Fishing at Mantua reservoir is improving . . .

[10_ft_Jon_boat]

I decided to try shore fishing at Mantua this morning after a 3 year break.  Started about 7:30 a.m. and the action was almost constant.  Using two poles, each baited with pieces of night crawlers and fished on the bottom, I caught bluegill, largemouth bass, and yellow perch (no trout).  The big surprise to me was that there are two widely separated size classes of bluegill, the first being 6 1/2 inches in length and shorter (landed 17) and the second being 10 inches (landed four).  The bluegill pictured is 10 1/8 inches with the other three large ones being almost identical, making me wonder if they might possibly be siblings.  Also caught four or five largemouth bass in the 12 to 13 inch range.  The bass are stocky, healthy, and put up a good fight.  Most of the perch were under nine inches.  All fish were released with the exception of one large bluegill and a fatally hooked perch.  I didn't want to take a bunch home and find that they were all parasitized with white worms, which was the case three years ago.  Fortunately this one had no parasites.  Quite a bit of moss is showing up but fortunately the fish seem to avoid it and stay in the more open areas.

[wiperhunter2]

I decided to try shore fishing at Mantua this morning after a 3 year break.  Started about 7:30 a.m. and the action was almost constant.  Using two poles, each baited with pieces of night crawlers and fished on the bottom, I caught bluegill, largemouth bass, and yellow perch (no trout).  The big surprise to me was that there are two widely separated size classes of bluegill, the first being 6 1/2 inches in length and shorter (landed 17) and the second being 10 inches (landed four).  The bluegill pictured is 10 1/8 inches with the other three large ones being almost identical, making me wonder if they might possibly be siblings.  Also caught four or five largemouth bass in the 12 to 13 inch range.  The bass are stocky, healthy, and put up a good fight.  Most of the perch were under nine inches.  All fish were released with the exception of one large bluegill and a fatally hooked perch.  I didn't want to take a bunch home and find that they were all parasitized with white worms, which was the case three years ago.  Fortunately this one had no parasites.  Quite a bit of moss is showing up but fortunately the fish seem to avoid it and stay in the more open areas.

Nice LM bass and a great gill, thanks for sharing your report and pics with us. Good to know the fish are doing good after that big die off last year, when they treated it for the moss or whatever it was, and it sounds like the treatment didn't work.

[Cowboypirate]

That is some really good news. Txs for sharing.

[Jig-fisher]

That is a great bluegill!  I'd love to catch a bunch of those. Thanks for sharing.

[Kent]

Definitely an encouraging report. I was thinking of taking my three-year-old great grandson to Jordanelle tomorrow, but Mantua should be far less crowded. Do you know if they charge for launching these days at Mantua and if yes how much?

[wiperhunter2]

They are raising prices everywhere, so the price could have gone up but it use to be around $7, I bet it is at least $10 or more by now.