July 2007 - The Yahara Fishing Club

July
2007
Editor: Tom Raschke ([email protected])
Editors Emeritus: Stan Nichols ([email protected])
Jayne Meyer ([email protected])
On the Water - June 2007
Considering it was the club’s
rst “On the water” meeting, the June
12 outing at Lake Waubesa was
well attended. There were around a
dozen members who shed starting
at noon under a tough bite, clear
blue skies - and oppressive heat.
While the overall the bite was tough,
most anglers caught a few sh. Fish
were scattered, with no clear pattern
developing. New member Jesse
Swing and I caught a mixed bag of
sh, walleye, largemouth and pike,
with Jesse landing a 41” muskie
with member Mike Michaels while
walleye fishing after the dinner.
The fish Jesse and I caught
were either just inside the outside
weededge in 8’ of water around the
Bible Camp area, or over and in
shallower weeds, 3-5’ deep, around
Hog Island. Fish were caught on 4”
tubes shed in weed holes, or on 6”
lizards shed over shallow weeds.
Review of Techniques
The basic premise of what I
presented is that instead of shing
baits(spinnerbaits, plastics. etc)
over the tops of the weeds, or just
hitting the outside edges, that people
should try getting right in the middle
of the weeds (which are predominately millfoil) and dropping baits in
the “holes” in the weeds. Once
the water gets some color (algae
blooms), don’t be afraid of pulling
your boat over the top of the weeds
and shing over the side of the
boat. With the overhead cover of
the weeds and the darker water, the
fish are not spooked by the boat.
This type off shing is not for
light tackle. You need equipement
heavy enough to pull bass out of
water up to 14’ deep from the bottom,
up through the weeds. My tackle
consists of baitcasting gear spooled
with 50 lb no stretch line. I use P-Line
Spectrex, but any brand will do. The
advantage of the “superbraid” style
lines is that you can free baits
hung in the weed witha quick snap
of the rod tip, and when fish are
hooked in heavy weeds, the line
tends to cut through the weeds,
instead of balling up around the sh.
Lures that I use for this type of
shing are primarily tube baits (3.5-4”)
rigged Texas style and pegged. I
use some rubber stops I get from
Bass Pro Shops that are similar to
slip bobber stops and come in a
pack of 45 for $1.59. Color of baits
are green pumpkin and black/blue,
though others can and will work. I
use mainly a 3/8 oz bullet weight to
get the lure to the bottom. I prefer
Tungsten, which is more dense than
lead. A 3/8 oz Tungsten weight is
around 1/3 smaller in prole that a 3/8
By
Eric
Olson
oz lead weight. With the tungsten,
the “feel” I get hitting the bottom
is crisper than with lead, but a 4
pack of 3/8 oz tungsten costs $6,
while you can get 25 lead 3/8oz
bullet weights for under $3.
Bass style jigs with the weed
ber guard and also a staple of
weed hole punching. You need
a jig heavy enough to reach the
botton and punch through the
weeds, so 1/2 oz is standard and
using a 3/4 oz or larger jig is
common. I prefer to use plastic
trailers. Natural pork trailers,
if left on the jig will dry up and
be unusable. The best plastic
trailer I’ve found is the Strike
King 3X DB Chunk. It’s made
out of the CyberFlex plastic and
won’t tear off the jig like typical
plastic trailers. Don’t mix the
3X plastics and “regular” plastics
because they will melt together
into a useless glob. I stick
with the basic black/blue and
green/brown colors in jigs.
Short casts are in order for
this style of shing. Long casts
cause the line to hang over the
weeds and don’t let the bait reach
the bottom. Typically I’ll position
Continued next page
Yahara Fishing Club
On The Water , Continued
the boat on the outside weededge
and make short ips or casts into
the weeds, looking for open holes
in the weeds. Polarized glasses
really help here. When the lure hits
the water I’ll let the bait free spool to
the bottom, paying attention while
the lure drops as hits will occur
before the lure reaches the bottom.
Once the lure hits the bottom I’ll jig
it up and let it back down a couple
of times before casting to the next
spot. The hits you’ll get are mostly
reaction strikes, so if you don’t get
bit quickly, move to another hole.
Also, try slightly different jigging
motions, like leaving the lure on the
bottom and shaking it for a couple
of seconds, which can be the difference between getting bit or not.
