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THE 2024 COLORADO
Today's Best Fishing Times
Get the best fishing times for Turtle Flambeau Flowage, Iron County with Lake-Link's Fishing Forecast. SEE MORE
moon phase
water temp
54.0°F
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Last water temp report: 5/11/24.
Displaying 1 to 10 of 5,622 posts
Forgot to mention, the water is coming up, I didn't look at the excel site, I'd guess about a foot and a half below full pool.
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Partly Sunny 60°
Water: 54°
Boulders
Cool pictures Paul, I heard they were out.
A week of fishing on the books, some days cold and wind, others wind and rain, today looks to be nice.
The water as everyone who pays attention to the TFF knows, started at unprecedented low spring levels, due mainly to the almost no snow up here this year. The problem is amplified by the lack of willingness of the people on the Manitowish chain to share the spring water until their pond is full.
There were areas of the TFF with a lot of boats concentrated on opening weekend as usual, I'd say judging by the cars at the landing the #'s were slightly down from most years.
Judging the fishing after week one, I'd say it too has been below average, I would guess that the numbers of fish are probably better than recent years, especially the size structure, the fishing has just been a little tougher than average.
At days end the customers have been happy with the catch, we've had a couple days with very good fishing and more where we really had to put on the hunt to catch fish. As I tell customers, patience isn't a virtue in fishing, when the fish are uncooperative we are generally fishing a lot of spots in the course of the day.
I've been fishing a wide array of structure. We've had success on rocks in 8-12' of water, mostly rounded boulders, an 8' small hump with sharper jagged rocks has provided walleyes on a couple of days. The weeds have not been as good as they sometimes are at this time, especially for walleyes, we have caught nice perch and pike out of the weeds with an occasional walleye. We have caught fish in wood structure in the 7-8' range. Some of the bigger walleyes have come out of shallow wood.
Other than the low water which may be having an effect on the fishing, I have not seen the water clearer than it currently is in some areas of the flowage. A few days ago I went to an area with an expanse of shallow wood in the 4' depth range. I threw the anchors, went to hand out the jig rods, looked over the side and could clearly see all the logs on the bottom. I debated on whether to even take a few casts, thought as long as were already here... there was a small chop blowing in. Surprisingly we did catch a walleye and a pike, we moved the boat one time, no more fish. That particular area I usually keep moving the boat and work a hundred yard stretch, I pulled the anchors and we left. With the water that clear I knew we were wasting fishing time.
There isn't any substitute for time on the water however and the learned accumulated memories of all the fishing experiences on the TFF. A few spots later the couple I was fishing with caught the 2 biggest walleyes of the day in even shallower water. The spot had the same shallow snaggy wood but the wind coming in was a little more direct. The big difference however was that the logs were in a softer bottom instead of hard sand which stirs up more sediment, hence the water was slightly cloudy. I sometimes do exercise a little patience, our first fish wrapped around a log and broke off, then we caught a nice one, stayed longer than normal (20 more minutes) and caught the second fish.
A few tougher days but not bad fishing, just getting more exercise pulling anchors.
Today I did something I don't often do, took a day off to take the grandkids fishing, heading out soon, looks like a great day.
A week of fishing on the books, some days cold and wind, others wind and rain, today looks to be nice.
The water as everyone who pays attention to the TFF knows, started at unprecedented low spring levels, due mainly to the almost no snow up here this year. The problem is amplified by the lack of willingness of the people on the Manitowish chain to share the spring water until their pond is full.
There were areas of the TFF with a lot of boats concentrated on opening weekend as usual, I'd say judging by the cars at the landing the #'s were slightly down from most years.
Judging the fishing after week one, I'd say it too has been below average, I would guess that the numbers of fish are probably better than recent years, especially the size structure, the fishing has just been a little tougher than average.
At days end the customers have been happy with the catch, we've had a couple days with very good fishing and more where we really had to put on the hunt to catch fish. As I tell customers, patience isn't a virtue in fishing, when the fish are uncooperative we are generally fishing a lot of spots in the course of the day.
