May Rods to the Ready - Opening Day. Duffy, Eric, Phil and Tom. Notes by Stan Nichols. Continued next page

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1 May 2010 Editor: Tom Raschke or Club Web site: shingclub.org Rods to the Ready - Opening Day Notes by Stan Nichols A homegrown panel of experts, Phil Emmling, Eric Olson, and Duffy Kopf, presented tips and tactics for catching panfish, bass, and muskies on the local lakes for opening day and beyond. Phil gave the panfish presentation and, since there isn t an opening day for pan sh, he covered the complete open water season. Opening day is any day. Phil started the season with early spring, April 1 to April 30. Bluegills will be in shallow water, usually one-to-three feet in dark bottom channels and bays. Fish in the afternoon and early evening when the water is the warmest. Cold spells can shut the bite down. At times the fish are unaggressive; this may be due to low oxygen, high carbon dioxide, and lowered ph from decomposition of bottom debris. Perch spawn at about 42 o using wood or old vegetation. Large females look good but make poor fillets because of the space required for egg development-best to use catch and release. The best baits are spikes, maggots, red worms, and ies such as small hares-ear nymph, yellow wooly worms, and thin white legged-black nymphs. Light spinning gear with small stick or rocket bobbers work well along with a y rod for y presentations. Places to look for sh this time of year include Willow (Biotron) Creek (on campus, parking is free in Lot 62 after 4:30 p.m. and on weekends), Spring Harbor, Marshall Park, Pheasant Branch, County Park mooring channels, Yahara River at Highway 113, and Cherokee Marsh on Lake Mendota; Winnequah Lagoon (rocket bobber helps, flies work well), Schluter Beach channel, Starkweather Creek, and MGE Power Plant discharge on Lake Monona, Upper Mud Lake, Hwy N channels by Stoughton, and the City Channels and Beyers Cove Channels on Green Lake. Phil considers the prespawn from May 1 to May 21. Bluegills move to weedline breaks in about 8 to 10 feet of water. There can be a clear water phase before higher temperatures promote oating algae Duffy, Eric, Phil and Tom growth. Crappies spawn a little earlier than bluegills and may be found spawning in 6 to 10 feet of water. On clear sunny days and during active spawning they can be hard to catch. Perch seem to cruise in shallow water in low numbers. Set your bobber at six feet and use redworms or spikes for bluegills, for crappies try white, clear, chartreuse, black with chartreuse, purple and red plastic or minnows. Light line with fluorocarbon leader may help. Early and late in the day can be better than sunny, at-water days. Often you can tell which sh is biting. Bluegills bite Continued next page

