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05-29-2005, 06:27 PM
Article published Friday, May 27, 2005
FOLLOW THE FISH
Largemouth bass are cranking it up
Break out your favorite fishing stick and the plastic worms, the
Micropterus salmoides salmoides season is upon us.
Uh, that would be largemouth bass, Latin taxonomy aside.
Largemouth - alias, bigmouth or bucketmouth among other monikers - likely are the most popular and most pursued gamefish in the country.
And their time has come, so to say.
Not that some anglers, in Ohio at least, have not been targeting bass
for almost two months already. But as shoreline water temperatures
warm into the 60s, largemouth thaw out of their winter lethargy and
move from deepwater sleeps. They slide up toward the shallows where they grow spawning-time feisty and start building nests.
Too, at this time of year submerged vegetative cover has not yet
grown so thickly luxuriant that each cast becomes a weed-choked
wonder.
Just last week Ohio fish biologist Larry Goedde was with a sampling
crew at Pleasant Hill Reservoir, a top bass impoundment near
Mansfield. The crew shocked the shallows just to see what was around and came up with two seven-pounders and a bunch of three and four-pounders.
"Usually when you get that many big bass near shore, they're on
[spawning] beds," said Goedde. He is fish management supervisor for Ohio Wildlife District 2.
Speaking of it being the season, the bass season officially opens
tomorrow in most of Michigan's inland waters. Bass season and
generally is open year-round in Ohio, with the principal exception
being Lake Erie and connected waters, where only catch-and-release is allowed May 1 through June 25.
"This is about normal peak time for largemouth bass [activity]," said
Goedde, who notes that bass are widespread from farm ponds to the
Great Lakes shorelines and back bays.
More specifically they will be found near cover and structure where
they can lie in ambush. They hide in rooted weedbeds, behind stumps and boulders, amid submerged fallen trees, along pilings, under docks - you get the idea. But they won't venture too far to attack a plug, so accurate casting is a decided advantage if hooking up is the goal.
Speaking of hooking up, an array of terminal tackle will suffice,
depending on conditions and angler preferences. The lure list
includes spinnerbaits, jig and porkrind [jig-and-pig], plastic
crankbaits, topwater plugs, plastic worms that are Texas-rigged and
Slider-rigged, Carolina-rigged grubs, and more.
Bass waters generally are of three types: Farmponds and inland lakes having a bass/bluegill association, manmade impoundments usually connected in some way with a river or stream and containing gizzard shad, a popular forage or bait fish, and river/stream systems.
Bass/bluegill waters function differently from shad waters, for shad
compete with young bass and bluegill for food and their presence
suppresses bluegill. Shad waters produce bass that grow slowly at
first but later they grow quickly and large when they are big enough
to eat, rather than compete with, shad.
In general bass/bluergill waters produce higher numbers of bass, but small to average size. Shad waters generally have lower bass
densities but greater size.
The aforementioned Pleasant Hill Reservoir is a classic shad water,
as evidenced by the lunkers jolted up by the state sampling crew.
[Electrofished samples, incidentally, are measured and generally
released unharmed.] Two similar nearby reservoirs, Clear Fork and
Charles Mill, likewise are good producers of big bass, said Goedde.
The Lake La Su An State Wildlife Area's lakes in Williams County are
well-known bass producers, with lake-by-lake restrictions. La Su An
is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays during the open-water season. Call the area check station Mondays from 8 a.m. to noon to make reservations days that week. Some of the lakes with bass-only
reservations are easier to reserve, Goedde said. The check station
can be called at 419-636-6189.
A new set of bass lakes are Lake McKarns and Lake Barton at the new 196-acre St. Joseph River State Wildlife Area. It also lies in
Williams County, along County Road J just east of Township Road 8.5, southwest of Montpelier. Catch restrictions are posted at the new
area, which is open without reservations unlike La Su An, but the
catch-rules are aimed at maintaining a high-quality bass fishery.
Nettle Lake in Williams County and Harrison Lake in Fulton County
both are good bass lakes, and Oxbow Lake in Defiance County is
decent, as are the ponds at Resthaven State Wildlife Area in Erie
County, especially Pond 8, Goedde said. Among area upground municipal water-supply reservoirs, Veterans Memorial at Fostoria and Beaver Creek in northern Seneca County are popular bass waters, as is the impoundment at Killdeer Plains State Wildlife Area in Wyandot County.
Good largemouth fishing also can be found in parts of the Maumee
River and especially in the lower reaches of the Sandusky and Portage rivers, which have good amounts of slow-moving, weedy backwaters and marinas and docks.
Directions to and details about many of the region's bass lakes can
be found in Publication 77, "Public Hunting, Fishing, and Wildlife
Veiwing Areas." It is available free by calling 1-800-WILDLIFE.
Last and not least, know that private farmponds likely produce more
and bigger bass than most public waters. Obtain persmission to fish
them just like you would asking permission for a rabbit hunt.
