How bad is Lake Mattoon? Chocolate Milk Looking I am sure?
No, not the blues singer ( I love his blues) but the water in the lake I fish the most. The river bottoms below the dam are flooded, I would imagion the lake is draining the maximun amout of water. I reckon we had about 2.5 "s of rain. And, it hailed some. The local tornado sirens were wailing. It will probably ruin the crappie and most other fish spawns. It will be at least a couple of weeks settling.
The sad part about it, it is supposed to happen again Friday night. Doh
How bad is Lake Mattoon? Chocolate Milk Looking I am sure?
thats what he is talking about is mattoon. However, you can still catch fish in muddy water. And im not sure how the muddy water will ruin a fish spawning.
Red, I will bet you you my Muddy Waters cd '' Hard Again"" that Johnny Winter produced. That the guys that can catch Crappie on a regular basis won't be affected that much. They know the routine and Adapt.
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're goin' and hook up with them later.
birdman! c'mon, of course muddy water affects spawning! they can't see what there doing. hard to believe rain affects fishing the way it does considering the fish are already wet!
Dag gumit I knew I was missing something!! I guess it is kinda hard to see at night sometimes when trying to find the mistress for some uh...well... :D
Tornado sirens been goin off so much down here the crappy gotta b deaf by now!!!
Wish y'all the best up north!!!
Some of you guys lack of experiance really shows on your messages. Anyone that thinks the silt on the eggs doesn't affect the spawn doesn't see the obvious. Any fish biologist student should know that muddy water and silt will damage the spawn. Plus, the fluctuating water tables will also affect the spawn. They may lay their eggs in water that will be dry ground a couple of weeks later.
As for which lake I fish, I would bet all of the lakes in the area will have the same problems. And, I expect the crappie fishin' this Spring will be poor because after looking at the weather forcasts, it looks like more of the same for the next week. I have noticed LSG is not fishin' the muddy waters.
Fortunately, I fish for catfish also. They don't spawn until June and they bite very good in muddy water. They don't feed by sight like crappie do.
As for Muddy Waters the bluesman, I saw him live in Decatur once. He put on a great show. I still like Johnny Winters and have liked him since I was Birdy's age. They say he has a demon tattooed on his back. He may have a monkey on his back also.
I am running and looking now. Muddy everywhere north end and lake is rising three feet in three days and it is still going to rain all next week. Main lake is clear for now and I am back fishing tree tops on deep drops. As for the spawn it is still a few weeks out so maybe we will be OK. In the spring we tend to over think this whole process. KISS method. Look for the best water color you can find that is fishable. Look for the warmest water temps you can find and most important look for the food.