I do 99 per cent of my fishing from our dock -- a few casts after breakfast, a few after lunch and finally, after supper. Here's what I caught last summer.
The big news is I caught seven smallmouth bass. In the past I have never caught any. On one occasion I was just pulling my Beetle Spin out of the water when the whole side of the dock erupted with a school of bass. There might have been 10 of them. I dropped my lure back in and instantly caught one which put up a whale of a fight. While it was pulling out drag, the entire school followed it around. All these fish seemed to be about three pounds.
I got nine walleye including one on a rubber mouse. This fish had previously followed in as I cast the mouse near the bank, looking for pike. I eventually pitched out to a spot I know is about 20 feet deep and the walleye, obviously just below the surface, grabbed it immediately. This fish was about 25 inches.
I got 12 northern pike but only a few of them eating size. The others were too small or too big. The largest fish was about 38 inches and was enormously muscular. My two large hands could not encircle its head when I went to release it.
Low water at the start of the year resulted in excellent weed growth, something that benefits fish populations as it provides cover for minnows and other forage species. By fall the water level was back to normal.
4 comments:
Have you tried eating the Small Mouth? I recall you told me that the Walleye bother your joints and the Northern is better eating (IF you can filet them which I've not yet mastered)
Looking forward to seeing more of your blog and chapters from your book.
Mike S
I've eaten lots of smallmouth taken from around our home in Nolalu. I would say they are good to eat, just not as good as northern pike or walleye which I rank among the best in the world. So, I'm spoiled, that's all.
I caught my first small mouth a couple of years ago. It was only 8 inch or so.
I believe in the past you kind of considered the small to be an invasive species. Thoughts now that there are more of the them. Do you see any issues like competing for the same food source ect...
Smallmouth are a new species to Red Lake, for sure. I'm reluctant to call them invasive which conjures images of things like zebra mussels and lampreys in the Great Lakes. Bass have been making a steady spread northward from border areas for decades. They are a native species to North America, even to Northwestern Ontario. They just hadn't made it yet to Red Lake. Now they have. I think of them as the bluejays of the fish world. There were no bluejays in Red Lake when I was a kid in the '60s. Now they are common but no one would consider them an invasive species.
Another bird that was not found in Red Lake until very recently is the white pelican.
Anyway, bass are here to stay. Will they share in the available forage for fish in the lake? Of course, but there is no reason to think it is going to decimate populations of walleye and northern pike. It didn't do that in all the other lakes south of Red Lake.
Post a Comment