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Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana | FRIDAY, MAY 21ST
Didn’t get out to Webster till about 5:30. Water temps ranged from 72-75.
Visibility is excellent, the weeds have really cleaned up the water. Too bad the weeds will be gone soon!
Started out again on Yellowbanks, throwing a Bullhead Wabull. On my 3rd cast I raised a 40 inch fish.
Switched back and fourth from a Wabull to a Jackpot and fish liked both. Caught one, and lost one on a Wabull. Saw 7, caught 1 and lost one. Fished from 5:30 till dark.
SATURDAY, MAY 22ND
Had a father/son combo from Indy. Started off at 6:00 am at Yellowbanks. This was a both a GREAT DAY, and one of the WORST days I have ever had. The dad started off the day with a quick follow, and then the dad quickly nailed a 43 inch male on a Crappie Phantom. Shortly after releasing the 43, the sucker goes off. I see the fish, 40-42 inches. We get the rods in, turn the boat, feel the weight, and then I nail the hook set. The fish started running and thrashing like a mad man and kept trying to run in the weeds. After a short battle, she threw the quick set rig. O well, you can’t win them all…….. We kept fishing yellowbanks, with a few follows here and there, when the sucker rod goes off again. This time the fish hit the sucker just off the west break off Yellowbanks, in 16 feet of water. Again, I turned the boat, got right on the fish, nailed the hooks and the fight was on. Deep runs and some pretty powerful head shakes. I never got a real good look at this fish, but I did see part of it, and again it was over 40. The fish kept going for deeper water and with powerful head shakes, again threw the quick set rig. I was about as heart broken as could be. It was 8:00 and I could have 3 fish over 40 in the boat, but instead we had 1. We headed over to Governors, with the same thing. Follows, Follows EVERYWHERE! Didn’t get hooks in to any, but again the shallow weeds were holding the most fish.
Went back to yellowbanks and again the Crappie Phantom and the Bullhead Wabull were hot, but again, just follows no eaters. Finally the dad popped another fish, though it was small. Again off Yellowbanks, and on the Phantom. Once again the sucker rod when off. Again, I moved the boat into position, blah blah blah, you guessed it, another lost fish on the sucker. That was fish #3 lost on a sucker. This fish was in the upper 30 inch range and again off of Yellowbanks. We moved to the flat just off Eagle Point to get a different change of scenery, you guess it! The sucker rod goes off again with another upper 30 inch fish. And again, fought the fish, the fish ran, and again head shake after head shake. Lost fish, #4. Moved to the mouth of the channel and Jason, the son finally gets on the Crappie Phantom. Again, it was small but I never complain about fish in the boat. So, we have 3 fish, and have lost 4 others. But the day isn’t over yet. We lose yet another fish on the sucker off yellowbanks. This is a good fish, 45 or so. Same story, different fish. 3 fish boated, 5 fish lost and one frustrated guide!
Sunday: May 23
Had a half-day trip with another father/son combo from Michigan. Guess where we started!! YELLOWBANKS! The dad had a fish around 37-38 up on his 2nd cast, and I thought it was going to be another great day. This fish followed the Bullhead Wabull. In the first hour and a half we had over a dozen fish to the boat, but no IN the boat, and nothing chasing the sucker. Had the son, Shawn switch to a Jackpot and right away had a fish in the upper 30 inch range take a swipe and tried to hit it right at the boat, but just our luck, missed the lure. The wind came, and then rain came the fish when BYE BYE! Moved very little fish in the last 2 hours of the day. Called it quits around 12:30 and I got off the lake as well do to a steering arm breaking and I wanted to get to Tippy Boat Company before it closed!
Weekend Review:
Water Temps ranging from 72-76 for most of the weekend. Fish are again still on the shallow flats and are holding tight to the excellent weed cover they have right now. Crappie Phantoms and Bullhead Wabulls here the hot baits as well as the Jackpot. The morning bite is on, don’t wait to hit the water till 7 or 8, you need to be out there at first light-5:00 am. You will lower your success greatly if you wait!!!!!
