Thursday, June 29, 2006

6-25-06 to 6-27-06








Nothing much to report. We did a couple trips here and there. Smallies are out of the shallows. Jigs and plastics are the ticket. Read previous reports for the exact same details. Heh.

p.s. Nice Shirt Mike! How do you drink a Martini and cast at the same time? No wonder you lose so many fish....

Saturday, June 24, 2006

6-22-06 and other crap.

"Where are the fishing reports???" is what we've been asked.
Ok..ok..we'll fess up. We've been muskie fishing. And guess what...we dont have anything to report. Seeing them isn't much of a report..catching them is. So there. That's out of the way. ( by the way we're done muskie fishing for a while....around here anyway. heh heh heh)

Smallie fishing on the other hand is still very good. They are done spawning and you can find them on the first drop off outside of typical spawning areas. I'm targeting 8-12' feet and doing quite well. The topwater and crankbait bite has died a bit but the Slider Head jig & Yamamoto or Berkley plastics combos are doing great!







So there's some fishing pictures. Nothing unusual.
In other news... I recently took a trip to Heaven. I was able to sneak in a camera.
At least I don't have a fear of dying anymore...

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Mike's gonna explode. Heh heh.

First..the fishing report:
A few short trips here and there. Slider head jigs with various plastics in the 2-4" range are working for smallies just abotu everywhere now. Check the first drop off outside the spawning area and you'll find em. Try a buzzbait or a chugbug at first and last light. Diving crankbait like the Salmo Bullhead and Rapalas are doing well on that first drop off as well.
Outdoor staff member Buzz reports that largemouth are kickin' the crap out of a Heddon Crazy Crawler right now. A little special tuning is needed to work it at speed....email me and I'll fill you in on his details.

Ok..now onto the show!

Hey...anyone want to see Mike blow a gasket??

I'm expecting numerous phone calls from him on my cell phone in about 5 minutes after I start putting pictures up. "Take that down! This is a family show!"
( hey..I didn't take alot of fish pictures this week. Gotta fill space, ya know.)

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Sunday, June 11, 2006

Bizarre-O World

OK..take a look at the picture from yesterday. I'll wait here.
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Ahh..what a fine day yesterday was. It was in the mid 80's. I was wearing a cut off shirt and sunglasses and STILL sweated my a## off. Bright skies. Bass in the shallows ( even if i was throwing a bait that...well, go read). A great day, yes siree!

Then, last night happened. Monster storms. Massive amounts of rain. Rivers shot up and filled with muddy water. Ponds rose a solid foot in a couple hours. The temperature dropped down to 40! Wind blowing out of the north at 20 mph all day today with a high of like 58. basically the KISS OF DEATH in fishing. It's the kind of day where shopping for a new shoehorn is a better idea than going fishing.

That is..unless you're me.

So I go out with the prospect of maybe getting one fish to hit. maybe.

I started out with a white buzzbait. I know, I know...TOTALLY the wrong weather for a topwater. I know. Bear with me..it gets WAY weirder!

Ok..so a few minutes into it I get a single fish to go after it half-heartedly and miss. That's ok. I expected it. She's been in one spot for almost a month and takes a swipe at anything that passes by. Lucky for her she's only been hooked once and that was by my brother last week ( see previous posts).

I kept up with the buzzbait for a few more casts. Tried a rapala DT4 for a few casts ( caught one 14" largemoth bass).

Then..... ( here's where we go into Bizarre-O World).... I put on my go-to bait. The best in the box. You know him! You love him!
No...not Wislon. He's topwater, baby. And we already established that wasn't workin'. I aint wastin' his time.
I put on the #1 crankbait in my arsenal.
Fish wanna eat him and lures wanna be him!
The Salmo Bullhead !

Ok..so I spent the next hour having what was probably the best hour of smallie/ largemouth fishing since I left Pipestone last september. The smallies were doing the exact opposite of what they are supposed to be doing according to InFisherman. The massive cold front didn't drive them deep like it's supposed to. They didn't want slow finesse baits like I was supposed to use. They didn't go into some "negative" feeding mode. Nuh-uh baby! These fish were in 1-3' of water and chasing down the bullhead any chance they got. Yeah..go figure, right?

