2015/09/08 Fishing Report - Turtle Flambeau Flowage - Mercer Wisconsin - Jeff Robl

JEFF ROBL Profile Joined: 7/10/2012 Status: Offline  Subscribe to JEFF ROBL's posts

FISHING REPORT 9/8/15 12:09 PM CST Conditions: Partly Sunny Air Temp: 76° - 80º F Water Temp: 71° - 75° F A few more pics from last report. The slowdown in the walleye bite and correlation with the dropping water levels I would say not. The walleye slowdown started late July when the water was still high. A late summer slow bite is pretty typical on most Wi. lakes although on the flowage the fishing usually remains pretty good. This year it's been slow, to a person spending a week up here and not catching many eyes the natural assumption would be that there simply aren't many fish in the lake. We had a good spring and first half of the summer walleye fishing , lot of days catching and releasing big numbers of fish. The fish are out there but they are difficult to catch right now. If it is from an unusually large hatch of perch the interesting question to me is will it affect the fall bite? I think the fall will be good, the walleyes are slowly starting to show up again. I personally know some of the best walleye fisherman on Winnebago (one is my brother) and here that it has been slow out there. Cribs: In the past I have not spent much time fishing cribs, this year I have and it has helped provide some action and fish for the frying pan. Cribs are hard to find and even having them marked you sometimes have to make several circles to find them. Cribs have been good for gills and other species of fish but I most often find deep natural wood (11-18') more productive for walleyes and crappies. Almost all the fish in the last pictures posted including the gills were caught on this natural structure. We have been fishing with bobbers but also catching them casting 1/8 oz. slow fall jigs. When we run into the gills and perch I often trim the plastic whiskers at a 45* angle a little above the hook. Instead of dropping the rod tip and waiting 5-10 seconds like for a walleye bite I tell the customers to hold the line tight, keep letting the perch or gill hammer at the bait but the instant you feel steady weight set the hook. Sometimes they get the bait and sometimes you get them. August 5th was a turning point for me on a slow bite afternoon trip I had a young fisherman and two other older fisherwoman the son caught almost all the fish , he had braided line on his rod, the other customers (mono) jig often came back to the boat with the crawler half chewed off and in the deep water they didn't feel the bite, frustrating for both of us. I bought the lightest braid I could find, 4lb. fireline. My jigging rods range from St. Croix legend extremes to Avids these rods pared with the braid leave no mistaking when you have a bite, even to people who have far less opportunity to fish then I do. The bite resonates threw your arm! Obviously a day off for me but enough procrastinating time to clean the garage. Bobber Down Guide Service (715) 776-0140