Today I had Jack & Joe out in the boat–the other half of the 4 man crew(Shawn & Rory Two-Gar who fished yesterday) Neither Jack nor Joe had ever caught a toothy gar either. So we started where we ended up yesterday. On the 4th cast Joe tied into a mongo sheep about 15 lbs which provided quite a tussle. The guys then caught a sauger and a white bass, then Joe hooked into a gar about the same size as Rory Two Gar did the day before. A couple minutes after this gar was whupped, a monster gar-woofled Jack’s owbow pattern Rat-L-Trap, and the fight was on. Fish was far too big to net. jack finally got it along side the boat, Joe held me by the belt and I bear hug/wrestled it aboard: all 50.5″ of it. They hooked probably a dozen more, boating half of them and destroying two ‘Traps in the process. We only had about an hour left in the trip.  the guys wanted to go to the spot where Rory and Shawn did so well the day before. They were hooked up about every five minutes on nice walleyes, short walleyes, pike, white bass, SMB…and one more gar. Then Joe let go a cast which he said was ‘caught in the wind’. Lure ended up about 10 feet up in a tree. From this point forward Joe will be forever known as “Fishes For Eagles”. There is more to fishing than catching fish. It’s also about building relationships. We got back to the boat ramp with guts sore from laughing and hands sore from catching a pile of fish. Every day on the Immortal River is its own reward. For the past few days the bounty and rewards have been greater than great. The hammock is calling my name.  Belly is full of fried chicken, morels and fresh wild asparagus. think I’ll go listen to a cardinal and oriole lullaby.

Fished today with Rory & Shawn.  Dick Neefe took out their buddies jack & Joe. Jack had a card game for this crew. Every time you catch a fish, you draw a card–then make the best poker hand out of your cards. Rory & Shawn had 8 walleyes, 11, SMB, 5 WB, two sheep, 2 LMB, 2 pike and 3 gar..so plenty of cards to build a hand. Both guys caught their first gar ever. The day was about over when Rory hooked his first gar–a scrappy 36 incher. About four casts later he set into a BIG fish. Turned out to be a 45″ gar hooked in the tail. The battle was joined. Normally I’m pretty good with the net, but missed twice cuz I didn’t factor in a foot long beak. Meanwhile, Shawn hooks into a 31″ pike. Told Rory to hang on. He would have to wait for the net. Got the pike in and out of the net then started chasing the big gar with the MinnKota. The fish, Rory and me were all wearing out.  had to net the fish in the middle usually a major fox paws. But folding the critter was the only way to get it in the net. He plans on getting the gar mounted.  pretty cool lookin’ critter. and after a 20 minute fight, certainly good for a lifetime of stories!

About 10 days ago I found 89 grey morels by one little elm stump. When the sun came out after a week of rain and cold the big yellow guys were there. had to force myself to go lookin’ last night rather than going back to the well. As of yesterday, the yellow guys at this longitude/latitude are near the top of bluffs with a western exposure. Found most of ’em in a lovely copse of just deceased elms. The GPS coordinates of this location are:                       Today I have to take down a cherry tree off the back deck which has provided wonderful shade for years.  gonna leave a tall stump to tie some corn to next winter to drive Whipsaw Jack, our border collie, to distraction with squirrel activity. Might get out again tonite on fungi patrol. Think I’ll carry my new Sig Sauer .22 mosquito when mushroom hunting. The .44 mag just tears ’em up too much

Tom had already battled a couple of scrappy smallmouth bass on an Oxbow pattern Rat-l-Trap when a BIG fish bent his rod double. Thought it was a big pike. had to chase the fish downstream, then upstream with the MinnKota, netted just before it reached flooded timber–a 23″ brown trout!

Tom & Buck also caught a couple of quality walleye, numerous SMB and WB…every one of them on that Trap! This is the 2nd brownie in my Lund this year. The first, a 17″er hit my signature series Teddy Cat.  I know personally of four other brownies caught on the pool this Spring. More than I can ever remember.

