Jump to content

Day in the woods


Dave W

Recommended Posts

Experiencing sunrise through nightfall in this secluded woodland area requires lugging enough stuff for two nights of primitive camping up and down 2 miles of hilly trail. The older I get, the more difficult this is. But it's still a bargain in my book.

Dawn on the pond.

post-20-0-83419000-1443668779_thumb.jpg

The lake features spongy peat islands, with edges that overhang the deepest areas in the lake channel, maybe 15 feet deep. Largemouth bass lurk underneath.

post-20-0-12232200-1443668837_thumb.jpg

post-20-0-49870300-1443668906_thumb.jpg

post-20-0-84813700-1443668973_thumb.jpg

post-20-0-87272700-1443669028_thumb.jpg

Accommodations.

post-20-0-62299700-1443669091_thumb.jpg

post-20-0-77267600-1443669154_thumb.jpg

Pretty country.

post-20-0-20080900-1443669217_thumb.jpg

Mushrooms...? Of course! No edibles, but some nice stuff to examine. Leucopholiota decorosa is a really striking wood-dweller that seems to come out during drought conditions. Lactarius griseus is a pretty little moss-lover. Bogbodia uda (formerly Hypholoma udum) is reported as growing only in peat bogs.

post-20-0-01569500-1443669273_thumb.jpg

post-20-0-68977500-1443669321_thumb.jpg

post-20-0-33910900-1443669362_thumb.jpg

I butchered one bass for dinner. The others were all returned unharmed to the pond.

post-20-0-61420100-1443669434_thumb.jpg

Perched near the top of a tall pine is a large bald eagle. Kept a close lookout before flying away with his mate.

post-20-0-24585800-1443669476_thumb.jpg

post-20-0-80401200-1443669528_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This place is something I really cherish.

Actually, My camping buddy had mentioned that the eagle may possibly swoop down to rob a fish that one of may have hooked. So I kept an eye on the eagle. Caught one bass, when we were pretty close, but the eagle wasn't interested. I was concerned the bird may catch a hook and get injured.

I have also seen osprey at this lake.

Hot bait was 10" Berkeley Power Worm, "motor oil with red fleck". I also used a "tequila sunrise" 10" worm (dark color), but the lighter color (motor oil) attracted more bass. I got only one strike on top-water (Pop-R with a rattle). But the wind had kicked up Saturday afternoon, and didn't calm down on even the windward shoreline until 30 or so minutes before dark. No hogs... biggest bass was about 16". But I brought in 9 on Saturday, and a few more on Sunday before we hiked out.

Water in this lake is very good quality... spring fed, high elevation, no human dwellings within about 0.3 miles from any shore point. Something interesting about peat bog lakes... the water PH tends to be nearly neutral (as opposed to very low in most regional upland acidic areas). The spring --when it's running-- has water PH in the mid-to-high 4s, but the lake is over 6. Since the spring was dry, we drank filtered lake water all weekend, and it tasted pretty darn clean.

Last weekend appears to have been the tail-end of summer weather. It's getting rainy and cool now, not very good for camping. My camping buddy and I had already postponed two weekend camps earlier in the summer on account of wet weather. So it looks like we took advantage of this year's last opportunity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dave, have you ever tried fishing a plastic worm without any weight? I often fish a spring fed sand pit pond and find this is a great technique. Usually I fish with a straight plastic worm with a weedless hook. I let the worm sink to the bottom and often get hits as the worm is sinking. If there is some top water action, I'll fish a curly tail plastic worm and pull it across the surface so that the tail kicks up a commotion. If a bass hits and misses the worm, all you have to do is stop and let the worm sink and usually the bass will come back and hit it. This technique usually works best with 10 lb. test or lighter line.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yup, 10 Lb test, curly-tail worm (for action), very little weight (1/32 oz in 8-20 feet of water, weightless in shallow weedy areas), snagless "Texas rig" method. Working slowly in deep water, the hit often comes while the worm sinks, or just after I begin a retrieve from the bottom. When fishing openings in weedy areas while wading shoreline, the "skip along the top" method has worked for me. Took a 5 pounder like this once.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You might find this interesting...

Once many of the rivers that emptied into the east side of Lake Huron had a wonderful smallmouth bass fishery. Lots of big ones and that attracted quite a bit of fishing pressure. It only took a few years for the lots of big ones to turn into lots of small ones and hardly any big ones at all. It turns out that in those rivers a 16 inch bass was likely to be 15 years old and bigger ones proportionately older. While the fishing pressure has dropped off a bit it seems tough for a bass to avoid getting caught for enough years to make it to 16 inches and beyond. I was surprised at just how slowly bass grew and I can see how it doesnt take much pressure to have a real effect on the fishery. Apparently the walleye in Ontario have a similarly slow growth rate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to fish a farm pond near home when I was a kid that had a good number of largemouths in the five to eight pound range. It was a very dependable spot and stayed that way because my friends and I released the bass we caught. Eventually the land around the pond was sold and houses went up. The people in the houses began to keep the larger fish and within a few years the only bass left in that pond were six to ten inchers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's a small trout stream in my area that I still fish once in awhile. It's stocked about a half mile below my favorite water. Many of the trout I used to catch were native hatched brookies and brownies. I know the browns were reproducing there, because I would hook the occasional 4-incher. The walk up the stream is non-trivial, with a bit of bushwhacking necessary to get around a couple of deep spots. There's a small community that the stream flows through, just a couple homes are stream-side. A few years ago I was fishing the stream but enjoying little action. I was fishing a nice little hole that flowed near a home where I had hooked plenty of 12" brownies over the years. This guy showed up on a small balcony and asked, "Get antything?" "Nothin' worth mentioning", I replied. "Hah", he said bemusedly, "Since I moved into this home a year ago I've caught way over a hundred trout out of this little stretch." I had nothing else to say to him at that point.

The bass lake still has some lunkers in it, I'm pretty sure. Last year my buddy boated a 5-pounder, which we put back into the lake. I have seen 7-pounders that came out of the lake. Last year I lost one by the boat that had to be 6 pounds. But I think it's been getting some ice fishing pressure. I see the sled marks when I cross-country ski the trail. The lake is very healthy, with excellent populations of several fish species, and plenty of frogs. Unlike many of our relatively shallow man-made upland lakes --where the water is often acidic-- this one has a near neutral PH.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.