By Steve Weisman

(photo by Dick Lineweaver) The author with a pair of nice late fall bluegills

As we go through life, we often think how “things come full circle.” A late October fishing trip for bluegills on West Okoboji was the perfect example of this. My friend, Dick Lineweaver still had his boat on the hoist, so with weather in the 40s and with very little wind, he asked if I wanted to join him one more time before he put the boat away for the season.

The question was where? I hadn’t been bluegill fishing for over a month, and I was sure they weren’t going to be in the 25-35’ of water that they were in during the late-August and mid-September heat and humidity. We only had a few hours to fish, so that eliminated the option of trying several spots and depths. That’s when I thought of what happens if “things come full circle” with the bluegills. It ended up paying great dividends.

First, with the surface water temperature at barely over 50 degrees, my thoughts turned to late spring fishing. At that time, the wooden docks were in, and the bluegills were relating to that wood structure. Why not now? After all, early ice often means finding still green vegetation in 10’ of water or shallower. While many of the docks had been removed, there were still enough in to provide that wood habitat.

I did find that just as in the late spring, not all docks are created equal. Docks with a maximum depth of 6’ were not good. They held very few bluegills. However, docks that were in the 9-10’ depth had lots of fish around them and not just bluegills. There were also nice crappies and largemouth bass. However, we were after bluegills. The water was clear enough to see the fish, so we used the anchor mode on the I-Pilot to hold us out and away so as to not spook the bluegills. The dock we fished had several catwalks on both sides of the front edge, so there was a lot of water to cover.

We put on smaller jigs like size 12 Rat Finkes and Clam’s 1/64-ounce Drop Jig tipped with a Belgian worm. I used a small egg-shaped clip-on bobber about 4’ ahead of the jig. This allowed me to fan cast a lot farther from the boat. It was just like late spring all over again. Cast, let the jig sink and then give the bobber a subtle twitch, twitch, twitch…and let it sit. As soon as the bobber moved, it was set the hook and the bluegill was there.

Certainly, there were smaller 5-6 inchers, but we kept lots of 8 inchers with some pushing 9 inches. We threw a bunch back and kept 14, just enough for Dick and his wife!

Yes, things do come full circle, and I guess an old dog can still even learn a trick or two! Even though the docks will eventually be taken out, until the ice comes on the lakes, there’s still fish to be caught.

I know we’re into November, but my hope is there will still be some good days to fish. The word is certainly out on the perch bite on Big Spirit Lake. Seems as if it doesn’t matter where you fish. The big key is to be on the calm side of the lake. Oh, and then there is Trumbull Lake south of Terril. Visiting with fisheries biologist Mike Hawkins, Trumbull Lake has several year classes of perch up to 13 inches and a good population of northern pike up to 30 inches.

(photo by Steve Weisman) After the recent stocking, Scharnberg Pond has some excellent trout fishing.

Here’s an idea. One of my favorites this time of year is to head to Scharnberg Pond and catch some of these recently released rainbow trout. The fall stocking took place on Saturday, October 26.

Sure enough, last week I had to give it a try. It was only in the upper 30s, but with the sun out and only a slight breeze, it was still a nice afternoon. I didn’t wet a line until I was able to see the trout working an area.

The schools are wandering through along the shoreline in 2-4’ of water, so it does little good to fish an area unless you see the trout working.

Once located, I put on a small egg-shaped bobber set about two feet above a 1/64-ounce black hair jig with a red tail. I tipped the jig with silver wigglers. In an hour and a half, I caught and released between 25-30 rainbow trout with the largest about 14” and the rest anywhere from 10-12”.

I wish things would stay open, but I worry that the below freezing nighttime temperatures will lock up Scharnberg.