Young Bass Tournament Fishermen

There are a lot of very good young bass tournament fishermen in the Griffin area. For some reason Georgia has not produced many top level tournament pros but maybe these young fishermen will start a trend and make it to the top. A couple already are there.

I have enjoyed doing articles with several of them, and one fishes with me in club tournaments. Jordan McDonald from Jackson made the regional tournaments on two trails, the Bulldog BFL and the Weekend Series, in the past couple of weeks. He qualified to go to the next level through fishing state tournaments. And he won the point standings for no boaters in the Weekend Series.

At the two regionals he will be fishing he has a chance to win a boat and also to move on to the next level. And there are cash prizes in them, too.

Cody Stahl is in high school here and he and his partner on the state high school tournament last year then placed tenth in the national high school tournament. I did an article that is in the current October Georgia Outdoor News magazine on Lake Oconee and he showed me how good he is. His knowledge of bass fishing and his techniques are excellent for someone his age.

Byron Kenney is from Griffin, fished with the University of Georgia college team, and is doing great in the qualifying tournament for the bigger trails. Last weekend he won the two day BFL tournament at Oconee as a boater, the same one Jordan placed 9th as a no boater.

A couple of years ago I did an article with Dawson Lentz. Dawson is from Peachtree City, went to North Alabama College where he was on the fishing team and they won several big college trail tournaments. Dawson was a very good youth angler while growing up and will try some of the big trails next year.

Micah Frazier is from Newnan and he was the youngest angler to ever do so when he won a BFL when he was only 16, beating all the adult fishermen in that tournament. He is now fishing the BASS Elite Trail. As its name implies, it is the very top trail in BASS, and he had to do well in a lot of the lower trails to qualify for the Elite Trail. And he is doing pretty well on it.

Last Monday I went to Lake Sinclair to fish with Clayton Batts for a November Georgia Outdoor News article. Clayton is from Lizella near Macon and is now fishing the FLW Tour trail, the top trail for that organization. He worked his way up through the BFLs and FLW Rayovac trail to qualify for it and has been successful on the top trail.

We started fishing at 7; 30 and stayed until 5:30, and the whole time Clayton threw a top water plug. He landed a 5.6 pound largemouth and lost two more almost as big when they just pulled off the hook. He also caught five or six bass in the two pound range. His best five landed weighed over 13 pounds.

In my club tournaments it usually takes less than ten pounds to win, often a lot less. And the last time I fished a tournament at Sinclair I didn’t catch a keeper in eight hours. Not only does Clayton know the lake very well, he lived in a cabin on it while in college, he knows how to catch fish.

It is hard for me to fish with just one thing all day like he did. I keep thinking I need to try different things to find out what the bass want. But Clayton, and other pros, have so much confidence they will stick with just one bait, knowing it will work.

Clayton told me he wanted only five bites in a tournament, if they were the right ones. Pros like him concentrate on big fish. They know catching keepers won’t win their tournaments so they hope to land a five fish limit with each weighing at least three pounds, rather than dozens of one pound fish.

Tournament fishing is very competitive and youth and stamina help a lot! Clayton didn’t even have a front seat on his boat, he stood up casting all day. But he is half my age. I cannot stand up for long before my back hurts too much. And Clayton was able to twitch his rod all day to make the topwater bait work right.

If I try to fish a bait like that, one that requires a lot of hand and arm work, I give out after an hour or so. But I can always make excuses for not catching fish, from my age to the weather to the time of day. But even when I think the bass are not biting, somebody will catch them, even in our club tournaments,

Fishing the big trails is hard work. Clayton left Tuesday to drive to Arkansas to fish a Central Open, hoping to get enough points to qualify for the BASS Elite series. He says he will fish both trails as much as possible.

To fish even one trail you may have to fish a tournament in Florida then take off to California for one a week later, then come back to Kentucky for one a week after that. All that travel makes it very hard to have a family, or much of a life beyond fishing. But for the top pros, bass fishing is all that matter.

Forty years ago I had the dream of being a pro fisherman. I am way too old for that dream now, but it is nice to know some local youth are living that dream or working up to it.

Wildlife Photography in Wildlife Refuges

A Lens on Nature: Four Ace Photographers and the Wildlife Refuges They Love

EDITOR’S NOTE: If you love wildlife photography, you’ll enjoy this story from the U.S. Department of Fish & Wildlife Services.
from The Fishing Wire

Logos

Wait! Think before you aim that camera at a national wildlife refuge. It may be habit-forming. That’s been true for four standout nature photographers – each hooked on prowling a favorite refuge in hopes of locking eyes with a bird or fox, capturing light and color, and probing the mystery of our animal natures.

All four photographers – April Allyson Abel at Prime Hook Refuge, Delaware; Quincey Banks at Eufala Refuge, Alabama; Marvin De Jong at Bosque del Apache Refuge, New Mexico; and Mia McPherson at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Utah – say photo opportunities abound on refuges.

“Why are national wildlife refuges great places to take wildlife photos?” asks De Jong. “The obvious answer is because there’s wildlife there. There’s an emphasis on wildlife. But it’s more than that. You frequently have good access to animals and birds. You have a wildlife trail or a road. That’s the great thing about Bosque del Apache Refuge. You can stand on the road and have sandhill cranes being themselves just 15 yards away.”

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico.

Adds McPherson, “Wildlife refuges are just amazing. That’s where the habitat is. It’s refuges’ job to manage [them]…and they do an excellent job of it.”

National wildlife refuges, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are part of Americas’ rich natural heritage. They have been so since 1903, when President Theodore Roosevelt established the first national wildlife refuge on Pelican Island, Florida.

National wildlife refuges offer chances to see an almost unparalleled array of wildlife, including many of the nation’s most beloved and spectacular species. Wildlife photography brings individuals and families close to nature, which research has shown to be physically and emotionally beneficial. Find a refuge near you: www.fws.gov/refuges.

April Allyson Abel

If you want to see the world through April Abel’s eyes, rise early. You want to beat the sun to Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge on the Delaware coast so you’re in place when the light show begins. “There are two kinds of people in this world,” laughs Abel. “There’s the kind who say, ‘You’re gonna shoot at sunrise again?’ and the kind who say, ‘Can I come with you?'”

On a frosty March morning, she patrols the bank of a refuge impoundment in a thermal vest and jeans (no jacket, no gloves) and trains her lens on the herons and avocets feeding in the shallows. A heron snags an eel, shakes it, then downs it. “Got it,” says Abel, like a sportscaster offering color commentary on a play. “Now a little sip of water to finish it off.”

She keeps shooting as the sun rises through the clouds, turning the indigo sky to purple and orange. The refuge, she says, “is just so beautiful, and the still water makes a mirror for the birds.”

Abel took up digital photography at age 40 after a life change, spending a year documenting the seasons at Prime Hook marsh. She worked freelance as a writer and photographer. Her stories and photos appeared in local newspapers and magazines, and she began racking up photo prizes. Today, she works as exhibits coordinator for Delaware State Parks.

A favorite photo she took at Prime Hook shows a heron about to close its open bill on a tiny fish, for a moment suspended in mid-air. “I watched the heron fishing for about 10, 15 minutes. It caught one fish after another, tossing them back like a kid eating popcorn. I kept shooting frame after frame, and this one showed the fish perfectly balanced mid-air, about to be eaten.”

When it’s too cold in winter for even her to shoot, Abel knows what to do: “spend time learning about bird species and habitat. So you learn what to anticipate in the way of bird behavior and can get a better shot.”

