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05-16-2005, 08:17 PM
Article published Friday, May 13, 2005
FOLLOW THE FISH
White bass pinch-hit for belated bullheads
By STEVE POLLICK
BLADE OUTDOORS EDITOR
White bass, while slow to start acting up this spring, have been on a tear lately, providing excellent fishing action in the Sandusky and Maumee rivers.
The hot action could not have come at a better time for stream and bankside anglers, for another staple of the season, bullhead fishing, largely has gone wanting with few exceptions.
Typically in early May, many area anglers are firing up Coleman lanterns along the banks of backwater bays and slow-moving streams, ready for an evening or a night of bullheading.
But this is not your typical spring. That snowstorm April 23-24 and related wintry weather for a spell thereafter turned spring on its head for a while, right when bullheads should have been ready to spawn. In turn, fishing action for this popular, little brown catfish has been slow, right when it should be hot.
"Those [anglers] who have been trying just are not doing very well," said Larry Goedde, fish management supervisor for Ohio Wildlife District 2. He said bullheads likely are done spawning for the year.
"When it [bullheading] should have been best is when the bad weather occurred."
On the other hand, the Ohio Division of Wildlife had forecast a good run for white bass this spring, with most fish running 8 to 13 inches from the 2001 and 2003 year-classes plus some larger Fish Ohio-size ones from 1999 and earlier. Judging from results so far, the run has been a lot better than good.
"They are just tearing [white bass] up in the Sandusky River," said Goedde, and the action on the Maumee has been very good as well. Brian Bury, state wildlife officer in Sandusky County, said that anglers at downtown Fremont and in small boats below downtown were averaging 50 to 100 white bass each last weekend. "They caught a ton of fish."
While the run has slackened somewhat, Bury said, "with a little rain I expect a big run of fish." At mid-week the Sandusky’s flow was low but water clarity was very good, 10 inches or more.
The top choice for terminal tackle, Bury added, has been a minnow fished under a bobber, though some anglers were doing well with small jigs — a sixteenth or an eighth-ounce — dressed with plastic grubtail or twisting tails.
On the Maumee the area around the Maumee-Perrysburg Bridge has produced the best catches of white bass, said Andy Ankenbrandt at Maumee Tackle. Good sites on the Maumee side include the foot of White Street and upstream along the Towpath to Blue Grass Island. On the Perrysburg side, try around Orleans Park and Fort Meigs to the northern end of Buttonwood Public Access.
Shiner minnows again are a top choice, said Ankenbrandt, and Maumee anglers were both bottom fishing or bobber fishing. Casting the smaller jigs with plastic tails in white or chartreuse tails also was working, as was casting small spinners such as Rooster Tails. Water temperature at mid week on the Maumee had been where it should be for white bass action, in the low 60s, and water clarity was very good at 12 inches-plus, according to the tackle shop.
Thursday’s cold front, however, dropped water temperatures five degrees, at least temporarily, and that was expected to slow action somewhat, at least till sunshine and warmer air reheated the streams.
The winner of Maumee Tackle’s weekly white bass contest was Kathy O’Bright, of White Pigeon, Mich., who turned in a 2.74-pound lunker of a white bass. She also landed one of 2.5 pounds, taking both on a jig with a pearly white tail. The brace of big bass are headed for wall mounts.
Chris Martin, at River Lures in Grand Rapids, said that some white bass have run all the way to the tailwaters below the Grand Rapids Dam, though numbers there do not appear to be as heavy as lower in the river. He added that crappie action remains good above and below the dam and in neighboring side creeks.
Goedde said he expects the white bass action to remain good for at least two weeks, with some fish remaining in the Maumee into June.
A few walleye still are being taken, including some limits, as the post-spawn "jack run"winds down. This run, actually post-spawn feeding activity by smaller males or jacks, usually coincides with intensifying white bass action to provide a mixed creel for anglers.
On western Lake Erie, the walleye jigging season remains in play, with some anglers dressing jigs with minnows and others with worms. Good numbers of undersized 2003 fish have moved into popular fishing areas, causing a lots of sorting, said Rick Ferguson at Al Szuch Live Bait in Jerusalem Township.
Much of the action is in Maumee Bay, off Little Cedar Point to the chart area marked as Gravel Pit and west toward Toledo Harbor Light, and off Maumee Bay State Park.
Speaking of the Harbor Light, Mike Brenneman of Liberty Center was fishing east of there last Sunday, jigging for walleye, when he jigged up a noteworthy yellow perch — 14½ inches and 1.58 pounds. Such fish always are a bonus, and a way to earn a Fish Ohio pin.
Last and not least, the Western Basin Sportfishing Association has scheduled its second event in the Lake Erie Walleye Trail for tomorrow at the municipal ramp on Shelby Street in Sandusky.