2 hard, a slow, steady sinking of the oat indicates a crappie, and perch are an aggravating nibble. A place to look for crappies this time of year is under the Hoofer s piers on the U.W. Campus. May 22 to June 21 is the spawning period for bluegills and white bass. By this time the pike, muskiest, perch, walleyes and crappies have spawned. The traditional places to look for white bass are the Maple Bluff and Warner Bay areas of Lake Mendota. The bluegills are found in many places. Some general areas are inside weedlines and around piers. Phil shes a lot of spawning bluegills in waders or a oat tube. Lately Lake Waubesa has the best numbers of inch sh. Generally the size of bluegills in the Madison Lakes goes from Lake Mendota with the largest to Kegonsa, Waubesa, and Monona. Phil only has limited experience shing Lakes Mendota and Kegonsa this time of year. For Lake Waubesa he recommends the areas north of the Lake Farm boat launch, the shores north and south of Babcock boat launch, and the area out from the Green Lantern Restaurant. What Lake Monona bluegills lack in average size they make up in numbers year after year. Schluter Beach, the east shoreline around into Squaw Bay, Frost Woods Beach, the south shoreline of Squaw Bay around the point to Ester Beach, Olin Bay, Olin Beach and west to John Nolan drive and the shoreline from the Yahara River north to Starkweather Creek are recommended areas. In other words they are just about everywhere. Summer pan shing extends from about June 16 to August 15. Bluegills and crappies are at the weedlines early and late in the day, during mid-day try drifting in deeper water. The best bite is in the upper 15 feet of water and the wind help the drift. On calm days use your trolling motor to drift. Use no weight and two different spit shot to determine which setup works best. Occasionally lift and drop the bait. The deep sh on the sh nder usually do not bite. The sh may be over 20 feet on some days and over 45 to 60 feet on other days. The inside of the weedlines have smaller pan sh and bass at this time. Some larger bluegills will hit poppers in the evening over the weeds. Perch may be schooled in 18 to 36 feet of water in Mendota and Monona. Use three rods over the side of the boat with a piece of hellgrammite (dragonfly nymph), a piece of nightcrawler, or a red Willy Worm with a spike. Keep your hand on the nymph and use the crawler and Willy Worm when the fish are around the boat. When the action slows, put the nymph back in the water. The nymph seems to attract the sh to the boat so the other baits work. Early fall fishing starts about mid-august and continues to mid-october. Fishing the weedlines with bobbers set as low as possible or slip bobbers works well. Live bait or red and purple Willy Worms work with a jiggle. For the jiggle, rst jiggle, stop, reel in three feet and repeat if the water is calm. On windy days the wind provides enough jiggle action. Late fall is from mid-october (after turnover) until the lake freezes. At this time of year there is a good University Bay bite in 7 to 10 feet of water. Check the shoreline from the Lot 60 boat launch to the rowing team boathouse. Lately the best bite seems to be from Willow Creek to the boathouse. Some equipment tips from Phil include using a six foot graphite rod with four pound Trilene XL or uorocarbon line; rocket, stick, or weighted bobbers; small pan sh plastics including mini-jigs, twister tails, or Willy Worms (in purple, red, white, chartreuse or clear colors), and live bait includes garden worms, crawlers, Continued next page Mike s Prop Shop Full Color Copies (608) P r i n t i n g & Copying, LLC One- and Two-Color Printing Copying up to 36 x 48 Large Format Posters 131 West Wilson Street, #P300 Madison, WI Posters, Banners, Wide Format for Trade Shows, displays, parties, advertisements, etc. V.F.W. Post Lakeside St. Madison This shop offers a 20% discount to members of the Yahara Fishing Club. They have repaired several of my props, a skeg, and welded a sailboat rudder back together. All were done expertly. Editor

3 spikes, mousies, waxworms, and hellgrammites Now you are geared up for pan sh, next is to catch some bass. Eric Olson concentrated more on early season bass shing. An important aspect that Eric mentioned is pre-season scouting. Go out before the season opens, when the water is clear and look for spots like rock piles, wood, and underwater point that you can t see later in the season. These could be bass hotspots all year long. Early in the season, Eric recommends shing right in the weeds. He likes the new soft plastic swimbaits and swimming jigs. There is not much brainpower needed to use them. You just cast them out and reel them in, preferably over the tops of newly emerging weeds. One problem with soft plastics is that northern pike also like them so they can tear up your supply quite quickly. Monona and Waubesa are good largemouth bass lakes and he has been recently shing Mendota more. Mendota has good largemouth and smallmouth bass and it doesn t get the tournament shing pressure that the other lakes have. For Monona he recommends Squaw, Turville, and Monona Bays, and the bridges along John Nolen drive. Upper Mud Lake can also be a good early season location and he recommends using Rattletraps there. He hasn t gured out Lake Kegonsa yet so he has no recommendations there. For line he likes 50 pound-test P-Line. You don t need that heavy line to land a bass but it helps getting lures and sh through the weeds. Duffy gave some general locations to look for springtime muskies in any lake: look for them in shallow south or east facing bays and on the north end of lakes. These areas warm faster. They are usually found in 5 to 7 feet of water. Cast the shorelines, preferably irregular shorelines and over newly emerging plant growth. Also look for open sandy areas, and sand, or rocks near weeds. Shoals and incoming creek mouths can also be good. Muskies are sometimes found suspended just off the rst breakline adjacent to good shallow areas. Where muskies are found is directly related to water temperature, structure, and bait sh. Because muskies are in shallow water this time of year they are easily spooked so make long casts. Duffy also recommends preseason scouting when the water is clear. On warm, sunny days the sh may be in the upper part of the water column. Once the water really warms up, look for a night bite. If you are trolling, strain the water. With two people you can run two baits between two and ve feet deep and two baits between eight and ten feet deep. In the Madison area fish the shallow lakes first- Wingra and Waubesa before heading to Lake Monona. The shallow lakes warm first. Duffy gave a whole list of baits that I won t duplicate here. Some he has used and some were recommendations from other musky anglers. There are a few generalities. Use smaller lures in the spring - baits like a six-inch Ernie or Grandma bait or a number 5 Mepps spinner, instead of the monster baits. In the spring slow down your retrieve. For floating or suspending baits leave them sit still for a while. In the Madison lakes perch and firetiger patterns work well. All three panelists are YFC members and are usually at the meetings so if you have further questions give them a call or corner them at the next meeting. D&S Bait Seminars 2010 These seminars are on Thursday evenings at 7pm at our store (D&S Bait, Tackle & Archery, LLC 1411 Northport Dr., Madison, WI (608) ), and are free to the public! So, here it is: MAY 06 Charlie Grimm Bass From Shore 13 Gene Dellinger Post Spawn Bluegills 20 Wally Ban Modern Muskie Techniques If you have any questions, give Gene a call at the store at Fishing Seasons General Inland Trout May 1 (5 a.m.) to Sept. 30 Large and Smallmouth Bass Northern Zone Catch and Releas emay 1 to June 18 Large and Smallmouth Bass Northern Zone Harvest June 19 to March 6, 2011 Large and Smallmouth Bass Southern Zone May 1 to March 6, 2011 Musky - Northern Zone May 29 to Nov. 30 Musky - Southern Zone May 1 to Dec. 31 Northern Pike May 1 to March 6, 2011 Walleye May 1 to March 6, 2011 Lake Sturgeon Sept. 4 to Sept. 30 (hook-and-line) 3 Thanks to Stan Nichols for these extensive notes. Editor.

