Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Another hunting buddy

My wife and I just picked up another black lab puppy. We have a 2 year old black lab named Denali who has been just a great dog! Awesome house pet and an animal in the field.
Last night we picked up a new bundle of joy a 7 week old black lab pup name Kato (Indian word meaning lake). First night went pretty well, Denali seemed like he was starting to warm up to the little guy. He also slept pretty well only waking up a couple of times whining.
I just love this breed with their outgoing personalities and temperament. Denali just loves other dogs, cats and people and we are going to socialize Kato the same way. Going to introduce him to water this weekend and see how he reacts.

Here are some hunting pictures of Denali and I last year.




I will post some pictures of the little guy tomorrow when I get them uploaded to my computer.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Spring Lake Float Tubing (Report)

My cousin and I wanted to do some exploring on a collection of about 7 spring lakes an hour north of my house. Wisconsin has many small spring lakes that can offer great fishing.
We really wanted to get a good idea on what types of fisheries these lakes are. Most spring lakes that I fish hold a good number of nice panfish, gamefish and in about half of them trout. We brought 4 dozen nightcrawlers and a collection of smaller lures.
The first lake we fished looked great right from the start. Very odd shaped lake almost looked like a river. This lake has many springs located around and according to the DNR website this lake has panfish, pike and bass (all common). Very first cast I made jigging with a half of a nightcrawler over some deeper cabbage I landed a small pike. We ended up catching about 12 Pike ranging from 20-26 inches and getting bit off by two pike that were in the 30's. Also caught a bunch of Bluegills, Perch, Crappies and Green Sunfish. Only caught one bass out of this lake which was about 14 inches.
The second lake was bigger and MUCH deeper. According to the DNR this lake has bass, trout, panfish, pike and walleye. Again the bass, panfish and pike were active here as well. My cousin had a massive pike hit a bluegill he was reeling in and I had a very large brown trout chase a small perch I was reeling in. We found a very nice sized school of crappies holding tight in some weeds.

We drove around and looked at two other lakes nearby and they all looked really good. Now that we know what these lakes are all about we are gonna target the larger fish.




Saturday, June 25, 2011

Spring Lake Float Tube Fishing

Heading out here after working the dogs and some bacon and eggs and a spotted cow.
Got my cousin to come along with, this will be his first time float tube fishing on these small carry in only spring lakes about 1.5 hours north of Madison.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

"Rapala Flat Rap" review

No I am not a Rapala sales rep............... No I am not getting any type of kickbacks for promoting Rapala lures (although I should).
Like many others I believe in Rapala for providing a quality fish catching work of art. The latest lure that I have purchased and tested out for trout was the "Rapala Flat Rap". The first thing you will notice is the flat sides and the tri-angle style lip. The bait swims with a very hard flashing motion, much more aggressive than the original floating minnow. This bait also really only runs 1-2 feet deep allowing you to fish faster runs without hindering the intended movements of the lure. The only drawback is after constantly banging this bait off the rocks one of the lips did bust after an afternoon of fishing. That has only happened once so I doubt that is going to be a consistent issue.
The baits I have are 2 1/2 inches long and cast VERY well, I have them in Brook, Brown, Rainbow trout patterns as well as the traditional Sliver and Gold colors.


Check out all the patterns at this link:
http://www.rapala.com/products/lures/flat_rap/

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Tuesday and making plans........

I have a totally free weekend and a hall pass from the wife to get out and fish for an entire day on Saturday.
I am thinking about trout fishing in Grant County in Southwestern Wisconsin, but recent rains are making me think twice. I have some streams that fish VERY well in higher water situations. Parts of Crawford, Richland and Vernon Counties all saw 4-6.5 inches of rain over the past three days. Some streams even experienced flash flooding (see http://frugalfisherman.blogspot.com/2011/06/crazy-stuff-this-weekend-fathers-day.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheFrugalFisherman+%28The+Frugal+Fisherman%29)


I also love float tube fishing on small carry in only lakes or small electric motor only spring lakes. I am leaning towards heading about 1 hour north and fishing some great little, deep lakes for pike, bass, panfish, trout and walleye.
I am going to barrow a friends float tube and hopefully take out my cousin for his first time float tube fishing.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

How Dangerous are the two types of rattlesnakes?

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/ask/article_a2a33ff0-97a1-11e0-b804-001cc4c002e0.html




In Southwestern Wisconsin we have two species of Rattle snakes (Timber, Eastern Massasauga) I have never seen a eastern massasauga before, but I have come a crossed a couple of large timber rattle snakes.
If you live by my book and just never handle any type of wild snake you will be fine. But you should still understand what these snakes look like and where they live.

Timber Rattlesnakes:




http://www.angelfire.com/ab6/jnjkapfer/timber_rattlesnake.htm



Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake: These snakes prefer lowland marshes and forest. This species worries me because they don't look like your typical rattlesnake and could be misidentified as the common Northern Watersnake.



http://www.easternmassasaugarattlesnake.com/

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Float Tube fishing!!!

Got out on my float tube today on Lake Mendota. Pretty comical having boats come up to me asking what the hell I was fishing in, that occurrence happens all the time around here. I normally don't go very far from shore since there is always a fair amount of boat traffic on the Madison Lakes.
Today I was going out targeting Smallmouth Bass. I caught 3 big drum, 12 rock bass, 14 smallies (biggest was 14 inches) and about 10 Largemouth bass (all were 16-19 inches)
I also tried for some famous Mendota Bluegills with no luck. Bass were hitting white grub jigs, night crawlers and small power worms. The water has really warmed up over the past ten days and the temps are currently in the middle 70's. Reports that I have been hearing is that the bluegills still haven't spawned so hopefully I still have a chance at some 10 inch gills.

