Saylorville Walleyes and White Bass - 8/9/2014

My buddy Jay and I fished Saylorville Lake from shore on Saturday morning...from @ 8:45am-11:45am.  The weather was cloudy, 7mph wind from the South, 71 degrees F, and the lake level was 842....6' above normal pool.

Jay and I were hoping for White Bass / Wipers.  I took a fly rod for carp, but didn't see any.  Jay ended with 2 White Bass, 4 Walleyes.  I ended with 12 White Bass, 2 Walleyes, and 1 Channel Catfish.

A couple of boats fished near us most of the time...for the most part they were respectful about keeping distance....Or at least they tried....but I was casting MUCH further than would normally be expected, what with a spinning reel full of fresh Fireline and a slab spoon tied on the end.  I was fine with them, though...I spoke with both boats, and we got along well enough.  There were a few good busts during the time we were there.  Mainly they were too far for me to reach from shore.  The boat guys chased them down as quick as they could, but the fish were nearly always gone by the time they got there.

Early on, Jay and I each caught a walleye on slab spoons.

Then we caught our White Bass.  It was really slow action...long dry spells between each fish.

Jay checked out some other spots down the shoreline a ways.  When he returned @ 11:15am, he started casting an inline spinner, and caught a couple of walleyes, including a nice 21-incher:

I snagged up and lost my (3rd of the day) slab spoon, so I put on a spinner as well.  I cast into shallow water, and caught a catfish:

On the very next cast, I had another, better hit.  I thought it was going to be a much better catfish, but it turned out to be a nice walleye of @ 19"...and Jay hooked and landed its twin at the same time.  A DOUBLE on walleyes...at Saylorville???  A sure sign of the "Alpaca-Lips"!! :)

After the double, Jay caught one more white bass, and then it just died.  I had to be home around noon anyway, so we left.
There was a colorful Regatta going on, too:

Saylorville Lake, Evening Fishing 9-4-2013

I fished Saylorville Lake last night from around 6:20pm-8:10pm.

There were many boaters up on the flats...in water less than 3' deep, and within 30' of shore.  This is extremely unusual...but it was a good sign that the fish weren't out in deeper water.  I avoided the stretch of shoreline the boaters were working.  I walked around "the long way", checking the shoreline for signs of carp in the shallows.  I didn't really see any until I got to the point, but they were spooking before I could get near.

So, I tossed a surface plug with my spinning gear.  It was slow going, but within a few casts I caught a decent white bass, and then a couple more.  The biggest was this 15-incher:

I moved around the point a little further.  Saw some more carp, and decided to try flyfishing for them.  Once again, I couldn't get near the fish that were visible in the shallows near shore, but there was some swirling going on just beyond them, so I tried blind casting for awhile with a beadhead mylar chenille bugger.  Jackpot!

I could have kept fishing for carp, and probably caught a few more, but it would have been slow and tedious since I couldn't really sight-fish for them.
So, I resumed chucking a topwater plug for White Bass with a spinning rod.  I found 'em, and caught one on nearly every cast for the next hour or so.  I also caught a largemouth bass.  As the sky started to get dark, the action slowed, but I was still catching them when I decided to leave.

Evening Fishing, 8-21-2013

I fished Saylorville last night from @ 5pm-8:30pm.  

I spent the first hour trying to fool some carp with my fly rod.  I missed the hookset on the few strikes I got.

Then I walked up to the tip of the point, and tossed a Pop-R around it for the rest of the time.  I caught 8 Largemouth Bass up to 17.5”,  and at least 25 White Bass up to 14.5”.  Most White Bass were in the 12”+ range…best average size I’ve experienced so far this year.  About 8:15pm, the action shut off abruptly.

Saylorville Lake, 8-4-2013

I love it when my expectations are exceeded.

I didn't have high hopes of catching much of anything...IF anything.  But, I headed out to see what was what at the lake.  I ended up fishing from  about 6:15pm-9pm.

I had a spinning rod and a fly rod with me.  First stop, I did a lot of casting.  I finally had one hit, which turned out to be a really nice 15" White Bass:

Apparently he was all alone, because I didn't get anymore.

So, I started slowly walking up the shoreline hoping to spot some carp in the shallows.  I saw one.  I got my fly rod ready, I made one cast.  Well, I put the fly in the water about 3 times before I was satisfied and actually started a retrieve.  I couldn't see my fly, but saw the carp turn and nose down about where I suspected the fly was.  My line tightened, I set the hook and FISH ON!  I tell you, times like that make you feel like a HERO.  After all the times when the fish ignore my offerings...or I just never spot the fish before they spot me.  It isn't easy...but sometimes it FEELS like it is!  :) 

Anyway, I landed the carp after a nice strong battle.

I didn't see anymore carp after that, except a few that took off away from shore before I ever spotted them.