4 April Monthly Club Meeting A presentation from LakeTides and the Warden Lake Tides - The newsletter for people interested in Wisconsin Lakes Erin McFarlane Aquatic Invasive Species Volunteer Coordinator Erin coordinates the Clean Boats, Clean Waters watercraft inspection program that assists Wisconsin residents in stopping the spread of aquatic invasive species. Madison Warden Mack Hannon. Mack will discuss aquative evasive species and law enforcement of the rules pertaining to them. Erin McFarlane New Dam at Lake Wingra This dam separates Wingra Creek, and therefore Lake Monona, from Lake Wingra. This is where the Muskies jumpe each year to spawn in Lake Wingra. Note that under the concrete pier there is an opening into gates that can be opened manually to allow upstream migration. Editor 4

5 Brittingham Bay Fish Kill Yahara Fishing Club In 2009 and again in 2010 we had a sh kill from street run-off and businesses discharges into Brittingham Bay. The health department and the DNR were noti ed both years of the kills and have been working on the problem. I hope to hear soon from the City health department and the DNR for an explanation. As the weather warms and the snow melts, street debris is washed into the lakes. This includes plastic bags, bottles, Styrofoam, etc. This problem is so bad that City Engineering cleared three truckloads of debris from the outlet twice in two weeks using their big green street vacuum sewer cleaning truck. Thanks must go to the City Engineering for doing their part, but something must be done to better lter the run-off. Thanks to Dave Hovotony for reporting this to me and for the pictures. Jack Hurst Debris washing into the bay. Dead sh oating among ice chunks. We have planned a fun seminar day at the newest boat dealer in Madison - Madison Truck Equipment is now carrying G3 boats. Come and spend part of your day with us. Saturday, May 15th S. Stoughton Road, Madison, WI Duffy 5

