Mexico Bay, 6 & 7 Sept, Dapper Dan

[jekyll]

There is a crap load of hungry fish in the East end of the Lake. We welcomed good fishing weather on Saturday and most of Sunday. We did 18 for 32 for the weekend with the hook up ratio improving on Sunday. We managed our 3-man limit on Saturday but only took a 3-man limit on Sunday with 4 on board. I'll say it again, loosen the drag guys. Thom practiced for a week: righty tighty, lefty loosey. He's making headway but still needs some practice

Saturday, Fireplug and Danno from the site joined me. Fireplug had fished with me for browns but he didn't get a fish that time. This time he got even. I think he realized that once the other guys limit, he gets more action if he adds numbers to the denominator, not the numerator. Fishing is a crew thing so we had fun trolling while he worked on getting his last fish in the boat after several break offs. We went 9 for 18 in the end with 2 cohos, a steelhead and 6 kings. Danno managed a hat trick: 1 king, 1 coho and 1 steelhead. His steelhead was a bit different, its back was light blue and its sides were tinted with orange. I haven't seen one colored like this before. Danno and Fireplug turned one double.

Here's Danno's steelhead. The colors don't show clearly in the photo:

Fireplug with one of his kings:

The day's catch (borrowed Trout One's board):

We located the fish in 100 fow. Nothing deeper and a few shallower. We stayed out of the pack for the most part. The pack seemed to be targeting 80 FOW where the fish had been for several days before the wind messed with the temps. We were quite happy with miles of boat-free water and plenty of fish. We fished from the South Dunes to Sandy Pond.

Sunday found fellow site members Amazing Action and PJ Weber and his son with me. PJ had posted looking for a ride and I answered up with 2 seats. We went 9 for 14 with 3 sets of doubles. PJ and his son Darren managed to do 2 sets of doubles. It was a pleasure watching father and son with their doubles. We took 1 coho and 8 kings. The fish had moved in shallower than they had been on Saturday. We stayed pretty much on fish all day in 75 to 85 FOW. We stayed North of the pack from the North Dunes to Sandy Pond. Amazing Action and I ended the day on a double. It was my turn at bat when a dipsy fired. As I reached for the rod, the adjacent rigger fired and I got to chose my ride. I realized I was a bit tired after 2 full days so I opted for the DR and let Amazing Action have the dipsy. Wise choice because the DR was well-stuck but Thom lost the dipsy fish (a king).

PJ and Darren with 1 of thier doubles:

Amazing Action (Thom Crance) and me working our dusk doubles:

Thom is a licensed drift boat guide. He is wearing his drift boat night time running lights - the day glow shirt! He says it works well, it is bright in the picture.

We hit fish with speeds of 1.6 through 2.4 with 2.0 being the most consistent. We kept the balls and dipsies within 10 feet of the muck because of the temps. The temp break was low. 68 degrees at 50 and 50 degrees at 75. Sunday was an exception. I set the probe rigger first and stopped at 50 feet to get a stabilized temp reading. As soon as I turned towards the next rigger the crew started shouting fish on. Total fishing time: 5 seconds and our 1st king was on. I love it when a plan comes together.

My center rigger didn't fire all weekend. I ran fixed cheaters on both corner riggers ala mupp, but none on the center. I tried chips, spinnies, J-plugs, spoons and meat twinkies. Ran it high, ran it low and in between. In frustration, I made 3 changes at once (mistake, now I don't know what fixed it) I changed to a chartreuse mountain dew spin dr with a crazy **** fly, I set it back 60 feet and dropped the ball into the mud then raised it 2 feet. It then fired within 10 minutes and took 2 fish in the last hour.

Stats are as follows (with 1 I forgot to document):

Riggers: 20

Wire dipsies: 10

Braid Slide diver: 2

Copper: 0

Wire thumper: 0

Spin Dr.s: 12

Pro-troll finned chips: 19

Chartreuse paddles: 15

White Paddles: 12

Black/blue hologram/glow white chip: 1

11 inch chrome/chrome chip: 3

Glow Hammer: 13 (I really love this pattern)

Glow white: 10

Glow Little Boy Blue: 3 (this was on the 11 inch paddle)

Crazy ****: 2

Mirage fly: 2

The white wasn't as dominant at dusk and dawn. Our first 5 fish came on chartreuse paddles and glow hammers on Saturday beginning at 0630. Sunday we started an hour later at 0730 due to wind; the first 4 fish came on white. The last rig to fire was the 11 inch chrome/chrome chip w/ glow LBB after dusk.

[muskybob]

Nice report and pics. Congrats on a great weekend.

[Pj Weber]

Tim- thanks again for a great time. I do not get up to the lake as often as I would like but this weekend was unbelievable!! Guys this is the time to get to the lake the fish are here!! Saturday my son gave me a half day trip on the Nomad out of Mike's Marina, left the dock at 5:30 am and hits came 80 FOW down 70' down went 6 for 7 and back at the dock by 10:00 am. This trip was special to me because it was a birthday present from my son. Boy do times change I was always booking trips for him and I. Anyway Saturday was all white on white with most fish coming on the north troll. Sunday with Tim was a great time Tim's got a ride that makes me jealous!! That is one sweet boat and you and Tom are super Sunday was a constent pick through out the day and Tim was the only one of us to limit out. He handles those fish like a pro!! Tim - "It's in the hole" !! Thanks again Tim I will try to post some of my pics soon I have dial up internet so slow But I will work on it. Great time Great to meet you and Tom.

[kremer01]

Wow sounds like you were really on the fish. congrats and thanks for the good post

[jilou1ow]

Jekyll, Thanks for all the information. What are paddles and I assume that the glow hammer is a fly. Is it a A-Tom-Mik fly?

Wish more helpful information was more often.

I can imagine catching 18 fish over two days. Sure would like to try!

[jekyll]

Paddles are flashers - Spin Doctors or Pro Troll e-chips etc. Yes, glow hammer is an A-Tom-Mik fly. I use the tournement rigs. When fish get a solid hit on those, they "buy" the hooks for life. It either ends quickly in the cooler or later after they do a break-n-take but, either way, they own the hooks for life.

[weberdp]

Tim, Thanks for a great weekend. Let me know next time you have some spots to fill. -Darren

[dieselhp]

Great report and thaks for all of the info.

Sounds like you guys had one heck of a day.