Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Heidecke Lake - April 20, 2010

Calm Afternoon at Heidecke Lake

I pulled into the parking lot at Heidecke Lake around 3:00 pm for a couple hours of afternoon fishing since it wasn't looking likely I'd have another chance to get out this week. I was surprised to see an almost full parking lot. As far as fishing goes, I wasn't expecting too much since I never do very well at this lake when its sunny. On top of the bright sunshine, there was also very little wind keeping the lake almost like a sheet of glass.

Small Striped Bass

I ran to an area of the shoreline that did not have any other boaters around and began to beat the shore line pretty good. I saw a lot of Freshwater Drum cruising by, and even a few Common Carp getting ready to begin their spawning ritual. It took a while, but I eventually tied into and landed a small Striped Bass

A Real Nice Walleye

A short time later I had another fish on the end of the line. This one was much bigger and put up quite a fight. I had the net within reach and decided to use it once I saw that I had a good sized Walleye clamped onto my crank bait. I scooped him up, took a couple photos, and released him to fight another day.

A little Smallmouth Bass
The next fish took a while to find. I was almost ready to go try another spot when a small Smallmouth Bass tried to make off with my crank bait. After a quick photo, he was back in the water too.

A nice Musky

Shortly after I got to another spot that I wanted to try before I had to head back home, another good fish hit the crank bait. This time I knew I had a good fish on. It fought hard and made a few powerful runs before I got it close enough to see I had a good Musky on. I grabbed the net and quickly realized that the fish wasn't going to fit, and before I knew it, the lure got tangled in the net with the fish thrashing next to it. Luckily I was able to get my hand under the fish before he got away.

Released to fight again another day


After a few quick photos I lowered the Musky back into the water and he took off like a torpedo. I untangled the lure from the net, put everything away, and called it a day. So for not expecting much, it turned out to be a great outing. The water temp was 62 and the air warmed to 65.

6 comments:

  1. Nice mixed bag! I've never seen a striper without stripes...is that common?

    Maybe your next post can be focused on how to pronounce Heidecke

    Hy-deck
    Hey-deck
    Hy-deck-a
    Hey-deck-a

    I'm just not sure. After that can you tackle Shabbona?

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  2. Bill were you using spincast or casting reels? I have found in colder water I sometimes get more hits using lighter line and smaller lures with a spincasst. ALl great looking fish for an afternoon trip.

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  3. Great mixed bag for not expecting much. Well done.
    Tight lines

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  4. Pronounced Hi Deh Key

    I was using Baitcasting and Spinning gear. There will be an algae bloom there soon and the visibility will go way down.

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  5. good on ya releasing those beautiful fishes...

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  6. Bill, just chiming in here with the rest of your readers. What a great day when a couple of hours turns into an exciting time with several different fish species. That can't be easy to do.

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