Ya know..sometimes ya just don't know. I was hoping to maybe catch one fish according to everything I have been taught on saturday morning fishing shows. Instead...I walked into a turkey shoot with a machine gun. What a friggin blast!

Check out these picks of some of the fish. Oh...and notice the difference from yesterday to today. I looked like Nanook of the North today! But it was worth it. My total was 13 smallies, 4 largemouth. Missed 3 more and had one ob for a few seconds that was bigger than the fish in the last 2 pictures.....which, by the way is 20". Whooooo hoooo! All in one hour.

Get out and fish, people. Even when inFisherman tells you to stay home.

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18.5" !
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The biggest bonus largemouth of the hour!
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20" aggresive smallie in 2' of water on a massive cold front wind-howlin'-from-the-north almost-dark-outside day.


Notice the Salmo Bullhead I was using. Again, people, I can't tell you what to do, but my color choices are natural. Period. 24/7/365. These fish aren't being caught in Lake Geneva. They are being caught in waters just ike you fish whether it be a pond or the Fox river. We're talking visibilities of a few feet....maybe a few yards. But certainly NOT gin clear which is what we were all told to use natural baits in by saturday morning fishing shows. BULLS**T. Listen if the only thing a fish can see in murky waters is chartruese, they'd all friggin starve. Ya know what chartruese and firetiger hook? Fishermen. I know, i know.. they work at certain times.
But..look up. Think about it...those fish all hit a natural bait at the wrong time in the wrong color water at the wrong depth, blah, blah, blah.
But then again. My name aint Linder.. so what the hell do I know.
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Mike went out on sunday 6-11-06. He writes:

Was going to try the Salmo Bullhead or possibly a Chug Bug up close to the shore but I still had the brown/black/brass Chatterbait tied on.

What the hell, I take a couple casts... First cast:

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Could it be a fluke? Yeah but Jamie said...

SIXTEEN BASS LATER... (Largemouth and smallmouth of all sizes by the way) Only missed three fish.

I needed to head back. The sun had come out and the bite had died down. Just one last cast...

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JR I think your hook sharpening skills need some sharpening of their own. You either don't know how to fish or have filed your Chatterbait hooks down to a nub.

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** Editor's note ( Jamie being the editor. Bwhahaha!) Ok..ok.. Mike IS the ChatterGod. I'll give him that. BUT..I gotta jump to my own defense here; I have had success with the Chatterbait on the lake where Mike was fishing ( see previous reports there Captain Chatterlips). The other day when I had a dismal failure of an outing using a Chatterbait, I was on a different lake where that bait just doesn't do the trick on the resident largemouth and smallies. So stick THAT in your pipe and Chatter it!

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Topwater MADNESS! Early June.

Ok Kids, pay attention...especially the crew going up to Pipestrone on July 1st. The methods that we are using now are the basics of what is going to happen up there on July 1st. You have to figure that southern Ontario is 3 weeks behind us...so what happens here in the first and second week of June will be happening there for us on July 1st. Make sense?

Mike and I had two seperate trips this week to our home waters and the topwater bite is in full swing. Even under rather bright conditions buzzbaits, Sammy Topwaters, Zara Puppies, Heddon Crazy Crawlers, Chug Bugs and Pop-Rs are all getting knocked around by some pretty impressive fish. These fish are in post spawn now and are ready to hit. The smaller bass are basically staying out of the way because the larger ones are in extremely shallow water ( sometimes 6" deep) and actively looking to nail something. (*as a side note, this years spawn was VERY successful. I saw HUGE schools of smallmouth bass fry yesterday)
Another note that is going to apply to all those Pipestone bound, the rods we are using are medium heavy spinning rods. 6'6" - 7'. We use fast action HM 48, HM 56, IM7 and IM 8 rods. What does THAT mean?..well that is a modulus rating and it means the rods are very stiff yet light in weight. . Mike uses Fireline, I believe, in the 10# variety. I go with Powerpro in 8#. I'll also throw a rod sometimes with 10# Berkley Trilene XL if I'm working a smaller jig like a 1/4oz Slider Head in clear water ( Take note of that Pipestoners....you're going to want to have a bunch of 1/4oz Slider Head Jigs..see Kolar Bait & Tackle).
For more info on smallmouth bass fishing please visit these websites: ISA Riversmallies smallmouths CatchPhotoRelease.com And ofcourse CUSTOMFISH.COM. ( As a side note to those going to pipestone with us and have never caught a smallie, if you would have read the customfishing report and it's archives you'd know EXACTLY what to bring with and what to throw. There's a hint for ya.Find some time and read.)

