Custom Baits - Forum
Fishing News and Reports => Fishing News and Reports => Topic started by: ctom on 10/31/12 13:46 UTC
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Fishing was tough this morning on the Mississippi backwaters, until I threaded a nano on the jig. Never really caught anything huge, but numbers were pretty darned good and it was just about all on nanos.
This is the first time this fall I've had to knock ice out of guides. Chilly this morning. Refreshing as I call it.
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Sounds like a blast! Any pics?
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Where you at your normal hangout on Lake Pepin? I'm thinking about going back up there again on Saturday if the wind stays down....but I'm not fighting a long boat ride, 40 degrees and wind! Otherwise it's to the MN Boat club and drop shoting Nanos from the dock!
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Sorry JR but I wasn't toting the camera. I didn't even have my phone.
Andrew, we started at Lake City in the sailboat harbor fishing the docks and casting to the rip-rap on the backside of the breakwater. Casting handed us a big zero while the first pipe on the dock I tried gave me a really nice crappie on a jigging spoon tipped with a thin tail section off a plastic. I thought things were going to be hot right then but it sure took a turn. I actually up-sized, which is my pet tactic after taking a decent fish right off, but that sucked. I worked my way thru a few plastics and settled on the Nano thinking I really need to put them to the test and whaen is a better time than when nothing seems to be working?
I did good numbers-wise using a 1/32 plain leadhead cast on a #8 sickle hook when an orange backed, glow red belly Nano was fished at around 16 feet in 23 feet of water. This one had green eyes. The Nano got a good charge from strong daylight. Between three pipes I caught about 20 sunfish and slightly smaller crappies from the first one. Then I did a Nano with an electric purple back and glow purple belly, also well charged in the sunlight. By the time I got this switch made the fish had come up in the column to about 12 feet. Jigging the purple glow from 10 feet to about 13 feet got the hits and they were solid but the size was going downhill pretty quick by then. When we had full sun on the water I went to a purple of chartreuse with chartreuse tail Nano and fished it only 4 feet down where finally some sunfish size started to materialize, but that too took the southerly turn and we decided to move down river.
Next stop was Wabasha's marina and docks. After a half hour of wondering and having nothing but the infamous goose-egg to show we went to West Newton [the old half-moon landing at the end of the road]. There we fished the area immediately across from the boat launch. The fish were super shallow there, but then too they were super small. The purple over chartreuse was the king-pin in there.
We finally ended up at Wilcox back in the old channel by the old bridge abutments. Same old, same old there so we called it a morning.
As for smallies Andrew....two boats at different times worked around the end of the breakwater's point casting for bass and the smallies seemed to be happy to oblige. I couldn't see what they were throwing from where I was on the dock but I'd have sworn they had cranks tied on. They were fishing way to fast for plastics. Both boats too. The fish they caught were dandies. I know I saw one each of largemouth and smallie that would have gone 5 pounds. They also got a couple pig waldos, one I think was at or better than 8 pounds. If you have a wind like we had today the Minnesota coast will be an easy fish for you. If it tracks a hair more to the north.....hold onto your hat.