Quincey Banks

Eighteen years ago, Quincey Banks was photographing his son in Eufala, Alabama, when the toddler balked. “He started saying ‘no’ when I was trying to take pictures of him running around the house. So the next best thing was to go take pictures of stuff I saw outside,” says Banks.

He began taking his camera when he went hunting. Then, to get close-ups of wood ducks, he built a floating blind of Styrofoam covered with brush. Launching it before dawn, he waited beneath it, wet and shivering with cold.

The discomfort paid off. “You go from spooking the birds to having them within 30 or 40 feet. And for a wildlife photographer, to get a wild animal such as a wood duck within 30 feet, that’s nirvana. I mean that’s just crazy. From that point on, I was hooked. … I didn’t care about anything except photographing those birds.”

For Bank, nature photography is about “being outside and seeing what God made. Every time I go out and do nature photography, there’s always something different to see.”

He likes Eufala National Wildlife Refuge for its wide range of habitats and species, from wading birds to bobcats. “The refuge has so many different land types within that 19,000-acre area that I can photograph almost any type of animal that I might see in Alabama.”

He tells beginning photographers: “Learn as much about the animal you’re trying to photograph as you possibly can. A good nature photographer is also a good naturalist. …If you know how the animal is gonna act, or where it’s gonna be, it’s easier to be prepared to get that photograph when it happens.”

Marvin De Jong

What does Marvin De Jong like most about wildlife photography?

“It’s satisfying. It’s challenging. Birds are especially challenging because they don’t just sit and look at you. It’s a lot more exciting than wedding photography.”

“My first priority is to get an animal in [a photo],” he says. “I like a photo to tell a story. It’s good if there’s some action. If I can get a green heron catching a minnow that tells you a little story about the bird. If I can get the bird singing with its mouth open, taking off, landing,” he says, that heightens a viewer’s interest.

De Jong turned to photography in retirement. He and his wife were already volunteering at wildlife refuges such as Santa Ana in Texas and Bosque del Apache in New Mexico. “I like the outdoors. I like birds. They sort of came together.”

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is his favorite refuge for wildlife photography. “I like things to be in the air. Flying birds are better than birds standing out in the water. And New Mexico is a great place for some of best sunrises and sunsets I’ve ever seen. The cranes fly out in the morning and fly back in the evening, so that’s when you’re going to be out there.”

Quick thinking helped him snag a favorite refuge shot. He’d just stepped out of the car when suddenly “there was this bobcat. Unfortunately, the camera’s in the car. So I opened the car door and of course immediately you get the noise alerting you the keys are in the ignition…I grabbed the camera, and I had it on the bobcat, but he was going away, so I was gonna get a butt shot. And so I said, ‘Hey, cat.’ He turned and looked at me, and that’s when I got the shot.”

“You’ve got to get the eyes of the animal. If you don’t have the eyes, you don’t have a photo.”

Mia McPherson

Utah resident Mia McPherson took up bird and nature photography in 2004 to heal from a personal loss and illness. Snapping nature photos was a natural extension of activities she loved.

“I like to be out in nature, listen to the birds, be exposed to different types of habitats,” says McPherson. “It’s quiet. It’s peaceful. I just relax and enjoy myself.” She honed her skill enough that two of her photos were chosen for a National Geographic pocket guide to birds of North America.

Nature photography isn’t easy. “You have to have a lot of patience,” says McPherson. “You can sit for an hour or two waiting for a particular bird behavior. Thirty seconds one way or another could make the different between a good shot and a great shot. Dealing with the elements is an issue, too. In summer, it gets very hot and buggy. In the winter, it gets extremely cold. Making sure you don’t get stuck in a snowbank: that’s a challenge, too.”

Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, an hour and a half from her home, is among her favorite places to shoot.

“They have a spectacular auto tour route where you can drive around water impoundment area and see all kinds of birds from short eared owls and northern harriers to waterfowl and shorebirds.

“In summer it’s inundated with nesting shorebirds. One of the most spectacular sights is watching American white pelicans feed. In winter, the calls of thousands and thousands of tundra swans echo all over the place. It’s a magical sound.”

A favorite shot of hers shows two western grebes skating across water at Bear River Refuge. “That’s called rushing and that’s their courtship display.” The birds go through a preliminary ritual “so you can say, okay, okay, there’s going to be a rush now. But it’s definitely a challenge to get the photo because this routine they go through doesn’t always end in rushing. So you have to wait and wait and wait. And hopefully they will rush, but they don’t always. A car might come by or a raptor fly over, and that ends it for them.”

Video: https://youtu.be/bcUaUfWAo78
A Lens on Nature: April Abel Photographs National Wildlife Refuges

Flickr album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwshq/sets/72157656107514654
A Lens on Nature: Four ace photographers and the national wildlife refuges they love.

Tips on wildlife photography: http://www.fws.gov/refuges/photography/

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service works with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. For more information, visit www.fws.gov, or connect with us through any of these social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.

How To Catch Bass In the Altamaha River Basin

Bass in the Altamaha River Basin

Some waters just seem to produce better bass fishing. The Ocmulgee River, whose waters produced the world record bass, and the Oconee River join to form the Altamaha River. The lakes on the two rivers upstream are varied but excellent bass fishing waters, and the big river downstream of the junction is full of hungry bass.

On the upper end of the basin, Lake Jackson on the very upper end of the Ocmulgee and Lakes Sinclair and Oconee on the Oconee River are popular destinations for bass fishing. Although there are some similarities, all three lakes have their own types of cover and structure.

The Altamaha River itself can be intimidating if you don’t fish big rivers much but it can be excellent if you take the time to learn to fish it. It is very different from the lakes but all four places are definitely worth fishing right now.

Lake Jackson

Jackson, dammed in 1911, is one of our oldest lakes and it covers 4750 acres. The dam is on the Ocmulgee River downstream of where it forms at the junction of the South, Yellow and Alcovy Rivers. Its rocky shorelines are covered with docks and the lake has a reputation for big largemouth, but it is also full of spotted bass.

Kip Carter is a well known professional bass fisherman and Jackson is his home lake since grew up on it and lives nearby now. He knows it well and this time of year is one of his favorites to fish it.

Bass fishing on Jackson in the spring centers on both the bass and shad spawn. Bass will move into spawning areas in waves, starting in March and continuing through April. Since the bass don’t all spawn at one time you can catch pre spawn, post spawn and spawning bass right now. Kip says you can find bass on the bed almost any day in April.

The shad spawn in April provides some of the best fishing of the year. When the shad move to seawalls and riprap to spawn the bass concentrate on them, eating their fill every day. They are so voracious they will often eat until you can see the tails of the last shad they swallowed sticking out of their throat.

A wide variety of baits will catch bass now on Jackson. While the shad are spawning a white buzz bait or white spinnerbait with silver blades is definitely a go-to bait. Use a one quarter ounce bait for most fishing, but go to a half ounce spinnerbait if you want to concentrate on bigger bass.

Early in the morning you will see the shad schools running the seawalls and riprap. Points on the main lake are best, especially if the channel swings in by them, but secondary points back in the coves are also good. You should move fast until you find the shad spawning then slow down.

Throw your bait right on the bank and work it out at a 45 degree or less angle. The bass will be right on the bank early. After the sun gets on the water back off and slow roll your spinnerbait, covering deeper water where the bass are holding after the shad back off the bank.

