Greg: Banks and Rufus - 9/23

I went fishing solo on Wednesday. My goal was to improve my crank bait trolling technique on Banks Lake. I spent the morning on Banks with no luck. I even tried pulling spinners and crawlers without a bite. There were very few boats on the lake and no one was having much luck. When the clock struck noon, I left for nearby Rufus Woods. I did a little better at Rufus. I got 4 walleyes between 130 PM and 7 PM. They measured 16, 16, 18, and 19 inches. Much to my surprise, I did not catch any trout at Rufus.

More info for members: On Banks, I fished the south end of the lake. When pulling crank baits, I looked for long flats adjacent to weed beds. I trolled for a couple of hours between 14 and 22 feet and saw no fish on the sonar. I covered miles and saw nothing. So, I moved shallower into the weeds and pulled spinners for a while...didn't even get a perch or bass. Finally, I moved deep into 35 to 45 feet of water where other boats were fishing...nothing.

On Rufus, the flow was good the entire day, so fishing should have been great. I spent most of the afternoon working 45 to 55 feet of water on channel edges with heavy bouncers and spinners. Three to six years ago, this was a very productive method in the fall. In 2009, 2010 and 2011, I had 15 to 25 fish days in September, but on Wednesday, I only managed 4 fish.