03-16-2010, 09:00 AM
Sorry for the late post... Matt and I got together this weekend despite all folks telling us we were nuts. "you're going fishing? It's supposed to be cold and raining???" but we've got the sickness... and replied to those folks with a 
&quot;yeah... I know... I can&#39;t wait!!!&quot;<br />We were really wondering what the cold front and downturn in weather would do, but figured the fish were on track to move up and be ready to eat in their pre-spawn patterns... and we were right. First spot we pull up, Matt drops the trolling motor, third cast - BAM! He hauls up a dandy. Then it was quite a while before we got any more of size, but we were able to go along behind another boat that got in front of us and still pick up one here and there... then someone came in behind us and picked up three right off the bat on water we just fished. Wherever we found bait, we found bites. The 2nd stop was mid lake structure and flats.... it was windy, raining, cold and didn&#39;t catch anything after about 20 min... did I mention I forgot my shoes and had on sandals with socks??? Yeah, Matt thought it was hilarious too. <br />We buzzed up river and went looking for what we thought was our pattern - find 6 - 8 ft of water near deeper water or channels, and you would find fish. We found that with the water down, traditional places where these spots were, were now 3 to 5 ft... but the fish were still there. We really had a solid day of fishing, until we relented to the rain and cold weather. Lovely that we got to lunch about 2pm downtown and the sun came out. But Matt pointed out a flag standing straight out and d. &quot;We made the right decision, I don&#39;t want to get blown all over the river.&quot;<br />Day two we were psyched for we felt we had a good pattern figured out after catching so many quality fish on Saturday. But we screwed up on the time change... and overslept. I think we got on the water by 10am... tried the lower lake by the damn on some depths and structure we knew would be there, but the weather was way too clear and too deep for what we had caught fish doing the day before. So we picked up and ran up river to more stained water and a tad bit warmer water. Seemed that 49 - 50 degrees worked on Sat, but never found anything close to those temps on Sun. We did well. I got a fatty at 5.7lb&#39;s... then we hit that area a bit more concerted, picking up a handful of 3 - 4 lber&#39;s. Then Matt throws back to a spot where two fish had already been caught on our turn around/2nd pass.... and immediately hooked up. I saw his rod load up and not come back up.... I grabbed the net and walked forward. He got really quiet... &quot;You gonna need the net?&quot; I asked. &quot;This is a big fish, man... not sure what it is, but whatever it is, we are definitely going to need a net....&quot; So, the battle was on and we had to follow this fish a bit with the trolling motor - he only had on 10lb mono and this thing wasn&#39;t going to turn on that for the first 15 minutes. We just got to a point where we were saying &quot;I just want to see it.... it must be a flathead.... or a striper&quot;. Matt just kept with it, feeding line when it ran, and trying not to break off. Now he&#39;s just wanting that crankbait back... We figured it must have gone 40lbs or so... it was huge... The lamprey was a bonus. Biggest one I&#39;ve seen in the Chick... Had a great trip and really glad to see the bites heating up.... should be a good showing next week. Best 5 would have maybe gone 17 -19lbs... but Matt showed me that my eyes aren&#39;t of &quot;scale quality&quot;. It does bring you back to reality when you can get a good weight on a fish.<br />Really great to run into and meet elwestb at the Wolfever ramp on Sat, then Jmax and TnDoe out on the river. Great to see you guys!
&quot;yeah... I know... I can&#39;t wait!!!&quot;<br />We were really wondering what the cold front and downturn in weather would do, but figured the fish were on track to move up and be ready to eat in their pre-spawn patterns... and we were right. First spot we pull up, Matt drops the trolling motor, third cast - BAM! He hauls up a dandy. Then it was quite a while before we got any more of size, but we were able to go along behind another boat that got in front of us and still pick up one here and there... then someone came in behind us and picked up three right off the bat on water we just fished. Wherever we found bait, we found bites. The 2nd stop was mid lake structure and flats.... it was windy, raining, cold and didn&#39;t catch anything after about 20 min... did I mention I forgot my shoes and had on sandals with socks??? Yeah, Matt thought it was hilarious too. <br />We buzzed up river and went looking for what we thought was our pattern - find 6 - 8 ft of water near deeper water or channels, and you would find fish. We found that with the water down, traditional places where these spots were, were now 3 to 5 ft... but the fish were still there. We really had a solid day of fishing, until we relented to the rain and cold weather. Lovely that we got to lunch about 2pm downtown and the sun came out. But Matt pointed out a flag standing straight out and d. &quot;We made the right decision, I don&#39;t want to get blown all over the river.&quot;<br />Day two we were psyched for we felt we had a good pattern figured out after catching so many quality fish on Saturday. But we screwed up on the time change... and overslept. I think we got on the water by 10am... tried the lower lake by the damn on some depths and structure we knew would be there, but the weather was way too clear and too deep for what we had caught fish doing the day before. So we picked up and ran up river to more stained water and a tad bit warmer water. Seemed that 49 - 50 degrees worked on Sat, but never found anything close to those temps on Sun. We did well. I got a fatty at 5.7lb&#39;s... then we hit that area a bit more concerted, picking up a handful of 3 - 4 lber&#39;s. Then Matt throws back to a spot where two fish had already been caught on our turn around/2nd pass.... and immediately hooked up. I saw his rod load up and not come back up.... I grabbed the net and walked forward. He got really quiet... &quot;You gonna need the net?&quot; I asked. &quot;This is a big fish, man... not sure what it is, but whatever it is, we are definitely going to need a net....&quot; So, the battle was on and we had to follow this fish a bit with the trolling motor - he only had on 10lb mono and this thing wasn&#39;t going to turn on that for the first 15 minutes. We just got to a point where we were saying &quot;I just want to see it.... it must be a flathead.... or a striper&quot;. Matt just kept with it, feeding line when it ran, and trying not to break off. Now he&#39;s just wanting that crankbait back... We figured it must have gone 40lbs or so... it was huge... The lamprey was a bonus. Biggest one I&#39;ve seen in the Chick... Had a great trip and really glad to see the bites heating up.... should be a good showing next week. Best 5 would have maybe gone 17 -19lbs... but Matt showed me that my eyes aren&#39;t of &quot;scale quality&quot;. It does bring you back to reality when you can get a good weight on a fish.<br />Really great to run into and meet elwestb at the Wolfever ramp on Sat, then Jmax and TnDoe out on the river. Great to see you guys!