Scott's Outdoor Blog


Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Heat Up the Peanut Oil

The day's are getting longer, and the temperatures are rising.   The warm water species are just beginning their annual spawning rituals.  And I'm just about ready for some fresh, flaky, cold-water fillets.  Carp take a backseat for the moment, with all my attention focused on bringing home dinner.  It's not my favorite type of fishing by any means, but my stomach doesn't care. 

Friday night a group of us headed out to the Milford dam after the sun went down with hopes of bringing home a limit of Walleye.  With temperatures topping out around 80 degrees the whole week before, they had to be up on the rocks.  Well they weren't.  We fished until about 10:30 and went home.

Saturday morning Bayes and I decided to once again hit one of my all-time favorite fishing holes near the Little Apple.  The moving water allowed the fly rod to be just as effective, if not more, than spinning gear.  The fishing was still fairly slow, but it wasn't long before Bayes was hooked into a deceptive White Bass.  They sure feel like a Saugeye on the end of your line when the water's this cold.



In an effort to keep my fly near the bottom, I began dead-drifting Clouser's back towards me as I faced upstream.  This tactic, which I've had lots of luck with in the past, was quickly depleting my streamer selection.  After losing my last Clouser in the rocks, I tied on a smaller, more realistic shad pattern.  Two casts later and I was yellin' for the net.  Before the net man could wade over to help, I was cradling this fat 21" Saugeye.  It wasn't as big as I thought when I first saw it shaking in the depths, but I was happy to have something for the stringer!



Bayes managed a few more White Bass before the bite slowed as the sun got a little higher.  He ended the day with around 5 Whites and a small Carp.  I only managed one White along with the Saugeye, but was happy to watch Bayes carry my dinner back to the truck.















And the payoff...


2 comments:

  1. Nice saugeye , really cool pics as well.
    I'm ready for some white bass and wiper action for sure...won't be long now.

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  2. Thanks, seems everything is about 2 weeks ahead of schedule. This next month is gonna be a blast!

    ReplyDelete