Minocqua Chain - Full Moon in June 2007

[jooleyen]

I had a great weekend in Minocqua for the Full Moon in June party. My dad and I mostly fished. We fished the Minoqua Chain of Lakes and a no-name pond we found on the side of the road. From the shore and about 40 yards out, there was small lilly pads. We had over 50 strikes within two hours. Most of the fish were small. I lost every fish I hooked into due to what I realized later was too tight of a drag. I caught one actually. He was only about 14 inches. We went to lake Minocqua and we couldn't find the fish shallow, so we went between two slow tapering rocky points. I first started at about 20 feet deep and fished with a dropshot rig. I caught two keeper smallies right off the bat. The bite stopped so I threw a deep diving Norman crankbait into about 30 feet of open water. I got a hit. I brought the fish in next to the boat, looked at it and it was a four plus pound smallmouth. I leaned over to grab the line and lift, and he wiggled right when I lifted. He got off and I was screaming and swearing. You live and you learn, right? It was the biggest bass I've ever caught in my life. I still feel sad. Now I'll work ten times harder to get up north and fish for a big smallie. I was filming a crane trying to eat a perch about 15 feet away from the boat, and my rod loaded up. A smallie had come up from 30 feet and taken my floating crankbait. I got videos of all the fish including the giant that got off, so I can re-live the painful moment . it was a good trip. I don't have much to show, but I guess you can expect that when I go fishing on a HUGE chain of lakes that is thousands of acres that I've never been to before.