Today's the day

[ctom]

Weather man is predicting misery for the next couple days, so Ma and I are heading to the river this morning in just a bit. I have the walleye bucket filled with home-cooked goodies and a box full of Do-It heads, those with wire keepers, along with HOOK REMOVAL TOOLS. Got the new license a couple months back so I'm good there. Pre-frontal fishing conditions with fair temps.....should work out. Hopefully.

No fish? No matter. I have a large delivery for a local resort there. Work, then fish, then shop antiques all the way home. Tonight I make my signature Toasted Rueben sandwiches served with my home-made coleslaw. Gonna be a great day.

I need to have a sit-down with Ma Nature and this weather dude here. We've had enough "weather" for this spring and we need to get on with some more seasonal stuff....like the damn grass needing mowing. Right now I still have upwards of two feet of snow on my mowing. I have grass only where I've been blowing the snow thru the winter to get to bird feeders. Tonight and tomorrow are forecast to be an absolute mess, so for me and Ma, today is the day.

[ctom]

Got that itch scratched. 2 short hits is all. They must have been tail grabbing mini saugers based on where I was fishing and the usual catch from there. I threw some 3.5" super fry baits in a bunch of color schemes but the bluegill/chartreuse tail was the one that got the hangers-on. I know one was a sauger as it held onto the last inch of tail right to the surface and about ten feet from me.
I was surprised at how clear the water was yet. Run off generally clouds things up a little and the river levels and increased flow rates suggest melt water hitting the riven and influencing things.

After an hour of casting I put the rod in the van and spent the next half hour picking up junk left by other "anglers", line and candy wrappers being the most of the crap discarded. One longer length of braid had a broken off rod tip attached to it. I found a zip-lock with a dozen jigheads in it too. There's too much crap being left where people gather to fish.  Man I hate pig fisherman.

Carole and I stopped and had a nice lunch at a new to us place and then drove along the river an extra 15 miles to watch eagles. Fun day even without having to clean fish.

[Jerry V]

Sounds like a fine day to me Coach.  Good on ya for cleaning the place up.  Someone has do do it, and it might as well be you or me I guess.  I hate it too. 

[basskat]

I live close to Bay Springs lake, it's a deep beautiful lake with a one mile buffer no house buffer around it. Each year we have a clean-up day sponsored by the COE and the Boy Scouts. It's a shame the amount of garbage that we pick up. Normally a dump truck full of bottles, plastic bags, bait cups and buckets. etc. Don't understand why people have to be such slobs. I keep a big coffee can in my boat for line and trash. Keeps it from blowing out and easy to empty when I get home.

[ctom]

Where I was fishing was right in front of the Am Trak station which is on the national register of historic places. The whole city of Red Wing is a destination city but it's a dirty town, holding up the old river town image of crap and bars. The levee park where I fished is generally not too bad during the warmer months when college kids work for the city keeping things picked up nice, but come the snow things go downhill fast. Everything I picked up today was fishing related. We see the same kind of bs on the ice up here. Gives he sport of fishing a serious black eye.

BUT....being on the water for a while sure was nice. There's something about that big river that sets itself apart from other waters around here.

Made a good call regarding the weather. Rain right now, turning to sleet, then snow later with a couple inches possible. Further north I've heard up to a foot of white. They can have it. I want rain...I don't have to shovel it.

[efishnc]

I'm glad you beat me out, ctom... I've been waiting for the ice to move out around me, or for a break in my schedule to make the long drive worth it (which I know isn't going to happen until May). 

My buddy went to Redwing last week for an extended trip (Wednesday - Sunday).  Wed and Thurs were his best days averaging about 50 fish per day with most in the 18-20 inch range, but the bite slowed down to near dead by Sun. 

I was feeling pretty good just getting out in the garage for some therapy (making thump grubs for whenever the ice goes out) on Friday.  Then Saturday, he texted me a picture of a 27 incher he caught early in the morning... as fun as making the baits were, I was a little jealous.  However, I'm glad for the guy because in the construction trades, he's in the heart of his vacation season right now and doesn't get much fishing the rest of the year.

FYI: He said about 90% of the fish came on what I call the double dropper (aka the Dubuque rig on this forum).

[ctom]

A lot of people are doing that rig with live bait on the bottom. If I take the boat, I take a few minnows just on the off chance plastic won't fool them. I'm hard core though and seldom use the live stuff.

[efishnc]

Yeah, I'm with you on the plastics dedication... I only buy minnows for tip-ups.