The nal main technique I use is
shing a 6” lizard ( I prefer Berkley
Power Lizards in green pumkin with
a charatruse tail) Texas rigged with
a 3/16oz weight. I sh this lure on
15lb mono. I work this type of bait
on the outside weed edges and over
the shallower weed beds making
long casts. I let the bait settle on the
tops of the weeds and pump it off the
weeds, reel and let it settle again.
A good place for discount
lures, rods and reels is the Pure
Fishing Factory Outlet, which caries
Berkely, Abu Garcia, Fenwick and
other brands at good prices. They
have an online store, which you
can find at www.ffo-tackle.com.
Here’s new member
Jesse Swing with a
bass caught at the
June 12th meeting
on the water.
Eric getting the seminar started.
Eric can catch sh. Here’s
a largemouth from Mendota
the day after the on the
water meeting.
22
Yahara Fishing Club
The July Club outing
This summer’s second
monthly “On The Water” meeting and outing will be held, Tuesday, July 10th at John Olin Park
The meeing will start at
6:00 pm and will be followed
with grilled brats and hamburgers. We will set upon
picnic tables near the swimming area just to the south
(to the right, as you’re facing
the lake) near the boat launch.
Any questions, please call or
email
Ken
Worden
@
608-836-8904,
[email protected] or
Bonnie Miller @ 608-824-9792.
Bill Jansen Memorial
Fishing Has No Boundaries, Madison Chapter, was founded by Bill
Jansen in 1994. Bill passed away on October 3, 2005. In his
memory, for the efforts he put into this wonderful organization, there
is a memorial rock placed at Governor Nelson State Park at the
boat launch. Thanks to YFC member Curtis Kirkhuff who made this
possible.
Jack Hurst
The August Club outing
The August 14th Fishing
Meeting for the Yahara Fishing
Club will be at the Warner launch
ramp picnic area. Details will
be in the August newsletter.
Paul Marunic
September Speaker
Travis Richardson
Travis returns to speak
to the club at it’s September
meeting at the VFW hall.
V.F.W. Post 1318
133 Lakeside St.
Madison
608-255-5955
3
Notes From the Prez...
This one is going to be
short and sweet, mostly a series
of reminders.
I have been
out of town a lot lately and
I am a little out of the loop.
Pay attention to when and
where our next “On the Water”
meeting will be. The limited feedback I have received so far has
been positive on the June combination of outing and meeting. Thanks
to Eric Olsen for the outing. Rick
Seeger informed me that is was
very good. Also, thanks go to
Don Gostomski, Kevin Tvedten
and Paul Marunich for taking care
of the rest of the duties. I hope
everyone enjoyed and beneted
from our new summer format. If
you have a strong opinion on how
it went, please let me know.
July 14 and 15 – Let’s keep
Marv Kontney happy and everyone show up to help at Fishing
Has No Boundaries. This is a
great event and an experience
that you will never forget
.
Fishing at Winneconne with
my son and brothers was great.
The shing was good and I haven’t
laughed that much or that hard in
a long time. It is a wonderful body
of water. If you ever want to go
up there, let me know. We stay at
a place right on the water called
Lang’s Landing. It is a great place
to stay and they really cater to
shermen. The owner is Dennis
Lang. If you call, let him know
that I mentioned his business.
I had the opportunity to sh up
in the Winter, WI area for 3 days
fishing out of a hand-made row
Yahara Fishing Club
troller. Quite a different experience.
Combining the physical exertion with
the hunt for the almighty Muskie
was something I will never expect.
I also plucked a very large and
very dark colored smallmouth
from a stretch of the Flambeau
River from the row troller. I’m
in love with swimming jigs!
If you are not a listener, try
AM 1670 at 8:00am on Saturday
morning. You can get a lot of local
information from Gary, Tony and
Wally. I enjoy this radio (Outdoor
Horizons) show very much. They
are also great supporters of the
Yahara Fishing Club and give us a lot
of free plugs for our activities .
Take kids shing. It is something you hear a lot. I have an
opportunity for you to have some
fun with kids. Wilderness Fishing
and Hunting in Sauk will be hosting
their annual Take An Adult Fishing
Tournament on July 28th. Tournament headquarters is at the store in
Sauk. Pre-registration helps every-
one out. Stop in or call the store
for details or you can listen to the
Outdoor Horizons radio show I mentioned in the previous paragraph.
I just got done painting to
keep my wife happy. Now I am
sitting here plunking on the computer. I’m going to go out later
today despite the heat and see if
I can locate a few fat smallmouth.