Glad you found me on my fishing webpage! just got on Facebook and have already shot down 2 government drones flying over the compound using #4 buck lead shot. I have no problem with using toxic shot rather than steel, but need to pattern the gun as two wayward pellets hit my new Jolly Roger flag…much easier to find than a new confederate battle flag nowadays.

anyway, i’m gonna try to post fishing reports and similar insight here rather than on lake-link from now on. As a lake-link pro staff they promised a nice Frabill I-float suit for work i did in 2016. haven’t seen it yet, or received response from lake-link on several occasions because my queries were not directly related to them making more money

putting the whine down now. here’s the skinny on the Miss: River levels at Genoa are creeping slowly into the ‘action’ stage, which means all the dam gates are open. Water is up in the trees but not significantly impacting backwaters which load from downstream. As a result, ‘clear’ water is pretty easy to find. Visibility > 2′ is one key to fish location.  Also, fish don’t like to fight the current. So, we’re looking for clear water with little current. Also, warm water is important. The cold front we had last week dropped water temps a full 10 degrees, down to 47. It has been on the rise as we’re about to start the 4th beautiful May day in a row. Fishing has been incrementally better in this time frame. Temp is now at 56 in flowing water off of the main channel where I’m gonna start fishing in a couple of hours.

The final major–and it really is MAJOR–key in getting your string stretched just about anytime is FOOD. Find water >56 degrees with >2′ visibility and minimal current to fight and the buffet of minnows and benthic macroinvertebrates which fish wanna eat right now is there and the fish are biting.

One of my favorite bird- dogs is the lowly gar. Ol’ ugly is an eating machine. If you see fish activity on the surface of quiet waters now, it is likely gar–tough to hook intentionally, but they often oblige by wrapping their beaks in the line.

Yesterday Tom and Mike missed several strikes, then figured out they were gar when Tom actually caught a couple. But they ALSO tangled with a couple of SMB and white bass. Moved to a different but similar spot. Gar bird dogged more WB,SMB, LMB, 3 quality walleyes and a couple of short ones.

Why would walleyes be hanging around over a mud flat in 4 f.o.w.???Just got done telling you!

Today, I’m gonna go back to the ‘well’ first, then frog around looking for some crappies.

Although I plan on revealing a lot more info here on my very own webpage, many pertinent details and the voodoo behind consistently catching fish on the enigma wrapped in mystery which is the Immortal Mississippi will only be available in my boat in exchange for a working man’s wage.

If you don’t think guiding is hard work, think again. I’ve gotta go grab some cheddar before continuing with this whine. The river beckons. Time to don the loincloth, strap on the sharp knife, and head out. Thanks for visiting tedpeckfishing.com.

See you right here real soon, gotta go…gotta guide

 

 

 

 

 

Thousands of mallards are milling over the Mississippi River bottoms now, a sure indicator spring is at hand–a good 30 days earlier than we’ve seen in the past 10 years. Dad always used to say “ducks fly by the weather, geese by the calendar”. This is an absolute truth!  God’s creatures have intuition far beyond the most astute meaty urologist. They know seasonal change is at hand. this morning we got a dusting of snow. The River is on the rise, and should reach minor flood stage by Feb. 27.  This wouldn’t be the case if the northcountry wasn’t shaking off winter.  This will mean its time to spend a little time trout fishing. last year the Miss stayed outrageously high throughout the summer and into the fall. This condition persisted into winter–a major reason we will soon see minor flood stage on pool 9.  Weather in the upper Midwest in the next month or so will profoundly impact fishing at least until mid summer. Will April showers arrive in March?  Guess we’ll have to wait and see. The ducks believe this is the case. They will continue to push north as weather permits.

It’s colder than billy hell out here on the pool 9 ice today! Ice is extremely slick. heading out without cleats is foolish.  There are a few guys out on DeSoto Bay, a couple on Shore slough. Best bite right now is up on lake Onalaska, where there is probably enough ice to get out safely in a truck…but you might want to wait a few days. Supposed to warm up in the 20s with a chance of snow on Tuesday. Probably the best bet for the next few days.

There is a substantial buck I have been chasing all year. Couldn’t hunt him during the rut, as i was too busy guiding on the River. It is now late muzzleloader season in NE Iowa. The buck has been crossing a fence between his bedding area and food the last six days in a row. Believe I can hide about 130 yards away, if wind stays WSW until this afternoon. This will be my last deer hunt of the year. may be the last hunt of the season, too. Hunting has become a chore. ..but if you don’t go, you’ll never know.  HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

my laser sharp nephew Dan built this brand new website. The keyboard I’m typing on is similar to the one on the old Smith-Corona typewriter I learned on back in journalism school. now operating well beyond my pay grade and trying to post.  Please bear with me and you’ll start seeing pertinent outdoor info on a variety of topics. I know about the outdoors. Can load a pump shotgun and pull start an outboard. I have a rotary dial, coal powered flip phone. Don’t Facebook, Tweet, Twitter or have any other kind of social media seizure. I’m an old river rat. the computer has neither fin nor fur so may take awhile to figure out.  Anybody out there?