Did not hurt the Crappie , Wicklundrh

[hugastump]

Launched from Half Moon lake , headed straight through to Woodburn Lake. Brother wanted to get to a football game. gave us 4 hours to catch fish. water was still very dark ,could not see bottom in the see bottom entrance channel ! lot of floating Weeds , and water temp still 79 degrees . we drifted would pick up a nice blue gill go back to the island an drift again. Got 6 nice Gills that way best combination for me was a green an chartruse 1/32 Jig head with Gulp 1" chatruse an white minnow under a slip bobber 8 Ft., then went to Watson picked up 4 nice Blue gill around the Island . Had one HUGE Crappie beside the boat at Watson , was about to get the net, and he said "Hey that's not the right guy" jumped an spit the jig back at me. Maybe next time...

[wicklundrh]

I might get out on Sunday. I'll let you know how it goes

[hugastump]

Brother and I went this afternoon , the Half Moon lot was half full , Pontoon trailers an Jet Ski's. Water was all tore up in the whole chain. Talked with a friend who was fishing Woodburn all morning was on Patterson when we seen him and there was a group of Jet Skiers tearing up Woodburn. Locals called Sheriff but did no good . Caught 3 Blue Gill (small)l at Round Lake ; one 6" Crappie on Woodburn ; none at Watson ; kept none . Hope you have better luck , I think I will stop fishing after weekends ! wait to Mid week.

[wicklundrh]

I've gotton on the jet Skiers before on Woodburn. I usually don't have to call the Sheriff. They get the hint when I'm done. Plus, I can chase them down. Nice to have a boat that will go faster than they can!

I didn't get out on Sunday. Spent the day putting in two ground blinds for the youth hunt this upcoming weekend. I then put up a new treestand in a reclaimed area, hung from a harness while I trimmed limbs with a chainsaw, planted around a new water hole, and went to a football game to watch my 10 year old daughter cheer. Took her shooting, did my normal evening rounds with my bow, ate dinner and had zero time to get on the water. I did however look at my boat a hand full of times. I think it is mad at me. It has not been out in a few days!

[wicklundrh]

Fished Woodburn last night. Fish were there, just a ton of little ones again. Ended up catching 3 big blue gills on live minnows and 10 crappies. Only one fish over 10 inches. Second trip in a row where we have caught perch. First year we have ever caught any on this lake. Water temp was still too warm and it looks like it is starting to roll over. Bottom of the screen looked like the top of the screen. Fish were only down about 4 feet.

[hugastump]

looks like I will not get out that way before they lower the lakes , got bad case of poison Ivy , and brother going to Germany for vacation 1st of October. Glad to read you caught fish , live minnows sound like the ticket. Thanks for the update

[hugastump]

This afternoon made it from Half moon lake through the channels and the tube into Patterson an Woodburn , perfect afternoon ,found no fish at are favorite spots on Patterson , so went to Woodburn. Passed a boat in the channel they had no fish. So we started around the island , Nothing . West end same , then just outside the pads I saw minnow activity. We drifted into the area. were rigged with slip bobbers 1/16 black jig head with Gulp 1" Minnow,4Ft. depth , caught a small Blue gill on emerald shiner ,then I switched to chartruse bite picked up, then brother switched to lumina white and the Gills went wild. Ended up with 20 Blue gills all 7"-8" and 2 Crappie both 10" .1 Large mouth bass 14" released, all from an area 20Ft. square. Was sunset when we left , lakes were so quite an smooth and the fall colors almost 100% and some one was burning Maple leaves and the smoke hung low over he water , sure smelled good.

[steelguy]

where is this half moon lake?
the only one I have fished is just south of Stanton ,east off m-66
used to get some nice crappie on the west end of it. nothing real big, but plenty of 10-11 fish.

[wicklundrh]

John,

Halfmoon is on the "Bruin" chain of lakes located North East of Chelsea. Buin has a campground and launch on it and Halfmoon has a day park and launch. Both of them have channels that run into Watson Lake. Watson runs into Round Lake, then on to Patterson lake, and finally in to Woodburn lake (known locally as Bass lake). Great chain of lakes for a multitude of species. Summer can be bad because of the Giant crowds of people it draws but woodburn is a no speed activity lake and is usually the best fishing.

Halfmoon is a tough one to fish. Big lake with tons of different depth contours. Some to 80 plus feet. I've never really tried to fish this lake due to the crowds of people. It just has a much better launch than Bruin does.

[hugastump]

Just 3 miles west from HELL.