-feet off the edge. Between the two boats, this produced 6 or 7 fish, but only 2 keepers. For the first full day of fishing we ended up with 11 fish between 3 boats. Not a stellar day. Which is why we decided to try below the dam on Sunday. Being in fiberglass boats, we didn't pull up on the rocks right below the dam, so we tied up to some trees down below the rocks and worked the small eddies along the bank. We caught several fish, but only 3 that were close to keepers, and they weren't even that big. Water temp was only 55#&176;, with the air temp reaching the lower 70s for the day. After fighting the current for half the day, we decided to give J Lake a try. By 2:00 we were on J Lake. The water temp in J was 65#&176;, high and muddy. Similar to the rest of the waters we fished over the weekend. The lake edges are really shallow. We targeted bass, while some of the other targeted crappie. No one produced anything. We threw worms, spinners, jigs, buzz baits, you name it, we threw it. Oh well, maybe when the water coditions are a little better.

William R. Logan & Whiteside

           
The day started out a little rough. Les, Matt, Jeff, Mark and I headed out to Logan and Whiteside, but I didn't go far enough and we started out on the back side of Logan. Turned out that was just the shooting range and there wasn't a good place to rabbit hunt so we continued on up 61 and got to another entrance to Logan. We stopped in a camping area and worked a couple fields. It was still pretty cool with an overcast. Great day to be hunting. With 5 of us hunting it didn't take long to push down through a draw. We worked the area in a counterclockwise direction, heading southeast and then doubling back to work around the backside of the pond towards the road and eventually back to the truck. As we pushed up the backside of the pond, we came up on what looked to be a really nice rabbit field only to find out that it was a limited area and we couldn't shoot in the area. So we were forced west of this field. As we neared the road I got a rabbit up. He jumped about 15 feet in front of me. They were not holding tight at all. Of course the rabbit headed towards the area that we couldn't shoot. He out-smarted the dog and we pushed our way back to the truck.
We drove around Logan a little bit more, but the area was a dead end so we decided to go on down to Whiteside. The area is actually called William G. and Erma Parke White Memorial Wildlife Area, but since it's White Memorial Area, and it's just outside of the town of Whiteside, we call it Whiteside. I digress. We started in what use to be my favorite place to hunt. I say this because we have always had luck in the area. Not only have we seen a rabbit on every outing, but we've gotten quail up in the area on several occasions. We worked this field clockwise starting by heading west towards the little pond. This is where we usually have a lot of action. As we turned north on the west side of the pond we found that the entire north side of this field had been part of a control burn, similar to the area we saw at Hi Pointe a couple weeks ago. We walked along the woods until we got east of the truck at which point we were back into cover. We passed a few other hunters that had a rabbit going in the woods north of the area (we never did hear a shot). As we neared the truck, Jeff and Mark spotted a rabbit crossing from the south towards the northwest. We got the dog over as quickly as possible, but after crossing two field he wasn't driving very hard and was searching for the scent, so we called him back and headed to the truck.
After a bite to eat we went down to the large lake on the west side of the CA. We worked in a clockwise direction again. Down a draw and around to the back side of the lake. As we came down this little road, we headed up the overflow from the lake towards the back of the dam. Nearing the base of the dam Chip started barking about 10 feet to my right. There was no rabbit in site, but he pushed over towards Mark, and on up the side of a wooded hill. We decided to let him go and see what he does. He hesitated in several different areas lost the scent and then got it back. He got almost out of ear-shot and seemed to be holding in one area. Mark, Les and I headed after him while Matt and Jeff stayed put. Chip was on the other side of the conservation line when Les saw both him and the rabbit in a full sprint. I ran west down the path to try to catch the rabbit crossing the path towards the north, but got there about the same time the dog did. Chip stayed in pursuit all the way back to where Jeff and Matt were waiting, but just before arriving at their location, the rabbit was gone. Three rabbits up, three lost. We continued to hunt, but it was after 1:00 and we were all a bit tired. We talked to another couple of hunters who were had not seen a thing all day. We exchanged hunting stories and headed back to the truck. It was a good day of hunting.

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TEMP: 27° - 35°
TIME: 8:00 - 2:00
CONDITIONS: Overcast and cold in the morning. Had a little bit of spitting snow when we first headed out. A good day to utilize layers. As it got later in the day, the clouds broke up and we had some sunshine. The wind was on and off. Not too bad, but very cold. It was pretty dry. Great day to be in the fields.