Pier fishing at the Dentice house

This post is a simple reminder that you don't have to catch big fish to have fun. We had a family party at my sister's house last night and the kids fished from the pier. Not a single fish longer than 7" was caught, but the kids had a wonderful time catching the small sunfish, bluegills, and perch that were swimming around the pier.

2019 St Germain Anderson Men Fishing Trip

To say it was a cool spring would be an understatement. When we got up to St. Germain, we found water temps on the surface to be only in the 66-69 degree range, weed growth was behind, and bass were still on beds in many lakes.

We ended up having a great trip. In our seven day trip, we easily caught 100+ walleye, 150+ bass, and a variety of other fish.

This was an excellent year for big fish, as I was the only one who didn't catch a 21"+ walleye and we caught more than a half dozen bass longer than 20".

These might not be Canada numbers, but for a trip where we were only 4.5 hours from home, it was pretty spectacular.

We were successful with minnows, leeches, crawlers, paddletails, jerkbaits, and topwater poppers.

Over the week, we ended up fishing eleven different lakes, including three that we had never fished before and three that we had only fished minimally. We also made a day trip up to Lake Superior for smallies and walleye and had a great time.

I guess if there is one thing that I will take away from this trip, it is that you should not just pound the spots that have produced in the past. Keep moving, trying every hump, break, and weedline until you find large numbers of fish. This can turn an average day into an amazing one.

As I type this, the countdown begins towards next year...only 356 short days away.

At 21.5", this was one of the biggest smallies I have caught in a long time. 

June 2 Fishing Club Outing - Delavan Lake

On June 2, the Waukesha West Fishing Club held its annual walleye and bass tournament. This year, we had some help from Chad, owner of Hooked Up 101 guide service, as he came in and delivered a presentation for us on tactics and locations specifically for Delavan Lake. We had beautiful weather and caught some awesome fish. The best presentations for the day were June Bug colored wacky worms, squarebill crank baits, and lunker grubs. Below are some of the highlights.

Fishing with Carter

Carter has become a big fan of fishing. He has been able to make it 3+ hours in the boat having fun the whole time. He has learned the names of all of Wisconsin's fish, and has no second thoughts about holding his catch.

Carter and I fished together on opening day and caught a couple nice bass!

Carter also came along with Joe Jenna (one of his "favorite guys") and I for a panfish trip during the first week of June. He caught dozens of bluegills, crappie, perch, green sunfish, pumpkinseed, and bass. I was really impressed with his dedication. 

Spring Walleyes

We did not get out for spring walleye as often as usual, but we ended up having three trips with some success. The first one was a March 31 trip on the Fox River in De Pere. We drifted using 1/4 oz jigs and fatheads. We caught a few fish, highlighted by this pig. It may have only been 25" long, but it was heavy. This is my new largest walleye weight wise for sure.

The next week, Tim, dad and I went back to De Pere and hooked into a couple more nice ones. This time we caught fish on jig and minnow, hair jigs, ring worms, and Rip'n' Raps.

The final spring walleye trips were an April trip to the Fox River in Oshkosh where we easily caught a limit of 13-14" eater fish on jigs and minnow, and a May trip to the Wolf River in Freemont where we caught some quality fish on Keitech swim baits.