Fishing Report First Fishing Report Walnut Creek

[jetdriver1]

Greetings and salutations. This is my first fishing report--for that matter--today was my first earnest attempt at angling at anything other than a pond.

Arrived at Walnut Creek at 0602 AM. (My lovely spouse gave me the day off to fish). Water was like glass for most of the day. Sky conditions were sunny to partly cloudy. Water conditions were slightly clear to stained and the weeds were on the surface from shore out to about 10-15 ft from shore in most places on the north east side of the lake. I did not notice any storm related high high water or damage, but I have no previous experience with Walnut Creek to base it on.

Caught one 9.5 inch bluegill--Ima thinkin it was a long ear...my UNL "edumacated" daughter thinks it was a pumpkinseed.

Next had a great run of Large Mouth Bass. A total of 12, ranging from 8 to 19 inches. Had 2 ea at 15", one 16", one 16.5", one 17" and one 19". All fish were carefully returned to the lake with a hearty "Thank you and go get your big brother!". Had several shore anglers around through the day, a couple boaters, and one kayaker who was intensely paddling along the shore and intently studying the shoreline inside the jetty. Turned out a frog jumped into his kayak. Had to take refuge from one brief thunderstorm that passed to the southwest. Then had to call it a day around 6 PM due to the evening thunderstorms.

On the nature side, saw an otter enjoying the morning water and a couple Geese and their goslings (sp?) parading around the jetty.

I CANT BELIEVE IT! Thanks to all here for all their contributions--I learned a veritable plethora of things from reading and studying your posts as well as some great advice from Daryl Bauer. Matched that by hours of researching, studying and accumulating the right gear made it all an awsome first day of angling. Wooo Hooo.... (Please excuse my exuberance but I am seriously stoked!) Thanks for the "edumacation!"

Thanks and Cheers,
Jet

[RedefiningFate]

Glad to hear you did well out there.

[Shorty]

Great report!

Caught one 9.5 inch bluegill--Ima thinkin it was a long ear...my UNL "edumacated" daughter thinks it was a pumpkinseed.

Tell your UNL "edumacated" daughter that it was likely some sort of bluegill hybrid, pumkinseeds are extremely rare in the SE part of the state. Most likely it was a bluegill x green sunfish hybrid or bluegill x redear sunfish hybrid.

[Chad]

Nice report, Jet!
Sounds like a great day

[mtsamuelson]

Walnut Creek is probably one of my favorite fisheries near the Omaha area.

Great report!

[jetdriver1]

This first angling adventure generated a few questions I hadn't considered before.

1) How does one avoid or reduce lure attrition to Riprap when fishing from shore?? I did catch the lake bottom more than fish yesterday casting from the riprap jetty. I got unsnagged most of the time. I did loose a few lures--especially one that was producing bass on almost every other cast . A topwater seems to be the obvious answer, but that does not necessarily get down to where the fish are. As I found out, weedless are not "Riprapless".

2) Spinning Line Twist: I asked a gent ( ) at Cabellas for a good 17-20 lb test line for a spinning reel. I read fluorocarbon was not great for spinning for that very reason. From what I read, mono has a bit too much stretch and superline was the way to go--little stretch, smaller diameter, abrasion resistance, and minimal line twist problems. He handed me a spool of Suffix green braid 20 Lb test. He said it was a superline. (I am not absolutely sure what a superline is, but I didn't think it was a braided line.) He also said it had the diameter of 6 lb mono. I loaded it on my reels. I also sprayed it with silicone. Well, on the day of reckoning, I got some line twist birds nests that had to be cut out as well as put the lure in firm contact with the bottom of the lake during that operation. On the good side, it did cast a long way. I am considering Fire Line Crystal but know little if nothing about it other than it is a superline---and a bit pricy. I am focusing on the line but I suppose it could be a technique, line, equipment problem or a combination there of.

Any ideas/suggestions would be more than appreciated.

Thanks and Cheers!
Jet
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[mtsamuelson]

Originally Posted by jetdriver1

This first angling adventure generated a few questions I hadn't considered before.

1) How does one avoid or reduce lure attrition to Riprap when fishing from shore?? I did catch the lake bottom more than fish yesterday casting from the riprap jetty. I got unsnagged most of the time. I did loose a few lures--especially one that was producing bass on almost every other cast . A topwater seems to be the obvious answer, but that does not necessarily get down to where the fish are. As I found out, weedless are not "Riprapless".

I would like to point you in this direction: Walnut Creek - 6/16

Originally Posted by jetdriver1

2) Spinning Line Twist: I asked a gent ( ) at Cabellas for a good 17-20 lb test line for a spinning reel. I read fluorocarbon was not great for spinning for that very reason. From what I read, mono has a bit too much stretch and superline was the way to go--little stretch, smaller diameter, abrasion resistance, and minimal line twist problems. He handed me a spool of Suffix green braid 20 Lb test. He said it was a superline. (I am not absolutely sure what a superline is, but I didn't think it was a braided line.) He also said it had the diameter of 6 lb mono. I loaded it on my reels. I also sprayed it with silicone. Well, on the day of reckoning, I got some line twist birds nests that had to be cut out as well as put the lure in firm contact with the bottom of the lake during that operation. On the good side, it did cast a long way. I am considering Fire Line Crystal but know little if nothing about it other than it is a superline---and a bit pricy. I am focusing on the line but I suppose it could be a technique, line, equipment problem or a combination there of.

I personally don't like the superlines (or braided lines) when fishing for anything other than catfish. That being said, there are two main types of fishing line I use for bluegill, bass, and crappie.

1) Berkley Trilene XL - I like to use this alot. Usually, for crappie and bluegill I use 2 lb. test. It allows the lure to move more realistically, reduces line visibility, and increases sensitivity as those crappie can be real sneaky sometimes. I also use this for bass, but I like to be in the 14 lb. range when I put this on one of my bass reels.
2) Berkley Trilene XT - I usually use this for my catfish/carp reels, and I also like to use it for my bass reels too. It doesn't twist very easily, and has that extra strength you need to pull bass out of cover (much like the sunken trees at Walnut Creek around the handicap pier). I tend to be in the 12 to 14 lb. range for my catfish, carp, and bass reels.

These are just my personal preferences though. Obviously after fishing for a long time, you may develop your own "favorite" lines.

Hope this helped some...

[TROUTMAN]

Nice report on your day of fishing. I personnally love the Fireline crystal on my spinning reels. I almost never have a tangle & when I do they tend to pull out easily. I also have recently put Vanish florocarbon on one of my spinning reels & so far I'm happy with that too. On your question of snags in the rip rap, I believe Cabelas & Bass Pro actually paid for the rock at Walnut Creek as an investment. You might try one of the weighted lure retrievers - they actually work pretty well sometimes.