Tough day on the Arm. We launched out of Porky at first light; motored upriver through a heavy ice fog. Stopped at the spot near a weed bed where we had done quite well a couple of weeks ago. After 15 minutes and no bites we moved over to another area that has been productive. On his first cast with a jig Mike scored a nice 18 inch eye. A couple of casts later I had the skunk off with a dink. We caught and released another 5 dinks and then the bite stopped. We moved up and down the river looking for active fish but could not buy a bite. These were some of our most productive cold water spots and they did not hold any active eyes. Back to the spot where we had some luck we went. It took several hours but we boated 6 more eyes and I landed a nice 20 inch rainbow on a jigging rap. We had two 18 inch and one 16 inch eye in the livewell plus the slimmer. I decided it wasn't worth the effort to clean them so back into the drink they went. We tried different jig colors as well as different grubs, senkos, worms, and swimbaits. I also tried blade baits, spoons and a jigging rap. Overall the best bait was a black jig head with a 3.5 inch perch ripple shad swimbait. Our retrieve was painstakingly slow, basic dragging our jigs, and the bites were mostly just weight. We had to chip ice out of our eyelets all the way up to noon. The ice fog never lifted; we didn't see the sun until we got back to the Porky launch about 1400. One highlight for the day was having 6-8 young eagles sitting in the trees near us waiting for a handout. They may have gotten a couple.

Part-Time

11/24/2020 6:37:21 PM

Dang! Not the kind of encouragement I am used to getting from you. Sounds like one of my walleye reports.

hewesfisher

11/25/2020 5:51:36 AM

Talked to a friend yesterday and he relayed a similar report from friends that fished the arm and, if I remember correctly, that gill nets are back.

Part-Time

11/25/2020 8:03:59 AM

Gill nets are back ???

walleyemark

11/25/2020 6:56:48 AM

Definitely not what I expected. I will be out again this weekend trying to find some active eyes. I didn't even catch a burbot, not that I try, which is really strange.

buc

11/30/2020 1:56:30 PM

Dunes outfront at PH are on Mark 35-45 ft w/ norasadas green ....

Leave a Comment:

Login

Flag

×

Why is this comment inappropriate?

Close Submit

Delete this comment? Provide reason.

No Yes

Edit

×

Cancel Save