Thread: Hillsdale 4/22/09

Fished from daylight till 2 pm caught 4 total with 2 legals.

Guess I can't find them without Doug or Ron on the boat. I would have followed Harryvetch around iffen I would have known what kind of vessel he was in.

You all can have your 65 degree water I want 35 degree water where I can dress and be comfortable while on the water.

The ones caught today were caught on the bottom in 12 fow on a flat in front of a cove early in the am. Never caught another fish after leaving that area. Never had a bump shallow on previous spawning banks.

Come on post spawn and maybe some minnows for some shallow summer slabs but I'll really be ready for Nov, Dec and Jan.

Beautiful day wind wise but rest of the week is hurricane force winds followed by monsoons. I fished more often while working. At the rate its been going with me for fishing I should probably be selling the boat and just hang around to yank chains and rattle cages since the thumps have certainly been scarce. :D

I went to Hillsdale Monday and Tuesday. My report is the same. I was very disappointed. I tried everything and everywhere I could think of. Both days combined we caught 12 fish. I agree, I liked the consistent winter pattern.

Maybe here in a few days they will hit the banks hard.

I was there today as well. Didn't stay long, was just killing a couple hours. Had about the same luck. Tried shallow for a while then slowly started moving out. Never had a tap. Then the truck had a flat when I got back to the ramp.... Hopefully they'll get going over the next couple days.

Lee I could not find the crappie today either. I ended up catching a few bass to salvage my day at lonestar.

I had the same luck 4-21. Fished from 10 until 4 PM. Caught one keeper in 4'. Saw a couple of guys catch a few keepers wading at the Hillsdale Point boat ramp.

I caught nine last evening and kept 5. Largest was 12.5, 2-11s and a couple 10s. Fishing in 5fow 4' down on minners. Bank fisherman were doing well on jigs and floats.

Went from around 11 to about 2 yesterday and managed 3 keepers. Caught them within about 30 min and then nothing. Caught them in about 5 - 7 fow casting a roadrunner with a red/chart slabbuster around cover. Thought it was going to be a good day after the quick action and then nothing. 2 males, 1 female.

Caught 12 w/6 keepers from the banks of little bull bridge on the northwest end via float and black bugger marabou jig (1/64oz & 1/32oz) set at 18" and 24" deep. All related to stumps in 3-4 ft of water. Went from 5pm to 9:30pm. Didn't get first bite until 7:00ish. Half males & half females. Male tails weren't torn up and red yet. Though not great, it's a start.

Here was our catch from yesterday and man was it slow. I dare not say how long we fished. We could have saved oursevles a lot of effort by only fishing the first and last hour of light. The walleye brought a little excitement to the end of a very slow day. Not sure why he felt the need to attack my defensless minnow.

We were completely suprised by how slow the fishing was because we thought for sure they would have the feed bag on. I am not sure how many we caught total but I would put it around 20 with 11 keepers. We fished all over the lake at different depths and no pattern. We did talk to one guy who said he had done well fishing in 2 fow. This time of year hitting the rocks at night will catch more fish then just about anything that I know of however it turns out I always need to be home when the fish start biting. I bet we saw over 50 lanterns on the shore last night as we were leaving. The weather was great and we had a good time.

Nice walleye, HV