I switched back to spinning gear and continued fishing for whatever would hit.  I was joined by my buddy and his wife.  I ended up catching 4 Largemouth Bass up to @ 16", and one surprise Bluegill.  We saw fish crashing schools of shad near the shoreline, within easy casting distance.  Only a couple fish were caught by casting to them, though.
The ending was a nice sunset.

Saylorville Lake, Evening 8-3-2012

Jay and I fished Saylorville from shore Friday evening.  Fishing was poor (I caught a largemouth bass), until Jay spotted some surface activity.  He caught 5 before I could get over to where he was.  He'd already caught a nice White Bass and some 10-12-inchers.

Then he caught a big fat White Bass that fought really well.  I was sure it was going to be a 24" Wiper!  I think it was more like 15", but it was REALLY fat and sure looked a LOT bigger than that!  Didn't get a picture of that one, but did get a picture of a 16-incher he caught after that:

While he was fighting that one, I hooked a nice fish that turned out to be a 23" Channel Catfish:

It hit a slab spoon:

I also caught White Bass (no big ones, though) on both the slab spoon and a Pop-R topwater.
The White Bass seemed to be working down the shore away from us, so we walked down past them to intercept them and set up for them to arrive...but they never did.  I caught maybe 5 more small White Bass, but they were scattered.  In short, we left fish to find fish.  Earlier, though, it was pretty cool to see the fish blowing up on the surface...you could tell where the bigger fish were by the size/sound of the explosions!

Fishin' with Jay, 7-16-2012

After I got off work, I called Jay, and we went fishing at Saylorville Lake.  I took a couple spinning rods and one fly rod.
It was pretty slow, not many carp along the shoreline (but there was SOME), and almost NO surface activity that would suggest gamefish attacking shad.

On the spinning gear, I caught a few smallish Largemouth Bass, and at least a 1/2 dozen White Bass on Reef Runner Cicadas and Pop-R's.  Biggest White Bass was maybe 12".  Most were 10-inchers.  And then there was this one, which may be the smallest I've ever caught.  I didn't measure it, but I'm guessing it was about 2.5" long.  It was hooked in the mouth.  In the picture I had already unhooked it and then it flopped around some in the sand before I could get the camera out.

With the fly gear I was targeting carp.  I used an egg pattern under an indicator in the shallows.  I landed one smaller carp that measured 20", and had a much bigger carp on that took off on a blazing run straight away from me down the shoreline and then broke my line.  Unfortunately I didn't realize it had broken my line until I was done fishing...(I just thought the fish threw the hook...hey, it was getting pretty dark, and my indicator somehow managed to stay on the line so I never bothered to check further)...so I fished the last 20+ minutes with no fly on my line.  The 20-incher was a good-looking fish, unfortunately it also managed to roll in the sand while I was getting my camera ready.

I also caught a nice bluegill on the egg pattern.

Jay caught White Bass, Largemouth Bass, and Channel Catfish.  One bass hit a swimbait and got off near shore after a great fight.  I got a good look at it...I would say it was at least 4 lbs, and probably closer to 5.  Really nice fish!
The Catfish hit a Mepps spinner and also fought really well:

It was a nice warm evening, boat traffic wasn't horrible, but there were still plenty of big wakes when they did go by.  There was also a really LOUD noisy airboat that went by a couple times...unusual to see those around here.
A beaver swam by about 40' in front of me as the sky started getting dark.

Family Fishin', 7-2-2012

My son was hanging out with a friend's family, my wife suggested we take my daughter fishing.  It was pretty late in the evening already, but we could squeeze a bit of fishing in.  Kennedy is 15 and enjoys catching White Bass, so we headed to Saylorville Lake to fish from shore.

I erroneously assumed my wife would just sit and watch us fish, so I had only brought 2 spinning rods.  Fortunately, I had a couple fly rods in the car, and that is what I fished with most of the time.  I didn't catch anything on the fly gear, however.

My wife and daughter both used Mepps spinners.  Kennedy caught the most fish in the short time we were there...6 White Bass.  They were all smaller fish, around 10".

 My wife's first catch (which I had to help reel in) of the evening was a ROCK.

She did eventually catch at least one White Bass, which she said made fishing SO much more fun.

 No pictures of me, but I did briefly get to cast with one of the spinning rods, and caught 3 white bass, and foul-hooked a decent largemouth bass in the side.  Weird.  And speaking of foul-hooking, most of the white bass were hooked under the chin rather than in the mouth.  They were obviously going for the head and attacking the blade when they got hooked...but it really isn't that common to catch so many of these outside the mouth.  It did make unhooking much easier, though.

Ok...POSE ladies!

After the Storm, 6-21-2012

I think I forgot to mention in yesterday's blog about "before the storm", that the spot we were fishing was loaded with large shad....like 3"-6" shad.  When I tried using a spinner on spinning gear, the lure was hitting shad almost continuously so that the blade had a hard time spinning.