I've been fishing a wide array of structure. We've had success on rocks in 8-12' of water, mostly rounded boulders, an 8' small hump with sharper jagged rocks has provided walleyes on a couple of days. The weeds have not been as good as they sometimes are at this time, especially for walleyes, we have caught nice perch and pike out of the weeds with an occasional walleye. We have caught fish in wood structure in the 7-8' range. Some of the bigger walleyes have come out of shallow wood.
Other than the low water which may be having an effect on the fishing, I have not seen the water clearer than it currently is in some areas of the flowage. A few days ago I went to an area with an expanse of shallow wood in the 4' depth range. I threw the anchors, went to hand out the jig rods, looked over the side and could clearly see all the logs on the bottom. I debated on whether to even take a few casts, thought as long as were already here... there was a small chop blowing in. Surprisingly we did catch a walleye and a pike, we moved the boat one time, no more fish. That particular area I usually keep moving the boat and work a hundred yard stretch, I pulled the anchors and we left. With the water that clear I knew we were wasting fishing time.
There isn't any substitute for time on the water however and the learned accumulated memories of all the fishing experiences on the TFF. A few spots later the couple I was fishing with caught the 2 biggest walleyes of the day in even shallower water. The spot had the same shallow snaggy wood but the wind coming in was a little more direct. The big difference however was that the logs were in a softer bottom instead of hard sand which stirs up more sediment, hence the water was slightly cloudy. I sometimes do exercise a little patience, our first fish wrapped around a log and broke off, then we caught a nice one, stayed longer than normal (20 more minutes) and caught the second fish.
A few tougher days but not bad fishing, just getting more exercise pulling anchors.
Today I did something I don't often do, took a day off to take the grandkids fishing, heading out soon, looks like a great day.
Quite a few boats out this weekend. And per Tom502’s post - water levels were very low for an opener. For me Saturday was the better of the two days for the walleye bite. Caught quite a few 11 - 12 inch fish and a few in the 17” range. All in 4-8 feet and near wood with fatheads - slip bobbers and jigging. I had water temp near 50 - 52 degrees.
Posted on the Facebook page for the TFF Lake Association:
" For those coming to the Turtle Flambeau Flowage for the opening weekend of fishing, please be prepared for much lower than usual water levels. As of this morning, 4/29/24, TFF elevation at 1569.63, which is about 2.4 feet below full pool.
If you have never fished the TFF in late summer or fall, when water levels go down, expect to see lots of new hazards like rock bars and stumps. Please be safe and take it slow when boating in unfamiliar places.
The drought we have been in since July 2023, coupled with the lack of snowpack to help refill lakes in the Northwoods has led to this situation. Also impacting our water levels is the minimal discharge from the Manitowish Waters chain. The Rest Lake dam is currently discharging 50 cfs, and they have 14-16 inches left to refill the Mani Waters chain. Once they refill, more water should start flowing downstream to help refill the TFF.
One last piece of news, as of this afternoon the docks at Springstead landing WERE NOT in. I'm not sure about other DNR landings, but launch times are likey to take significantly longer than usual this weekend.
Best of luck to all who fish this weekend. Please support local businesses, after this past winter, they need all the help they can get.
Be safe out there!!"
Tom502
" For those coming to the Turtle Flambeau Flowage for the opening weekend of fishing, please be prepared for much lower than usual water levels. As of this morning, 4/29/24, TFF elevation at 1569.63, which is about 2.4 feet below full pool.
If you have never fished the TFF in late summer or fall, when water levels go down, expect to see lots of new hazards like rock bars and stumps. Please be safe and take it slow when boating in unfamiliar places.
The drought we have been in since July 2023, coupled with the lack of snowpack to help refill lakes in the Northwoods has led to this situation. Also impacting our water levels is the minimal discharge from the Manitowish Waters chain. The Rest Lake dam is currently discharging 50 cfs, and they have 14-16 inches left to refill the Mani Waters chain. Once they refill, more water should start flowing downstream to help refill the TFF.
One last piece of news, as of this afternoon the docks at Springstead landing WERE NOT in. I'm not sure about other DNR landings, but launch times are likey to take significantly longer than usual this weekend.
Best of luck to all who fish this weekend. Please support local businesses, after this past winter, they need all the help they can get.
Be safe out there!!"
Tom502
Displaying 1 to 10 of 5,622 posts