Also try a jerk bait after the sun comes up. Cast near the bank and work it back in a jerk – jerk – pause action, making it look like an injured shad trying to get back to the school. Shad colors work best.

During the day Kip targets shallow cover lake brush piles, blowdowns and docks in the coves. A brown jig with a brown or pumpkinseed trailer is one of the best baits to fish around this cover and a three eights to one quarter ounce jig will fall slowly and not get hung as much. It will also draw strikes from any bass on the bed you spot.

A weightless worm will get bit better than just about any other bait, day to day, this time of year. Kip sticks with natural colors rather than the bright worms some favor and watches his line for the bites rather than just watching the bait. He says the natural colors will draw more strikes than the brighter colors.

If you like worm fishing both a Carolina or jig head worm will catch fish. And they are better for fishing a little deeper. Try a Baby Brush Hog on the Carolina rig and a straight worm like a Trick worm on the jig head. Stick with natural colors like green pumpkin and fish rocky points and creek channel drops with them.

Lake Oconee

Lake Oconee is on the upper Oconee River just south of I-20 and is one of our newest lakes. It has it everything bass like with defined channels, deep points, riprap, docks, roadbeds, grass beds and standing timber. With a slot limit protecting 11 to 14 inch long bass it produces a lot of them that size that are fun to catch. It also means there are a lot of bass longer than 14 inches in the lake.

Roger McKee guides on Oconee and does well in a lot of tournaments there. He says the bite centers around the bass spawning movement and the shad spawn on Oconee like it does on Jackson.

A spinnerbait and crankbait are good baits to locate the bass on Oconee and also catch the bigger bass needed in tournaments. Roger will fish both baits fast, looking for active fish. He says he would choose a crankbait if he could use only one bait on Oconee right now.

Use white spinnerbaits with a gold and silver blade in clear water but go to more chartreuse in the bait as it gets more stained. Shad colored crankbaits are better in clear water but also use more chartreuse baits in stained to muddy water.

Many big bass spawn on Oconee in March so they are on an active feeding spree now, and there will also be pre spawn bass moving in as well as bass on the beds. Secondary points in the coves and smaller creeks are the key to both pre and post spawn bass and Roger will hit as many as he can. By fishing his crankbait or spinnerbait fast he can cover a lot of water, and fast moving baits make it harder for a bass to see it is a fake and will draw reaction strikes.

The very back of the cuts and pockets behind these secondary points are where the bass spawn, so look to them for big females on the bed. Roger says some of the biggest bass of the year can be caught off the beds if you have the patients to soak a jig and pig or worm in them.

A weightless worm will also catch fish back in the pockets now. Fish it around any cover like stumps, brush, blowdowns and grass. Try working it fast just under the surface first but it you don’t get hit slow it down. Jerk it and make it dart, then let it sink. Watch your line and if you see any tick or movement set the hook.

Roger also fishes a jig and pig and Carolina rig on Oconee. The Carolina rig is good on the secondary points, especially if you get a couple of bites on fast moving spinnerbaits or crankbaits on one. Slow down and work it with a worm on a Carolina rig.

Fish the jig and pig on the same points, but also throw it around brush, blowdowns and stumps. Fish a brown jig and trailer in clear water but go to a black and blue jig and trailer in stained water. Work the bait slowly with hops on the points and jiggle it on wood cover.

During the shad spawn all the bass on the lake, unless they are locked in on the bed, will feed on them. Shad prefer hard cover like riprap and seawalls to lay their eggs seawalls with riprap are all over the lake. Fish your spinnerbait fast on them early in the morning close to the rocks then slow it down some as the sun comes up.

Lake Sinclair

Lake Sinclair backs up to the Oconee Dam but varies a good bit from it since it is an older lake. Many coves have grass like water willow in them and the docks tend to be older and have more brush piles around them. There is no slot limit on bass and Sinclair bass tend to run smaller, with lots of 11 to 13 inch bass being caught every day.

Both my bass clubs fish Sinclair this time of year since we catch so many bass there and there are so many different patterns you can fish. The bass spawn is in full swing and the shad spawn will take place during the month.

When the shad are not spawning, start early in the mornings with a white and chartreuse buzzbait or spinnerbait back in the coves around the grass. These grass beds are full of bluegill and bass love to eat them. If the grass is not too thick throw to the back side of it and work your bait out. If it is thick cast into it as far as you can without getting your bait clogged up.

Keep the buzzbait moving steadily but drop the spinnerbait at the edge of the grass in any holes or cuts. Let it flutter down a few inches then pull it forward. Bass will often eat it as it stops and flutters.

Floating worms are also good in the grass. Fish them in the grass, letting the bait fall into any holes and at the edge. A white Trick worm is good since you can see it and keep track of where it is and when it disappears, set the hook.

After the sun gets up back off to secondary points and fish a three sixteenths ounce jig head with a green pumpkin worm on it. Drag it along the bottom, with a hop a few inches high every foot or so. Some JJ’s Magic chartreuse dye on the tail mimics the fins of a bluegill and helps you get more hits.

During the shad spawn fish a three sixteenths ounce white spinnerbait with two silver willowleaf blades on riprap, seawalls and around the grass, too. Shad will spawn on the grass as well as the wood and rocks. Watch for flickers of shad as the school moves down the bank.

Cast as shallow as you can, even to the point of landing your bait on the bank and pulling it off. It often seems a bass will sit with his nose right on the rocks, waiting on a shad to come by. You don’t want to cast behind them.

After the sun gets on the water and the shad quit moving, back off the cover and reel the same spinnerbait slowly, keeping it right over the bottom. Fish it out to at least eight feet of water since bass will back off to that depth after feeding.

Docks are also hold a lot of bass this time of year and you can catch them by running a shad colored crankbait or your spinnerbait beside the posts and over brush piles around them. Also pitch a black and blue jig and pig to the docks, getting back under them as far as you can when the sun is bright.

Try to bring your jig and pig right beside every post. When you hit brush stop your bait and jiggle it in one place to get a reluctant bass to eat it. Make it look like an easy meal for a lazy bass.

Altamaha River

The Altamaha River starts south of Vidalia where the Omulgee and Oconee Rivers join. It is a big river with lots of current but also has many pockets and backwaters with overhanging trees and bushes. These pockets are where the bass move in the spring to spawn, so that is where you want to fish.

This is pretty simple fishing since you will be casting to visible cover in shallow water. One of the best tactics is to skip a weightless worm under overhanging limbs of willow trees. Let it sink to the bottom and settle for a few seconds. Watch for your line to start moving off when a bass picks it up. Use natural colored worms like green pumpkin or black.

Also study the backout. If it is a small creek entering the river it will often have a channel the bass will follow. Target stumps and other wood cover along the channel with a chartreuse and white spinnerbait with one gold and one silver willowleaf blade. Run the bait over the wood then let it fall as it passes.

If the backout is an old oxbow, usually one side will be deeper. Bass often hold on this deeper side on wood and grass. A spinnerbait fish beside the cover is good but also try a black and blue jig and pig flipped into the heaviest cover on this deeper bank.

The Altamaha River drainage offers lots of different fishing opportunities. Give them all a try.

Tour A Wisconsin Salmon Hatchery

Wisconsin DNR sets open house events and tours at egg collection facilities in Racine, Kewaunee, Sturgeon Bay. You can tour a Wisconsin salmon hatchery.
from The Fishing Wire

MADISON — Up and down the Wisconsin shores of Lake Michigan, chinook salmon are staging for the biggest race of their lives – a final run to spawn in rivers including the Root in Racine, Kewaunee in Kewaunee County and Strawberry Creek in Door County.