Ok..ON TO THE SHOW!








And CHECK THIS OUT! We at Customfish.com can take your photos that aren't that good and alter them into something pretty cool like this! This photo was rather out of focus and blurry but with our software we now have something pretty cool. Want that done to one of your shots?? Maybe a black & white or a sepia tone? Perhaps a watercolor of your catch??? Just drop us a line and see how cheap we can do that for you! ( um..trust me..it's real friggin cheap.)

Stuff for Pipestone.


The trip to Pipestone Lodge is coming up in the first week of July. For the guys who are going here's some of my A-list material. I suggest shopping at Kolar Bait & Tackle..they can hook you up. I'll be there sunday morning early and can personally walk thru some stuff.
A few of the baits pictured are Rapala X-Rap, the Rapala DT4, The Salmo Roach, The Salmo Bullhead, Yamamoto soft palstics, Zara spooks or Zara puppies ( I like the smaller puppies myself), Mepp's spinners ( size 3,4 and 5 please). Rapala Shad Rap.
I'm also going with Yamamota Senkos. As well as Yamamoto Hula Grubs. 3and 4" Berkley power grubs in jigs work well too. Regular floating Rapalas are great.
Topwaters... we're gonna have a LOT of fun on topwaters. Favorites for Buzz and I that bring in alot of smallies up there are WHITE buzzbaits(4 to 1/2 oz size.), Chug Bugs ( those took ALOT of HUGE fish), Rapala Skitter Pops, Heddon Cazy Crawler, I'd even throw a Lunker City Salad Spoon or a Grass Frog if we find some reeds.
You may want to pick up 6" Berkley Powerworms and 1/0 Gamakatsu work hooks and some 3/8 oz bullet weights to go "wormin' on the edges of rocks and weeds. I can show you that in a few minutes up there as far as technique.
Spinnerbaits in the 1/4 to 1/2oz sizes are a good bet. Keep em simple...white/ silver..maybe gold.
PLUS.. if you can find spinnerbaits that are CHEAP..get em. Get a few of them. I'll show you guys a trick up there for pike that is just kick-ass! With said trick, Buzz and I caught 66 in ONE evening! You'll thank me for it. Cheap spinnerbaits with colorado blades on em. ( go to walmart and raid the $1 bin).
Rapala Husky Jerks are going to be a good thing to have as well. Don't go with the bigger sizes...save those for the pike.
Speaking of pike...you're going to get into a few of them. If you want to target them I'd recommend either downsizing the pike lures a bit or plan on running the big stuff in 20+' of water. Pipestone bottoms out at 300' so there's a ton of 50'+ water.
Colors? All I can tell you is GO NATURAL!!!! Whites, blacks, golds, silvers, minnow colors....We didn't get too many on firetiger and the like. The water is VERY VERY clear.


I'll put more up as I think of it.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

The customfish.com mascot

Customfish.com has a new mascot. Or is it a fish finder? You decide.
Either way Mike and I will have to watch our casts now.
See the VIDEO HERE

Plus, later on today I'll be putting up my list of supplies for smallmouth bass fishing at Pipestone Lodge in Ontario.....stay tuned.

Monday, June 05, 2006

First weekend in June '06

Here's some recent pictures of topwater smallmouth and largemouth bass. White buzzbaits and perch pattern chug bugs are working well just about everywhere. It's a good idea to use a quick-snap to attach/detach your lures now because if a fish misses a buzzbait you can change over quickly to a popper (Chug Bug) and pick up that fish easily on the slower moving bait now that they are interested and actively looking for whatever that thing was that they just missed. WHAMMO!!

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Thursday, June 01, 2006

Slow night on the River

this is an audio post - click to play