KI Fishing Report for May 24-26 and two questions
I fished 3 consecutive evenings our of the state park launch ramp (new and improved) starting on Monday the 24th. I chose to fish in the evening because of the volume of out of state boat trailers at the ramp during the day (i.e. no where to park unless you got there at the crack of dawn). In the absence of any credible fishing reports, I decided on my tried and true route of go due north from the ramp to the red buoy at gull island shoal. Depending on what happens after the first pass, will dictate next steps. As it turned out, there were several pods of active fish all three days along this route starting at a depth of 48 to 52 feet (desired depth starts at about the halfway point). Fished worm harnesses at about 1.3 to 1.5 mph between 30 and 40 feet deep. Did not seem to matter what color (all are #6 colorado). Results were:
Monday - Sunny, 1-3 ft. waves out of northeast (see question) and one man limit in 1.5 hours (1 pass). Caught, in this order: 1 sheephead, 1 walleye throwback, lost a keeper to due netting mistake (first trip rustiness) and then 6 consecutive walleye's between 23-25 inches with largest weighing 6lbs. With that type of catch, no need for fun fishing plus I did not feel good
Tuesday - Sunny, 1-3 ft. waves out of the southwest and one man limit in 2.5 hours (took 2 passes). Caught one keeper on the first pass, nothing on the screen up at the red buoy area, so picked everything up and went back to starting point and caught 5 consecutive keepers. All 22-24" fish
Wednesday - Sunny, 1-3 ft. waves out of the southwest again and one man limit in 1 hour (1 pass). Caught 3 keepers right away then screen went blank for a while. As I got closer to the buoy, all three poles got a hit at the same time and had my limit. Since I had a few smaller fish and I was going to have to go slow on the way back in (16 ft. boat), I fun fished on a route headed for Long Point (due to the wind). Pretty quiet most of the way but about half way to Long Point, got a horrendous strike and fish was really fighting. Since the fish did not jump (i.e. salmon) the only other thing it could be was a large catfish. Sure enough it was about a 20 pound channel catfish. Got him in the boat and was amazed at what a beautiful fish this was for being so big and so old. Not a mark on him. I remember catching catfish 5-10 years ago and they always has come kind of lesions or growths on them. Let him go and caught one more walleye which I swapped for one of the smaller fish on the live well.
Questions
1)On Monday night, as I mentioned there was a northeast wind which appeared to be in transition to east wind. The minute I left the bay, I noticed something I have never seen in my 40 years of fishing around the islands. There was about a 10-12ft. spread between wave crests which resembled an ocean wave. Unfortunately, this change from the usual short spread between wave crests got me feeling queasy and I had to deal with this all night until I reached land. Has anyone else ever seen this? What would cause this?
2) Also on Monday night, after I left the launch ramp at the end of the trip, I wanted to get a bag of ice so I didn't have to clean the fish right away when I got back to the cottage. Since the only places I could get ice were the bars, I stopped in at the Village Pump. As I was waiting at the end of the bar for someone to get ice from the back, I started talking to a couple fisherman sitting at the end of the bar. They asked me how I did and I responded that I caught some big fish. The one guy retorted, what 27 inchers? I said no, fish were 3-6 pounds. The other guy said those aren't big fish, that is the new norm. So this is my first trip of 2021 and last year, in any given limit that I caught, I had a couple of 3-6 pound fish and the balance were 19-22" fish. Based on everyone else's experience this year, is catching limits of larger fish the new norm or did I just get lucky? I am not a big follower of the Solunar Calendar but I was fishing is the sweet spot for the month of May
Thanks
Re: KI Fishing Report for May 24-26 and two questions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gqbeagle