ATTACHED FILES
Follow the fish map
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050527/SPORTS08/50527004
FOLLOW THE FISH
Largemouth bass are cranking it up
Break out your favorite fishing stick and the plastic worms, the
Micropterus salmoides salmoides season is upon us.
Uh, that would be largemouth bass, Latin taxonomy aside.
Largemouth - alias, bigmouth or bucketmouth among other monikers - likely are the most popular and most pursued gamefish in the country.
And their time has come, so to say.
Not that some anglers, in Ohio at least, have not been targeting bass
for almost two months already. But as shoreline water temperatures
warm into the 60s, largemouth thaw out of their winter lethargy and
move from deepwater sleeps. They slide up toward the shallows where they grow spawning-time feisty and start building nests.
Too, at this time of year submerged vegetative cover has not yet
grown so thickly luxuriant that each cast becomes a weed-choked
wonder.
Just last week Ohio fish biologist Larry Goedde was with a sampling
crew at Pleasant Hill Reservoir, a top bass impoundment near
Mansfield. The crew shocked the shallows just to see what was around and came up with two seven-pounders and a bunch of three and four-pounders.
"Usually when you get that many big bass near shore, they're on
[spawning] beds," said Goedde. He is fish management supervisor for Ohio Wildlife District 2.
Speaking of it being the season, the bass season officially opens
tomorrow in most of Michigan's inland waters. Bass season and
generally is open year-round in Ohio, with the principal exception
being Lake Erie and connected waters, where only catch-and-release is allowed May 1 through June 25.
"This is about normal peak time for largemouth bass [activity]," said
Goedde, who notes that bass are widespread from farm ponds to the
Great Lakes shorelines and back bays.
More specifically they will be found near cover and structure where
they can lie in ambush. They hide in rooted weedbeds, behind stumps and boulders, amid submerged fallen trees, along pilings, under docks - you get the idea. But they won't venture too far to attack a plug, so accurate casting is a decided advantage if hooking up is the goal.
Speaking of hooking up, an array of terminal tackle will suffice,
depending on conditions and angler preferences. The lure list
includes spinnerbaits, jig and porkrind [jig-and-pig], plastic
crankbaits, topwater plugs, plastic worms that are Texas-rigged and
Slider-rigged, Carolina-rigged grubs, and more.
Bass waters generally are of three types: Farmponds and inland lakes having a bass/bluegill association, manmade impoundments usually connected in some way with a river or stream and containing gizzard shad, a popular forage or bait fish, and river/stream systems.
Bass/bluegill waters function differently from shad waters, for shad
compete with young bass and bluegill for food and their presence
suppresses bluegill. Shad waters produce bass that grow slowly at
first but later they grow quickly and large when they are big enough
to eat, rather than compete with, shad.
In general bass/bluergill waters produce higher numbers of bass, but small to average size. Shad waters generally have lower bass
densities but greater size.
The aforementioned Pleasant Hill Reservoir is a classic shad water,
as evidenced by the lunkers jolted up by the state sampling crew.
[Electrofished samples, incidentally, are measured and generally
released unharmed.] Two similar nearby reservoirs, Clear Fork and
Charles Mill, likewise are good producers of big bass, said Goedde.
The Lake La Su An State Wildlife Area's lakes in Williams County are
well-known bass producers, with lake-by-lake restrictions. La Su An
is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays during the open-water season. Call the area check station Mondays from 8 a.m. to noon to make reservations days that week. Some of the lakes with bass-only
reservations are easier to reserve, Goedde said. The check station
can be called at 419-636-6189.
A new set of bass lakes are Lake McKarns and Lake Barton at the new 196-acre St. Joseph River State Wildlife Area. It also lies in
Williams County, along County Road J just east of Township Road 8.5, southwest of Montpelier. Catch restrictions are posted at the new
area, which is open without reservations unlike La Su An, but the
catch-rules are aimed at maintaining a high-quality bass fishery.
Nettle Lake in Williams County and Harrison Lake in Fulton County
both are good bass lakes, and Oxbow Lake in Defiance County is
decent, as are the ponds at Resthaven State Wildlife Area in Erie
County, especially Pond 8, Goedde said. Among area upground municipal water-supply reservoirs, Veterans Memorial at Fostoria and Beaver Creek in northern Seneca County are popular bass waters, as is the impoundment at Killdeer Plains State Wildlife Area in Wyandot County.
Good largemouth fishing also can be found in parts of the Maumee
River and especially in the lower reaches of the Sandusky and Portage rivers, which have good amounts of slow-moving, weedy backwaters and marinas and docks.
Directions to and details about many of the region's bass lakes can
be found in Publication 77, "Public Hunting, Fishing, and Wildlife
Veiwing Areas." It is available free by calling 1-800-WILDLIFE.
Last and not least, know that private farmponds likely produce more
and bigger bass than most public waters. Obtain persmission to fish
them just like you would asking permission for a rabbit hunt.
ATTACHED FILES
Follow the fish map
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050527/SPORTS08/50527004