Castle Rock Lake Report - 3rd times a charm!
by Blue Fleck on 02/06/2010
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 Two fine 'eating class'
White Bass. Sticktoitiveness. Described a couple ways as 'dogged perseverance & resolute tenacity.' Big adjectives for fishing terms, but best suited for Bret & myself on our latest trip to Castle Rock.
I woke up at 4:45am and sat at the end of my bed wondering "Do I really wanna do this again...?" That question was a direct result of having been out there with Bret twice already, both times yielding mediocre results, at best.... With a big sigh, I pulled myself up and proceeded to put on my cold weather clothing and loaded the truck. Off to Sparta I went, to meet Bret and and his good friend Dave. After a quick loading of gear into Dave's truck, we were on our way east for another adventure.
 Bret with a dandy Castle
Rock Crappie. We arrived at our first spot shortly after 7am and immediately proceeded to drill a series of holes in the area of the 3 waypoints I have marked on my Lowrance handheld unit. A quick survey down through the ice with our Marcum flashers showed fish working through the area.
For the next hour or so we hopped from hole to hole looking for active fish. After an hour or so, and only a couple White Bass and a nice Crappie to show for our efforts we were beginning to think this was another carbon copy trip. About that time, IDO member Justin 'walleyehunter' showed up to see how things were progressing. After a little bit of conversation, we decided to make tracks and try some of the other waypoints I have on my handheld.
 The CJS Lightning Spoon
strikes Castle Rock Lake. Our second stop was on a brush pile in about 10ft of water. The last time we were here, I caught one very nice Bluegill and lost another solid fish. Other people fishing the structure were doing well on that day catching Crappies. Today was a complete 180. We weren't able to mark any fish.
Justin said he knew of a hole just east of our location and believed it held some brush. He was off and within no time at all, we received a call from him saying he'd iced a some White Bass and was pulling steady marks from the holes he'd drilled. Well, that was all the invite we needed.
Shortly thereafter, we'd all found comfort in our selected holes, pulling solid marks up from the bottom. Not all were takers, but the ones that were showed themselves to be eater-sized White Bass.
The best baits for me all came from Custom Jigs & Spins. The 3 best were Slender Spoons in Gold w/ Chart., Silver w/ Blue and a Lightning Spoon in Blue w/ Silver Foil. All of these baits produced best in 11-13ft of water, fished anywhere from 6 inches to 4ft off the bottom. Every once in a while a high riding mark would come through, most times those were dandy Crappies like the one pictured with Bret.
 A fine mess of fish at the
end of the day. All in all, after Justin found the honey hole, we put on a clinic, catching a pile of White Bass. Most of which are headed for a pickling brine starting tomorrow. It was the best day we've had on Castle Rock so far. While the Crappies were largely absent, the scrappy White Bass provided hours of entertainment.
I was great to get back out on the ice again. I'd like to personally thank Justin for making a great day out of it. His 'Sticktoitiveness' was the deciding factor today. Even without any kind of electronics, he knew where he was and knew that by drilling a series of holes he'd find what he was looking for. Good job Justin, it was great meeting you today.
Thanks to Bret & Dave for allowing me to share the day with them as well. As always, I look forward to doing it again real soon. 
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Location
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Wisconsin
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Water Body
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Castle Rock Lake
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Species
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panfish
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Technique
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ice fishing
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Thomas E. Donaldson - HuDo Graphics
Boat Lettering, Decals, Logo Designs and MUCH MORE!
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The Graphic Artist Formerly Know as “Thomas E. Donaldson”
Send me a Private Message or E-mail for FREE work quotes!
tom.donaldson@in-depthoutdoors.com
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Blue Fleck
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Some more pics from the day's events.
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Thomas E. Donaldson - HuDo Graphics
Boat Lettering, Decals, Logo Designs and MUCH MORE!
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The Graphic Artist Formerly Know as “Thomas E. Donaldson”
Send me a Private Message or E-mail for FREE work quotes!
tom.donaldson@in-depthoutdoors.com
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Bret Clark
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Great read Blue
Like Tom said, thanks for the call Justin
Divide and conquer 
My best bait of the day was a 1/16oz silver/red Slender Spoon doubled up with waxies. Everyone did have a good time catching a good number of White Bass but it was Blue that really put the hurt on the schooling piranha’s, I believe the difference was red spikes hangin’ from the trebles instead of the waxies. There will be a tin of red bugs in my pocket next trip 
It was also good to see Glenn D on the Rock again. He is always sharing good information with us which is greatly appreciated. Sounds like they landed on a good number of the White Bass too 
As always, It was a good time guys, thanks again for driving Dave  It was well worth the third trip. Next time it will be easier for us all to get our butts movin’ in the early morning with Castle Rock as the destination
Time to make a pickling solution 
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Bret Clark - IDO Ice Pro Staff
"Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway."
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mikehd
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Great report Tom.  Looks like a great time. 
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IDO Member formerly known as Mike C 
Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says, "Dam!"
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gutone4me
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Great report guys 
We found a good bite going on Petenwell also
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He who laughs last thinks the slowest
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Jeff Jensen
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Thanks Tom, good write up  Those white bass are definite trip savers.
The group mug shots with the Marcum line up are great pics. Nice fish gang
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Joel Ballweg
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Nice read Blue!
Looks like a great way to spend a mid-winter day.
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JOEL BALLWEG - IDO FIELD STAFF
SAUK-PRAIRIE LIVE BAIT & TACKLE
www.lakewisconsinfishing.com
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Abe
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Great report, nice mess of fish!
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ecnook
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Hey Tom !!!
Great to see your out and about !!!
Great Mess of Fish !!!
How are the trinkets work'n out ???
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Crossin Big Eyes
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Looks like if was a great day to be on the hard water in WIsonsin. Nice report.
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Blue Fleck
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Quote:
How are the trinkets work'n out ???
I should have something put together in the coming week. I think they'll look nice!
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Thomas E. Donaldson - HuDo Graphics
Boat Lettering, Decals, Logo Designs and MUCH MORE!
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The Graphic Artist Formerly Know as “Thomas E. Donaldson”
Send me a Private Message or E-mail for FREE work quotes!
tom.donaldson@in-depthoutdoors.com
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WalleyeHunter
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Quote:
but it was Blue that really put the hurt on the schooling piranha’s
You can say that AGAIN Blue was on fire. I thought upsizing my bait would have helped, instead I should have stuck to the Gill Pill
It was nice seeing you on the ice and meeting Dave and Tom!
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Glenn D
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Great Job !! Bret & Blue..It was great seeing you guys again. And a pleasure meeting Dave. We found our "Whities" in 24-28 FOW down south by the Cty Park landing. It was lights out till we quit at 40. Our best bait was a Hali (gold & perch) it didn't matter if you had spikes or waxies they were eatin it. Our day Friday was alot tougher 1 whitie and 5 real nice crappie. Hope to see you guys again !
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FatGuy
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Oh man, you guys are making me jealous!!! Awesome job!!!
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Joel Nelson
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Excellent work gentlemen, loved the tandem report, with a crucial assist from a great IDO member! I think it's kind of a perfect day when you work to dial-in a bite, and by putting together some work with prior knowledge, in the end you're greeted with success.
Great report, love the whities!
Joel
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Joel Nelson - Ice Pro Staff
joel.nelson@in-depthoutdoors.com
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Re: Castle Rock Lake Report - 3rd times a charm!
