Saturday-
Met up with my buddy and headed to Belleau Lake around 8:00am, not before getting some breakfast from the golden arches. Pulled in the lot and couldnt get a spot; with two or three people already waiting for someone to leave, we decided to scrap Belleau and head to Axehead (only 4 minutes away).
Plenty of parking, but not so many open shore spots. The open spots generally seemed to be all weeds. The fishing was slow, with 99.9% of the crowd using powerbait. It was crowded but everyone seemed good mannered- shout out to the father and 2 or 3 little girls collecting trash, I think it was for girl scouts or something. We were throwing kastmasters, little spoons and little mepps spinners. By 10:30/11 and no bites, my buddy wanted to call it. Next cast he caught one. Go figure. (blue and silver KM) After another slow 30 minutes we left the park, saw under 10 fish get pulled in total. I was let down and aggravated but wasn't quite ready to give up.
Around 2pm I set back out, alone and determined. The crowd had cleared up a bit at Belleau. Although still crowded, I set up there. Again 99.9% of the crowd using bait (I set up a spawn sac rod just in case). I was constantly tangling myself up on branches and getting caught on stuff, spent an annoying amount of time dealing with it as I was not use to the 4lb line and UL set up. The lake was way better for fishing IMO, not as weedy or muddy. I threw various kastmasters for a while and switched to a small Mepps. I started to lose hope after being there for 2 or 3 hours and no bites. But finally! I hooked into one, it was jumping and fighting and pulling some drag. As I got it to shore, I tried to "shore flip" it due to lack of net....lost it at my feet.
"Hey thats the first one I've seen caught on a spinner!" - guy next to me who clearly has a different definition of "caught" than me
More aggravated than ever, but equally reinvigorated with determination I continued on. Casting the same thing in the same spot, expecting different results (insanity?) for another hour, finally hooked into another fish. Worked this one for a little longer to tire it and... Landed it! My first trout ever (do stockers really count though? :think: ) Stayed for another 20 minutes. The sun would be setting soon and I was tired.
Got home, gutted the fish, cut the gills off, threw it in the fridge and relaxed, knowing I would be out again tomorrow.
Sunday
Got to Belleau around 2:30. The spot I had been eyeing on Saturday was now open so I set up there. Started with the Mepps that I went 1/2 on and didnt bother dropping the bait rod in. Within the first 20 minutes I hooked up and landed a fish. WOW! 3 casts later... another fish. 15 minutes after that? Third fish on the stringer. At this point the Polish guys next to me were bewildered (they had been sitting with powerbait rods since the AM) and started looking at my lure and casting into my area. Sold one of them a little size 1 mepps for $5, watched him throw it on what appeared to be a 8ft tuna stick.. oh well.
I was retying after every cast because of how light the line was. Caught my 4th fish soon after my third and the Polish guys came back to inspect and ask some more questions, take a picture of my lure, and ask where I got it. I forgot to retie after talking to them and watched my extremely productive Mepps fly into the lake.. did the Polish guy sabotage me for not selling him the lure I was catching on? Did the trout destroy my knot? Who knows. Probably just a coincidence.
Messed around throwing a few different lures without any luck for 30 minutes. I took a couple minutes and modified an old inline to look like the mepps I was catching on (scratched off a colored sticker, ripped off some feathers/hairs, added some orange mesh-net in place of a bead) and caught my 5th and final fish within 10 minutes. After all was said and done, I was only there for about an hour and a half.
One of the fish I was cleaning had neon green goo with sparkles coming out of his vent...
![Image]()
Recap-
Saturday = 2 lakes, 6+ hours, 4+ lures/bait = 1 fish
Sunday = 1 lake, 1.5 hours, 1 lure = 5 fish
Thats fishing for ya, Gotta love it :lol:
Overall I enjoyed the experience and plan on going back this week, as well as participating in the fall stocking. Had I skunked on Sunday, I dont think I would be as inclined to do so. It was also a blast showing up all the bait anglers- I saw one other fish get caught during my time there on Sunday, so that felt great.
The plan is to smoke these bad boys tonight with some apple wood. I'm thinking a simple brown sugar, salt and water brine an hour or so before hand? Maybe some garlic? Any recommendations? This will be my first smoking experience.
