2004 FISHING LOG

For the begining of 2004, fishing hasn't been too good for me. I have went out to Beckers with almost no success (two trips). I fished the hump in 8-11'. I have been to Long Lake for crappie and gills once or twice. The gill fishing remains the same there, just plain mediocre bluegills. I have had 2 trips for crappie. The first I should have came home with at least 7 crappie, but because of missing I only got 2. The next time I went out, my luck was much reduced. I think I got 1. I think I may be begining to figure them out there, hopefully. I won't be out again until next weekend at Point. Hopefully my luck will turn around there.

January 17th-20th

Went up to Point on the 17th. I fished Redbridge for some panfish with Andy Lueck. We got a few real nice gills, but not a lot. Quite a few little ones. Lots of fish on the vexilar that didn't want to bite. Andy did get one 12" plus crappie. Then on 1-20 I went out to Long after Dark for Crappie near the landing. Nothing.

January 20th-Feb 10th

Not a whole lot has happened since my last entry. I have been fishing Long mostly at and after dark for crappie in 32-36' of water. I have had some marginal success. Nothing great though. I went to Point last weekend. Got some big gills at the pipe. Finicky little devils though. I am going to try to get to Long Wed afternoon and evening. JB

February 11th-18th

I have been fishing Long Lake almost exclusively now. I have refined my technique for crappie harvesting. Most fish are only about 9" though. On an average night I get about 10 fish. The fish are biting fairly readily at times. I fished 2-15, that was a good day fishing. I got some nice gills for Long lake (8") in the afternoon. I went back out at night and got some crappie. I soon may grow bored with Long lake and go after some bullhead lake slabbies.

February 18th to March 23rd

A lot has happened since last entry. I did try bullhead. Nothing (not surprising). I went to Long Lake a few more times with the usual batch of small crappie. Fishing around Stevens Point was sproadic. Bluegill bite was finicky. Some nice crappies were caught. One trip to Lakeside I had 7 crappie, 2 between 13"&14". I also went to Alexandria Minnesota last week. Got some nice perch, but bluegill fishing was limited. Thank God for Block Lake. Then on the 21st of this month I made my last icefishing trip (most likely). Went to Long Lake. Got 2 yellow bass and one little Gill. Marked a ton of fish. Probably all Yellow Bass. Bring on open water.

March 24th - April 15th
This is a usual slow time for angling, at least for me being primarly a panfisherman. I did go out on the fox once walleye fishing. Pretty slow. Otherwise, I have been going out to Long or Beckers lake, fishing my icefishing equipment over the side with my vexilar. This fish are two things: small and picky. I haven't gotten a whole lot for size. I have gotten decent action at times. Managed to bring home at least enough to feed me. Bring on Spring.

April 15th - June 4th
This is what I have done since last entry:
I was out to Winnebago once. Not too good, only sheephead. I was out to Bullhead once. Action was slow. Fish began surfacing in the shallows at about dusk though. I would have done well if I would have stayed later. I have been out to Beckers the most, off shore and in the boat. Pretty much the same luck here as always. Yellow bass and Bluegills, nothing of great size. I did get a few small crappie there. It is nice to see that there is a resurgence of crappie coming in that lake. I was at Point a few times for the spring fishing too. Got the usual crop of nice gills, crappie, and I got a bonus walleye one day.

June 5th- June 19th
Ah, so what have I done since last time I entered an entry. I have fished Beckers some more. Noting of note really. The usual mediocre gills and yellow bass. I did catch some crappie (albeit small), so that was encouraging. I really do think that lake his some nice big gills in it, but I just have to crack the code. I did get out to Bullhead and catch some dandy gills! One night me and Nick got on them really good in the shallows. All nice big males. I went another time and got some bigger females in deeper water. Our biggest ones were 10 to 10.5 inches. Heater core blew out on my truck so there was no fishing last week. Sad sad sad.

June 19th- Aug 3rd
Has it really been this long since I made an entry? Wow. Went out to Winnebago once with Andy. No luck with anything of note. Went out to Bullhead a few more times with decreasing luck each time. Last time only kept 3. Was at Castle Rock last weekend. Disappointing. Me and Nick got only a few crappie and a white bass. Crappie were mostly small. I think the lake is a good lake, just too large to do well with one trip. I will be out to Bullhead later this week again, and Lake Eau Claire this weekend.

August 4th-August 10th

I did go to Lake Eau Claire as I said. I did pretty good, considering it rained the entire time we fished Saturday night. I fished up by Muskrat Creek for the first part. I got the usual crop of pretty decent perch. The fishing slowed there a bit about 7:30 so I headed it back to the river channel. There we got a few ok gills and a crappie or two. Nothing amazing. Not a bad night however. A lot better than what I have been getting at Bullhead. I had hoped to get out this week, but this weather is way too cold. Maybe this weekend. We'll see.

August 11th-September 13th
Well, since last entry I was back to Lake EC. We did very well for perch. We could have kept all the 8-10" perch we pleased. Biggest was 13" about. One nice 17" walleye was caught too. Around home, I was just out to Beckers and Bullhead this past weekend. At Beckers, we hit the suspended fish, catching gills and yellow bass. However, they were the usual smaller size. At bullhead it was dead. No luck to speak of. Can't figure that lake out this year. We caught such nice gills in spring. I think the fish are either in the thick thick weeds or on bottom. Very few fish marked suspending- the ones we found weren't biting either. There are gills in shallow, but they are small.

Sept 13th - December 21st

What has happened since my last entry.... Well I was out fishing on Lake Eau Claire again. The fishing was slow, did manage a few perch. Not much new there.
The last fishing trip I took was in fall really- until December 18th, my fish real trip out again. Went to surefire Long Lake for some fish (at least). Interesting catch of Crappie and Parasite Fish (Yellow Bass). Not a bluegill to be found. Perhaps the spring kill was worse than thouht??? The crappie were of a little better sign than last year, so that was nice. The yellow bass were pretty good too. The lack of bluegill does bother me though. It is very very unusual not to catch them. We'll have to see if they really are gone as the season progresses. I will be out in the fridgid cold again on Friday.

December 21st to end of year

Well well well, its time to put the wraps on 2004. Not a bad year of fishing. As far as where I have been really only two trips of note. I was out at Beckers once. Pretty good for Beckers, a handful of 7" gills and one almost 8" "monster". No yellow bass, and one perch (small). Hesistate little biters though. Also was out to Sunset bay with Andy. Nice gills there, 8"+. But not a ton, and Andy has since told me the bite has shut down there. Too bad. Well, tomorrow I head out again. Look for 2005 fishing log soon. JNB.