Workers at DNR’s Strawberry Creek Chinook Facility

Workers at DNR’s Strawberry Creek Chinook Facility outside Sturgeon Bay crowd salmon in a pen before spawning.
WDNR Photo

When the time is right – likely starting in the next week or so – Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources staff will be there waiting to collect eggs and milt used in producing the next generation of fish for Lake Michigan stocking.

Visitors will be able to see the action firsthand at open house events at the C.D. “Buzz” Besadny Anadromous Fish Facility on Saturday, Oct. 3 and Root River Steelhead Facility on Saturday, Oct. 10. At the Strawberry Creek facility, another key source for chinook salmon eggs, visitors are welcome during daylight hours.

“What started in the 1960s as an effort to control alewife populations by stocking Pacific salmon has turned into a sport fishery that generates some $4 billion per year for the economy of the Great Lakes region,” said Justine Hasz, DNR fisheries bureau director. “Each year the fall spawning runs are a reminder of how our stocking efforts contribute to this economic impact by creating recreational opportunities for anglers of all ages. We look forward to welcoming visitors to our open houses where they can learn more about our fisheries management and propagation efforts.”

The open house events at Besadny and Root River feature egg collection demonstrations as well as fly casting and tying lessons, youth instruction and opportunities to learn Lake Michigan fishing tips from expert anglers. The Besadny open house features an opportunity to sponsor tagged fingerling sturgeon and participate in the river release of these young fish.

Mike Baumgartner, who supervises the Besadny facility in Kewaunee, said based on reports of salmon staging near the mouth of the river, he expects a strong run of fish again this year.

“Visitors can expect great viewing along the banks of the river, a fish-eye perspective through the underwater windows and a look at egg collection through a window in the processing area,” Baumgartner said. “We’ll also offer guided tours of the facility, fish print t-shirt making and fishing lessons along with other activities. Visitors can park in a lot down the road and walk or take the horse and wagon ride to get here. It should be a great day.”

The open house events are free and open to the public with food and beverages available from local groups as well as guided facility tours and activities geared to youth. Trails and paths near the facilities offer opportunities for families to explore the river environment and enjoy wildlife and bird viewing.

The Oct. 3 event at the Besadny facility in Kewaunee runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The facility, on the Kewaunee River, was built in 1989-1990 and collects eggs from chinook and coho salmon as well as brown and steelhead or rainbow trout for rearing in a series of ponds. A processing building featuring a lobby with displays and a public viewing window was completed in 1996.

The Oct. 10 event at the Root River facility in Racine also runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The facility was built in 1993-1994 along the Root River by DNR in partnership with the Salmon Unlimited fishing club. It serves as a significant source of coho salmon, steelhead and brown trout eggs and plays an important role in the collection of biological data relating to overall fish health, growth rates, migration patterns and other data. In addition, DNR crews collect seeforellen brown trout from the river in November to ensure the ability to stock this important strain in the future.

Fisheries staff members anticipate processing fish at the third egg collection facility, the Strawberry Creek Chinook Facility outside Sturgeon Bay, on Oct. 5, 8, 12, 15 and 19.

The fall egg collection marks the start of DNR’s propagation process. The eggs will be hatched and raised at DNR facilities until they are ready for stocking at about four months for chinook and at one and a half years for coho, steelhead and brown trout. The different species are stocked according to the stage in their lifecycle at which naturally reproducing fish would normally leave the tributaries to live in Lake Michigan. That stage is much earlier for chinook.

To learn more, visit dnr.wi.gov and search “fisheries open house.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Mike Baumgartner, C.D. “Buzz” Besadny Anadromous Fish Facility supervisor, michael.baumgartner@wisconsin.gov, 920-388-1025; John Komassa, DNR southeast hatchery group section chief, john.komassa@wisconsin.gov, 608-275-3315; Brad Eggold, DNR Lake Michigan fisheries supervisor, Bradley.Eggold@wisconsin.gov, 414-382-7921; Bob Fahey, DNR fisheries operations supervisor, Root River, 608-275-3251, robert.fahey@wisconsin.gov; Jennifer Sereno, DNR communications, jennifer.sereno@wisconsin.gov, 608-770-8084.

What Are Some Good Pre-Spawn Largemouth Tactics?

Top Pre-Spawn Largemouth Tactics

March is well known for several reasons. The Ides of March were pretty important to Caesar. Basketball fans go crazy over March Madness. But to a bass fisherman, this time of year means bass are feeling the spawning urge, moving toward the bedding areas, feeding heavily and are much easier to catch. Pre-spawn season is here.

It also means you can catch them on a wide variety of baits and patterning them is easy. It doesn’t matter if you favor crank baits, spinnerbaits, jerk baits, a jig and pig or plastic worms, all are good. And topwater action, a favorite of most fishermen, comes into play and gets better and better.

As our days get longer bass respond by moving toward shallow, protected coves to spawn. They follow established routes like creek channels, break lines and points as they move, stopping on cover to feed. You can follow them and catch large numbers of fish, as well as some of the biggest bass of the year, along these routes.

When the water first starts to warm look for the fish on the structure and cover just outside the mouths of the spawning areas. Find stumps on a drop or point, a blowdown where the channel swings near the cove mouth and brush and rocks on points and the bass will be there.

Follow them to secondary points and steeper banks back in the cove as they move. Follow the channel back into the coves since that is what the bass will follow. Fish the key areas where the channel swings near a secondary point, where it runs along a bank making a steep drop and along the edges of flats where the bass feed.

Then look for stumps, logs and brush on hard bottoms near the back of the coves where they set up to bed as the water temperature approached 65 degrees. Gravel and hard sand bottoms are what attract the bass so concentrate on areas with those kinds of bottom.

Coves on the north side of the lake warm fastest due to the angle of the sun, and a breeze blowing across the lake moves warmer surface water with it. Check out the areas on the north side of the lake, especially if a light breeze is blowing toward them. Stronger winds stir up the colder water below the surface and don’t help increase the temperature, but wave action can make the bass feed on windblown points and banks.

Although bass are cold blooded and really don’t get uncomfortable from water temperature, they are more active in warmer water. Also, water temperature affects spawning time. Since stained water warms more quickly than clear water, look for stained to muddy water. A surface temperature gauge helps since just two to three degrees change can make a difference.

A three day warming trend is a classic time to find bigger bass moving very shallow to feed. Cold fronts move through often this time of year and then a warming trend follows. After a front drops the water temperature then it starts warming, the bass will respond by moving and feeding.

Since the bass are moving you should fish fairly fast, covering water until you find them. Spinnerbaits and crank baits work well to cover a lot of water looking for the areas they are holding.

When you start catching fish note the kind of area and bass should be in the same kinds of places in other parts of the lake. When you find concentrations of fish slow down and work every piece of cover thoroughly.

Choose your bait color based on water clarity. Use natural baitfish colors in clear water but go to brighter colors in more stained water. White spinnerbaits with silver blades work well in clearer water while chartreuse or red skirts teamed with gold or copper blades are better in stained water. Bigger baits are usually better in stained to muddy water, too.

With crankbaits use shad colors in clear water. Grays, light blues and silver are good. Chartreuse crankbaits show up better in muddy water, as do red and black baits. A rattle in the baits can be good no matter what the water color but are more important in stained water where visibility is less.

