7-02-04 - Overnight on Lake Geneva, Part I
Waters Fished: Lake Geneva
Fish Caught: Numerous
Outing Date: 7-02-04
Weather: Cooling after sunset
Air Temp: 70's dropping into low 60's
Water Temp: didn't take it
Water Level: normal
Water Color: clear, visibility probably 15' or so.
Fish Species: Perch, Bluegill, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass,
Rock Bass, Northern Pike, Sunfish
Pattern Fished: Flying Bunny, trolling with Lindy Rigged Nightcrawlers
Pattern Color: white, white and red, chartreuse and purple etc..
Fishing Quality: Great with Bait!
It's Friday night, and by 8:00 PM I'm on the water
with FAT, Chief and Duke....we're gonna fish overnight on Lake Geneva!!!!
We launch out of William's Bay and head over to
the east shore for some fly casting. Meanwhile the boys (while still
awake) opt for jigs. To make a LONG story short...we had a lot of
fun casting.
As the sun went down the bite turned on. Ok, actually
we just switched to bait...out went the trolling rods with Lindy
Rigs and Crawlers. It was time to troll. We cut back across the
bay to the west shore...basically trying to stay in 20-25 feet of
water.
Lemme tell you the action was pretty fast. The
Rock Bass actually gave us a breather. First noteworthy fish was
Fat's Largemouth. I think at that point I was playin' captain.
As we moved south along the shore the sun was gone,
it was definitely DARK; it felt unusual to be creeping along in
the dark, well, actually the lights from the houses on shore made
for a strange not-quite-night type of atmosphere.
So I'm drivin' along when a rod goes off and starts
thumping like no-one's business. FAT screams to Duke to come reel....Duke
tries to take the oversized rod out of the holder...FAT's shouting
"NO NO, just reel".
KABOOM in the twilight as a GIANT fish goes airborn.
Crash as it lands in the water after what felt like 30 seconds in
the air. Whoosh and it goes airborn again, landing again in a bellyflop
worthy of the FATMAN.
Somehow we get this fish to the boat...a 26"
Northern. Um, it was 10:30...I thought northerns didn't FEED at
night. Well, we were VERY VERY LUCKY I guess...heck the thing took
a WORM! All the while FAT griped about the boys bringin' a STINKY,
SLIMY fish into the boat. That really wouldn't matter as I'd find
out come morning...the boys got nightcrawler bedding all over the
place!
We stopped for a bit to jig, then headed back north
along the west shore, cut across, and south along the east shore.
I'm leaving out all the ROCK BASS...they're almost a nuisance, but
they WILL keep you busy.
As we headed along the east shore, I'm still driving
and at this point the boys are sleepin'. Fat and I have decided
we don't need no stinkin' rod holders, we'll just hold the rods
while we troll. The upside? We can feel ALL our bites. The downside?
All the bites are ROCK BASS.
Well...except for this one that came shortly before
midnight...a respectable Smallmouth Bass for the Fatman.
The clock rolls over into Saturday AM...turn the
page.
MP

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