Limits/Season
Daily Limit- 5 (Large & Smallmouth combined)
Third Saturday in June thru Nov. 30th
Minimum Length- 15"
Fishing Techniques - Fish, crayfish, large aquatic and terrestrial insects, frogs, worms, and even small mammals and birds all have been found in bass stomachs. Your bait should be continually active and move. Largemouth bass rarely scavenge dead food items from the bottom like some fish. Crayfish, live minnows, and frogs can be used, preferably near structure and cover, with slow, constant movement. Top-water lures including poppers, hair-bugs, surface plugs and buzz-baits are used when bass are in shallow water. Best catches are usually made by fishing top-water lures close to structures, such as weed beds, brush, tree tops, land points, and rip-rap in water five feet or less in depth. Mid-water lures include spinner-baits, minnow-plugs, crank-baits, spoons, wet-flies and streamers. Crank-bait lures work particularly well around rock ledges and sunken trees. Spoons can be fished at almost any depth and retrieval speed. The weedless models tipped with a pork rind strip or minnow for additional appeal are best for fishing weed beds and lily pads.
Around deep structureS in the summer, use jigging-spoons that are fished just off the bottom. Other deep water lures include lead-heads, plastic worms, and many other varieties of soft-bodied lures that resemble natural food items.
Limits/Season
Daily Limit- 5 (Large & Smallmouth combined)
Third Saturday in June thru Nov. 30th
Minimum Length- 15"
Fishing Techniques - Live and synthetic crawdads are the most effective bait for smallmouth bass. Use lures that mimic crawdads or use live crawdads. Bait fish such as minnows, shad, and sculpins are very effective baits for bronze backs. Just as with crawdads, bait fish can be used live or as artificial lures. When it comes to the best bait for smallmouth the KickTail minnow is as realistic a fishing lure as I've ever seen. Others would include the Rapala, the Zara Spook, and the Wally Diver. Live worms, when rigged on a set of gang hooks, are amazingly effective as a smallmouth bait. Artificial and synthetic worms are also very effective. Berkley's "Gulp" and "Power" products are every bit as effective as live worms. These worms can be rigged on gang hooks just like live worms, and the natural presentation is hard for the bass to resist.
Limits/Season
Daily Limit = 50 (Bluegill, Sunfish combined)
No closed season
Live Bait - Worms, grubs, crickets, small crawfish or grass shrimp. Use #8 hooks with a long shank when fishing with live bait. Fish about a foot or so under a cork and pop it occassionally ....
Live Bait - Small minnows and insect larvae. Minnows are the favorite bait while trolling or drift fishing. Small minnows are also effective while still fishing in late autumn and winter. Nightcrawlers and small fish worms, although not as popular with anglers as minnows, are also effective at times while drift fishing or trolling. Insect larvae, mainly silver wigglers or maggots, are the most widely used bait in the natural lakes for perch.
Limits/Season
Daily Limit = 25
No closed season
Minimum Length- 9"
Fishing Techniques - Effective bait and lures are small jigs, minnows, silver spoons, flies and spinners fished along shorelines, around submerged brush piles and near fallen trees. Fishing vertically is effective when black crappie are deep enough to tolerate a boat directly overhead. Drifting or trolling with jigs works well when crappie are roaming open waters.
Limits/Season
Daily Limit- 3
1st Saturday in May thru March 15th
Minimum Length- 18"
Fishing Techniques - Walleye eat bait fish and other kinds of fish that are smaller than them. Smelt, minnows, shad, perch, alewives and whitefish are often on the menu for walleye. Many people use these fish to catch walleye, along with artificial baits that resemble the fish the walleye eat. Fish in deep water in the summertime using artificial baits such as rapalas. Chartreuse, orange and green are popular colors. Walleye often hit on "wonder bread" rapalas that are white with red, blue and yellow spots. Yellow and white perch feed on the bottom in the weeds, so walleye bite near the bottom at the edge of the weeds. Shad, alewives and whitefish eat in shallower water 10 feet deep or less, so walleye will come up from the bottom to bite. Put a 2-inch minnow on a jig just heavy enough to go to the bottom and the walleye usually hits as the minnow drops.
Fishing Techniques - Bait selection ranges from nightcrawlers, chicken blood, chicken liver, chicken or fish guts, crawdads, grasshoppers, water dogs, live and dead minnows, cut bait, and a multitude of prepared "stink" baits. The prepared baits most often have one thing in common -- cheese. Determine the size of fish sought and the water temperature of the lake. Catfish actively feed on fish flesh and other animals that died during winter and sink to the bottom. The stronger the rotten odor, the better the success.
Fishing Techniques - Bullheads have an excellent sense of smell. Use plain ol' nightcrawlers, but when other fish won't leave 'em alone, use cut bait, such as cut bluegill or even the guts from earlier cleaned fish. Chicken livers work well but can be hard to keep on the hook unless you wrap them in something like a piece of panty hose. Wait till near dusk when the bullheads start moving in close to shore. Use a simple, single hook that is large enough to hold your bait. Nothing fancy. Bullheads often nibble at an offering a few times before swallowing or running with it, so I give 'em a little time with the bait. When you set the hook, it is a deep set, so tie alot of leaders so you can cut the old one and quickly get my line back out.
Limits/Season
Daily Limit- 5
1st Saturday in May thru March 15th
Minimum Length- 18"
Fishing Techniques - Pike will hit just about any lure. The most popular lures for Pike are the "red & silver" and the yellow "five-of-diamonds" DareDevils. Pike also hit jigs, Rapalas and Thundersticks. Big pike feed on 1/2 to 1 pound walleyes. With this in mind, try 6 to 8 inch smelt, portugese sardines, large shiners or suckers.
Limits/Season
Daily Limit- 1
3rd Saturday in June thru November 30th
Minimum Length- 40"
Fishing Techniques - A big chub on a traditional Kawartha Musky rig is how you catch the big ones. To make a Musky rig, you need two 12 inch steel leaders and two medium size treble hooks. Clip the hooks onto the two leaders. Then clip the two leaders together so that you have a hook at one end and a hook where the two leaders are joined. Tie your line to the eye of the top leader. Next you want to get a medium size float and put the float about 1 foot above the rig. With the end hook, put the hook through the bottom lip of the Chub. With the middle hook, hook the Chub at the base of the tail. Make sure you do not hook the Chub at the end of the tail or the fish will not be able to swim around.
Grace and Chet, I wanted to send a picture of the Bass Sandy caught off your dock. We enjoyed our stay, sorry we had to leave so quickly. We were very impressed at how well maintained your trailers and cabins were. Good luck on your future remodeling projects. We might schedule a September trip. Keep us posted on adding a motor to your boats. Joe and Sandy Ferrara
