Early Spring Tactics

After a good, cold Winter, I was looking forward to getting away from the outdoor show circuit and off the ice to some warmer weather and open water fishing. This time of year, if you can get the pattern down, can be very productive. The water is still cold, but warming, and the fish are getting active, strapping on the feed bag to prepare for the spawn.

Went out to one of my favorite early Spring spots, Long Lake. It's one of the Portage Lakes chain, located just South of Akron. It's a good lake to learn on, as it's not that big, but offers several different types of cover and species of fish. There is plenty of wood to fish, tree-falls and a few beaver huts, some good weed flats, steep shorelines, and creek channels. A MAJOR plus is the bait shop on it's South shore. If you get into the fish and run out of minnows, there it is!

Went out with my friend Chris, looking for crappie. I've always done pretty well at Long, but Chris refers to it as "The Dead Sea" as his luck hasn't been great there. Determined to change his mind, we headed out. Started on a drop-off near a channel in 6 ft of water. I had caught crappie and bass there in the past, and it's usually a good Spring spot. If there's good ice, it's a GREAT spot to ice fish. Anyway, we stopped there and gave it a good hour with no success. Was it too early? Were the fish still deep or had they moved shallow, tight to cover? These are the things you have to figure out when learning a lake.



Close to the weed flat/drop off we were fishing, there was a channel that I knew had LOTS of cover and an old beaver lodge. We eased back in there and started fishing tight to the wood. So tight, in fact, we got several snags and lost a few jigs along the way. It's the price you pay for fishing the sticks, but that's where the fish are. At least they were supposed to be. Warmer temperatures, cloudy, light rain, all are factors that SHOULD turn the fish on. All we got in that channel were a few bluegill and a real nice yellow perch. We spent a lot of time there, working the cover as best we could. I did have a small bass come up and WHACK the float I was using. Never took my jig, though. Oh well, that's why they call it fishing.
After we wore out the small gills in that channel, we decided to try another, bigger channel with two beaver lodges and a wealth of weeds, lily pads, sticks, and all sorts of places for the fish to hide. Again, we found some real nice bluegill and redears, and I caught a big, fat perch that was pushing 13 inches! But no crappies. The pattern was the same in both areas, so that clued us in that the fish weren't in shallow yet. So, what"s next? Deeper water. In my experiences on this lake, I knew of 4 real nice weed flats that, from time to time, hold fish. We fished one with no success, so this time I headed to the deeper of the weed beds. It was a good move.

It was the right move. We set up on the edge of the weed flat in 7 1/2 ft of water. There was very little wind, so we just drifted around for awhile, until we found some fish, if any. Well, didn't take long and the first slab was hooked and on his way in. Anchors went down and we proceeded to go through 5 or so dozen minnows. We had figured out the pattern. The fish wanted a minnow on a plain hook. No jig, to plastic tube or twister tail, just a plain old minnow. We were fishing them under a slip bobber, set at a depth of between 6 and 7 foot deep. When fishing in the Spring for crappie, I like to use 4# test line and either my 7 ft medium action rod with my drag set fairly loose, or my 10 ft medium- light action rod. They cast well, they'll let you fight the bigger fish with the rod, and let you play them. Sometimes, you will get a big bass or catfish on the minnows as well. That's what happened to us. Along with 25 or so crappie, 10 perch, uncounted gills, we hauled in six channel cats that ranged in size from 2 pounds to 7 pounds. On 4 pound test and a long, limber rod, there is nothing more fun that a hard fighting catfish.

It's a very satisfying feeling when you "figure it out". It's almost as much fun as the catching of the fish. But, you have to be able to adapt. I could give you GPS coordinates of where we caught them, and you could go there and get skunked. You should try and be aware of what different lakes have to offer, and be able to change what you're doing to fit the pattern the fish are in. It goes for all species of fish, too.

For more on fishing or anything outdoors, check out www.ohiogamefishing.com.

That's all for this entry. I'll be more consistent in my reports now that the outdoor shows are done and I have a little more time to get out. If you have any questions on anything "outdoors" you can shoot me an email at cbachtel@wkyc.com and I'll get back to you. Now, I'm off to put a new fish finder on the boat.

I'm Carl "Big Daddy" Bachtel. Thanks for stopping by.