I've lost the talent

Brother and I went to a new lake for us with word that it was loaded with crappie an gills. Was on the water at 7AM , a very photo perfect little pond. lush lilly pads ,areas of shore line brush, remains of old wooden docks. Light fog over the water and barn swallows low to the water catching bugs , and QUIET. Brother told my to bring a fly rod as he was told there was a lot of surface feeding going on.. We worked the Pads...Weed line... Drop offs...Points ....Beat the still glass like water to a foam;rubber spider;cork poppers,muddler minnow, woolly buggers, grasshopper, ant....slip bobber; minnows ;crickets ;red worms, jigs with GULP. WE WERE SKUNED! Humin'bird painted fish, vertical jigged , small spoons .crank baits, all the time fish alarm going off. Their are fish there, we watched as every 40 to 50 minutes a Fish Hawk would dive out of the blue sky and grab talons full of fish and fly off... End of day Hawk 6, Humans 0.. A pretty day of fishing and being with the kid brother.

I wouldn't write that lake off just yet. Sounds like a gem. I've fished a few that I didn't do well on only to go back and do really well

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The only hope is to try it again this fall , hopefully the allge will be down. Had a 1/16th yellow Jig head ,with a GULP luma glow white minnow and when lowered into the lake was out of sight in 6 inches. The worry is this is the second trip in a row on different lakes where I have not had a bite , not even a mosquito or deer fly ! My brother caught a few small gills last outing and I have not heard the end of it .... I must find away to channel " THE FORCE"

It seems like the algae is worse this year than I can remember any other year.

I am wondering if it is due to the sunny ,hot summer here in lower Michigan. Have not had the numbers of hard thunderstorms in areas to stir up the waters , the lakes I have been on that have had storm damage in the area seem to have better depth visability, when I expected them to be muddy. Lakes we have fished in the past years just do not seem to produce the quanity or quality of fish. It has taught me two lessons , just cause you can find them on the depth finder ,you can't make them bite. No use fishing where there is no sign of fish activity either on the finder , surface birds or pad poppin' . A day of Fishing is STILL BETTER than work , and visits to the doctors office, even if you do not get a bite..

We had bad algae way down here in 'Sippi also.

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Another possible issue might be the spawning. If you look back at posts over the last couple of years we have had some extreme weather issues right around the time of "normal" spawning. As a result, many of us are catching fish that still have eggs in them in late June. Well after the spawn is supposed to be over. This has been the case the last couple of years. Usually it means the fish did not spawn (certain ones anyway) and the eggs will desolve or drop and be useless. This might explain the decline in several lakes over the last year.

Or you just had one of those days. Next time could be EPIC! if you are seeing loads of fish on ID, should be there. bite just didn't turn on at that time.

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Originally Posted by wicklundrh

Another possible issue might be the spawning. If you look back at posts over the last couple of years we have had some extreme weather issues right around the time of "normal" spawning. As a result, many of us are catching fish that still have eggs in them in late June. Well after the spawn is supposed to be over. This has been the case the last couple of years. Usually it means the fish did not spawn (certain ones anyway) and the eggs will desolve or drop and be useless. This might explain the decline in several lakes over the last year.

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I think you have the most likely conclusion.

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Originally Posted by hugastump

I think you have the most likely conclusion.

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I've been thinking about this for some time now. The last couple of years, during the spawning season, we have been in the middle of tournament walleye fishing so I have not gotten to witness a lot of it first hand. I have studied alot of what John (Steelguy) has said in regards to what he witnesses on the lake. Specifically, I was looking at the times. Then, when Crappie1 and Crappie 2 (Larry and Sandy) were talking about catching fish full of eggs, followed by Jerry (spartan Nation) and Ginger Beard the Pirate AKA Aaron. All of them had similar sightings the last few years. Especially in mid to late June.

For lower Michigan, that is pretty late. For mid Michigan, that would be about the right time (up by Hardy and further North towards Lake Cadillac). Unfortunately, they were talking about our southern lakes.

The last few years have been mild winters with warm ups happeneing in February (this year it topped 70). Then in April (normally showers) we had dry conditions. In May, it was wet like April should have been. In fact, I think by my house, we had 20 days of consecutive rain. So, with that you have water tempuratures up and down, runoff in the water, spawning grounds being higher than usual. All of that plays a part.

On the flip side, the fish that we are catching have been higher quality (in some lakes) but less of them. It might take a year or more to stabilize

One other thing to consider. This might coencide: A few years back, walleye fishing (especially giant fish in the 12 to 15 lb range) were common. Over the last few years, that has taken a nose dive and people are beginning to make noise wondering why there are so many fish. They think something is wrong. The actuallity of it all is that there is NOTHING wrong. We had a banner spawn a few years before those bumper crop years which drove up the overall average of quality fish. Now things are more inline with "normal". The problem however is the people. During those "banner" years you had more and more people starting to get in to the sport. What was "normal" for them, was way above average for the guys that have been doing it for years. Now, they all think something is wrong when in fact, we just went back to an average or slightly below average spawn.

The same can be said for deer. I beleive there was an article in the last edition of Woods N Water. Many people took to the woods for the first time about 5 years ago. The deer herd was at an all time high and bag limits were pretty liberal. These were "new" hunters for the most part so "normal" for them was exceptional for the seasoned veteran. Last year and the year before, the hunting in terms of numbers, has declined greatly. As a result, many people are complaining and wondering what is wrong. The truth is that there is nothing wrong. They just happened to not experience the real "normal" and instead, they became interested during the height of an all time high.