View all stories in Reports Bass Fishing Report; Madison Chain of Lakes By: Paul Strege Published Date: 9/17/2006 Bass Fishing Report; Madison Chain of Lakes, September 17, 2006 Conditions: Wind SE 10-15 mph Mostly Cloudy Water Temp 66 deg Today I fished Lake Mendota . Thunderstorms threatened early in the morning, but never materialized. Fishing was pretty slow, but I did manage to locate a few smallies. I targeted weed edges in 14-17 feet with hard bottom. Panfish were plentiful, and in those areas sheltered from the wind, they were near the surface. The weed edge produced a nice smallie on a Rapala DT-10. A little while later, I switched gears and moved out from the weed edge, and Carolina Rigged flats in the 17 to 20 foot range. I located a couple additional smallies, and the size was even better yet. A Gambler Ugly Otter in Ripe Melon color boated the heavy 19-incher shown in the picture above. My rig consisted of a 5/0 Owner J-Hook, with a 15 lb fluorocarbon leader. The leader length was about 24 inches. I threw the Otter on a Medium Heavy 7'-0" Rogue Rods Magnum Bass Rod, model MB704C. In total, I only caught 3 smallies, but the smallest was a chunky 16 inches. Although the weather was unstable and the wind made fishing difficult, the weather did start to clear up by noon.   Paul Strege

Sponsors