Met up with my buddy and headed to Belleau Lake around 8:00am, not before getting some breakfast from the golden arches. Pulled in the lot and couldnt get a spot; with two or three people already waiting for someone to leave, we decided to scrap Belleau and head to Axehead (only 4 minutes away).
Plenty of parking, but not so many open shore spots. The open spots generally seemed to be all weeds. The fishing was slow, with 99.9% of the crowd using powerbait. It was crowded but everyone seemed good mannered- shout out to the father and 2 or 3 little girls collecting trash, I think it was for girl scouts or something. We were throwing kastmasters, little spoons and little mepps spinners. By 10:30/11 and no bites, my buddy wanted to call it. Next cast he caught one. Go figure. (blue and silver KM) After another slow 30 minutes we left the park, saw under 10 fish get pulled in total. I was let down and aggravated but wasn't quite ready to give up.
Around 2pm I set back out, alone and determined. The crowd had cleared up a bit at Belleau. Although still crowded, I set up there. Again 99.9% of the crowd using bait (I set up a spawn sac rod just in case). I was constantly tangling myself up on branches and getting caught on stuff, spent an annoying amount of time dealing with it as I was not use to the 4lb line and UL set up. The lake was way better for fishing IMO, not as weedy or muddy. I threw various kastmasters for a while and switched to a small Mepps. I started to lose hope after being there for 2 or 3 hours and no bites. But finally! I hooked into one, it was jumping and fighting and pulling some drag. As I got it to shore, I tried to "shore flip" it due to lack of net....lost it at my feet.
"Hey thats the first one I've seen caught on a spinner!" - guy next to me who clearly has a different definition of "caught" than me
More aggravated than ever, but equally reinvigorated with determination I continued on. Casting the same thing in the same spot, expecting different results (insanity?) for another hour, finally hooked into another fish. Worked this one for a little longer to tire it and... Landed it! My first trout ever (do stockers really count though? :think: ) Stayed for another 20 minutes. The sun would be setting soon and I was tired.
Got home, gutted the fish, cut the gills off, threw it in the fridge and relaxed, knowing I would be out again tomorrow.
Sunday
Got to Belleau around 2:30. The spot I had been eyeing on Saturday was now open so I set up there. Started with the Mepps that I went 1/2 on and didnt bother dropping the bait rod in. Within the first 20 minutes I hooked up and landed a fish. WOW! 3 casts later... another fish. 15 minutes after that? Third fish on the stringer. At this point the Polish guys next to me were bewildered (they had been sitting with powerbait rods since the AM) and started looking at my lure and casting into my area. Sold one of them a little size 1 mepps for $5, watched him throw it on what appeared to be a 8ft tuna stick.. oh well.
I was retying after every cast because of how light the line was. Caught my 4th fish soon after my third and the Polish guys came back to inspect and ask some more questions, take a picture of my lure, and ask where I got it. I forgot to retie after talking to them and watched my extremely productive Mepps fly into the lake.. did the Polish guy sabotage me for not selling him the lure I was catching on? Did the trout destroy my knot? Who knows. Probably just a coincidence.
Messed around throwing a few different lures without any luck for 30 minutes. I took a couple minutes and modified an old inline to look like the mepps I was catching on (scratched off a colored sticker, ripped off some feathers/hairs, added some orange mesh-net in place of a bead) and caught my 5th and final fish within 10 minutes. After all was said and done, I was only there for about an hour and a half.
One of the fish I was cleaning had neon green goo with sparkles coming out of his vent...
Recap-
Saturday = 2 lakes, 6+ hours, 4+ lures/bait = 1 fish
Sunday = 1 lake, 1.5 hours, 1 lure = 5 fish
Thats fishing for ya, Gotta love it :lol:
Overall I enjoyed the experience and plan on going back this week, as well as participating in the fall stocking. Had I skunked on Sunday, I dont think I would be as inclined to do so. It was also a blast showing up all the bait anglers- I saw one other fish get caught during my time there on Sunday, so that felt great.
The plan is to smoke these bad boys tonight with some apple wood. I'm thinking a simple brown sugar, salt and water brine an hour or so before hand? Maybe some garlic? Any recommendations? This will be my first smoking experience.