6 Notes from the Prez Mission accomplished! That s exactly what I told my friend Steve on Lake Tenkiller in Oklahoma a few weeks ago. After shing with him for an evening and the following morning, and watching him closely fish a Lucky Craft Pointer jerk bait, I was suddenly catching more bass on this bait than ever before. Still not as many or as big as Steve s sh but, certainly moving forward, getting better! Along with my watching him very closely, he was sharing some of the finer points of this red-hot technique. Having the exact rod/reel/line set up was the rst step. Anytime I have the opportunity to sh with someone who is very good at a certain type of shing, I try to take advantage of it. And go into this humble and relaxed. I don t try to out sh them or compete against them. I sh against the sh, not against my shing buddies! After almost 20 years in a very talented and competitive bass club, I learned a lot because I admitted I had a lot to learn! Sometimes I think of all the possibilities like this within our own club. We have a great bunch of shing experts right here in the YFC. So let s get out there and learn from each other. Pay attention, ask lots of questions. I ve been known to dig through someone s tackle box to get the answers I need! And keep your hooks sticky sharp. Here comes summer. And in a big hurry too. We all know how fast Memorial Day turns into the Fourth of July and so on. And since we have our meetings on the water during the summer, the May meeting is a very important one. Please try to attend as we have to nalize plans for several key club events. And after that watch your newsletter and keep the director s phone numbers handy to get additional info on outings and activities. The summer meetings are lots of fun and can be super productive and informative if you re in that learning mode, as I always am! We will also be reviewing the new member surveys at the May meeting. Some interesting stuff..to say the least. Every members ideas, whether old members or new members, are welcomed and valued by all club directors and of cers. We can all work towards a goal to make the club more effective, thrifty, responsible, and fun! Anyone can attend the board meetings or call me with an idea or item to add to this month s meeting agenda. I will try to adjust our schedule to discuss anything. How about free beer?? So as summer slides toward us, I realize how much I have to do. With 3 grandkids, a June trip to Lac Seul, my rst summer of retirement on the Madison Chain, a cabin in the U.P. to maintain (actually called putzing!), and lots of YFC Club activities, I should be one busy boy! But I m not complaining. Life is good. Every day is a gift. We had a good week of turkey hunting last week. My friend George shot # gobbler on Wednesday, my son Terry shot his rst ever on Thursday ( a nice jake), and I shot my personal best 25# on Friday. Tagged out! And last year we all zeroed! Miller Time!! See you at the meeting! Mission accomplished!! Charlie Fishing Has No Boundaries Fishing Has No Boundaries needs volunteers to help with the annual event held at Governor Nelson State Park on Lake Mendota. This year it will be held July 9 th and 10 th. To pitch in call Marv Cutrell at or Marv Kontney at for more information. 6

7 YFC Survey Results This is just a sample of the information that was gathered. Do You? Fly Fish 13 Spin cast 32 Bait cast 24 Bow sh 2 Do you sh in: Wisconsin River 26 Mississippi River 12 Great Lakes (Salmon)12 Inland Trout streams 8 Mendota 19 Monona 25 Waubesa 21 Kegonsa 11 Species by preference: Species by preference: Bass 15 Bluegill 15 Bullheads 1 Carp 2 Cat sh 4 Crappies 13 Large mouth 2 Muskie 7 Northern Pike 6 Perch 7 Salmon 4 Sauger 1 Small mouth 8 Trout(inland) 7 Walleye 18 White Bass 2 any kind 1 Pan sh 7 Club decals I will have them at the meeting (last meeting indoors for awhile). They are $3 each, a great way to promote our club. Thanks, Tom Wilke Muskie Fishing Basics A class for adults who are new to the sport of Muskie Fishing. Young people 14 years old and up are also invited. When: May. 8, :00am - 12:30pm Where: Madison Gander Mountain s Gander Lodge Meeting Space Who: Duffy Kopf - Pure Fishing Ambassador Yahara Fishing Club Membership Application Name Street P.O. Box 3271 Madison, WI City State Zip Annual Dues: Individual...$25 Family...$35 Youth Member...Free (with paid membership) Except for special Summer On the water dates, meetings are held at 7:00 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at the Lakeside VFW Hall, John Nolan Dr, & Lakeside St. in Madison. An Organization to Educate, Protect and Propagate the Interests of All Fishermen in the Yahara Basin Area Including all of Madison s Lakes 7

8 The next meeting is on Tuesday, May 11th, at the Lakeside VFW Hall (John Nolen Rr. & Lakeside St.) The Board Of Directors meet at 5:45 pm, The General Membership meeting starts at 7:00 pm. Speaker: Erin McFarlane from Laketides May Events Calendar of Upcoming Events May 11th - YFC Club meeting at the VFW hall. Erin McFarlane from Laketides will speak. See page 4. June Events June 5th - Kids Fishing Day June 8th - On The Water YFC Meeting June 11-13th Winneconne Trip - See Duffy Kopf July Events July 9-10th - Fishing Has no boundaries The Yahara Fishing Club s doors are open to EVERYONE, so invite a friend to the meeting! President - Charlie Grimm Vice Pres. - Paul Murunich Secretary - Paul Nichols Treasurer - Brad Czebotar Director - Tom Wilke Director - Jeff Wydeven Director - Jim Pankratz Director - Tom Klein Director - Roger Swenson Director - Jim Kloth Director - Karlette Schoen Check out our web page at: Yahara Fishing Club P.O. Box 3271 Madison, WI 53704