With the unusual weather we have been having, all of this rain has really put my farming operations on hold. What normally would be a break of several days between tasks now feels like one thing stacked against another at every turn. In the past I would have put my head down, bit the bullet, and gotten the work done. Lately however, I've simply decided that I can only get done what I can get done and I'm not going to sacrifice some of the things I love to do for some of the things I "think" that I have to do.
Saturday was supposed to be rainy (according to the weather guesser) however we were graced with sunny skies. While planting the garden and playing all the things in my head that needed to get done, I realized that... I really need to just go fishing. I called my dad and he was more than willing to tag along.
We picked up some minnows and launched a little after 3:30 from Bruin lake. Although I know where the crappies "used to" spawn, the last few years have been unpredictable. If the fish are in spawn mode, then you won't find any of them in Woodburn lake. If however the water is high, cool, and we have had a ton of rain, the fish are usually in Woodburn and are not going to spawn.
Although I fished every area on Woodburn, there were not any fish. Round lake produced the same. By process of elimination I was able to surmize that the fish were in fact spawning and I needed to head to the "ace in the hole". One cast to the island on Watson told me everything I needed to know. We proceded to give them the business for the next two hours. We kept 30 fish and released several others. When leaving I took note that there was 100's of marks on my graph in 10 foot of water located in the 6 foot range. I would later learn that these were the males getting ready to come in to the beds. Of the 30 fish we caught, 28 were females. The larger females were spawned out with the remaining 23 being full of eggs and probably ready within the next 24 to 36 hours. Essentially, the males will move in shortly after and it will be a slam fest for a few more days.
All fish were caught in around 3 foot of water on a sand flat that was close to a deep water drop off. You could sight fish them. I used a weighted bobber (for casting) a 3 foot leader, and a number 4 gold aberdean hook with zero weight. The key was a lively minnow that could swim with the hook. Dad didn't quite figure this out until the end. That said, he did catch this 14 1/8in master angler. We had 5 fish over 12 inches and the rest of the fish we kept (except for a few smaller gill hooked fish) were over 10 inches.
Attachment 343609Attachment 343610Attachment 343611Attachment 343613
