Pacemaker Fishing Forum

When I chatted with Bob a few days back, we were at a quandary as to where to go.

So I posed 3 scenarios:

1. Smallies on the UP are a hit or miss but the easiest for me. Short ride to the ramp and maybe a long, chilly run to find feesh.

2. While I want to hit Fletcher's more this year, the thought of a long drive there and back plus a long, chilly boat run up and back doesn't excite me much.

3. Then there is the "O". A semi long ride there and back but an easy putter to the feesh. Only problem I can see is, are the feesh there?

Well, we put in around 8a after a couple of technical issues.



We fished all over the place for over an hour  and it was not looking good. Nothing on the screen and no herring or gizzard shad flips.

Then, Bob got a hit. A strong one. He thought maybe striper but the hickory did a few acrobatics and when I went to scoop it up, it got off.

OK...1st hooked shad of the year!  My boat rules state that if a shad jumps out of the water at boat side, and gets off, it counts as a landed fish because they are slimy. A quick boat side release is always appreciated.

Bob got a couple more hits shortly thereafter but no more fish.

I did land a stick fish...



...and a rod.



Got a nice shad lure out of it.

A bit later, we went back up river and I got slammed but immediately got cut off! What was it? A few minutes later, Bob got hit hard but managed to keep his darts. No clue who the culprit was.

We saw 4 osprey, 1 immature eagle and 2 mature eagle. A few cormorants were lurking around but we never saw them catch anything.

A couple of fellas were trying their luck on the shore to no avail.

Water temps hit 49.7. All of the old timers say we need a couple of days of 50dF water to get the run  going. I think we are only a few days away.

Bob and I had a great time despite the barren water. We ended the day at Brickmaker's. The place is getting popular...it was a 10 minute wait to order and a 15-20 minute wait to get your food. But it was worth it. We ate it all before I remembered to get a pic.