First week in June 07

Wind blown points, heavy weeds, 9.5′ of water, slip bobbering leeches, 16th ounce yellow jighead.

This past week at Merritt was pure hell. We had a major cold front come through that lowered the air temp by 30 degrees and the water temp by 12 degrees.

My brothers and I left Sherman Tuesday morning early and made the haul up to Merritt. We got to the Trading Post and got our room. Nice place to stay. We met the new owner John and Regina Bauer and they seem to be real nice people. We find out then that the cafe is not open because they cannot find people to work in it. Another story sometime.

Tuesday afternoon we decide to try our hand at some slip bobber fishing on the Snake arm of the lake so we put in at Beed’s. We ventured up to some of our favorite places but the wind was just not right for anchoring and slipping leeches into the beds. We came back to a main weed bed. The wind was right and we were able to slip leeches and crawlers into about 9.5 ft of water. We had good wave action and did catch an 18 and a 22.5 inch walleye there along with a perch, a smallmouth, a whitebass and a couple of short walleyes.

Wednesday morning we woke up to high winds and colder temperatures. After talking to the dam keeper, Steve Broekmeir, we spent Wednesday morning on the Powderhorn. The wind was so high that we could not even use any of the main boat ramps. We used the one at the Powderhorn and it was okay. We fished weed beds, slipped edges, and even trolled cranks but could only come up with two short walleyes. By three o’clock the winds were so bad back in the Powderhorn that we had pull the boat out. So a supper of prime rib at the casino followed by some slots followed.

Thursday morning was pure hell. The temp had dropped into the upper 30’s that night and the wind was blowing 30-40 with gust over 50 mph. Cards and driving around were the call of the day. Towards evening we did venture over to the dam and cast some Lytle’s but to no avail.

Friday was a nicer morning. Light winds and milder temps. We put in at Cedar boat ramp and went back to the weed bed that produced on Tuesday. Jeff caught a nice 22″ walleye and I had a small one. After an hour we moved up the Snake again and fished one of the points on the windy side that had some nice wave action. I got a 28″ and 22″ walleye off of that bed. We ventured further up with no futher luck so we decided to ride the rest of the day out on the first be. Jeff was having some bites about 10′ from the weed bed so I moved one of my rigs out and caught a 13.5# northern on light tackle. He decided to maul my thumb while we were taking some pictures. A C/R MA.

All of the fish that we kept on Thursday had empty stomachs. The bite really should start this next week I would think.

Good fishin’
dj

Great report, Jorg! I’d be happy with just one of those fish when I go up there next weekend. I’ll be there for 3-4 days with Sara, so hopefully we get into some fish.

You’ll have great luck up there, Brian. But make sure you have the net real close because I know that Sara will outfish ya again.

Forgot one thing in the report and that was that even with the high winds blowing across the dam the alewife were still on the dam that evening. I was casting the dam with Lytle’s but not getting any hits. Brother Kevin got broke off on his first cast; probably one of those monster cats. I tried several different cranks on the dam; husky jerks and other jerk baits but didn’t work.

Good Luck and tell the lady hello
dj

Thanks for the report DJ. How did the fish look?

Thanks for the report DJ. We’ll be heading that way in a few weeks for a tournament up there. That lake can be a tough one to fish some days. I think it is the most challenging lake to fish in Nebraska.

Tell me about it, Jorg……I gotta quit taking her!!

And don’t tell me that, Ben….I just wanna catch some fish! But I am expecting a challenge, that’s for sure. Especially not ever really putting any serious time into that lake, I just hope to find some good spots. Of course I’ll let you guys know how I did.

Good Luck B

Zach

The fish are BEAUTIFUL.

The 28″ fish weighed just short of six and a half pounds and the 22″ fish were little footballs.

Alewife make for nice fat fish; but they also make for some tough fishing too.

I forgot the digital camera at home so the pictures are on one of those disposables that take you 2 years to use up.

Good Luck up there later Ben; you might try pitching some white with red quarter ounce jigs to the shoreline drops. Just an idea from an old grey haired guy.

Good fishin’
dj

That is good to hear dj I am really look’n forward to finally fish’n a tourney up there when there is a good bite going on and that should be the case in a couple of weeks