Deepwater / McKenzie Bay Area - Saturday, August 6, 2011

Here we Go!!  Just in Time for the Weekend!!

Headed down the to lake Friday night.  Fishing has been relatively good down our way the past few weeks.  And just like the previous two Friday's, rain and storms are forecasted.  Great, just in time to shut fishing off for the weekend......We no longer pull up to the trailer and the sky opens up and proceeds to downpour.  A final tally of an inch fills the guage.  Partner Pinnochle gives up a little something to do while we have a few Whiskey Cokes!!  Conversation is whether or not fishing will be any good.....

Saturday:  Awakened by the sound of rain on the trailer.  Tired..... however playing pinnochle until 2:00 am will do that to a guy.  Finally around 11:00, the sky begins to show some signs of decent weather.  Loaded up and headed out.  Where is anyones guess.  Will they be deep or shallow.  Cranks or spinners??  Last weekend found us getting good fish in 8-10 ft.  Sounds like good place to start.  However, upon inspection at the ramp, water appears to be down and indeed upon arrival depth finder solidifies that at about 1.0-1.5 feet.  With apprehension, tried it anyway but as predicted, nothing.  So, off we go to another previous spot.  Cranks down in 8-10 ft.  After about quarter mile and nothing on graph or rod, decided to move out to 12 ft.  Wasn't long and had first fish of the day on.  However, a bad net job sent the 20" walleye free to fight another day.  Wounded, we carried on but wasn't long and had another 20" on and a solid net job this time put it in the well, followed by another 19" fatty.  Then, big fish on!!  Well, Sakakawea has became the Pike capital of the world and wouldn't you know it........Made a couple more passes and pulled a few pike and small walleyes until finally boated another nice 16" walleye and decided to keep a fat 14".   Fishing was slowing and wanted to change things up so moved out to 20 ft.  Bomber 24a's and Deep Little Rippers hit the water.  First fish, northern.....Second fish, smallmouth.....Third fish, northern....Finally, nice walleye at 18".  Continued on and was noticing a pretty "junky" bottom in 22 ft and with cranks set for 20,  seemed to be pulling right over top so dediced to give it a try.  All of a sudden, rod gets hammered and line begins to spool out.  My counterpart says snag but I say no way, that was a fish that hit that thing......No sight of it until it gets right at boat and once in the net, the fattest 22" walleye I have probably ever saw.  My lip scale puts it at almost 4.5 lbs.  Awesome!!  We played around in the 18-22 ft mark and were able to put a couple more smaller keeper walleyes in the well before calling it a day.  Water temps were down a bit in the 73-74 range.  Crankbaits were all that hit the water for us and upon arrival at camp, showed the lure of choice as many struggled to only get a couple.  T-Bone steaks and Pinnochle took up the rest of the night....and early AM!!

Sunday:  Alarm off at 5:30 AM but quick look outside said go back to bed.  Overcast and windy.   Not my favorite fishing weather as having a place at the lake has taken some of the die hard out of me.  Probably good as used to be pretty willing to fish in anything...Decided about 8:30 to give er a try as sun was peaking and wind didn't seem too bad.....Well, I was wrong....Tried to get to previous day's spots but halfway out decided to turn back as wasn't going to beat myself up or worse to try and get there.  Some of the bigger rollers I've seen for a while coming out of the bay.  Retreated back into the bay but only managed 2 small walleyes and northerns.  Called it quits after 2 hrs of torture!!  Wind was just perfect making it difficult to load boat at times.  It was the most trouble I think I have ever had!!  Water temps back in bay around 73 again.