Post by ranger681 on Jun 6, 2014 21:05:27 GMT -6
Living about an hour south of Door County (Wisconsin) for 27 years, I’ve had a unique opportunity to explore one of the country’s finest fisheries. www.bassmaster.com/slideshow/top-100-bass-lakes-2014
Late May—my eighth trip to Door County in two weeks. I was still trying to add a six-pound plus smallmouth to the 10-pound, 10-ounce largemouth I’d caught in April at Kentucky Lake. I’d come close on trip three, boating a beautiful 5-pound, 15-ounce female who was loaded with eggs. Then my chances were good because two days earlier, I’d seen a 7.44-pound smallie lose to an 8.29-pounder for big bass at a local tournament. The winners, having neither of these fish, took first with a two-day bag of 12 fish, weighing 65-plus-pounds.
During those eight trips, I’d caught 17 smallmouth between 4-pounds, 14 ounces and 5-pounds, 10 ounces—but not the big one I was after.
Two days earlier on trip seven, I tested the waters above Fish Creek. I had followed the temperature charts for the north showing colder water. Trips one through six had been in the Sturgeon Bay area where lots of fish were on beds. If I could get ahead of the spawn, the better my chances were for a six-plus fish. Looking north from the boat launch, I knew these were the last large bays at the top of the Door—big bays that would attract big spawners.
On the Fish Creek trip, my partner and I, had caught 30 smallmouth between 2 pounds, and 5-pounds, 15-ounces, working jerkbaits and swimming grub jigs in the back of Nicolet and Ephraim bays.
Now, with new partners fishing the same area, it quickly became apparent that conditions had changed. The wind direction was different, blowing out of the bays. The water temperature, which had reached 60 degrees two days before, was now a chilly 47 degrees.
With no fish in the shallows and no visible spawn beds, we motored to the middle of Ephraim Bay and tried our luck along a 12-foot shoreline that had, two days before, produced the biggest fish. We spotted a couple of cruisers but nothing was interested in our presentations.
That’s when sixteen – year - old Alex noticed the fry. Drifting on the wind in the shadow of my boat were thousands of tiny black fish. No more than an inch long, these smallmouth fry were following their parents to deeper water.
What I had thought was a pre-spawn pattern two days earlier was actually the end of the spawning cycle for the early spawners. The four and five pounders I’d found two days ago were those five and six pounders two weeks earlier that I was looking for.
Moving around the point, we managed to salvage the outing with a dozen three-pounders moving into small bays off deeper water and along the adjacent shorelines. These fish were now getting their chance to complete the spawning cycle as the wind blow warmer water into the shallows.
That day, I’d worried that I’d lost my opportunity for the big one. Future schools of pre-spawn fish might be large, but 8-pound large would be harder to find.
As the water warmed, the larger females would start to spawn on deeper flats. I will need to look for 10-to-14-foot flats and outer lake humps. Fortunately, I love fishing these areas. Given the right wind, a series of calm days and the bright sun overhead, I knew I would be able to spot smallmouth in water with clarity of 20-feet.
More importantly, smallmouths’ spawning success and my quest for the elusive six-plus will depend on the wind—nature’s big equalizer on a fishery as big as the Bay. The wind is the key to the Door.
Late May—my eighth trip to Door County in two weeks. I was still trying to add a six-pound plus smallmouth to the 10-pound, 10-ounce largemouth I’d caught in April at Kentucky Lake. I’d come close on trip three, boating a beautiful 5-pound, 15-ounce female who was loaded with eggs. Then my chances were good because two days earlier, I’d seen a 7.44-pound smallie lose to an 8.29-pounder for big bass at a local tournament. The winners, having neither of these fish, took first with a two-day bag of 12 fish, weighing 65-plus-pounds.
During those eight trips, I’d caught 17 smallmouth between 4-pounds, 14 ounces and 5-pounds, 10 ounces—but not the big one I was after.
Two days earlier on trip seven, I tested the waters above Fish Creek. I had followed the temperature charts for the north showing colder water. Trips one through six had been in the Sturgeon Bay area where lots of fish were on beds. If I could get ahead of the spawn, the better my chances were for a six-plus fish. Looking north from the boat launch, I knew these were the last large bays at the top of the Door—big bays that would attract big spawners.
On the Fish Creek trip, my partner and I, had caught 30 smallmouth between 2 pounds, and 5-pounds, 15-ounces, working jerkbaits and swimming grub jigs in the back of Nicolet and Ephraim bays.
Now, with new partners fishing the same area, it quickly became apparent that conditions had changed. The wind direction was different, blowing out of the bays. The water temperature, which had reached 60 degrees two days before, was now a chilly 47 degrees.
With no fish in the shallows and no visible spawn beds, we motored to the middle of Ephraim Bay and tried our luck along a 12-foot shoreline that had, two days before, produced the biggest fish. We spotted a couple of cruisers but nothing was interested in our presentations.
That’s when sixteen – year - old Alex noticed the fry. Drifting on the wind in the shadow of my boat were thousands of tiny black fish. No more than an inch long, these smallmouth fry were following their parents to deeper water.
What I had thought was a pre-spawn pattern two days earlier was actually the end of the spawning cycle for the early spawners. The four and five pounders I’d found two days ago were those five and six pounders two weeks earlier that I was looking for.
Moving around the point, we managed to salvage the outing with a dozen three-pounders moving into small bays off deeper water and along the adjacent shorelines. These fish were now getting their chance to complete the spawning cycle as the wind blow warmer water into the shallows.
That day, I’d worried that I’d lost my opportunity for the big one. Future schools of pre-spawn fish might be large, but 8-pound large would be harder to find.
As the water warmed, the larger females would start to spawn on deeper flats. I will need to look for 10-to-14-foot flats and outer lake humps. Fortunately, I love fishing these areas. Given the right wind, a series of calm days and the bright sun overhead, I knew I would be able to spot smallmouth in water with clarity of 20-feet.
More importantly, smallmouths’ spawning success and my quest for the elusive six-plus will depend on the wind—nature’s big equalizer on a fishery as big as the Bay. The wind is the key to the Door.
