Blame it on the skiers

There was a tree that had either hung on the bottom or someone weighted down on the bottom in 25 feet of water at the edge of a drop off down to 35 feet of water. It was out in the lake in an area where alot of ski boats like to ski, but they had plenty of water to get around it. This was a great crappie producing tree. I caught some big crappie on it, had two 15 inchers and several 13 inchers just last week off it. I have been fishing it the last few weeks and everytime I have been fishing it, ski boats have came uncomfortably close to me and washed me on top of the tree and spooked the fish off. The tree stuck up out of the water about 3 feet to 5 feet. I went to fish it this week and it was gone. I thought maybe someone had broken it off under the surface, but I could never locate it on the depthfinder. I think some of the skiers maybe pulled it out. I was very dissapointed to see it gone. I plan to sink some pallets or something in the same area to see if they produce as well.

You haven't had any storms or rapid up/down water level changes have
you? Figure you would have taken that into account, but just a thougt.
We have quite a few old tree trunks at Bay Springs that seem to be floating
with maybe just the root wad heavy enough to lay on the bottom - they
get re-arranged pretty often in rough weather. Darned near popped one
several years back, I had got used to it being here, and all of a sudden it
was there, about 250 feet from where it used to be. Saw it as I went by
it about 20 mph, scared the stuffing out of me! It was about a foot and
a half diameter, and sticking up about a foot out of the water. Oh heck,
I like the idea of blaming it on the skiers too! :)

The weather has been in the lower to upper 90's with no storms for about 2 weeks. The weather didnt play a part, someone moved it. It may not have been a skier though, that is just what I assumed.

What I like that the Corp of Engineers has done on our 3500 acre lake is put up No-Ski bouys across the entire lake on the lower 1/3 towards the dam. The skiers are required to ski from the dam up the lake but not beyond these bouys.

This end has the deeper water but does not have as many creek channels running into the main river channel.The crappie fishermen are undisturbed by the skiers and waverunners and the fishermen are not in the way of the skiers.

I do have several cane beds located in this ski zone but I thought enough to put them out as to not be a hazard to the people skiing. If I wanted to fish one of my tops in this end of the lake I go there first thing in the morning as most skiers don't start up until around 10:00 in the morning. Then I simply go up the lake on the other side of the No-Ski bouys.

We are very fortunate to have great people in our local Corp of Engineers office who truly listen to what the fishermen have to say. :)


CATCH A BIG-UN

You Are Lucky To Have Someone With Common Sense ---

Around Noon The Fishin Is Ovev Here,jet Skis--cigar Boats--water Skiers --the Whole Mess
Its The Only Water In Central Il. That Has Much Fishin So We Have To Put Up With It
Its A 90 Minute Drive So You Have To Get Up Real Early To Get Any Fishin In

Quote:

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Originally Posted by slabbandit

What I like that the Corp of Engineers has done on our 3500 acre lake is put up No-Ski bouys across the entire lake on the lower 1/3 towards the dam. The skiers are required to ski from the dam up the lake but not beyond these bouys.

This end has the deeper water but does not have as many creek channels running into the main river channel.The crappie fishermen are undisturbed by the skiers and waverunners and the fishermen are not in the way of the skiers.

I do have several cane beds located in this ski zone but I thought enough to put them out as to not be a hazard to the people skiing. If I wanted to fish one of my tops in this end of the lake I go there first thing in the morning as most skiers don't start up until around 10:00 in the morning. Then I simply go up the lake on the other side of the No-Ski bouys.

We are very fortunate to have great people in our local Corp of Engineers office who truly listen to what the fishermen have to say. :)


CATCH A BIG-UN

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I"ve been wishing they would do something like that on the lake I normally fish. I wonder how that came about. Petitioning or just something the COE came up with on their own.

Fiddlefarter I really don't know how it came about. It's been that way for as long as I can remember. This is the only Corp of Engineers lake that I know of set up this way in this area of the state.

One thing I know is that a lot of the local fishermen years ago got together and formed the Nimrod Sportsman Society and worked closely with the Corp of Engineers to build brushpiles, clean camping areas, and they even dedicated a mile stretch of hwy 60 along the most visable part of the lake to be periodically picked up and cleaned by the Nimrod Sportsman Society.

The Corp of Engineers are always planning something to help our aging lake. Built back in the 1940's.


CATCH A BIG-UN

Quote:

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Originally Posted by slabbandit

What I like that the Corp of Engineers has done on our 3500 acre lake is put up No-Ski bouys across the entire lake on the lower 1/3 towards the dam. The skiers are required to ski from the dam up the lake but not beyond these bouys.

This end has the deeper water but does not have as many creek channels running into the main river channel.The crappie fishermen are undisturbed by the skiers and waverunners and the fishermen are not in the way of the skiers.

I do have several cane beds located in this ski zone but I thought enough to put them out as to not be a hazard to the people skiing. If I wanted to fish one of my tops in this end of the lake I go there first thing in the morning as most skiers don't start up until around 10:00 in the morning. Then I simply go up the lake on the other side of the No-Ski bouys.

We are very fortunate to have great people in our local Corp of Engineers office who truly listen to what the fishermen have to say. :)


CATCH A BIG-UN

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I wish they would do something like that on Truman, not just for us fishermen but for the skiers and tubers also. I know they would be scared to death if they would slow down and look at what is just under the surface where they are skiing.