Oregon Dam

[heath19]

I fished the oregon dam today for a couple hours and got two walleye..one 21/ 12" and the other 15". caught the big one on a rapala jointed shad rap and the smaller one on a fuzzy grub..

http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL438/9302223/17841072/310103584.jpg

here is a picture of the 18 1/2" i caught at the oregon dam saturday on a cotton cordel walleye diver..
http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL438/9302223/17841072/310103555.jpg

[gofish]

cool....same things i woulda been throwin lol...:icon_biggrin:

[harpenter]

Nice fish guy! Keep them pics coming.

[hnd]

where were you fishing near the damn?

is the water high?
how deep of water?
from shore?

me thinks it may be time to hit steel dam (rock river down in the QC)

[heath19]

Yes i was fishing from shore right below the dam. i caught the bigger two in only about 5ft. of water, and the smaller one in maybe 10ft...the water is pretty high.

[Schoe]

There was a rumor out a while back that the state of Ill. was going to make it illegal to wade within 150 Ft. of a low wall dam.

Does anyone know anything about this? Schoe

[heath19]

i didnt hear exactly what the rule was gonna be, but i know there was a rumor like that. a person had drowned at oregon the last two years and they claim that wading it coming to an end at oregon....the thing is that both the people that drowned were out of chicago, the kind that dont speak english 80% of the time. the one younger kid last year i heard he thought he was gonna swim out and get his lure off a snag...and the two guys from the year before both drowned at the same time and each had a stringer clear full of sheap head(drum) around their waists when they pulled them out...

[heath19]

Went back to oregon today and got two more walleye..one 17 1/2" and one 19 3/4". i lost another one 18 or 19. i think i have them figured out now...today i threw every crankbait i had and i finally pulled out an old original rapala...one of the sinking version of it...i pry casted 150 times with different baits and on the first cast with it i caught the smaller one...15 casts later i lost the other one and pry 15 cast after that i caught the bigger one before it got dark...we stayed for close to an hour after dark but nothing. i used a silver one with the black top and brother used gold with black top...he also lost two other fish that im pretty sure were walleyes.

here is my two, the one my brother took home was about 19 or so..
http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL438/9302223/17841072/310289387.jpg

[gofish]

nice eyes! theyre talking about demolition of a rollover dam here because someone drowned going over it in a canoe......local outfitter rented canoes to the people during flood stage and they missed the take out point by miles..im afraid if they do whatll happen to the river here.

[heath19]

Went back tonight with brother and each ended up with four apiece..mine measured 15", 17", 17 1/12", and 19 3/4". I caught all mine on the same size countdown but i broke the bill of both my black/silver and black/gold one so i had to throw the orange/gold on but sure enough i still caught them. brother used a husky jerk today that was blue on top, orange on bottow and a silver or almost chrome middle....i lost one at the bank and possibly two more that i never saw..brother lost one that we saw and several fish that might have been walleye..

Here is a picture of my four...
http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL438/9302223/17841072/310448634.jpg

This is all 8 of them together, mine are the left four and his are the right four.
http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL438/9302223/17841072/310448641.jpg

Here is a picture of me and my brother each holding our best two of the night..
http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL438/9302223/17841072/310448666.jpg

[dipper69_2000]

chris them r some nice eyes. and not to preach but plz keep in mind that those females r full of eggs and r the furure. there r alot of ppl out there keeping tons of them. i seen it happen w/ the smallies in the rock..... they still aren't where they where 20 years ago. in all honesty i feel ashamed of the photos now that i was so proud of when they were taken. we need to think of the those that get ta fish after we r gone.

[heath19]

yes...and now that i got plenty to eat on i dont plan on keeping any females. i kept that one bigger one monday night but that was when i figured id only end up catching a few this spring like always. since then i didnt think i caught anymore females. i didnt think i had any females tonight but when i cleaned them the 17" had eggs it in but very few, i didnt think it did untill i cut it open. i didnt realize the one my brother kept did have eggs in it till i saw it on the ground to take a picture of it. i rarely fish for them on the rock in the fall..so once they are done biting for the spawn i pry wont catch anymore till next spring so i dont think i hurt it to much keeping those two...i dont plan on keeping any more females unless its a wall mounter.

[gofish]

sure is a nice mess...dipper does have a point too though....bein selective in yer harvest helps.....specially when you got theyre number like you do now lol

[hnd]

eh. the walleye fishery here is strong. i see no problem with keeping a handful of egg layden ladies. big ones go back. keeping a few fem's doesn't freak me out...i've got about 8 eyes in the freezer and that suits me fairly well over the course of the year combined wiht all the other fish i'll eat...

[heath19]

ive got enough in the freezer now that i dont think i will keep anymore females myself unless they are a smaller one like that one and cant even hardly tell its got eggs in it.

[dipper69_2000]

did not mean to sound pushy just my pref. n i have eat my share a females just sective.

[heath19]

ohh no, you didnt sound pushy. i was gonna start doing it myself to begin with anyways,lol. ive always kept anything i caught before because ive never been able to catch very many walleyes. that bigger female i kept monday night i might have let go if i would have know i was gonna catch them like i have since then...i have personally not felt to bad about it because in the fall most everybody will keep whatever they catch and if its a female its not gonna spawn the next time either..it just didnt have eggs in it at the time. i wasnt offended in the least bit by what you said though dippers, and i think it is good advice and i plan on doing it now that i can actually catch them!!

