[PECo]

I fished Winchester Lake with DirtyDawg10 (aka Derek) and TurtleKiss (aka Kira) today. Kira and I were free to fish as we usually are, but Derek took the day off from work to fish and celebrate his birthday. Happy birthday, Dawg! We got on the water just after daybreak at 6:45 am. It was beautiful out there:



All of the coontail weed in the lake has died off and most of the pads are gone. While the visibility was good down to about 8 feet, the water was definitely not at clear as it is at West Hill Pond. There was almost no wind when we launched, but it rose, subsided and changed directions throughout the day. It was chilly until we got some sun, but then the sun disappeared and we ended up with a nice overcast day. Despite Kira's pessimism about the lake, she landed a nice largemouth bass on a Texas-rigged worm soon after we got on the water, at about 7:15 am. It was 18 inches long and 2 pounds, 15 ounces:



Shortly after that, at about 7:30 am, I landed my personal best largemouth bass, which was 20 inches long and 4 pounds, 4 ounces. It hit a RageTail Space Monkey (i.e., a soft plastic crawfish) on a weighted jig head after it hit the bottom. I actually remembered to set the hook and got about 1/2 inch of its upper lip. I hope that some of the pictures Kira took came out. Meanwhile, the birthday boy was busy landing his lunker largemouth bass:



Just kidding. I think that he later landed a 15 or 16 incher. Unfortunately, the bite slowed quite a bit after 8:00 am and none of us got any more real quality fish for the rest of the day. Here's everything that I caught:

20 inch, 4 lb 4 oz LMB RageTail Space Monkey (craw)
13 inch LMB Wacky Senko pumpkin/red flake
10 Inch LMB Wacky Senko pumpkin/red flake
12 inch LMB Wacky Senko pumpkin/red flake
11 inch CP Bomber 3 inch blue/yellow/orange lipless crankbait
10 inch YP Trolled Yo-Zuri 2-1/2 inch white lipless crankbait

Derek ended up on the quantity end of the spectrum today. He probably caught more fish than Kira and I combined. Plus, he landed the only northern pike of the day. I hope he got a decent photo of his 11 inch monster. Derek and I got off the water at about 4:15 pm. But Kira, being the hard-core fishing machine that she is, stayed on the water after we left:



I had a great day on the water. I almost landed a pike a couple of times, but no biggie. I mean that literally, because they were both really small. I'd rather have my first pike be a monster, anyway.
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[TurtleKiss]

Wow, my boat is filthy. I couldn't leave without checking out the cove with the pads...I've only seen it in pitch blackness before. The vegetation is more like a pads/grass blend. I caught 4 cookie cutters in there...2 on a frog and 2 on the Ol' Monster worm. I got tired of throwing spinnerbaits...I don't think the pike cared . There were 3 tail smackin' beavers assembling 3 kickass dams. Here's Phil's pig:





Side note: I hit more stumps in daylight than I did in total darkness. My motor is somehow still in one piece. Had fun - thanks for the invite!
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Kira

*~ "Not everything about fishing is noble, reasonable and sane..." -Henry Middleton ~*

[PECo]

Thanks for the photos, Kira. Good luck tomorrow!
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[SeaDog1]

Hi All!

I'm totally flabagasted!!!

I was fishing all day today on Park -> Just down the road from you guys!
Got a small mess of Crappies, but had to really work for them.
Dam! -> Would have been nice to finally meet up with DD and Kira.
Yeap! Was an absolutely beautiful day to on the water!
Even MacDonough had a good time!

Give me a heads-up next time you head up this way!

Best regards,
SeaDog1

P.S. Oh! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DD

[PECo]

SeaDog1 - I'm sorry that we missed you, too. Did you happen to see any bass while you were fishing for crappie?
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[SeaDog1]

Hi Phil!

Caught only 1 little dink about the middle. (on a minnow)
Nothing else showed!

Really dissapointed I missed you guys!

SeaDog1

[DirtyDawg10]

Nice fish Phil. I forgot I never saw that lunker of yours.

It was a great day to be out on the water and a great way to spend my birthday. Water temp was 66deg. When Phil and Kira were catching their lunkers I caught my first LMB which was barely 10" long (the one seen in Phil's pic) landed with a 5" wacky green pumpkin senko. Then I fished a small cove by myself on the East side of the lake and caught this 11" northern. It's not much to write home about but it was my first one. Caught on a silver crankbait.


After the NP I joined up with Kira and Phil who were fishing some stumps and I decided to throw a weighted T-rigged 5" senko watermellon/pearl laminated and as I was clearing a small birdsnest from the bail I felt a fish on and it was a 12" LMB. I moved from there to some pads in the center of the lake and saw a small LMB off one edge. I mentioned to Kira that I saw it then launched my T-rigged senko just beyond it and swam it along the bottom in front of him and he took it. Landed him and it was an 11" LMB. The next spot I tried was in the NW cove where I fished the edges of the pads with a squarebill crankbait and picked up this 15" 1lb 7oz LMB.


I also caught a yellow perch in the same area with the same technique. I decided to move on and used the same crankbait to troll along the N shore and ended up picking up 4 fish in about 20min. I got a small 8" LMB, 2 yellow perch and a pickerel seen below...forgot to measure it but it was pretty small as you can see.


I fished with Phil and Kira for a while in the stumps at the center of the lake on the northern end and didn't catch anything. I had a roughly 16" to 20" northern hit the crank a couple times on one of the retrieves but somehow it avoided the trebles. It was getting close to quitting time so I started trolling back to the launch and landed this 14.5" LMB. That was the last one of the day for me.


11 fish in all, a gorgeous day on the water and some fantastic fishing partners to keep me company. No complaints. Here's a few pics of my fishing partners...

[DirtyDawg10]

Sorry we missed ya SeaDog.

[Fishface]

Congrats Phil, Great job all three of you superb anglers, I wish I could have been out with you three. I have always wanted to fish without ice. If I did not have to days of required training at work I would have gotten the Design FLU and had to go home. Next time. Kira have you been to Batterson since your last post. Phil and I are thinking about a nite Walleye trip.

Tim

[SkeeterJim]

Awesome post and pics, nice job!

Jim
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If I didn't have to work for a living....I'd be fishing.
If I'm not in my Skeeter then I'm in my Hobie!

[PECo]

I just got home from Day 2 of Dawg's birthday vacation from work (report to follow). He asked me, well, he pleaded with me, really, to post a photo that I took of the 14-1/2 inch largemouth bass he caught while trolling on the way back to the ramp yesterday. So, here it is:



Are you happy now, Derek?

And, yes, as you said today, the markings on your northern pike were a little strange. but it was definitely a northern pike and not a chain pickerel.
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[steven1smith]

Very nice lunker PECo . I'm glad I came back to this site just in time for that. On the other hand, I should probably change my profile pic...very late report to correspond with that...
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Catch and release only.
A 4lb bass is not going to grow to 8lbs on your wall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxCdnQ8WEfQ

[DirtyDawg10]

Yup it was definitely a pike. I was just surprised to see the spots going belly to dorsal...usually they run lengthwise. I did look up some pics of NP's though and have seen some that run the other way like mine did.

You're lucky you put that pic up...now I can post the one of you and the one you caught today

[MSRiverdog]

Strangest looking spots I've ever seen on a Northern and I have seen a lot of em in MN. Interesting fish. Worthy almost of replica status.

[PECo]

MSRiverdog - Those spots aren't so strange on a chain pickerel. I think that pickerel are prettier than northern pike, but they're also smaller. This is the northern pike:



Those almost vertical spots are weird. Do you think it's a hybrid of some sort?
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Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!