It had been a while since I was out on Mendota, so I was looking forward to the couple hours I would spend on the lake this morning. The fishing, unfortunately, did not cooperate. I expected to find some smallmouths off of offshore weedlines and rock flats. I started out by casting Carolina Rigs and a Drop Shot in the 16-18-foot depths. I caught a couple short smallies to start on a Drop Shot Giggy Stick (a slender hollow finesse worm). I could not catch any fish to surpass the 18” mark, though. After figuring that the offshore bite was somewhat off, I headed to the shoreline. The heavy rains had brought the Mendota water levels to some of the highest I have ever seen. The Dane County Sheriff, in fact, had imposed a slow no-wake zone extending 500-feet from the entire shoreline. Many trees, limbs and tree bases are now in water. With such great targets to cast at, I would surely find some bass, correct? Wrong. All I tricked was a 4 pound northern hiding in a willow tree. I only fished until 9:00am, so I ran out of time to explore other areas

Drop Shot Rig: Rogue Rods Drop Shot rod (DS 693S) with 6 lb Trilene XL and #4 Owner Octopus Hook. Green Pumpkin Red Flake Gambler Giggy Stick.

Carolina Rig: Rogue Rods Magnum Bass MB704C with 15 lb P-Line FloroClear leader and 5/0 Owner J-Hook. Gambler Baby Bacon Rind – Green Pumpkin Color.