10-14-2015, 02:31 PM
The beautiful weather convinced me to wait on cutting my lawn, so I took the boat and went back to Joe's Valley on Tuesday. I passed several DWR fisheries employees coming down from Joe's as I went up Straight Canyon. When I got to the boat ramp I found evidence they "picked" the gill nets yesterday morning.
There's little doubt there are large numbers of crayfish in the lake. The crayfish tend to climb the nets to get at the trapped fish and they end up tangled in the nets. I helped with the gill netting at Joe's Valley many times during my tenure and the crayfish are a very big pain in the arse.
I didn't start fishing until 11:30 a.m. and I fished until 3:30 p.m. without so much as a follow from a toothy critter. The water is still quite murky and I would say the visibility is about three feet. Normally Joe's Valley has much clearer water. I didn't even see any muskie yesterday which again I can attribute to the reduced visibility. The water temperature hasn't changed since I was there last Thursday. Surface temps were still around 60 degrees.
I wonder if the lake hasn't "turned over" recently which could make an impact on the muskie feeding patterns. I may try again if the opportunity presents itself. My next fishing may be when I go to Lake Powell to assist with the fall gill netting in November. Three weeks is a long time to go cold turkey but it might have to happen.
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There's little doubt there are large numbers of crayfish in the lake. The crayfish tend to climb the nets to get at the trapped fish and they end up tangled in the nets. I helped with the gill netting at Joe's Valley many times during my tenure and the crayfish are a very big pain in the arse.
I didn't start fishing until 11:30 a.m. and I fished until 3:30 p.m. without so much as a follow from a toothy critter. The water is still quite murky and I would say the visibility is about three feet. Normally Joe's Valley has much clearer water. I didn't even see any muskie yesterday which again I can attribute to the reduced visibility. The water temperature hasn't changed since I was there last Thursday. Surface temps were still around 60 degrees.
I wonder if the lake hasn't "turned over" recently which could make an impact on the muskie feeding patterns. I may try again if the opportunity presents itself. My next fishing may be when I go to Lake Powell to assist with the fall gill netting in November. Three weeks is a long time to go cold turkey but it might have to happen.
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