Fishing Season Never Closes,
Duffy Kopf
YFC Prez
The Prez in action
Jeff Western and the Prez get a big one
4
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Yahara Fishing Club
Prime Time Bluegills
Editor’s Note: Gary Engberg
forwarded this article to me, which
he wrote in recognition of National
Fishing and Boating Week for
the “Fishing Wire.” While dated
June 5th, a friend and I got
a good meal of gills last week
off Govenor’s Island on Lake
Mendota, so the bite is still on.
Now, and for the next 10 days
to two weeks, the Madison Chain
of Lakes will be “prime” water
for catching America’s favorite
pansh, the hard-ghting bluegill.
“Water temperature is the key to
catching spring bluegills”, said
Madison tackle manufacture (Bait
Rigs Tackle) and shing guide, Joe
Puccio of Cottage Grove. While
many anglers are now shing walleyes, bass, and muskies on the
area lakes, Puccio prefers to sh
for bluegills and other panfish.
This year, Joe started shing crappies at the end of March and has
been fishing panfish since then.
This week, the water temperature is between 60 and 70
degrees in the shallows of both
Lakes Wabesa and Kegonsa. Bluegills will begin to spawn when the
water temperature is in the mid 60’s
and above. Cold fronts and water
fluctuations can affect spawning
and push the bluegills to nearby
deeper water till the weather again
warms and stabilizes. The male
bluegill make the spawning beds
by fanning their tails on areas
(sand and gravel bottoms) where
the females come and deposit
their eggs. Then, the male bluegills guard the beds against any
intruder or predator that might
devour the eggs and or small fry.
Most spawning beds are located
in water that is 2 to 5 feet deep,
but some sh will spawn deeper.
All that you need to catch
bluegills is an ultra-light rod
and reel and a few more items.
Light monolament line is very
important and the old “standard”
Berkley Trilene ts the bill. Joe
suggests using the green color
mono to match the algae stained
water and in 4 pound test line.
The smaller diameter line can
often make the difference on
finicky fish. But now, the fish
are active and aggressive, so
an angler could get by with 6
pound test. Next, attach a small
jig, like a Bait Rigs Cobra, in
size #14, to your line. When sh
are active, like now, about any
color (purple, green, orange, and
retiger) seems to work. Then,
use a few micro-split shots and a
small stealth bobber to balance
the rig. Set the bobber or oat
anywhere from 1 to 2 feet from
the jig depending on the water’s
depth where you’re fishing.
Spikes, wax worms, and red
worms have all been effective,
but lately when the sh are
aggressive you can use plastic or
5
articial
bait.
Gulp maggots in chartreuse worked as well or
better than live bait this past
week. You could catch 5 or
6 fish on one piece of Gulp
before you had to re-bait which
was much easier and not
as messy as using live bait.
Another key to bluegill shing is to approach likely shing
locations as quietly as possible
and make long cast to the bedding sh. The last thing to do is
to come into an area full-speed
and expect not to spook and
scatter the shallow water bluegill. Stop a good distance away
and use your trolling motor to
get within casting distance.
A must is to wear polarized
glasses which allow you to see
the spawning beds and the
fish. The rising temperatures
have caused the weeds and
algae to grow faster than normal
making visibility and sight shing much more difcult everyday. As we get into June, this
will do nothing but get worse.
Try to sh Lakes Monona,
Wabesa, and Kegonsa as soon
as possible to get in on some
great bluegill shing. Big Lake
Mendota warms up last due its
deep water and is a week or two
behind the other “Chain” lakes
in water temperature and blueContinued next page
Yahara Fishing Club
Prime Time Bluegills, continued
gill spawning. If the weather
stays warm and stable, Lake
Mendota can turn-on quickly.
One last suggestion, don’t
keep any or many female or
“hen” bluegills. Leave these
females alone and let them
go to spawn and reproduce.
You don’t have to catch a
limit every time shing to have
had a good day on the water.
Practice catch and release
even with bluegills, so that the
Madison lakes have bluegills
for the next angler and future
generations. Keep enough
sh for a few meals, but
not
the
whole
year!
Contact: Joe Puccio at
(608)-839-3638, Wally Ban
(608)-644-9823, Lee Tauchen
(608)-276-0177, Travis Richardson (608)-838-9877 or Ron
Barefield at (608)-838-8756
for guiding on the area lakes.