I love fishing out of the float tube! Pretty funny talking with guys who own $30,000 rigs and after talking with me they want a float tube.

I fish the 10,000 acre Lake Mendota and small 15 acre wilderness lakes up north. I have also floated Rivers with great success.







I also have a couple of videos from today. I just need to learn how to upload them and I will have posted on here as well.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Lake Belle View (Belleville Wisconsin)

http://www.channel3000.com/news/28226815/detail.html

This project will be very interesting to see in about 2-3 years. Sounds like they totally changed the lake from a mud hole filled with rough fish to a lake that will have a good population of game fish. Hopefully this will help the water quality below the dam. Below the dam there is a very good Smallmouth Bass population and some large Brown Trout.

More information about the project.

http://www.bellevillewi.org/pages/lakegeninfo.cfm

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Sliver Pike?? Have you ever heard of them?

Wisconsin man caught a very large Sliver Pike. Someone people have most likely never heard of a Sliver Pike. A Sliver Pike is not a sub-species like some people believe, but it is a mutation in the fish that affects the fishes coloration. This is just like the blue walleyes/perch that you might have seen before.

Blue Perch

Sliver Pike




http://www.channel3000.com/recreation/28210231/detail.html

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Back on the Creek

Finally was able to trout fish again. Ankle is feeling much better and I wanted to test it out today. Fished one of my favorite Brook Trout streams which does hold a couple of 20+ browns. Water was super clear and the fish were very active. I started the day off by fishing with my dog around Cross Plains and caught two nice 17 inch brown trout.
Later in the afternoon I headed further West to my favorite stream. Fish were hammering Rapalas and Jigs, but they wouldn't touch the spinners. I also tried out my new Rapala Flat Rap and I absolutely love it! I have one in Rainbow Trout pattern and the browns loved it. They have a great action and run a bit shallower so you can fish fast shallow water efficiently. Fished from 5-7 and caught a bunch of fish. That cold water sure did make my ankle feel much better and it held up on the rocks! Ended with a 50/50 mix of browns and brooks.
Ran into a couple of other anglers at the a bridge upstream of me (first time I have ever seen anyone else here) and I spoke with them for awhile and they said they caught a couple.
Tomorrow I am thinking about taking the float tube out on Mendota for some Smallmouth Bass action!



Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Very heavy rains POUNDING Southern Driftless

Severe Thunderstorms have just drenched the Southern portion of the Driftless Area. Flood warnings are starting to take place. A couple of different tornado warnings as well. We also have the threat of more Thunderstorms and Rain Thursday and Friday. Keep on eye out for updates on stream conditions.


6/9/2011 UPDATE: Most streams in the area have a good flow going, but are still remaining pretty clear. Rain in the forecast for Tonight and Friday morning, that being said streams should be just fine to fish for the cool weekend ahead.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Very Interesting read about Brook Trout and Climate Change

Saw this posted on eatmorebrooktrout.com

http://www.fws.gov/news/blog/index.cfm/2011/6/1/Tennessee-Joint-Venture-Strives-to-Determine-the-Effects-of-Climate-Change-on-Brook-Trout


Very interesting article about how climate change could wipe out native Brook Trout in the Southeastern portion of the country.
We have seen models from the WI DNR that could wipe out all of Wisconsin's trout population within the next 50 years.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Northern Wisconsin Fishing Trip (June 2nd)

I made it up to Rhinelander, Wisconsin on Thursday night around 10:00 p.m. My Dad, Cousin, Uncle and Friend all got up there a day earlier. Unfortunately I would only be able to make it up there for one day.
We do a family fishing trip to honor my grandfather who passed away 2 summers ago. This year we picked one of his favorite lakes, Boom Lake near Rhinelander. I have fished this lake since I was a kid, but I haven't been there in many years and now that I think of it..... More than 10 years. Everything looked familiar with the only exception being the old cottages we always stayed at were torn down and giant lake homes now exists on the property. Still recall fishing the same exact spots we fished today with my grandfather, which brought back many great memories of fishing with the family and going out to eat at Al Gen.
Today the fishing was pretty good! We caught LM & SM Bass, Northern Pike, Bluegills, Perch, Crappies, Walleye, Rock Bass, Pumpkin Seeds and a Muskie. Action all day with some very nice fish, but nothing huge. We did end up finding a HUGE school of big bluegills which averaged 8-10.5 inches which was a blast!
My father caught his first Muskie! All 7 inches of it!

Great being back in the Northwoods even with it being such a short period of time.









Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Holiday Weekend Fishing Report

I spent the holiday weekend up at my in-laws cabin on Lake Puckaway in Central Wisconsin. I got up there later on Friday around 4:00 pm and did some fishing off the pier since we didn't have the boat up there. I caught two smaller pike (14 inches and 21 inches) on a #5 gold Mepps Aglia. This lagoon they are located on has produced some monster pike in the 40 inch range the past three years. I noticed that some large bass were hanging around. Switch tactics and went with a large 10 inch black power worm rigged Carolina system. That produce a number of very nice 3-5 pound LM Bass. Over weekends like Labor Day, The Fourth and Memorial Day I traditional will only fish a bit and spend more time with the family and drinking beer. Great weekend and had some good luck considering I didn't put more than 1.5 hours of fishing in. I leave to head up North for a short fishing trip right after work tomorrow so I will have a report when I return.

I have a nice picture of a Bass I caught this weekend that I will post. That is on my Wife's camera since I totally forgot mine.

Wisconsin now has 13,175 miles of trout water!

That number is pretty insane! The amount of trout water in this state makes me dizzy.


http://dnr.wi.gov/news/DNRNews_article_Lookup.asp?id=1792