Register at the ramp tonight from 5 to 7, or tomorrow beginning at 5:30 a.m. For other details call Matt Davis at 419-834-3619 or visit the event Web site at www.wbsa.us.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050513/SPORTS08/50513014
FOLLOW THE FISH
White bass pinch-hit for belated bullheads
By STEVE POLLICK
BLADE OUTDOORS EDITOR
White bass, while slow to start acting up this spring, have been on a tear lately, providing excellent fishing action in the Sandusky and Maumee rivers.
The hot action could not have come at a better time for stream and bankside anglers, for another staple of the season, bullhead fishing, largely has gone wanting with few exceptions.
Typically in early May, many area anglers are firing up Coleman lanterns along the banks of backwater bays and slow-moving streams, ready for an evening or a night of bullheading.
But this is not your typical spring. That snowstorm April 23-24 and related wintry weather for a spell thereafter turned spring on its head for a while, right when bullheads should have been ready to spawn. In turn, fishing action for this popular, little brown catfish has been slow, right when it should be hot.
"Those [anglers] who have been trying just are not doing very well," said Larry Goedde, fish management supervisor for Ohio Wildlife District 2. He said bullheads likely are done spawning for the year.
"When it [bullheading] should have been best is when the bad weather occurred."
On the other hand, the Ohio Division of Wildlife had forecast a good run for white bass this spring, with most fish running 8 to 13 inches from the 2001 and 2003 year-classes plus some larger Fish Ohio-size ones from 1999 and earlier. Judging from results so far, the run has been a lot better than good.
"They are just tearing [white bass] up in the Sandusky River," said Goedde, and the action on the Maumee has been very good as well. Brian Bury, state wildlife officer in Sandusky County, said that anglers at downtown Fremont and in small boats below downtown were averaging 50 to 100 white bass each last weekend. "They caught a ton of fish."
While the run has slackened somewhat, Bury said, "with a little rain I expect a big run of fish." At mid-week the Sandusky’s flow was low but water clarity was very good, 10 inches or more.
The top choice for terminal tackle, Bury added, has been a minnow fished under a bobber, though some anglers were doing well with small jigs — a sixteenth or an eighth-ounce — dressed with plastic grubtail or twisting tails.
On the Maumee the area around the Maumee-Perrysburg Bridge has produced the best catches of white bass, said Andy Ankenbrandt at Maumee Tackle. Good sites on the Maumee side include the foot of White Street and upstream along the Towpath to Blue Grass Island. On the Perrysburg side, try around Orleans Park and Fort Meigs to the northern end of Buttonwood Public Access.
Shiner minnows again are a top choice, said Ankenbrandt, and Maumee anglers were both bottom fishing or bobber fishing. Casting the smaller jigs with plastic tails in white or chartreuse tails also was working, as was casting small spinners such as Rooster Tails. Water temperature at mid week on the Maumee had been where it should be for white bass action, in the low 60s, and water clarity was very good at 12 inches-plus, according to the tackle shop.
Thursday’s cold front, however, dropped water temperatures five degrees, at least temporarily, and that was expected to slow action somewhat, at least till sunshine and warmer air reheated the streams.
The winner of Maumee Tackle’s weekly white bass contest was Kathy O’Bright, of White Pigeon, Mich., who turned in a 2.74-pound lunker of a white bass. She also landed one of 2.5 pounds, taking both on a jig with a pearly white tail. The brace of big bass are headed for wall mounts.
Chris Martin, at River Lures in Grand Rapids, said that some white bass have run all the way to the tailwaters below the Grand Rapids Dam, though numbers there do not appear to be as heavy as lower in the river. He added that crappie action remains good above and below the dam and in neighboring side creeks.
Goedde said he expects the white bass action to remain good for at least two weeks, with some fish remaining in the Maumee into June.
A few walleye still are being taken, including some limits, as the post-spawn "jack run"winds down. This run, actually post-spawn feeding activity by smaller males or jacks, usually coincides with intensifying white bass action to provide a mixed creel for anglers.
On western Lake Erie, the walleye jigging season remains in play, with some anglers dressing jigs with minnows and others with worms. Good numbers of undersized 2003 fish have moved into popular fishing areas, causing a lots of sorting, said Rick Ferguson at Al Szuch Live Bait in Jerusalem Township.
Much of the action is in Maumee Bay, off Little Cedar Point to the chart area marked as Gravel Pit and west toward Toledo Harbor Light, and off Maumee Bay State Park.
Speaking of the Harbor Light, Mike Brenneman of Liberty Center was fishing east of there last Sunday, jigging for walleye, when he jigged up a noteworthy yellow perch — 14½ inches and 1.58 pounds. Such fish always are a bonus, and a way to earn a Fish Ohio pin.
Last and not least, the Western Basin Sportfishing Association has scheduled its second event in the Lake Erie Walleye Trail for tomorrow at the municipal ramp on Shelby Street in Sandusky.
Register at the ramp tonight from 5 to 7, or tomorrow beginning at 5:30 a.m. For other details call Matt Davis at 419-834-3619 or visit the event Web site at www.wbsa.us.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050513/SPORTS08/50513014