[heath19]

Went back tonight and got four more..i didnt feel like cleanin fish tonight so after i took a picture they all went back in..ranged from about 14 1/2" up to 17" tonight, lost a couple that felt a little bigger..

http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL438/9302223/17841072/310729868.jpg

[heath19]

was back at it tonight but not so much luck...got two, 15" and 21 1/2". the bit was extremely slow tonight....

http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL438/9302223/17841072/310886127.jpg

[gofish]

maybe ya jus caught em all! lol.......somethins changed,river levels different or baitfish relocated...might need to go in search of:icon_biggrin:

[heath19]

River level is the same so it must be something to do with the bait i would guess..

[gofish]

is it getting clearer?guessin the water temps around 41 or 42 there.spawn cant be close to bein over...might need to find a new spot lol

[heath19]

Went out tonight with a couple guys and i only got one and they didnt get any at all. The water is the same clarity it has been, same level. and if the water temp has changed its gone down over the last few days its been so cold at night, and even during the day. they are still catching about just as many above the boat ramp on jigs but thats still not a whole lot, never has been. im gonna keep trying and i just wonder if the water didnt cool down a couple degrees and that is the cause:confused0024:

[Rainman4u2]

These fronts that keep moving through don't help either.

Ray

[gofish]

thats probly it....water temps here are just now starting to rise again after all these fronts but really slowly....slow down an use the trick i told ya bout with the cat rod or jig it .....bout all you can do....cranks are more fun though lol

[hnd]

still using cranks? original rapalas?

water's high at steel damn but still fishable...will try and get out this week

[pjwatson05]

Another trick that you can use is got to your local sporting goods store or like bass pro or cabelas and get a water temp digital gage they are about 10-15 bucks and take a couple AA batteries
Also (I do this with bow hunting to) keep a journal everytime you go out mark down water temp, clairity, weather, water level, how many fish you caught what you caught them on (seen caught), you could even throw in what the barometer was doing that day
I just kee a pad of paper with me and write it down while I'm out and then keep a saved log on my computer you won't be able to predict a whole lot next year but with in a couple years you can be real accurate with when where and how for those touger conditions when nobodyelse is catching fish
I've got a couple spots I fish now that I can prettymuch look at the weather and baromter and tell you were and how I'm gonna cath them
now I'm experimenting with new spots

[gofish]

i do the same thing on the wabash.lol know what species to target and where to start looking just because of the river level/temp...tired of sittin at home just cause the rivers at or above flood stage so ive started runnin it an learning it at this stage now. been dodgin lots of trees and trash though lol:confused0068::icon_biggrin:

heath .....when the water temp hits 38 to 40 degrees youll be better off with jigs less your in a boat..its a presentation thing...strike zone gets really small,gotta bump em in the head and wake em up lol

[heath19]

Im guessing that the water temp must have cooled down a couple degrees and that strike zone got really small. its suppose to be a bit warmer this week i think so maybe it will warm back up a couple degrees and i can go right back at them with my rapalas. its suppose to rain a bunch though and already rained pretty hard last night and this morning so that will pry complicate things a little more,lol.

[pjwatson05]

go fish couldn't agree with that statement more my wife and I were fishing a lake with a healthy population of eyes saturday the water temp was bouncing between 39 n 40 and we were mostly bobber fishin (I tried vertical jiggin they just didn't want it) wife lost a nice eye (That was just after all that rain thursday and a big cold front moving through though)
I found plenty of fish (20 mph+ winds) made boat control a big issue even with anchors or the drift sock (I don't have an outboard on my boat yet just a 55pd foot controled trolling motor)
hopefully conditions will be a little big better after this rain later in the week

[gofish]

dont worry ive added that as another place to hit on my list fer late fall early winter....structure fishin fer eyes......thats fun!

[heath19]

Well the walleye seem to have lock jaw now...or at least where i have been fishing. The water came up a bunch and got pretty muddy and my spots have gone to crap on me...fished oregon yesterday with no luck and fished dixon today with no luck. just been snaggin a bunch of big ole carp and thats it..

[dipper69_2000]

chris it has slowed here at the park n lower damn. water is up n down so much that and the cold weather has those eyes all goofy.........but the cats r loving it.......been doing good for cats off the bank

[heath19]

Yeah, im thinking the eyes dont know what the heck is going on by now,lol...i havent tried for any catfish yet but i may have to do so before long if i want to keep catching fish unless the eyes start to hit again...what have you been getting the catfish on?? ive never used anything but G&S cheesebait when i fish for them..

[Fishaholic]

shad and redworms!!! cheese should be turning on here real soon if not already!!! mark dont use that stinky stuff!!..lol..

[dipper69_2000]

shad and redworms!!! cheese should be turning on here real soon if not already!!! mark dont use that stinky stuff!!..lol..
no that stuff makes a mess lol ..............i will use it just prefer not to..and only a select few get to use it in my boats lol:confused0068: