Oh Boy!

[gonefishie]

The dogwood is blooming! You know what time it is? Come on, say it with me class! IT'S SPAWNING TIME! Solar Bat, check. Tubes, check. Lizzards, check. Swimbaits, check. Push pole, check. Woman, what woman? Man, I'm getting excited.

 

[John_S]

Re: Oh Boy!

Lucky You! Its snowing here right now! The rain yesterday probably killed my chances of getting on the river on Sunday.

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Re: Oh Boy!

Lucky You! Its snowing here right now! The rain yesterday probably killed my chances of getting on the river on Sunday.

No snow here but some rain: snow is going finally but still ice on the Lake Elmore. Wish there was a web cam on Seymour Lake- 2nd Saturday in April and Salmon opens but at this point ice-out looks a ways off yet. Good sap runs I hear though...

 

[CATransplant]

Re: Oh Boy!

Another small snowstorm coming here in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, so the boat stays in the garage. Still, ice is out on the little lake near my house, and going out fast on the larger lakes.

Walleye and Pike season doesn't open here until May 8, and bass doesn't open until even later, so it's panfishing only for the time being. I'll probably be out around the 15th of April for the season's shakedown cruise and do a little fishing for sunnies and crappie.

I have a bunch of new lures for the season, so I may walk over to the non-boatable lake near my place and do some lure tuning. The only things catchable in that lake are sunnies and crappies, plus golden shiners up to 6".

The shiners are a nice little secret about that lake, and make great pike bait later on in the season. I catch 'em with trout flies and a very small bobber. Into the bait holder and I'm off to another lake to fish with 'em. It's legal, since the other lake has a thriving population of them. Pike eat 'em up.

I still have to finish setting up the boat, test run the outboard and rewire the trailer plug for the tow vehicle. Soon...soon...

 

[John_S]

Re: Oh Boy!

Walleyes open in NY on the 1st Saturday of May. Bass are now open all year. From the end of Novemeber to 3rd Saturday in June, it is artificals only, catch & release. April can be very good pre-spawn bass fishing. In May they start getting on their beds, so I leave them alone, and focus on the walleyes.

Mark, we only got a dusting here. From the radar view, some of that might be headed your way.

 

[lowkee]

Re: Oh Boy!

They certainly are pretty! Here is the one off my deck

Vearing off topic, I have a big tree i my front yard apparently called a Japanese Cherry Blossom, but I call it the Carnation Tree, since it blooms about 5000 carnation-looking flowers. It's amazing. I'll post a photo once it blooms (in a new thread).

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Re: Oh Boy!

...Veering off topic....

What's all that green stuff stuck all over your dirt?

 

[mars bar]

Re: Oh Boy!

Don't know what time it is there, but shot some nice pike with the bow good eating here. cut out the console out of a tri-hull wit a chainsaw and should fit nice in my project boat ...whenever I get to it???

 

[gator1968]

Re: Oh Boy!

Amen. Hit the lake yesterday! 44 deg in a.m. 72 p.m.. But windy. Caught several small ones around 2 lbs. I'm ready to go again! Yes I have the bug! (fishingbug)

 

[Woodstock60]

Re: Oh Boy!

In RI, we got the best of both worlds. Trout season opens this saturday all other species open year round, but you cannot fish designated trout waters till opening day. Then theres the ocean, if you can get out there you can get cod now.Schoolie stripers moving in now,caught 3 in the Providence river last week (brackish water). And the herring are making there way up the rivers into the ponds to spawn now.
CA its funny you mention that about the shiners, we have a pike pond here with a large population of huge pond shiners, they must get up to 3/4 of a #. The whole pond is shallow so I go out with a loaf of bread and small white rubber.I break up the bread and chum the water and the shiners come up like pirahna crushing the bread, I put a tiny peice of white rubber on a tiny hook on ultralight gear and the battle is on. Once I wrestle them into the boat I use a big saltwater treble hook and a large bobber about two feet down and throw it right out on a baitrunner and continue to catch bait. Without a doubt the most fun way to catch pike, when you see the golfball sized bobber disappear and your baitrunner starts humming you know a good one is about to be caught. That style of fishing starts around june when the shinners get active.

 

[gonefishie]

Re: Oh Boy!

Went you last Sat. was in the upper 30's in the morning, had to use the hand warmer. Reached 60's by noon, sunny and not a whole lotta wind. Nothing all morning then found a staging area, lost count of the number of fish caught in the next 2 hours. It was great!

 

[Starcraftguy1]

Re: Oh Boy!

Here in Arizona,it is almost 90 degrees.The bass are spawning,can't be caught but are spawning.And the crappies are filling frying pans everywhere.It was cold at the lake on Sunday,was down to about 65 degrees.Have fun guys,I will be going to Pennsylvania in a couple of months to live.I guess that my life will be like yours.

 

[bugman1964]

Re: Oh Boy!

Its getting close. Open water fishing started in Maine on 4/1 but only some streams and brooks were ice free then. Looks like a couple of lakes will be ice free by the weekend. Watch out, its salmon and trout trolling time!!!!!! Tight Lines to all!!!!

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Re: Oh Boy!

Well today was the salmonid opener here in Vermont. Streams are open, but I didn't go out; might tomorrow.

Ice out hasn't happened in the lakes yet, but Lake Elmore ice is looking dark. Probably still a few weeks before Seymour ice is out. Maybe by then I'll be ready

What's ready? Pivot bushings on the motor to stop the irritating rattles, fix the upper drain plug ferule which broke away from the 5200 last year, adjust neutral back to center, wax everything, fix the gravel damage on the prow with epoxy and glass, lube the steering cable.

I, however, have been ready for ice out for WEEKS!

 

[John_S]

Re: Oh Boy!

While it was nice to see the sun this weekend, it was a cold north wind. It was a pain getting spring car maint done. I have some quick work on the boat to do: extend rear casting deck and coat of paint on deck. Planning for both days next weekend, weather and river levels providing. If the water temps are in the 50's the smallies should have the feedbags on.

 

[gonefishie]

Re: Oh Boy!

Oh man, that's rough Mark. There must be something else that drawn people to Northern Vermont because it gotta be excruciating to wait until May just to be able to put the boat in the lake. When do put the boat up? October?

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Re: Oh Boy!

Actually yes. I fished the last day of trout season which was October 31. We caught one too small laker and a few really nice keeper salmon. It was 17 degrees when we got on the water and about 45 when we left at 2pm.

I actually have my boat here at home now. We had some thawing a few weeks ago and then it froze back up. The thaw got rid of enough snow to let me get within 60 feet of my boat- dragged it through the snow with a couple tow straps. With the ground frozen again it let me drive that far without tearing everything up. Last year it was too soft for me to get my boat until almost June, so I took the opportunity to get it before mud season set in again.

You do have to be tough and self dependent to live in Vermont