It's sunny but cold up here in the gem state. Bert and I take walks every afternoon back in the trees along Lake Lowell. Yesterday, I thought to take my camera, and show anyone interested the jungle I fish in the spring.
This beaver house appeared last spring. As you can see it is now high and dry. However, there are some trails leading into the jungle. In another month this area will have 3-4 feet of water covering it, when they start running water down from the mountains into the lake.
I keep the deer trails clear of brush and weeds, and the fish use them for highways. I caught 3 nice bass behind the first log a couple of years ago. The leaning tree in the background fell this past winter. The trails I fish and the deer use are constantly changing as trees die and fall across the trails. I'll be fishing this area in another month and it will be 1-3 feet deep.
Yes, Mr. Geezer, "fishing fever" is pandemic. Hoping to go do my part in an upcoming community project to rid a small "pond" of some pesky smallmouth bass. Seems they have decimated the fish population that provides a lot of fun for the kids. Will let you know how it goes - I've got all these great "old" lures to try out and of course, need to brush up on using my antique tackle. In the meantime, the waves were down a bit so I did some hiking along the lava cliffs with Don K. from TX. Lots of "small-kine" action on light tackle of which the best was a "wahanui" (literally translated as "bigmouth"). I've got my ORCA hat on to make this post legit.
Hi Brian--Sure they are Smallies ? If the pond has a current from an inlet
or is spring fed with an active outlet, then probable. If not then most likely
Largemouth, there are smallies in some of the rivers there I`ve read. Never
did tell me what kind of fish you are posing with. Did you catch ? Or is
that from one of the Photographer`s handy props ? What lure did it hit ?
Yes, they are supposed to be smallies even though it's more of a lake/pond instead of a running stream. The guys that catch them are experienced and some are transplanted "mainlanders" but I'm confident that they know their freshwater species. I'm dying to try Warren and Geezer's tips for fishing in the overgrowth.
Jack, sorry I missed your question but that toad in my avatar photo is a giant trevally, similar to the jack crevalle in TX/FL and amberjack/yellowtail along the west coast.
I've caught smallmouth in Lakes Holcombe & Minnoqua in Wisconsin and Dale Hollow Lake in Tenn. There are almost as many smallmouth as largemouth in these lakes. One experience I had which I will never forget is I worked at a smallmouth hatchery in Front Royal, VA one summer in 1957. It's where I bought my first collectable reel, a Meisselbach 580. I still have it!
Well Brian, you'll have to wait until I return from the Convention. I fished the last time this evening before heading out for NY State.
The beaver house is now in about 18" of water. They were late raising the water level and for the first time in many years I fished all April outside the trees. It was a terrific year to date. I have had several 30+ fish days (2 to 2-1/2 hours in the evening) with several fish over 20". The past week it has been all top water and really great. The lake is now coming up about 2" per day, so it should be a lot different when we return.
This coming week, the FLW is having their Western States Federation Championship on the lake, so it's a good time to be somewhere else. There are fishermen from 10 states all fishing here to be the champion of their state. The winners from all 50 states then fish against each other and the winner of that championship gets to fish with the big boys in the FLW Championship.
Incidentally, the deer have decided that our roses taste better than that brush on the lake and are visiting several times a week. Last Wednesday I saw a Whitetail doe while coming in from fishing. This is the first whitetail I have seen here in 48 years. This area is populated with Mule Deer.
Phil,
I've got about a half dozen whitetail deer that call around my house, garden, flower beds, etc, home. I'd love to ship them to you. Why can't they browse on cedar like elsewhere?
Don Champion
So let me understand all of this. Phil is waiting for water after the first real winter in the great Northwest in about 15 years. I thought all the reservoirs were going to fill up pronto. They must have some control valves on Lake Lowell to delay the fill up.
And we have Brian fishing for Smallmouth in Hawaii. Did I miss something?
Well, the first liar doesn't have a chance. I just returned from Mallard Lake (Remember Columbia Lakes) and while I didn't catch many there was a couple of 4 pounders and the highlight was a real toilet flush strike on a Boy Howdy (the one with the weighted tail and not propellers). It was the real deal 10 lbs plus. Unfortunately she was a bit near sighted and missed the Boy Howdy. Oh well.
Off to Lake George Tuesday with many excellent baits and optimism is spite of the dismal weather forecast. That's why we bring raingear.
