Tetonka

Tetonka… Great Early Morning Action! …as good as it gets! I had at least twenty walleyes. Most were “keepers”. I took these from the drop-off in front of the Lagoons. The bite happend just at daylight, before I could see the sun. I was using a gold 1/8 oz. jig-head and a 1/2 crawler rigged “crawler/crayfish style”. And, I took two nice fish on a Salmo pink colored crankbait from eight feet of water, right on the drop. Wish you were there to see the action….and how fast it stopped, when other boats ancohored next to me … boom, she was all done. One boat had the anchor on a metal pulley that made huge rattle noise. Front pulley/rope that let the anchor drop with a huge splash. This boat relocated three times to get closer(as they watched me hammer the fish) till they were 25 feet away from me. After I filled out, I went crappie fishing the rest of the day. I caught lots, but no real big ones… all shallow! I was using small beetle spins and crappie minnows.. Some came from a shallow rigged bobber/minnow. These fish are right under the docks. They are starting to come on in the “Lagoons” very good again. The cut going into and water inside the “Best Point” lagoon is very low and shallow… and full of fish! Hawger

Hey Hawger, are you talking about little cut that goes back to what I think might be Hidden Cove trailer park campground [by the public access], just down from Best Point towards the lagoons or is there a new cut and lagoon at Best Point now?? If its the place I think it is, at times the crappies would really stack up in that little area. Thanks, Bill

No, not a new cut, just the same old ones… the cove that is by the PA…. is not the one I am talking about (though it is full of fish right now! It is so shallow I can bairly get my 14 footer in to it…) the one I mean is where the cut goes into a… ” ___U ” shape with houses all round the “U’ part… towards town. South shoreline 1/2 mile from the outlet/bridge.

I call that the “Lagoons”, it is a man-made cut with a

” U “shape… and about 50 houses round it. Max is only about four feet deep. Lots of docks and cover for spawning panfish.

Dave

Our early start on Tetonka turned out to be a bit slow on Saturday. But still lots of fun for me and my guest, Mike Little. We had a hard time finding active fish. “If they are not shallow, try deep” is my motto. We found Northerns at 24 to 27 feet… drifting jigs with minnows was working… but these fish were all small… the biggest only a few pounds. Mike had to leave early… about noon-thirty, but did not miss much! Saturday was the same deal for me and my boys… not much action, till I located fish near a drop in the main lake basin. There, we took many nice jumbo perch and some keeper walleyes. They were in 21 feet to 24 feet… and bit well till night-fall. Gold jig heads worked well… tipped with 1/4 of a crawler. That was the trick. Straight down… dead-sticking, and up 1/2 to a foot off the bottom. Very important to locate fish on the graph and work them by double ancohring. The boat needed to be still, as these fish were not chasing… No fish signals… then no fish! It would be slow again, if the boat ancohr rope swung you off them. These fish were scooled up in an area about 30 yards long following the outline of a drop. They were holding their depth and feeding heavy… too feet shallower and you were out of them… and the same thing on depth. I got to try out one of Jig-A-Whopper’s new panfish ultra-light rods. This rod is real different from anything I have ever used. The European design is fantistic for perch and light-bite Walleyes! The rod’s tip is very, very, very… small and acts like a “strike-indicator”. So small that it functions much like a spring bobber on an ice rod… the rod tip then transitions into a larger diameter and to what is “plenty of backbone” to set hook and fight a game-fish. The rod is extremely different… and FUN! I was like a small kid playing with it… it would telegraph a hit to me that I could see, with the super-fast tip moving/bending… and I could “feel” it too, as it is a IM6 Graphite blank with lots of “feel”. 2-Cool to have such fun with big perch on an ultra-ultra lite. Got to say this too, I had one of the new Jig-A-Whopper ultra-lite reels on the rod… no a problem at all with this reel. It is a great little reel and good quality. This was a fun rig to use, I got used to it… and stuck to it most of the day. Finally got into a bigger fish with it… no problem in landing a three pounder (even if it was a “sheeps-head”). Good fun was had by all over the long weekend…. Now, countdown to next weekend! Hawger

Hey Hawger, thats what I call the lagoons also. We use to go back in there alittle before dark and go to the end of it where there is a dark brown house and garage [at least it use to be dark brown, been awhile since we have been there] with a rocky shoreline and dock and cast a slip bobber and live bait up towards shore and you would find walleyes and largemouth bass in there. There use to be alot of crappies in the backs of the lagoons around the opener. Thanks for the reports. Alot of good memories there when I read them, of fishing with Nate he he was a little tike, well littler anyway. Darn kid is growing up too fast. He came back alittle early Sunday and showed up on the river to surprise me. He still knows where to find me down there with no problem. He and I got out today together on the river, pool 4. Haven’t been able to do that much lately as hes been up at Mille Lacs alot this month with tournaments. Enjoy those times with your own kids Dave as the years fly past quickly, too quickly. Thanks Bill