Pacemaker Fishing Forum

At first, I believed that yesterday was the first day I hit the river, but was reminded that before the ice/rain/sleet/storm I was out in early January.  My bad.  Guess all the shoveling and the sub-zero temps froze my brain?

Left the house this morning and it was dark and 29dF.  I figured, brrrrrrr. 

As I was driving to the take out, had to be careful I didn't take out a deer.  Or three.  They were everywhere.  Got to the take out and heard raptors screeching, black & red belly birds singing, wood peckers pecking and figured these are all good signs.  Especially since there was no ice on the river.  It was 35dF now and again, figured that's a nice temperature rising.  Sun was out, lotsa clouds, but nothing threatening.  Water had a nice stain with about three feet of visibly.

We threw the tackle box at them; grubs, stixbaits, zman elastec baits, crank baits, jerk baits and swim baits.

My mission of the day was to catch a walleye.  I've only caught walleye as a bonus fish while targeting small mouth bass, but about six months ago, started to learn the technique to catch them. 

The first couple fish were not part of the mission, but I'd consider them a nice bonus.



Finally got the technique down and started to feel the tap, set the hook and the death roll started.  Again, catfish were not part of the mission, but a nice bonus fish. No pix of the catfish, but they were pan sized and healthy looking.

Then my luck changed.  Sun came out and hit the water and got a couple walleye to the boat.  By the end of the day, the bite got hot.  Every one was over 21" - well, a good guestament agreed upon by the crew.  The largest was a beast. Here's a sample of the 'eyes. 





All fish were released for another day

Drove home, had to be careful of Bambi again.  They were everywhere.  It was rush hour too so was wondering what all these people were doing on the road?

Last edited by hookup (Feb-28-26 2:36PM)