11-27-2011, 08:51 PM
[cool][#0000ff]Haven't been on the water for a couple of weeks. Hadda do it. Figgered the south marina at Willard might be seeing some crappies and wallies movin' inside. Good times in years past.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Plan A....BUSTED. Locked gates across the road at the south marina. Closed again this year after leaving it open last year. Another victim of the State Parks austerity program. Along with closing the restrooms at the north marina too. But you still gotta pay the full day fee. Lucky I got a yearround senior pass.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Launched my tube at the north marina just after 7 am. Purty little sunrise. Flat calm but air temp 22 and water temp 38. Gettin' nigh onto winter. Between the ice right at the edge of the ramp and the slick algae from there out I had a real skating session getting launched. Fortunately I didn't do a triple klutz. Nobody around to score it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Worked out through the channel to the outside. Had to keep tapping my sonar and turning it on and off. Thought it was broken. Probably just forgot how to display fish marks. Not much on the screen and even less on my line. Nary a nudge on either a dragged minnow or a tandem jig rig. Hit several spots near the marina entrance that usually produce this time of year. Nada, zip, zilch.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Worked back inside the marina. Covered a lot of water before seeing a few fish...suspended at about mid depth in 13 feet of water. Switched the tandem tube jigs for a tandem tiny jig crappie rig. Worked the bitty bites from bottom to top and back again. Finally had a solid whack and set the hook into something with shoulders. It took some line off the drag on my light rod. Wiper? Bigger than a crappie and harder fighting than a kitty. Walleye? Nope all around. Carpinski. Or, as I have labeled the picture with the crappie jig in its mouth..."buglemouth crappie".[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Thought the smell of carp was going to be the only thing to dilute the smell of skunk. But then I started to get some tentative pickups on the minnow. Whiffed a couple of them before finally getting the hook into a cookie cutter kitty...the onliest one of the day. Got several more tug and drop inquiries but nothing else got to visit my tube.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I worked around the whole marina...open water and around the docks. Saw some "promising" schools of fish near the docks but they were the lockjaw and raised middle fin type. I did get one poke under a dock and brought up a seegar wallie. But it flipped off the small hook before I could get it to
for the camera.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]That was about as empty as I have ever seen the north marina. Water level is still within a couple of feet of high water and there should be some fish moving in soon. Sometimes they wait until there has been at least some skim ice...or more. But, with the high water I am hopeful for some ice action.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The terns were abundant and active again today, as they were on my last trip a couple of weeks ago. And, as on my last trip, they were gorging on dying baby shad. Hundreds of gulls and terns were dropping to the water all over the lake and slurping up the TINY shadlets. I scooped one off the top of the water and was surprised to see how small it was...only about 1" still. They should all be over 2 to 3 inches long by now. I suspect the prolonged and late spawn is the cause...and I suspect that the dieoff of the babies is due to a combination of cold water and lack of food for their size range. Based upon the constant bird activity during the last month it is easy to project that there have been millions of the little shad leave the lake. Hopefully that will help the fishing by reducing the abundant food supply.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Off the water by about 11 am. Water temp 39 and air temp 39. What a deal.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Plan A....BUSTED. Locked gates across the road at the south marina. Closed again this year after leaving it open last year. Another victim of the State Parks austerity program. Along with closing the restrooms at the north marina too. But you still gotta pay the full day fee. Lucky I got a yearround senior pass.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Launched my tube at the north marina just after 7 am. Purty little sunrise. Flat calm but air temp 22 and water temp 38. Gettin' nigh onto winter. Between the ice right at the edge of the ramp and the slick algae from there out I had a real skating session getting launched. Fortunately I didn't do a triple klutz. Nobody around to score it.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Worked out through the channel to the outside. Had to keep tapping my sonar and turning it on and off. Thought it was broken. Probably just forgot how to display fish marks. Not much on the screen and even less on my line. Nary a nudge on either a dragged minnow or a tandem jig rig. Hit several spots near the marina entrance that usually produce this time of year. Nada, zip, zilch.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Worked back inside the marina. Covered a lot of water before seeing a few fish...suspended at about mid depth in 13 feet of water. Switched the tandem tube jigs for a tandem tiny jig crappie rig. Worked the bitty bites from bottom to top and back again. Finally had a solid whack and set the hook into something with shoulders. It took some line off the drag on my light rod. Wiper? Bigger than a crappie and harder fighting than a kitty. Walleye? Nope all around. Carpinski. Or, as I have labeled the picture with the crappie jig in its mouth..."buglemouth crappie".[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Thought the smell of carp was going to be the only thing to dilute the smell of skunk. But then I started to get some tentative pickups on the minnow. Whiffed a couple of them before finally getting the hook into a cookie cutter kitty...the onliest one of the day. Got several more tug and drop inquiries but nothing else got to visit my tube.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I worked around the whole marina...open water and around the docks. Saw some "promising" schools of fish near the docks but they were the lockjaw and raised middle fin type. I did get one poke under a dock and brought up a seegar wallie. But it flipped off the small hook before I could get it to
for the camera.[/#0000ff][#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]That was about as empty as I have ever seen the north marina. Water level is still within a couple of feet of high water and there should be some fish moving in soon. Sometimes they wait until there has been at least some skim ice...or more. But, with the high water I am hopeful for some ice action.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The terns were abundant and active again today, as they were on my last trip a couple of weeks ago. And, as on my last trip, they were gorging on dying baby shad. Hundreds of gulls and terns were dropping to the water all over the lake and slurping up the TINY shadlets. I scooped one off the top of the water and was surprised to see how small it was...only about 1" still. They should all be over 2 to 3 inches long by now. I suspect the prolonged and late spawn is the cause...and I suspect that the dieoff of the babies is due to a combination of cold water and lack of food for their size range. Based upon the constant bird activity during the last month it is easy to project that there have been millions of the little shad leave the lake. Hopefully that will help the fishing by reducing the abundant food supply.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Off the water by about 11 am. Water temp 39 and air temp 39. What a deal.[/#0000ff]
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