uplandsandpiper
9/26/2017 9:39:29 AMSo I've fished for Whitefish in the winter in 20-30' of water but what kind of tackle are you using to target them at 90'?
outtheresomewhere
9/26/2017 10:39:25 AMI use a 1/4oz bullet sliding sinker, then about a 30" leader with a #6 or #8 single hook - sometimes I have to put a small crimp-on sinker
just above the hook to keep the bait close to the bottom. Bait is gulp maggots and/or a small bit of crawler on the hook - and a bit of
night crawler goo to entice by scent. I use a bait casting reel with 8# dark green pro line - sure it takes some time to get to the bottom,
like about 1'/sec, but it gets there. catch rate is about 6-8/hr, and since I'm old and retired a nice day on the water is as good as it gets,
and the iPILOT spot lock keeps me on target. I'd like to be able to find them in 20-30' in October - how about a hint where that could be,
you could send me a private email if you don't want to tell the world.
just above the hook to keep the bait close to the bottom. Bait is gulp maggots and/or a small bit of crawler on the hook - and a bit of
night crawler goo to entice by scent. I use a bait casting reel with 8# dark green pro line - sure it takes some time to get to the bottom,
like about 1'/sec, but it gets there. catch rate is about 6-8/hr, and since I'm old and retired a nice day on the water is as good as it gets,
and the iPILOT spot lock keeps me on target. I'd like to be able to find them in 20-30' in October - how about a hint where that could be,
you could send me a private email if you don't want to tell the world.
uplandsandpiper
9/26/2017 3:12:05 PMI don't usually target them until late November/December on the north end of the lake where the canal feeds in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccl8oY5ZoU4
outtheresomewhere
9/27/2017 8:31:13 AMThat was my plan last year, then winter showed up in November - just like baseball and a garden, there's always next year so will try again
this year.
this year.
stevertd2010
9/28/2017 6:00:26 PMI just read your report and seems in many ways a carbon copy of my most recent trip there. I picked up my first walleye on the road bed in the punch bowl on a dropshot rig. I saw fish there and reasoned they may be near the weedline adjacent to the roadbed. My wife and friend weren't having too much luck, so I went to trolling with a rig and worm. Hooked a bunch of perch, so we left and tried the face of Steamboat. One nice trout, but nothing else. Went across to the flats where there were lots of boats. I saw one eye caught, so I followed through and caught one. Then another shortly afterwards. Marked both on the GPS and just went back and forth picking up one to two fish each pass. Right on the edge of the weedline at 20 to 25 fow. Color didn't matter. Even got tired of putting worms on, so we used plastics and did just as well. Finally at 3:30 pm we decided to leave since we were driving back to the west side and the smoke wasn't too nice. We were still catching fish at that time, just needed to go. There are always a bunch of people trying for whitefish at Devil's Lake. Haven't seen too many success stories there, but I never tried myself. Thanks for the report.
outtheresomewhere
9/28/2017 6:27:29 PMOn the south side of the roadbed in about 24' headed east twd deeper water we ran into schools of walleye, perch and smallies almost all at
once - we had 4 poles going off at once, couldn't get worms back on fast enough - then, just as fast as they hit they were gone, it was actually kind of
funny though after it was over, wife and I had a really good laugh at our self created pandemonium. Now, I have a self created dichotomy - I'd like to
go back in the next 1 1/2-2 weeks to Devil's lake for white fish, but the the Kings are headed up the snake at about the same time - going to be a busy
October, WX permitting. Fish'n fun like this is like a great golf shot, keeps 'em coming back to try and hit it again - thanks for your story, appreciated it.
once - we had 4 poles going off at once, couldn't get worms back on fast enough - then, just as fast as they hit they were gone, it was actually kind of
funny though after it was over, wife and I had a really good laugh at our self created pandemonium. Now, I have a self created dichotomy - I'd like to
go back in the next 1 1/2-2 weeks to Devil's lake for white fish, but the the Kings are headed up the snake at about the same time - going to be a busy
October, WX permitting. Fish'n fun like this is like a great golf shot, keeps 'em coming back to try and hit it again - thanks for your story, appreciated it.
stevertd2010
9/29/2017 2:11:36 PMI'ld go for the kings if the run looks good. The whitefish always seem to be around. The kings are only available for a short period of time. Thinking of going back to banks next week - Wednesday and Thursday look like low wind days. A definite consideration there for the reasons you experience. You might want to talk to Lou at Coulee Playland. Good luck.
outtheresomewhere
9/29/2017 5:21:40 PMLou's on my list, you can guess which one, I bought 3 doz worms from him last week - two doz were dead. That was the bad news, but
believe it or not, we even caught fish with the dead worms - go figure. I will take your advise and head to the snake as soon as the numbers
improve a bit, hopefully late next week or early the following. Thanks, good luck to you too.
believe it or not, we even caught fish with the dead worms - go figure. I will take your advise and head to the snake as soon as the numbers
improve a bit, hopefully late next week or early the following. Thanks, good luck to you too.
stevertd2010
9/29/2017 7:29:06 PMWe grow our own worms, so I usually don't buy any, but thanks for the heads up at Lou's. I doubt they spend time checking their bait. I usually stop at Big Wally's on the way up to Steamboat if I really need something.