9/19/09 report

[CLG]

Got to the lower landing before daylight hoping to find Wild Willies bait shop open. Wild Willie wasnt there. We had everything we thought we needed except herring. I always like to have herring at Monte. We got off to a very slow start and only had 3 fish before 11 am. We drifted w/ freelines/w Cut bream,cut crappie and Tyson chicken strips with a WD -40 marinade. We had 16 at the end of the day(2 to17lbs) mostly 2-6lb freeline drifting . We tried anchoring as advised but really probably was too impatient and didnt give them enough time. We fished about an eighth of a mile from Captain Chris Simpson all afternoon and seen him pull in some BIGUNS so I hope he will give us a report also. CLG

[montyblue]

Hey c biggers i to freeline in monticello and do fairly well in a 8 hr period. I dont no but we drift with aleast 10 rods out and thats on a bass boat, talking about hectic when u have five or so poles get nailed. It most be because there is more bait but the bite seems pretty steady. The island closest to the dam ,theres a big boulder thats submerged when the water is up but u can see it when the water is low. For me drifting around it produces a good amount of fish and i do drift over the same spot aleast twice and be amazed how u didnt catch them the first time. Hope that helps alittle, Ill try to find my camera get some pictures up soon.

[chrisblue]

Nothin to special.Only 7 fish actually made it to the boat.I'm having alot of problems with hooks pulling out lately and its testing my patience. Same size and type of circle hooks I've always used and everybody is doing what they are instructed to do to hook the fish but the last 4 trips in a row, I've had at least 2 good fish pull off each trip.I know losing fish is part of fishing but its starting to be on a consistent basis.

Anyway, enough about that.We had a 4, 8, 10, 13, 18, 20 and 26 lb fish.All anchored and bait still didnt seem to matter.It did take a long time (more than an hour) in each spot before the bigger ones finnaly hit.Had 2 fish try to tear the side of the boat off (drag peeling and rod creeking) after an hour and a half only to pull off.That really purturbs me when I'm trying to put folks on big fish.

[CLG]

Captain Chris, I understand your frustration and appreciate your commitment to your clients to produce fish but dont be too hard on yourself. I'll bet those clients were pretty darn happy with the end result. I would have been. The biggest one we've boated was 17lbs and we celebrated with a six pack. CLG