Budd Lake Fishing Report 2-21-09 & 2-22-09

Had the opportunity to fish in the Budd Lake Fishing Tournament that was held on Saturday (2-21). I started out looking for bait fish in shallow water and on my second hole I found a monster school of small bluegills suspended over a weed structure in 16 FOW. After drilling a few more holes I found a school of larger bluegills and decided to fish the area to get my five bluegills that were required in the team event.

After thinking about the amount of bait fish located in area I decided to setup a tip-up just in front of the first school of small bluegills. The weed growth was about three foot off of the bottom, so I setup my bait at three and a half foot off of the bottom were I knew the bait fish were hanging out. My first flag came at 9:15am with no fish just a lot of line spooled off. The tournament judges were visiting at the time of my first flag and I think they were more excited then me. The second flag came at 9:50am and after waiting a few minutes I had my first walleye of the day. Right as the fish came through the hole she broke my 6 pound crystal fire wire leader, but I was able to grab her by the head and pull her on the ice.

Fishing has improved greatly on Budd this month. I iced forty 8-inch to 10-inch bluegills and one 24-inch walleye in three hours. Over all I saw two nice walleyes on the camera and a ton of bluegills. I took my nephew and his friend out on Sunday afternoon and we iced fifty keeper bluegills out in 17 FOW.

Ice conditions are excellent 14-inches in most areas.