Viral Hemorrahagic Septicemia (VHS) update
This problem was rst mentioned by Stan Nichols in the May
issue, followed up by a more lengthy review taken from DNR
articles in the June issue. In response to an email from me, on
June 22nd Sue Marcquenski of the Wisconsin DNR conrmed
that VHS has not been detected in the Mississippi River. (At
least in Wisconsin.) Obviously it could then spread up the
Wisconsin river tributaries. If you have questions she can be
reached at [email protected]
Gary Engberg says DNR sh biologists consider this a very
serious threat to Wisconsin sh for two reasons:
• It can spread easily between sh of all ages, it affects
more native game sh (over 25), pansh, roughsh, and
bait sh, and often kills the sh.
• The new Great Lakes strain is new and local sh have
had no exposure to the virus which means that their
immune systems have no defense and are “highly susceptible to the disease”.
Gary continues: This past week, I shed the Winnebago system
where sheephead have been found with VHS. Personally, I
didn’t see any sh that seemed to have the virus and I heard of
no new infected sh found. Initially, Mercury Marine, who sponsored the Mercury Nationals Walleye Tournament, was going to
have trucks to spray down and disinfect all boats with bleach
to kill the virus. Imagine over 300 boats from all-over Wisconsin
and the Midwest returning to their home waters with boats
that had been in infected waters? The over-all affect could be
disastrous, especially when you consider many waters are much
smaller than the Great Lakes and could be more easily infected.
Mercury included a print-out for all anglers with directions for
disinfecting boats before they go to other waters. You can
check the DNR website for the proper disinfectants. This is a
serious threat to anyone who shes, so please follow all new
regulations.
If you catch a sh that looks “bad” or shows any VHS symp-
6
Yahara Fishing Club
VHS, continued
toms, put the sh in a bag on ice in a cooler and call your local DNR at 1-800-TIP-WDNR. If you
observe a sh kill call the same number. Please take this virus disease seriously because shing
may depend upon it!! We need all anglers and boater in this ght. The state is disinfecting all its
eggs and has stopped stocking sh till this potentially disastrous disease is stopped or understood
more. The state needs all of our help now!
Rules:
· Anglers, boaters, and other recreational users are prohibited from moving live sh, minnow, and
water from the Lake Winnebago watershed, the Great Lakes, the Mississippi River, and those
waters tributaries up to the rst dam impassable by sh. This includes the Wisconsin River to the
dam at Prairie du Sac. Its possible that VHS may already be in our local waters!
· People shing these waters must use minnows purchased from a Wisconsin licensed dealer
or if using minnows that you harvested, the bait may be used only on the water where it was
caught.
· If keeping sh, make sure that they are dead and put them on ice (this includes minnows). Put
minnows in a plastic bag and put them in the trash, not the ground or don’t move any live sh
from the landing or shore where you shed.
· Drain all water from bilges, bait buckets, live wells, and any container when leaving the landing
or shore.
· Before launching or leaving a lake or river, inspect and clean your boat or watercraft of all visible
plants or animals.
· Try to disinfect your boat and equipment when you return from any infected waters. Make sure
your boat is disinfected at least once a year.
Yahara Fishing Club
Membership Application
Annual Dues:
Individual.........................$25
Family.............................$35
Youth Member..................Free
(with paid membership)
P.O. Box 3271
Madison, WI 53704
Name
Meetings are held at 7:30 p.m. on the
second Tuesday of each month at the
Lakeside VFW Hall, John Nolan Dr, &
Street
City
State
Zip
Lakeside St. in Madison, WI
An Orgainization to Educate, Protect and Propagate the Interests of All Fishermen in the Yahara Basin Area
Including all of Madison’s Lakes
7
The next meeting is on Tuesday, July 10th, ON THE WATER.
July Events
Calendar of Upcoming Events
July 10th , On the water outing, John Olin Park, Lake Monona
See article page 3.
July 14-15th, Fishing Has No Boundaries, Lake Mendota.
Call Mark Prime Time Fishing
August Events
August 14th On the water, Warner launch ramp picnic area.
Contact Paul Marunic, see article page 3.
The Yahara Fishing Club’s doors are open EVERYONE, so invite a friend to the meeting!
Director - Jim Zegers................848-6299
Director - Jayne Meyer………662-9374
Director - Rick Seeger..…… 849-3714
Yahara Fishing Club
P.O. Box 3271
Madison, WI 53704
Director - Bonnie Miller...............824-9792
Director - Paul Marunich..............219-4449
Director - Eric Uram....................233-9022
Director - Ken Worden.................836-8904
Check out our web page at:
www.yaharafishingclub.org
President - Larry Kopf.................849-7245
Vice President - Jeff Western ......831-1092
Treasurer - Rick Lane...................873-5228
Secretary - Jim Zegers/Paul Marunich