Today I fished another area on the same lake that had clearer water.  Finally got to fish some "clearer" water!  Still not very clear, but at least the fish have an opportunity to see a fly in this water!  I actually went hoping to target white bass again, but as soon as I arrived I spotted carp.  I can't rationally explain why I would then choose to fly-fish for carp instead of white bass, but that is what I did.

I caught 5 carp today in about 3.5 hours of flyfishing, and also caught 2 small bass on flies.  I tried chucking lures briefly, but it just didn't seem the white bass were in the area at all, and I didn't really see any shad where I expected to find LOTS of them.  Very strange.

Most of the carp were caught by just casting near groups of fish and slowly working it through them.  The fly disappeared almost as soon as it hit the water, so it wasn't a good opportunity to "watch the take".  And the wind was blowing my line around pretty badly, which also made strike detection difficult.  I didn't measure all the carp, but did measure one that went 27".  Not really sure if it was the biggest one or not.  All of them were at least 24".

I caught a couple on a Hexagenia Nymph, one on a modified Whitlock Near'Nuff Crayfish, one on a beadhead nymph with a hackle collar.  Here's some pics:

The nost exciting take was when I moved to a different spot and tried targeting some carp that were schooled in open water.  I couldn't get any of them, but did see a pair swim by in front of me along the shoreline.  They didn't spook.  I took a couple casts at them without any takes.  The circled around and came by again.  I had tied on an uweighted black woolly bugger, and put a good cast ahead of the lead fish as they were swimming away from me, but it passed by without striking.  The trailing fish was headed right for it....the line tightened and BOOM!

The really bizarre thing was as I was fighting this fish, the other carp came back and was swimming around with this fish!  As I finally led the hooked fish into the rocks so I could land it, the other fish tried to swim right up next to it!  It finally backed off and swam away as I reached down to grab the hooked fish.  Now...I've seen schooling largemouth bass and white bass chase a hooked fish around, trying to steal whatever it "caught"...but this is the first time I've seen carp do this!

The carp today were all excellent fighters.  None took me to my backing, but a few put a good effort into trying to get there, even though I was putting a lot of pressure on them with the 8wt rod.  And they definitely were bull-doggers...kept trying to dive and stay deep when I wanted to bring them to the surface.

Fishing Report, 5-12-2012

I had my kids' Piano Recitals in the morning, then drove my wife to airport.  After i got home, I fed the kids some lunch, and then called Jay to see if he wanted to do some fishing.  We decided on Saylorville Lake.  On a weekend when the weather was nice???  Since we'd be fishing from shore, we decided to hit some spots that would not likely be swarming with bucketeers.  Did see a lot of boats fishing around the jetties!  We stayed far away from such popular and obvious spots.

We fished from about 2:30pm to 8:00pm.  We ended up fishing 3 locations, caught fish at the first two.  The third location was a waste of time, so we returned to our first location and fished more.

I used spinning gear and fly-fishing gear, and caught fish on both.  Unfortunately, I left my camera by the door when I walked out of the house.

I caught 7 species, all on lures/flies:
-3 Wipers (14"-16")
-6 White Bass (mostly 12-13" range)
-1 Smallmouth Bass (14")
-6 Largemouth Bass (12" and smaller)
-6 Crappies (12" and smaller, lost several others)
-2 Bluegills (8" and smaller)
-4 Green Sunfish (7" and smaller)

There's no mistaking when you hook a wiper...its zero-to-60 mph INSTANTANEOUSLY!

Saylorville Lake Fishing Report, 10-25-2011

Because of the wind at the lake where I was fly-fishing for trout, I didn't hear/feel the cell phone in my pocket when my buddy Jay called.  Once I noticed it, I returned his call.  He answered and said, "I'll have to call you right back, I'm fighting a big fish right now!"

Ok, he had my attention!  He did call back a couple of minutes later and said he'd caught a really nice Wiper, and that he was catching White Bass and Wipers at Saylorville Lake on nearly every cast.  I told him how the trout-fishing action had long since slowed down, so I would meet him there after I stopped by my house to pick up some appropriate gear.

I was about 10 minutes away from meeting up with him when he called back.  I answered and said, "Let me guess, the hot action is over."  Yep.  The wind had died, changed directions, and the clouds covered the sun...and the fish activity had slowed immediately.  He was still catching some small ones, however.  Well, I was almost there, so I decided to meet up with him anyway.

I got there, he showed me where the fish HAD been hitting earlier. The wind had picked back up again.  I had a fly rod and a spinning rod with me.  I made one cast with the spinning rod, and caught a decent White Bass.  Then I set that rod down.  I tied a white Lefty's Deceiver streamer pattern on the fly rod, and cast it into the wind.  I was into a good White Bass almost immediately.  How fun!  I caught a couple more decent White Bass and a small but FAT Largemouth Bass, but it was work trying to cast into that wind!  So, I soon switched back to the spinning rod with the in-line spinner on it.