I fished 3 consecutive evenings our of the state park launch ramp (new and improved) starting on Monday the 24th. I chose to fish in the evening because of the volume of out of state boat trailers at the ramp during the day (i.e. no where to park unless you got there at the crack of dawn). In the absence of any credible fishing reports, I decided on my tried and true route of go due north from the ramp to the red buoy at gull island shoal. Depending on what happens after the first pass, will dictate next steps. As it turned out, there were several pods of active fish all three days along this route starting at a depth of 48 to 52 feet (desired depth starts at about the halfway point). Fished worm harnesses at about 1.3 to 1.5 mph between 30 and 40 feet deep. Did not seem to matter what color (all are #6 colorado). Results were:
Monday - Sunny, 1-3 ft. waves out of northeast (see question) and one man limit in 1.5 hours (1 pass). Caught, in this order: 1 sheephead, 1 walleye throwback, lost a keeper to due netting mistake (first trip rustiness) and then 6 consecutive walleye's between 23-25 inches with largest weighing 6lbs. With that type of catch, no need for fun fishing plus I did not feel good
Tuesday - Sunny, 1-3 ft. waves out of the southwest and one man limit in 2.5 hours (took 2 passes). Caught one keeper on the first pass, nothing on the screen up at the red buoy area, so picked everything up and went back to starting point and caught 5 consecutive keepers. All 22-24" fish
Wednesday - Sunny, 1-3 ft. waves out of the southwest again and one man limit in 1 hour (1 pass). Caught 3 keepers right away then screen went blank for a while. As I got closer to the buoy, all three poles got a hit at the same time and had my limit. Since I had a few smaller fish and I was going to have to go slow on the way back in (16 ft. boat), I fun fished on a route headed for Long Point (due to the wind). Pretty quiet most of the way but about half way to Long Point, got a horrendous strike and fish was really fighting. Since the fish did not jump (i.e. salmon) the only other thing it could be was a large catfish. Sure enough it was about a 20 pound channel catfish. Got him in the boat and was amazed at what a beautiful fish this was for being so big and so old. Not a mark on him. I remember catching catfish 5-10 years ago and they always has come kind of lesions or growths on them. Let him go and caught one more walleye which I swapped for one of the smaller fish on the live well.
Questions
1)On Monday night, as I mentioned there was a northeast wind which appeared to be in transition to east wind. The minute I left the bay, I noticed something I have never seen in my 40 years of fishing around the islands. There was about a 10-12ft. spread between wave crests which resembled an ocean wave. Unfortunately, this change from the usual short spread between wave crests got me feeling queasy and I had to deal with this all night until I reached land. Has anyone else ever seen this? What would cause this?
2) Also on Monday night, after I left the launch ramp at the end of the trip, I wanted to get a bag of ice so I didn't have to clean the fish right away when I got back to the cottage. Since the only places I could get ice were the bars, I stopped in at the Village Pump. As I was waiting at the end of the bar for someone to get ice from the back, I started talking to a couple fisherman sitting at the end of the bar. They asked me how I did and I responded that I caught some big fish. The one guy retorted, what 27 inchers? I said no, fish were 3-6 pounds. The other guy said those aren't big fish, that is the new norm. So this is my first trip of 2021 and last year, in any given limit that I caught, I had a couple of 3-6 pound fish and the balance were 19-22" fish. Based on everyone else's experience this year, is catching limits of larger fish the new norm or did I just get lucky? I am not a big follower of the Solunar Calendar but I was fishing is the sweet spot for the month of May
Thanks
You did good my friend…I hardly doubt people are limiting out with everything over 6 lbs’ers in cooler at this point…… plus the smaller walleye are better…. So you did great and continue your success at your own pace and your own methods.
Re: KI Fishing Report for May 24-26 and two questions
fwiw, its all about numbers not size when it comes down to the heart of it, ask any captain...
Re: KI Fishing Report for May 24-26 and two questions
We fished consecutive days 10 days ago and our fish averaged out to 3.4lbs per fish.Thats 22-26" in size.Those fish came from the 2015 hatch and have been the main year class we have been catching,up until this year.We are also catching some 2018 fish now too.
Its possible those wide spread waves could have been residual NE rollers.We have experienced waves or rollers coming from the NE after a NE wind even after wind had diminished or changed direction.
