With a few days off last week, I decided it was time to try for some real fish….and I’m very glad I did! Made a trip out west and tried to find a few nice wipers so I could actually see what it’s like to reel some nice ones in. I’ve caught a handful in the 24-25" range, but they just don’t compare to the 28 inchers, I found out! I called my buddy Ted, who is from the area, and he was able to join me for a few nights. The results, once we figured things out, were very nice. The first fish of the week for me was the fish I was after- a nice fattie that went 27", and tipped the scale at 11lbs 12oz. Now I can finally say I know what the real wipers feel like!
Once they moved into the area we were fishing, we were busy with the net. Here’s another nice monster that we were able to get into the boat.
The weather cut us short a couple nights, but while we had the time, it sure was productive. During the day, I managed to get out and go after some smallies. I ended up with 33 smallies, with most of them being small with a few nicer ones thrown in.
They were nailing the Rapala DT6 cranks, but it sure was fun to get them on some B FishN Tackle Ringworms…they couldn’t leave it alone!
After returning to my home area, I made another trip over the weekend to another spot on the canal with my buddy Steve, and while using B Fish’ H20 jig with some Trigger X, the monster I’ve been after finally cooperated. This was the biggest sauger I’ve ever seen, and was very thrilled to get her in the boat. After a few pics, she swam off very nicely, so hopefully I’ll get her again when she’s 23. I ended the weekend with boat time with Ben Garver and his cousin Joe. While we weren’t on a real hot bite, we did boat a few walleyes and crappies, and had a real blast of a time. A great way to end a great week and weekend!
That sauger just blows me away, and I’m not sure the picture does her justice. It was purely the fattest saug I’ve ever seen. A lot of people around here refer to them as saugeyes, but as you can see, they clearly are saugers. Here’s another look at her.
Here’s a few more wipers that range from 24″ to 27″ or so….my arms are still recovering.
Nice wippers
WOW!!!! Looks like you had a blast this week. Huge wipers and HUGE sauger. Love the catch and release my friend!
Nice job Brian. I am betting your equipment (especially drags) got tested by the wipers, and that sauger is beautiful.
Thanks guys! It was an awesome week that’ll be hard to duplicate for quite some time, I’m sure. The equipment actually stood up to the tests, and performed nicely- didn’t lose a fish because of equipment, which was a feat with the way those wipers would just take off. We’ll see if it holds up for the rest of the year!
Man those wipers look like fun
Those are some awesome Wipers!! It has to be an absolute hoot tying into one of those!!
That has to be a blast
You better believe it….when a fish like that strips out 100 foot of line in seconds, it IS a blast!
Ahhh…almost forgot about the wipers! Nice job. How’s the water level holding up on the lake?
You can never forget about wipers this size!
Lake Mac is looking real good, lots and lots of water out there. Haven’t heard lately what’s coming in, but I know at one time it was over 6k cfs. Think I might have even heard 9k, but don’t know if that’s accurate. Here’s a good place to check on the lake water levels, too. I’d say it’s down a couple feet right now, but still very high and nice.
http://cnppid.com/Lake_levels.htm