You can fish a spinnerbait at any depth but lighter one-quarter ounce baits can be moved slower in more shallow water. Go to three eights to one half ounce baits for deeper water earlier in the month. Try willowleaf blades in clear water and for fishing faster but use Colorado blades for slower fishing and in stained to muddy water.

Carry a variety of crankbaits, too. Some should be small and have smaller bills for water less than four feet deep. Bigger baits that bump the bottom in six to ten feet are needed earlier. Bumping the bottom is important. You are much more likely to get bit when your crankbait is digging into the bottom.

Square bill crankbaits have become very popular in the past few years. They bounce off wood cover better and are made for fishing stumps, brush and blowdowns. Most run several feet deep. Carry several sizes and colors and fish any wood cover you see with them.

Jerkbaits are known for clear water fishing but work well during the prespawn in stained water, too. Fish a pearl or silver bait and work it slower in colder water then faster and faster as the water warms. Long pauses between jerks will often make bigger bass hit.

A jig and pig is one of the best baits for March fishing. It can be fished around any kind of cover and is especially effective around rocks and clay where crayfish live. Black and blue baits are the norm in stained water with browns good in clear water. Try different sizes, from three-sixteenths to full one ounce baits depending on conditions.

Plastic worms fished on Carolina and Texas rigs as well as jig heads account for more bass than any other bait. A Carolina rig is good for raking gravel and clay bottoms while a Texas rig comes through cover better. A jig head worm is good around any kind of bottom or cover.

As soon as the water temperature hits the mid 50s try topwater. A buzzbait will catch bass in colder water than you might think and you can cover water quickly. You can fish it over any kind of cover. A popper or prop bait can be worked more slowly and a stick bait like the classic Zara Spook will catch pre-spawn bass. Topwater tends to get better and better as the water warms.

You can find the bass this time of year with your favorite bait. Start at the mouths of spawning coves and smaller creeks then work further and further into them. Hit key areas with cover. Watch the water temperature and concentrate in areas with warmer water.

Work fast until you find the pattern. Remember it can change during the day but when you find the fish in one area you should be able to go to similar places on the lake and repeat it.

Spinnerbaits are very versatile baits this time of year, allowing you to fish fast or slow around any kind of cover or bottom. They come in a wide variety of colors and blade styles to match anything you need.

Secret Weapon makes a spinnerbait that is a little different. The blades attach on a clip on shaft rather than the usual fixed clevis on the arm followed by a blade on a swivel on the end. This arrangement gives the bait a different sound and look as well as allowing you to quickly change color and size of blades and add or take away the number of blades on the bait.

Why Should I Fish The Weedline In The Fall?

Fish The Weedline In The Fall

by Bob Jensen
from The Fishing Wire

Weedlines are great places to find and catch fish all during the open water fishing season. Lots of anglers even work the weedline while ice-fishing. Simply put, there is almost always a fish somewhere along the weedline that is willing to get caught.

Doug Veldhuizen

In the autumn months hungry groups of walleyes will work the weedline in search of something to eat. Doug Veldhuizen caught this one on a crankbait.

In the autumn months a variety of fish will be in the vicinity of the weedline. You might have a school of crappies suspended just off the edge of the deep weedline, there might be a group of largemouth on a corner of the weedline, and just a little farther down the weedline where the vegetation juts out a bit and forms a point, there could be some walleyes. And it’s not unusual to find a bonus musky or northern pike roaming over the tops of the weeds or along the deep edge. Although there may be more fish grouped tighter in different areas, the deep weedline in the fall will often provide a smorgasbord of fishing action.

Lots of techniques will take fish along the weedline in the fall. If you’re after walleyes, try the largest Mimic Minnow or Mimic Minnow Shad. Move it aggressively: Lots of hops will trigger the most fish until the water really cools off. Then a redtail chub worked slower on a jig or live-bait rig will produce.

If largemouth bass are the target, tie on 6.5 Hornet and work it parallel to the weedline. Work it a different speeds and with your rod held at different angles to get the bait to run at different levels along the weedline. Sometimes, especially on warm, cloudy days, the bass will be over the tops of the weeds. Throw the bait over the weeds, keep your rod tip high, reel slowly, and hang on. If they bass are there, they’ll let you know.

Another outstanding way to catch largemouth bass when they’re over or along the weedline is with a spinnerbait. Use one with a big blade. Tip it with plastic, something like an Impulse Paddle Shad or Paddle Minnow. You want some tail action, but not a lot.

Cast the spinnerbait over the tops of the weeds and work it back to the weedline. When you think it’s near the deep edge of the weeds, let it fall. Keep your line tight and watch and feel for a tick. The strike won’t be hard, but it will be distinct. Reel down and set hard. After a few fish you’ll know if they’re over the tops or along the edge, and sometimes they’ll be in both places.

If it’s a calm late afternoon or early evening when you start fishing, and you see fish dimpling the surface near the weedline, move very quietly toward the dimpling and throw a sixteenth ounce Thumper Crappie King jig/plastic. Swim it slowly through the area being dimpled and you’ll probably catch some crappies. The dimples are created by crappies sucking bugs off the surface. Since the crappies are feeding on the surface, you’ll want to swim your bait just a couple of feet below the surface of the water.

Another crappie killer we’ve been using a lot the past couple of years is a #4 Hornet. If the crappies are home, they’ll hammer this bait aggressively.

The weedline can provide lots of fall action. Make sure you’re fishing healthy green weeds. Keep moving until you find the fish. When you find them, they’ll usually bite. You’ll see Mother Nature at her best and you’ll have the opportunity to have a good time: What more can you ask for?

To see all the newest episodes of Fishing the Midwest television, new fishing related tips, and fishing articles from the past, visit fishingthemidwest.com If you do Facebook, check us out for a variety of fishing related things.

Where Can I Catch North Georgia Catfish?

Hot weather and catfish go together like fried fish and hushpuppies. And catfish are one of the best fish to fry with your hushpuppies, too. Summer is a great time to catch some hard fighting, tasty catfish and there are several excellent places to catch North Georgia catfish. From lakes and public ponds to rivers, catfish are plentiful and hungry.

Catfish are the ordinary citizen of the underwater world. You can find them in most waters, they aren’t picky about what they eat, tackle does not have to be fancy or expensive, and you can catch them from the bank as well as from a boat. They bite night and day and there are several kinds of cats you can catch in most places.

Tackle can be as simple as a cane pole or as fancy as a custom rod and expensive reel. But you can catch them on trotlines, jugs and limb lines, too. Bait ranges from live bream and minnows to stink bait that only a scavenger could love. You can go after frying size fish or try for a trophy weighing over 100 pounds.

There is nothing quite like setting out a trotline across a cove, baiting up a few limb lines and then sitting around a fire on the bank with a few rods in holders waiting on a bite. You can pretty much keep as many cats as you want to clean since some species have no creel limit and the ones that do have a limit have a very high number you can keep.

Georgia produces some big catfish. The state record flathead weighed 83 pounds, the record blue cat 80 pounds and the channel cat record is 45 pounds. You may break one of those records.
The following waters offer a variety of kinds of places to fish in north Georgia and the chance to catch several kinds of catfish.

Lake Thurmond

Also known as Clark’s Hill to most Georgia anglers, this big lake has flatheads, blue cats, channel cats and bullheads. Located on the Savannah River near Augusta, you can find good bank access in several areas and there are many boat ramps to launch and go to secluded coves to fish. The lake record cats show what you might have a chance of catching. The biggest flathead from Clarks Hill is a 64 pound fish caught in 2010. A 62 pound blue cat was landed several years ago and the lake has produced a 25 pound channel cat. There are bigger cats in the lake.

I grew up running hooks on Clark’s Hill for catfish back in the 1960s and 70s. We used live bluegill for bait and never caught a flathead since there were none in the lake back then. Fishermen introduced them to the lake and they have grown fast and you have a good chance of catching a 40 pound plus fish.

Live minnows and small panfish are the preferred bait for flatheads and the big ones usually stay deep. The Georgia Little River arm is a good place to catch them and concentrating on the old river and creek channels are your best bet. Fish a three inch bluegill on a stout rod and reel loaded with heavy line and you can hook one of the monsters that live there. If you want a really big flathead, use a bigger bluegill.

Blue and channel cats will also hit small live bream and minnows. A couple of summers ago Javin English and I put out 50 jug hooks with small bream for bait one night and landed 14 channel cats, all about six pounds each. We put them out in Germany Creek and checked them twice that night. One problem with jugs at Clark’s Hill now is the hydrilla. You have to keep moving them out in more open water or at least near the edge of the hydrilla.

Better baits for channel cats include earthworms, chicken liver, shrimp, cut bait and stinkbait. They have smaller mouths than the other species so smaller baits are best. Cut blueback herring, mullet or whole threadfin shad are excellent baits for channel cats and blues will hit those baits, too. Cut bait and stinkbait seem to work best for the blue cats at Clarks Hill.

There is good bank access at the Highway 43 Bridge. The river channel swings right in to the bank at the south end of the bridge, the corner on your left before you get to the bridge going toward Lincolnton. You can park there and join the group usually fishing there at night for big flatheads, blues and channel cats. There is also bank access at the other bridge further downstream on Little River and there are many ramps, like the one at Amity Park, where you can fish from the bank.

Put in at one of the many ramps in Little River and go up above the Highway 43 Bridge and fish the edge of the river channel for cats. A hot spot is where two channels come together, like the one just above the island upstream of the bridge. The Little River channel comes in from the right going upstream and the Hart Creek channel comes in from straight ahead. Anchor on the point between the two channels and you will catch cats.

Also find ditches and small creeks running into either Hart Creek or Little River and fish their junctions. The outside bends of the creek and river channels are also good. Put out several rods with different baits, sit back and let the cats tell you what they want that night.

All catfish from Clarks Hill are good to eat and there are no advisories on any species. Bigger blue and channel cats may be tough and better for stews, but big flatheads stay tender and delicious.

Etowah River

The Etowah River downstream of the Lake Allatoona Dam is an excellent river for catfish. There is some bank access at bridge crossings and boat ramps but your best bet is to launch a small boat and fish from it. There are channel, blue and flathead cats in this section of the river. You will catch a lot of three pound blue cats and one pound channel cats, but ten pound blues and five pound channel cats are fairly common.

River fishing is different from lakes but fish can be found in consistent places. Find a deeper hole where the river forms a pool and the biggest cats will be living there. Logjams or rocks make pools even better. The fish hold in the deeper water and will feed, but they also move to the more shallow water at each end of the pool to feed.

The best baits in the river for blues and channel cats are chicken liver, earthworms and stink baits. For bigger blues and flatheads try live or cut shad or live bream. The bigger fish tend to stay deeper so fish the deepest water in the pool with big live baits to entice them.

Anchor your boat at the head of the pool and let your bait drift down the slope into the deeper water, or cast into the deep water and fish on the bottom. Also try anchoring in the pool or tying to a shoreline limb and letting your bait drift to the end of the pool where the water gets shallower.

Two of the best areas to catch catfish here are just downstream of the Allatoona Dam and near Heritage Park in Rome. There are some good holes near the dam and at the park where the Etowah joins with the Oostanaula River to form the Coosa River.

There are no restrictions on eating catfish from the Etowah River and the average size blue and channel cat is good eating, any way you want to cook them. Flatheads are also good at any size cooked any way you like. There are restrictions of one meal per week on channel cats from the Coosa River because of PCB contamination, so if you fish near the junction of the two rivers near the head of the Coosa you should consider releasing most of the channel cats you catch there.

Lake Oconee

The numbers and size of catfish in Lake Oconee often surprise anglers, especially when bass fishermen have their plugs slammed by one. I have caught an 18 pound channel cat on a spinnerbait and a 35 pound flathead on a jig and pig in club tournaments there. If they will eat artificial baits you can catch a lot of big cats on baits they like better.

Located on the Oconee River near Eatonton, Lake Oconee offers both bank and boat fishing. You can fish from the bank at any of the boat ramps and bridge crossings on the lake and catch fish. Bridge crossings are especially good around the riprap at night if you suspend your bait a few inches above the rocks so you don’t get hung up on every cast.

You can catch blue, channel and flathead catfish as well as bullheads there. The lake has produced a 40 pound flathead, a 34 pound channel cat and a 15 pound blue cat, but much bigger blue cats are in the lake. Bullheads will average about a pound each but are very common. Often called mud cats or yellow cats, bullheads are good to eat but have very red, soft meat. There are also white catfish in the lake and they look a lot like channel cats.

Live shad or bluegill as well as cut bait work well for blues and flatheads. For channel cats earthworms and stink baits are good. Night fishing is best on this heavily used lake and the calmer water at night gives you peace and quiet and there is a more consistent bite than during the day.

There is a lot of standing timber on the lake and cats live in it, but it is hard to land a big one around it. The best bet is to anchor your boat on a point near the timber and fish on the bottom. Baiting up a hole to draw the fish out of the timber works. You can pour out a bag of rice, put a bag of fish guts on the bottom or throw out some sinking catfish food in advance of your trip then sweeten the hole the day before you go fishing to get them to come to you.

Rocky points always hold bullheads and catfish so concentrate on them. There are fish all over the lake but the Oconee River above the interstate bridge has some good holes and channel swings to fish. Anchor on the edge of the river channel where it makes a bend or where a feeder creek or ditch enters it and catfish will be there.

There are no advisories or restrictions on eating catfish of any size or species from Lake Oconee.

West Point Lake

West Point Lake on the Chattahoochee River near LaGrange is one of the best catfish lakes in middle Georgia. There are many two to three pound channel cats in it and they are a good eating size. There used to be a lot of commercial cat fishermen working the lake due to the numbers of fish there, and the fish are still there. Flatheads and blue cats are also in the lake.

A 33 pound flathead and a 20 pound blue cat have been recorded at West Point but there are much bigger fish in the lake. Access is good for fishing from the many parks and ramps on the bank and there is a boat ramp close to any part of the lake you want to fish. Yellowjacket Creek, Whitewater Creek and Wehadkee Creek are all good areas to try for channel cats. Your best bet for flatheads is the upper Chattahoochee River.

Fish at night around the bridges in Yellowjacket and Wehadkee Creeks but also try the Highway 109 bridge on the main lake. You can fish from the bank around those bridges or tie up under the bridges and fish beside the end pilings. Also try fishing just off the riprap from your boat.

For flatheads here and anywhere else live bream are the best bait. For blues and channel cats the usual baits like earthworms, stink baits, live or cut shad and cut mullet works very well. When getting a fish for cut bait, an oily fish like a mullet or shad is best since it will put more scent into the water to attract the fish.

The Georgia Environmental Protection Division has no restrictions on smaller channel cats from West Point but you should not eat more than one meal per week of fish 16 inches long or longer due to PCB contamination.

McDuffie Public Fishing Area

McDuffie PFA offers great fishing for channel cats and easy access for bank and boat fishing. There is handicapped fishing access and the seven ponds ranging from five to 37 acres are stocked with channel cats regularly and are fertilized. You will one of the following if you are ages 16 to 64: A 3-day hunting/fishing license, a Wildlife Management Area License, a 3-day hunting/fishing license, a Sportsman’s, Honorary or Lifetime License or a Georgia Outdoor Recreation Pass.

The McDuffie PFA is near Thomson and offers concrete boat ramps, restrooms, picnic tables and camping. Shorelines are clean and easy to fish from but you can fish only from sunrise to sunset Wednesday through Sunday. The limit on channel cats is five per day and you are limited to two lines in the water at a time.

Best baits are chicken liver, blood and stink baits and earthworms. You are not allowed to use live fish of any kind, including minnows, to fish here. Most channel cats are good eating size but you are not likely to catch a really big cat here. The best bet is to find a sandy bank, set up two lines in the water with one of the above baits on a small catfish hook and light lead and wait for a bite. Fishing is relaxed and simple.

You can launch a boat on any of the open ponds and get away from the more crowded bank access areas. Boats are restricted to electric or paddle power only. A gas motor may be attached to the boat but may not be cranked. Find a small drop off or channel with a depthfinder in the ponds and fish around it for the best chances of catching fish.

This is a great place to take kids fishing since facilities are convenient and fishing is good. Kids can play when they get tired of fishing, something important when teaching young kids to fish.

Any of these destinations would be a great choice this summer and you will catch catfish if you give them a try. Load up your tackle, head to one and bring home a mess of delicious fish for your next c

Can A Depthfinder Crack Decades-Old Cold Case?

Humminbird® Helps Crack Decades-Old Cold Case

Humminbird® Side Imaging® assists investigators on North Carolina lake – can a depthfinder crack decades-old cold case?

EUFAULA, AL. – “Closure” was the word used to describe the recent discovery of the whereabouts of a man who had been missing for more than forty years in Caldwell County, North Carolina.

Car Found with Depthfinder

The man, Air Force retiree Amos Shook, had vanished 43 years ago, leaving family members with a lot of questions.

Still unresolved after four plus decades, Shook’s daughter recently reached out to North Carolina authorities, asking them to revisit the cold case. Obligingly, Caldwell County investigators took to the waters of North Carolina’s Lake Rhodhiss with Humminbird Side Imaging technology, now a staple piece of equipment with Search and Rescue (SAR) teams across the globe.

“Unfortunately, in cases like this, water is often a good place to look. In the ’70s they sent divers down but they didn’t locate anything. But with our Humminbird unit we did find the car. I dove down, confirmed it, did some digging, hooked the cable to the car and the sheriff’s department had a tow truck pull it out,” says Jason Holder, Battalion Chief, North Catawba Fire and Rescue.

According to authorities, Shook lived near the lake boat ramp, which led detectives and search and rescue to investigate the area. Holder says North Catawba Fire and Rescue’s boat operator was the first to sweep the area on the evening of Monday, July 20, turning up compelling underwater imagery 50 yards off the bank in nearly 30 feet of water. The area was close to where the boat ramp was located 1970s and where the new boat ramp currently resides.

“We went back first-thing on Tuesday and I dove down, verified it was a car and they pulled it out that day,” adds Holder.

Side Imaging View of Car

As to the specifics of their Search and Rescue program, Holder says they use Humminbird Side Imaging to look off each side of the boat and immediately below the boat via 2D sonar.

“The 997ci SI on our RescueONE Connector Boat is approximately 10 years old but it still works great. When we found the car we hadn’t even updated the software, which we have done since. For this particular search we set Side Imaging set to look 60 feet left and right,” says Holder.

He adds: “Humminbird Side Imaging is an excellent technology for us. It eliminates a lot of blind searching underwater. The water is so murky you can’t see anything when you dive; everything is by feel.”

Once the team had the car located, they set a waypoint on their Humminbird, also dropping a marker buoy so they could image from many different sides of the car while watching the screen and the buoy position in the water.

“After we look at an object sufficiently with Side Imaging we’ll reposition the boat, look at it with 2D sonar and then drop an underwater basket attached to a rope and weight that picks up excellent on the sonar. This allows a diver like myself to so the drop down hand over hand to the anchor and the object,” adds Holder.

Another View of Car

Following their recent discovery, Caldwell County investigators dispatched a tow-truck to remove the car from the lake. Inside the silt-filled car investigators found human remains and Shook’s wallet. The remains were taken to the county medical examiner’s office for an autopsy.

Although questions still remain as to what happened, investigators do not suspect suicide or foul play.

This much is certain: After 43 years wondering what happened to their loved one, the family finally has some closure.

For more information visit www.humminbird.com, contact Humminbird, 678 Humminbird Lane, Eufaula, AL 36027, or call 800-633-1468.

Bass At West Point

As expected, the weather threw me a curve last Sunday. I was hoping the bass at West Point would be feeding in response to the cooler water but was disappointed.

The water temperature was around 80 degrees, the coolest it has been since last May. But it was still too soon, I guess, for the bass to really respond. And the day was hot with no breeze and bright sun all day so it was not as comfortable as I had hoped.

In the Spalding County Sportsman Club tournament 12 members fished eight hours to land 41 bass weighing about 54 pounds. There were four five-bass limits and one person didn’t catch a keeper. There were only two largemouth, all the rest were spots.

Raymond English won with five at 8.53 pounds and his 2.76 pound largemouth was big fish. Kwong Yu was second with five weighing 7.03 pounds, Billy Roberts came in third with five at 6.58 pounds and my five weighing 6.05 pounds was fourth.

I started fishing around the ramp, thinking some of the bass released in tournaments there might hit, but they didn’t. The third place I stopped my biggest fish of the day, not very big at all, hit a Texas rigged worm in about 8 feet of water in a cove around some brush. Then I caught a keeper spot on a rocky point in about six feet of water on a jig head worm.

I tried a few more places then at 11:00 I went to what I hoped was my ace in the hole. There is a brush pile in about 17 feet of water and I have caught a lot of fish around it. When I rode over it to mark it my depthfinder showed it covered in fish.

Almost as soon as my drop shot worm got to the top of it a keeper spot thumped it. Then a couple of minutes later I got another one. But after fishing it for thirty minutes I had not gotten another bite.

I left and tried another place, then went back to the brush and quickly caught two more keepers. It is strange. Jordan and I caught two off that brush the last tournament we fished then didn’t get another bite for an hour. The pattern seems to be catch two and leave.

The water at West Point is clear and to fish a drop shot worm, a good tactic in clear water, you get right on top of the brush and drop it straight down. Although 17 feet deep sounds pretty deep, when you stop and think it is less deep than the boat is long.

I think the boat right on top of the fish scares them and they quit hitting. If you leave and come back after they settle down they will hit again – for a few minutes until they get scared again. I have tried staying out from that brush and casting to it from distance but can’t seem to get bite that way.

I fished a lot more places and caught several short fish before quitting time at 3:00, but no more keepers. As I said, the fish were much harder to catch than I had hoped!

