week on Crotch Lake 9/8 to 9/14

Post by **blackbear** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 3:06 pm

BOY what a great week on crotch Lake, A group of 10 of us meet at land o lakes lodge every Sept for some walleye fishing. We do well every year but this year the fish were turned on for us. Most fish came from jigging on deep water humps , shoals and points with morning trolling at first light good for some nice fish. All total our group caught over 300 walleye for the week with 70% of them slot fish in the 20-22" range ( I love the slot as you can catch many large fish) we had 4 walleye over the slot 25-27" that were all returned to the lake to grow, our group keep anough for 2 nice fish fries and the rest are still in the lake. Bass fishing was a little off as most were in the deep water, caught a few nice pike in the 27-31" range. My best came on the 6th morning when I caught a 25" over the slot walleye, boy what a great fight on light line.

Post by **Pints** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 3:45 pm

Nice eyes. Sounds like a great trip was had by all.

Post by **Wallyboss** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 5:34 pm

Nice color on those eyes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Post by **slop** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 6:03 pm

Some fine looking eyes there blackbear....sounds like the group had a great time!!

Post by **Badger Shark** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 2:26 am

Hey Blackbear , nice eyes for sure. We just got back from fishing the derby, I tied for third place with a fish I caught with five minutes to cutoff.

Most of the eyes we got we just under slot but nice fish. We managed a few bass and a couple nice pike. We caught them with a mixture of trolling and jigging.

Post by **wolfe** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:16 am

Blackbear,

You really got some impressive sized walleyes. Nice way to end off with that 25 incher.

Also nice to know you're returning a fair share back to the lake; that's great conservation ethics.

Thx for the report -- thumbs up!

W.

Post by **Basspro** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:55 am

Nothing like a good week of fishing! Congrats on a great one!

Post by **blackbear** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:48 pm

Thanks , Thats why I like this lake, the slot is a great way to be able to catch larger fish that would be harvested in other lakes. these are the spawning stock that keeps the lake alive. I feel if you want to eat a few theres nothing better the a few 16-17" walleye, they taste much better than the larger ones anyway.

Hey Badger Shark, were you on the lake Friday evening in all that wind?
It was tough to stay anchored and way to windy to controll a boat trolling. Congrats on 3rd, I don't fish the derby but I am there most years, It can get very busy in spots.

Post by **Badger Shark** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 12:15 am

Yep we were out until 10pm, we headed up to the north end and fished off the largest island of the 3 sisters. We solved the anchoring problem by going to the shore and securing the anchor there and drifted back with the wind directly over the spot we were marking fish. The south wind had the fish stacked behind the island waiting for drifting food. We caught eyes there jigging minnows. On Saturday the wind was bad and totally the opposite direction and cold but with the top we built and the portable heaters we were fine and caught several decent fish. Sunday we headed out at 5 am. with 5 hours before the cut off and I got my best walleye of the derby just a hair over slot, if the top fin had been shaved a tad I would have won. We fished the last half hour near the lodge and I got the tying fish with 5 min. to spare. All and all not a bad time.

Just curious why you dont fish the derby, you probably would do well since you know the lake? Hopefully we will run into each-other next time. Beauty fish by the way, there are some really nice ones in there and they are all healthy.

Take care

Don

Post by **blackbear** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 8:02 pm

Badger Shark I like to fish the back side of 3 sisters also, it can be a good spot. That was a good Idea anchoring to land the wind was tough that day so i stayed down lake and fished one of my humps, would only stay anchored for 10 min and then a big gust would dislodge the anchor.
i don't fish the derby because I leave most times sat. morning and i forget about it most years untill midweek and people start to talk about it. might be nice to try one time. Let me know how you do if you go back, we all did good trolling in the evening with leadcore with 4&5 colors out, and jigging was funny this year with some days the walleye only wanted worms and the next nothing but minnows. 2 of are friends did great with slip bobbers down 35' in deep water out away from the humps. good luck and maybe I'll see you this spring, I should be there about the first week of June

Post by **ToadhunTer** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 7:20 pm

Another derby gone, no 1st place this year but Badger tied with my buddy for bass within minutes of deadline.That was crazy luck picking the ace of spades for my friend.Fishing really shutdown after thursday,wa had flurries Sunday evening and ice on the docks Monday morning. The largest eye I got for the week was Sat. around 1 in the afternoon, inside bay of long island just drifting with a worm harness, 23 1/2 ,,,measured it 10 times but that was it. Managed to wrap up Fisherman Of The Week with a decent smallie, here's a few pics from the week.

Post by **ToadhunTer** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 7:21 pm

Another derby gone, no 1st place this year but Badger tied with my buddy for bass within minutes of deadline.That was crazy luck picking the ace of spades for my friend.Fishing really shutdown after thursday,wa had flurries Sunday evening and ice on the docks Monday morning. The largest eye I got for the week was Sat. around 1 in the afternoon, inside bay of long island just drifting with a worm harness, 23 1/2 ,,,measured it 10 times but that was it. Managed to wrap up Fisherman Of The Week with a decent smallie, here's a few pics from the week.

Post by **ToadhunTer** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 7:21 pm

Post by **Badger Shark** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 11:40 pm

Thats ok those pics are nice enough to look at twice.

Ya ace of spades, he would have won either way, high or low! oh well.

Post by **blackbear** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 10:20 pm

great photos, nice looking pike. boy it got cold on you guys, that had to shut the fish down a day or two

Fish-Hawk.Net

week on Crotch Lake 9/8 to 9/14

week on Crotch Lake 9/8 to 9/14

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