3-29-2012 Thr

3-29-2012 Thr
4:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Weather: E 15, G 21 clear, 57˚, 29.93 falling
Water: 5.94’ falling, 37.3 kcfs, 57 ˚, cloudy
Location: Mississippi R. Pool 7, Lake Onalaska, WI
Caught: Myself – two pike, and approx. 10 LMB, Ben – 2 pike and approx. 4 LMB
Partners: Myself, Ben

Comments

It was the first Thursday after work fishing night with one of the Holmen guys. I got about an hour of fishing in before I had to pick Ben up at the landing. During this time I put a couple quick pike in the boat and missed one bass. I was fishing the north bay out from the cut. The fish were there but the strong south wind made the conditions very tough.
After I picked Ben up at the landing we headed off in search of some calm water. We headed to the Sail Boat club which I like to hit very early in the spring on account of it warms up very quickly. Well did it ever warm up quickly, in fact the lily pads were already fully developed on the surface and the back bay was totally weed choked. Since the back bay was unfishable we hit the mouth of the bay and connected with some smallish lower teen length bass. Surprisingly not a pike made it boat side here.
The next stop was from Ashley Point north along the shoreline. It was dead except for the one nineteen inch beauty I boated about half way up the shoreline.
We finished off the evening fishing the lower channel with a pike and two bass making it boat side. On account of all the wind the water was pretty cloudy, so the only baits we scored with were spinner baits and chatter baits (flash and vibration were the keys).
When we got to the landing the excitement was not yet over. A gentleman and his young son were waiting for the last boat of the night, which just happened to be us. The guy had a dead battery and he wanted a jump. I told him I would help him out as soon as I got the boat out of the water. I beached the boat and told Ben to keep an eye on it as I went to get the truck and trailer. I got the truck and trailer and as I approached the landing I could clearly see that Ben was derelict in his duties. There was my boat floating out into the channel about ten yards from the dock. Ben was busy tending his tackle and poles which he had off - loaded onto the shoreline, and was totally oblivious to the plight of the boat.
When I asked Ben what he was doing he about freaked when he turned around and saw the boat being pushed away from us by the wind. He ran onto the dock and for a minute I thought he was going to jump in and try to get it back, but the only problem with that is Ben cannot swim. He did not know what to do and he felt very bad. I calmly told him to pick up one of his rods and cast out and try and snag the boat. Fortunately he hooked it on the first cast and with some diligent and painstakingly slow tugging he was able to get the boat back to the dock. We loaded up the boat, got the fella and his young son on their way with a jump start and parted ways both looking forward to our next fishing adventure.

Observations:

The weed growth in the back of the Sail Boat Club is unbelievable advanced. My red bud tree in the back yard is blooming and it appears as if the lilacs will soon be blooming.