How’s The Fishing?????

“How’s the fishing?” That’s always been my toughest question to answer. Don’t want to build it up too high when it has been good, and don’t want to discourage people too much when it has been bad. I always knew that whatever the fishing had been like; it would soon change. What I did not always understand was just how fast it does change.

This week we saw two full days of sunshine. The first day brought many 1-2 lb bass to the shallowest water in Black Perch Bay. The second day I counted five fish > five lbs in 15 minutes at the same spot along with lots of smaller fish. The next morning brought clouds, north wind and much cooler temperatures. The fish had once again disappeared.

The cloudy weather even knocked the crappie off of the shallow cover for a couple of days. This weekend with one full day of sunshine under our belt the crappie returned shallow and were biting, the small bass were returning to the shallows, but the bite was extremely tough out on the big lake. One pair of first-time guests caught one fish all day; at least it was a good one – 5 pounds.

Yesterday, during the sunshine I took a pair of fishermen down to Lone Pine Lake and we caught 15 bass up to 2 lbs in ~ 2 hours. Lone Pine is much smaller and shallower than our big lake, but even in that smaller body of water the active fish were five feet deep suspended over 10′ of water. None of our fish were caught in the shallow end of the lake.

The lesson of the week is that it seems to take less time for the fish to recover as the days come off the calendar. At some point, I believe the bass will move shallow regardless of the sunshine. It will prove interesting to see when that is.

This morning it is raining and the forecast hi for today and tomorrow is 48 degrees. Up to 3″ of rain is forecast, so it looks like we will be in for another cycle of cold, high, muddy water. Don Kentner