4 fish in the boat, biggest 43. 3 on the Crappie Phantom, 1 on the Wabull. Several blow up on the Jackpot and 5 fish lost on suckers. Over 70 fish to the boat. Great weekend, but it could have been an AMAZING WEEKEND!! O-well, I guess that’s why they call it fishing and not catching.
See you on the water!
Edited by MikeHulbert 5/24/2004 8:12 AM
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| Stiil a great weekend Mike--nail em harder--see my report under general discussion, weekend reports... |
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Posts: 148
| thanks for the great info Mike- my brother and I will be up in that neck of the woods the week after the Indy 500- hope they leave us some weeds for when we get there... the lure arsenal is packed- can't wait to kick off the 2004 muskie season! tight lines- and will see you out on the water... |
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Posts: 2037
Location: lansing, il | had about the same pattern going on thurs and sun mike, with the exception of the live bait, we put 7 in the boat total, biggest of 39" well over 50 follows in the 2 days, only a few fish following were over 40"
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Posts: 462
Location: Syracuse, Indiana | Webster MUST be hot. I even got the skunk off with a 36". Most of the action has been in shallow weeds, but the bigger fish are holding off the breaks. |
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Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana | Not all the big fish are on the breaks! All of the fish over 40 that we had hooked, 4 of them, all came from 7 feet and less! |
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Posts: 2037
Location: lansing, il | with the heavy boat traffic season now upon us, plus the added affects of weed control/killer, is it safe to say things will be shut down for a while now in the webster area????? or do tactics just need to be changed?
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Posts: 1335
Location: Chicago, Beverly | Change tactics. The weed control thing won't happen for another week or two anyways. Always hope for rain when going down there for musky. Rain at webster on weekend = way less skiers and jet ski's.. don't get me wrong, some of the fools will still be out, but we tend to own the lake when it rains... You also left out the fact the the Bass Tourney season is just getting going down there. Webster seems to have tourney's almost every weekend in the summer, plus the jet skis, plus the skiers..... Yep, packed lake indeed. No matter how much weed control webster gets there will always be tons of weeds, just gotta know where to look is all. |
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Posts: 2037
Location: lansing, il | ive seen a few reports that have confirmed they have already started the weed killing this past week. |
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Location: Illinois-Indiana | Here is the latest info on the weed control.
Webster has not been sprayed yet. The company contracted to do the spraying was out there last week on the 25th to do a pre-treatment survey. They are scheduled to spray Webster and Backwater on June 8th. The areas that will get hit will be Echo Bay in front of the condos, shoreline area in the northeast part of the lake, a shoreline area in the northwest part of the lake, and the channel area in the southwest corner of the lake. Barbee is scheduled for treatment on Tuesday June 1st. No info on where they will spray on Barbee or on the next treatment for Tippy/James.
The fish will still use the dead brown weeds for cover until they are gone. |
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Posts: 2037
Location: lansing, il | the report i read was corrected and stated they were wrong about the spraying being started. |
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Posts: 1335
Location: Chicago, Beverly | Want info on where they spray on Barbee? Ask me since I'm a property owner there.... Just about EVERY SINGLE CHANNEL ON THE CHAIN... A LARGE portion of the the developed main lake areas, and from the Kuhn lake duck blind going west along that shore... and so on.... Pretty much an absolute ton of areas. However, the guy that does the spraying sucks major chunks and does a piss poor job. Add to the fact that the Chain is up about 1 foot as of today due to all the rain....and you got a recipe for a major WEED BLOOM. Many channels are now impassable due to all the CHOPPED UP weeds that have been pushed into them by the wind...(these are not the navigation channels between lakes, just some of the regular channels)... Webster is probably up also though it doesn't get affected as badly as the Chain or Tippy. There is a possibility that if the rain continues this week that Tippy and the Barbee Chain may either get closed or become NO-WAKE until water resides.. Of course that would require quite a bit more rain(maybe 5 inches of rain). The next week is NOT the time to spray as it will not have nearly as much affect as it would if water levels were normal. The Barbee Chain will always have tons of weeds no matter how much spraying is done. If you can't find them you lost your eyesight...lol.... These lakes need the harvesters not spraying. I have talked to members of the Board for the Barbee chain and they say its too expensive and not as effective.... 5 minutes of research on the topic will tell otherwise... |
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