The wind came and went, and came again.  Fishing was very good!  I caught at least 30 White Bass up to 16.75", and at least 10 small Wipers (biggest was maybe 12").  The wind picked up even more, and the fishing slowed considerably, so we decided to call it quits for the day.

16 3/4" White Bass

Even little Wipers go absolutely BERSERK when hooked!!

Took My Son Fishing

My daughter was busy, but my son was free last night.  My buddy Jay called from the lakeshore and said the words "...Every cast!".
We ate dinner and headed out the door.

As happens often...we missed it.  In the short time before we got to the lake, the wind died and changed directions, and the fish activity screeched almost to a complete halt.  I got to hear the stories of "You should have been here 1/2 hour ago!"

I wanted my son, Carson, to catch plenty of fish, knowing he would have fun doing that.  Instead, he was bored most of the time, but had fun during the exciting moments when he did catch a couple of hard-fighting White Bass.

I caught around 10 fish or so, and there were some nice 14"+ White Bass in the bunch.

I also tried my fly rod for a bit, and managed 1 small Largemouth Bass on a modified Clouser.

Took My Daughter Fishing

I've been wanting to get my kids in on some good fish-catching action with White Bass at Saylorville this month.


So far, it hadn't happened.  We had tried on a couple of occasions, but never hit the right spot at the right time.

I had an opportunity to take my daughter fishing last night. She's 14. She REALLY didn't want to go. I badgered her relentlessly until she caved. :)

We went. We got to the parking lot, and I spotted my buddy Jay, and two other guys (Dan and Don) already there. Jay and Dan were walking back to the parking lot...without fishing rods! First aid was needed on Jay's finger. No embedded hook, but the tip of his finger and fingernail had been nicely sliced by a gill plate of a thrashing fish.

Jay got quickly wrapped up, and we all got down to the business of fishing. Dan was catching fish nearly every cast. Kennedy and I tried some areas adjacent to where Jay and Dan (and Don) were fishing, but I only managed one fat Smallmouth Bass on a topwater:

I had Kennedy elbow her way between Dan and Jay (they didn't mind), and she started catching some decent fish!  In fact, for probably 1/2 hour, she was catching more than ANYBODY ELSE!

Dan and Jay both helped her removed hooks from fish when she had trouble with it. She's been fishing before.  Usually she did fine unhooking the fish all on her own.

It wasn't super-fast fishing, but we caught some. Kennedy had fun.

When we got back to the parking lot to head home, she THANKED ME for making her go. :)

We got home and she went upstairs to take a shower. She called down, "Uh Dad? You've GOT to come here!" She was in the bathroom (still clothed). She held up her hair (its pretty long, as you can see in the picture), and there was a puked-up shad stuck in her hair! OMG, TOO FUNNY!!

I took the shad out of her hair, and my wife said, "Oh, we should have gotten a picture of that!" Yep...bummer. :o)))

Fishing Log, September 15-17 2010

I took some time off work, and fished for 2.5 days!  Mostly I used spinning gear, fished one nearby lake from shore, and caught 10 species of fish.  I did do a little bit of fly-fishing and caught bass and white bass doing that, which was very fun.
Many of the pics didn't turn out very good, I'm not sure why.  I thought maybe the camera lens was dirty, but then later some pics turned out really good.  So I'm thinking maybe it had to do with water vapor condensation clouding the lens?  Either that, or it was having a tough time with its Autofocus whenever I used the timer to get myself in the pictures.

Anyway, for the largemouth bass and white bass, I often caught so many, I couldn't keep an accurate count.  So, each day I guesstimated what I caught for those species as closely as I could, without OVERestimating the number...so while I may have caught over 100 white bass one day, for instance....I ended up entering "70" in my Fishing Log.  Even so, I logged 299 fish in 2.5 days of fishing.  It was very fun!
Here's some pics (there were lots):

I caught a few walleyes, the biggest was 14.5":

I caught a small 17.5" Northern Pike (and it managed to cover itself in sand and mud before I was able to get the picture, as did a few other fish later on):

Smallmouth Bass up to 13"....in fact the biggest one hit a topwater lure:

Largemouth Bass up to 16.25".  They are always very fat and healthy from this lake.

I caught just a couple Wipers, biggest were probalby only 12"-13":

I caught a BUNCH of White Bass up to 14.25", quite a few on topwater lures, which is very exciting...and some on flies, as I mentioned before.

I even had a couple of DOUBLES of White Bass on topwater lures!

And I caught a Yellow Bass:

A 10.5" Crappie:

A couple really nice 8" Bluegills:

And a feisty Green Sunfish: