February - The Yahara Fishing Club
Transcription
February - The Yahara Fishing Club
February 2014 Editors: Tom Raschke ([email protected]) or 608-219-9243 Stan Nichols ([email protected]) Perch Jerking with Jim Back in the day I remember perch fishing as going out with Swish Rods, drilling three holes in the ice (with a spoon auger I might add). Setting up the rods, one at 18 inches, one at 5 feet, and one at 10 feet off the bottom. We used about 10 pound line on the Swish Rods, a big heavy copper sinker, and a big rocker jig. Every once in awhile we might adjust the depth, or give the tip of the rod a poke with an ice scoop to make it bounce up and down. If we caught a fish we just threw the sinker back down the hole and it went to the preset depth. If fish bit and we missed them, they seem to bite again. I liked fishing that way, not much finesse involved. We could fish in cold weather, handling all your gear with gloves on. No sonar, no lazer augers, no GPS, no shelters, but we caught fish, and some times lots of them. Swish Rods and spoon augers were a great improvement over hand-lines and ice chisels. Somewhere along the line perch evolved and so did fishing techniques. Perch fishing is now a finesse operation and the person who has kept up with the techniques is Jim Kusuda. Jim updated us at the January meeting. Jim still uses a Mendota rig for perch fishing but the sinker is made of clothes hanger wire or even thinner material, the jigs are small, and spinning gear is used. Jim’s rods are extremely light, but with good backbone for a hook set. Jim uses four-pound Trilene XL for a main line and six-pound for a dropper off the hanger sinker. Jim prefers mono to super-lines because it doesn’t soak up water and freeze. There are two “camps” of perch anglers, those that prefer rockers and those that prefer rat-finkies. Jim prefers a glow white rocker with silver back tied on with a loop knot. Bites are often subtle and when you get a bite, set the hook for all you are worth. Even if you think you might be getting a bite, set the hook. Sometimes a bite will feel like trying to pull the lure through honey. If it isn’t a bite you just made one big jig. Use a slight jigging motion. This gives the lure and bait some action and it helps detect bites. Any change in the motion and it is time to set the hook. For bait Jim uses spikes, usually a gob of them T-boned on a sharp hook. Club Web site: http://www.yaharafishingclub.org Notes by Stan Nichols Jim is the master of electronics using a Vexilar sonar for detecting fish and an underwater camera. One trick Jim uses with the sonar is to drop the transducer below the ice and twirl it around to see if you can detect fish off the side of the hole and in which direction. In the old-days we assumed the fish were close to the bottom. That isn’t always the case. With a sonar you can pick up suspended fish and adjust your depth accordingly. You can pick-off individual fish. Often some of the largest fish are suspended. A camera can be used both horizontally and vertically to find fish. What I find fascinating about a camera is to watch fish take a bait. You learn two things very quickly. You don’t try to set the hook until you see the bait completely disappear in the fish’s mouth and the bites you can detect with your rod are only a percentage of the fish that are actually taking your lure (I don’t remember an exact percentage but I would say at least only 50%). With that in mind I thought it was time to dust off my perch fishing gear. I always preferred fishing Monona and Waubesa to Mendota because you usually didn’t have to walk as far. But Jim said there were perch only a quarter-mile out from County Park on Lake Mendota. So the Thursday after the meeting I headed out. It was snowing so I couldn’t see the other side of the lake, but I could see anglers out much further than Jim’s estimated quarter-mile. I wasn’t going that far but I hike out until I got to 60-feet of water and started fishing. Not much going on so I hike out further, drilling holes about every 50 yards, still not much, just a few small fish. The snow let up and I could see I was about halfway between County Park and the Commodore. Finally I got out to the first group of guys and it was Jim, Jim’s friend Jeff, and Kevin so I got some on-the-ice instructions. I switched to spinning gear years ago, but my rod looked like a poolcue compared to Jim’s. I looked at Jim’s Vexilar and it was a lot more complicated than my old FL-8. But Jim and Jeff were using them to reel in perch. I had the distinction of being able to catch the smallest perch in the group. That takes talent to catch a four-inch perch in 60-feet of water. Continued next page Yahara Fishing Club As always Jim reminds us about being safe on ice. You are traveling on a thin membrane of solid water over a bunch of real cold liquid water. You have to be prepared to save yourself if you go through. Unless someone is real close and has the proper equipment to rescue you it is probably too late if you have to wait for a rescue. Carrying ice picks and floatation devices are a must. A rope is useful to help rescue someone else. A cell phone if you need help once you get out of the water. A final caution when using an electric drill when drilling holes. Put the drill in neutral when not in use. A bump on the trigger could set off a whirl of slashing blades. If you are out wandering the wintry wastes of Lake Mendota you may find Jim and get an on-ice lesson on catching perch. February Meeting Paul Zoch and Jim Kusuda Paul Zoch caught this 24” walleye while jigging for bluegills in Squaw Bay. Jim Kusuda was able to squeeze it through a tiny old hole for this picture. Annual club auction - bring fishing stuff to donate to the auction. March Meeting Bill Schultz lives in New Berlin, WI and is a contributing writer for www.lake-link.com, www.onwisconsinoutdoors.com, www.smallmouths.com and various outdoor magazines, including On Wisconsin Outdoors and Kayak Angler Magazine, along with appearances on Outdoor Wisconsin. Bill is a smallmouth bass enthusiast and since catching his first in 1994 has caught and released over 17,000 smallies. His focus has been the big waters of Green Bay in Door County, along with rivers and streams throughout Wisconsin. Since 1995, Bill has spent almost 200 days on the waters of Door County, catching thousands of smallies. He is on the Pro Staffs for Mercury Marine, Crestliner Boats, Cedar Lake Sales, Kalin’s Lunker Grubs, St. Croix Rod, Wilderness Systems Kayaks, Adventure Technology Paddles and has sponsorships with a variety of other fishing and outdoor companies. Email: [email protected] 2 Picture by Jim Kusuda Yahara Fishing Club OUTINGS UPDATE FEBRUARY 2014 White fish Outing, Feb. 7th, 8th, and 9th, 2014. We have over 20 people signed up to date for this fun outing. Clements Barge. I am looking at the weekend of March 22nd for a one or 2 day outing probably Friday and Saturday, more detail to follow. Walleye in May out of Green Bay, dates yet to be decided. Tom K V.F.W. Post 1318 133 Lakeside St. Madison 53715 608-255-5955 3 Yahara Fishing Club Kids Ice Fishing Day - We gave away 300 poles. See website for many great pictures. http://www.yaharafishingclub.org/yfcIceFishing.htm John Quam Work: 608-873-3366 Fax: 608-873-6663 [email protected] Don and Paul fight over buckets. 1896 Barber Drive • Stoughton, WI 53589 www.quamsmotorsports.com 4 Yahara Fishing Club 2013 Fishing Contest Winners From the Past Last month, instead of copying the 2013 winners to the newsletter and the website, I copied the 2012 winners to the newsletter. Must be one of those senior moments. I corrected the website and the issue of the newsletter attached to the website as soon as Dennis Puser pointed out the situation, but in any case here are the correct winners for 2013. * = money winner Muskie Northern Pike Walleye LM Bass SM Bass Sauger White Bass Perch Kontney * Blue Gill Crappie Rainbow Trout Brook Trout Brown Trout Catfish no entry 34 1/2 Tom Wilke * 28 Richard Bee * 22 Stan Nichols 20 7/8 Paul Zoch * 18 3/4 Kevin Tvedten * 15 1/2 Paul Zoch 12 7/8 Stan Nichols 11 1/2 Marv 15 1/4 15 12 1/2 21 1/2 25” 11 Daniel Puser * Stan Nichols * Stan Nichols Steve Hurst * Jack Hurst* Gard Struther* I can think of several reasons why the club won’t be holding a Beauty Queen Pageant this year. Rick Krueger, who you may know as the scuba guy, scanned in over 1400 pages of old fishing club newsletters several years ago. (Jack Hurst pointed me at him.) I will be sorting them out and eventually putting them on the website. There are already six years of newsletters there. If anyone wants to help out in this effort, let me know. Editor Link to previous issues of the newsletter: http://www.yaharafishingclub.org/ yfcnewslettersArchive.htm 5 Yahara Fishing Club Fishing Derby 2014. Better weather but less fish. Gary Engberg MC Tom Klein - winning panfish entry Dave Dahl with the auger Gary Engberg MC Chris Spierings and Dennis Puser inside A happy winner. 6 Yahara Fishing Club Please print Yahara Fishing Club Membership Form P.O. Box 3271 Madison, WI 53704 Name ____________________________________________________ If family/youth member, additional name(s) ______________________ Street _____________________________________________________ City_____________________________________ State ____ Zip ___________ Phone ______ - ______ - __________ Email __________________________@_________________________ Annual dues, from January 1 to December 31: Individual ..................$25 Family.........................$35 Youth Member........... Free with other paid membership An Organization to Educate, Protect and Propagate the Interests of All Fishermen in the Yahara Basin Area Including all of Madison’s Lakes 7 Yahara Fishing Club P.O. Box 3271 Madison, WI 53704 Check out our web page at: www.yaharafishingclub.org The next meeting is on Tuesday, February 11th, at the Lakeside VFW Hall (John Nolen Rr. & Lakeside St.) The Board Of Directors meet at 6:00 pm, The General Membership meeting starts at 7:00 pm. Speaker: Charlie Grimm will auction off donated stuff to fund club activities Calendar of Upcoming Events February Events Feb 8th weekend - Whitefish out of Sturgeon Bay Feb 11th - Regular Club meeting - auction March Events March 11th - Regular Club meeting - Speaker Bill Schultz p. 2 The Yahara Fishing Club’s doors are open to EVERYONE, so invite a friend to the meeting! President - Gard Strother ......258-8555 Vice Pres. - Don Hammes ... 836-1205 Treasurer - Dennis Puser.......576-0929 Secret’ry. - Randy Winkleman358-4885 Director - Don Gostomski 249-8250 Director - Paul Zoch ......... 241-5443 Director - Karlette Schoen..242-8803 Director - Phil James ...........212-2506 Director - Joe Guastella...669-6813 Director - Larry Reed ......221-0362 Director - Jesse Tougas ...873-3151 Director - Jim Kloth.........635-0116
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