When I got home I got an interesting thrill. After backing the boat into the garage I took my ice chest into the house and went back out to unhook the boat. Something didn’t seem exactly right while kneeling at the hitch and I looked back. Under the boat was a four foot black snake, lowly crawling across the floor.

Those kinds of snakes are harmless and eat mice and other vermin so I left it alone. I guess last week was my snake week. I have not seen a snake in months but Monday while cutting my field I noticed something white in the last strip I cut. It was another black snake, about three feet long, laying on its back. It had gotten too close to the bush hog blade.

I guess the cooler weather is making something more active!

How to Winterize Your Yamaha Four-Cylinder Outboard

DIY – Winterize Your Yamaha Four-Cylinder Outboard
from The Fishing Wire

I am so glad I get to use my boat year round!

Have the Right Tools

Yamaha offers a popular line of four-cylinder four-stroke outboards that are used in a wide range of single and twin installation applications, in both fresh and saltwater, all over the world. From pontoons to center consoles, bass boats to work skiffs and even water taxis, they are great performers and real workhorses. The most popular are the F90, F115 and F150 models, and many are used in climates where they are taken out of service for the winter months.

While there’s definitely merit in having your outboard winterized by a certified Yamaha dealer, the process is simple enough for owners to do themselves when armed with the right tools, products, and a bit of proper education. Pete Reils, a long-time certified Yamaha Technician at Garden State Marina in Pt. Pleasant, New Jersey, recently took the time to show us how he winterizes Yamaha outboards. The boat featured here is a late model Cobia® center console powered by a single Yamaha F150.

Prep Work

Clean and Oil

Prior to winterizing the outboard, it’s a good idea to give the boat a good cleaning inside and out, power wash the bottom, and put a coat of wax on fiberglass hulls.

Before you get started, check out Yamaha’s Maintenance MattersTM publication under Extended Storage then put together a checklist of everything you’ll need, and be sure you have the proper Yamalube® lubricants, additives and filters for the job. (A list is available in your owner’s manual, and on our website at http://yamahaoutboards.com/owner-resources/FAQ). The correct amount of engine oil for your four-cylinder model can be found on late model Yamahas on the engine cover under the cowling. Your dealer also has handy Yamaha Outboard oil change kits that have the correct amount of Yamalube 4M, the Genuine Yamaha oil filter, and the drain plug gasket you’ll need to do the job right.

Draining the Oil

Drain the Oil

Pete’s process starts with changing the crankcase oil. Place an oil pan under the lower unit and with the engine trimmed all the way up, remove the drain plug located inside the rubber tube below the rear of the cowling (most mid-range models).

Pete places a piece of plastic tubing as an extension over the rubber tube to direct the oil into the pan. Lower the engine using the trim switch on the starboard side to start the oil flowing. After the oil has finished draining, replace the gasket on the drain plug and re-install the drain plug, tightening to spec (see Owner’s Manual).

Draining the Lower Unit

Drain Lower Unit

With the engine still down, slide an oil catch pan directly underneath the lower unit and remove both the vent screw and the drain screw on the starboard side of the lower unit to remove the old lubricant. Depending on the temperature of the air and the outboard, this may take a while. Be patient, until all the oil is drained. Check the old lubricant for any milky residue, which is an indication that water could be getting into the lower unit through a damaged seal. If this is found, it’s time to contact your authorized Yamaha Marine dealer for a seal replacement and a pressure test. Also, check for any large metal particles in the oil or adhering to the drain plugs (they’re magnetic). This would be a reason to see your dealer, too.

The most common cause of lower unit water ingestion is discarded fishing line caught behind the propeller. While you’re here, remove the propeller, remove any line or other debris, and grease the propshaft with Yamalube Marine Grease. Keep the prop off in a safe place until you’re ready to use it again.

Replacing the Oil Filter
While the gearcase is draining, remove the engine oil filter found on the port side. You can use the Yamaha special tool like Pete or on these smaller engines, a simple strap wrench works fine. Just be careful not to disturb the oil sensor located on the block just above the filter.

Lubricate the rubber gasket on the new filter with a little fresh engine oil to assure a proper seal, and then install by hand tightening the filter to specification (the procedure and spec are printed on every Genuine Yamaha outboard oil filter).

Refill the crank case with the proper amount of Yamalube® engine oil (see owner’s manual).

Filling the Lower Unit
Now it’s time to refill the lower unit. Pete winterizes so many outboards he uses a bulk can of Yamaha lower unit lubricant with a pump, but you can use quarts and a hand pump available from your Yamaha dealer. Thread the fill hose into the drain plug hole and carefully pump in the lubricant until it starts weeping out of the upper vent. Pause for 5 minutes to allow all air to escape, then slowly pump additional lubricant until it comes out the vent hole again. Make sure to change the gaskets on both the vent and the drain plugs (do not reuse them).

Reinstall the vent plug until tight, then remove the fill hose from the bottom and reinstall the drain plug.

Fuel Filters
Now it’s time to turn your attention to the fuel system. First, carefully remove the 10-micron fuel/water separating the filter located in the boat (Yamaha’s is light blue) and discard filter and contents appropriate to your local regulations. Then, reinstall a new 10-micron canister, using another thin film of clean oil on the gasket surface.

Stabilizing the Fuel
For the next step, Pete uses a portable fuel tank with a small amount of fresh gas treated with Yamalube® Ring Free, Yamalube EFI Fogging Oil and Yamalube Fuel Stabilizer and Conditioner. Start by placing a hose flusher over the main lower unit water pickups and turn on the water.

Disconnect the rubber fuel hose at the inlet side of the primary on-engine fuel filter by loosening the spring clamp with needle nose pliers and connect the hose from the portable tank. Pump a primer bulb installed in the portable tank’s fuel line until firm and then start the engine, after turning on the water. Run it for 10 minutes at fast idle until the mixture is thoroughly distributed throughout the fuel system and combustion chambers. This lubricates the injectors, valves, cylinder walls and piston rings for the long storage period ahead.

When 10 minutes are up, quickly rev the engine very briefly until you see a puff of smoke caused by the fogging oil exit through the prop hub and shut it down. Turn off the water and remove the flush muff. Remove the fuel hose from the portable tank and securely refit the onboard fuel hose.

Trim the engine fully “in” to drain the water from the cooling system and disconnect the onboard flushing hose so that it drains, too. Then reconnect.

Don’t Forget

Tilt the engine up and use a grease gun charged with Yamaha marine grease to lubricate all grease fittings. There is one on each side of the steering slide forward of the engine, another found on the steering column, and one on the shift mechanism where the shift cables enter the cowling.
Spray the engine and rubber components with a liberal application of Yamalube® Silicone Engine Protectant and Lubricant or YamaShield. Once the boat gets to its final winter resting spot, trim the engine full “in” for storage and disconnect the negative battery cable(s).
Remove the battery or batteries to a cool (but not freezing), dry place. Charge the battery fully before storage.
Return the cowling to its proper position and your outboard should be ready for winter storage and start up in the spring.

The typical Do-It-Yourself-er can usually complete the entire job in a couple of hours. Just be sure you have all the supplies you need on hand and take your time, covering all the steps.

You’ll find more information in Yamaha’s comprehensive “Maintenance Matters” publication, available at your nearest Yamaha Marine dealer or online at maintenance.yamahaoutboards.com.

Not a DIY’er? No worries. Just contact your local dealer and set up an appointment, but don’t wait too long. The threat of winter’s first freeze is almost always too late. Taking time now helps ensure good times come spring.

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