01/26/2007

Water Temperature North End – 44 to 54
Middle South Main Channel - 40
Water Level = 6 inches over normal pool and flowing
Water Clarity = Muddy
Last Rain = Snow1/20/07

Winter Continues At LOE.

Water temperatures have leveled out at 42 degrees. The forecast for the next 10 days is for highs to average in the middle 30’s and lows in the lower 20’s. This should drop the water temperatures into the upper 30’s at mid-section and low low 40’ (like 40) at the north end.

The following advice worked very well over the pass week and so I will stick with it, with the only modification being water depth. Lure selection in colder water should be finesse baits and I would concentrate on crank-baits, spinner-baits or jigs that can be worked slowly in 8 to 30 feet of water. Suspending or slashing/jerking baits should out catch fast moving constant speed baits or presentations. Color? Match the shad. Sliver, white, blue, chartreuse, black and any combination of these colors will work.

I received the following report from:

Jthamptoninn said...
I wanted to add some info to your report... I was just there today, Jan 20th, and they have shut down because of the cold front that moved through the past week. In our tournament, there were 32 boats and only 15 weighed in fish.. Succsess came with different techs: jigging at 30 feet deep, slow rolling spinnerbaits and crank baits at 15-20 feet, drop shotting at the deepest point poss, and using suspending jerkbaits at the end of weed beds jerking them off the end and letting it sit for 10-15 secs before working them again. So just remember to slow your baits down, and when you think that you have slowed them down enough, slow them down even more.. these fish are creeping along and are being very picky and are not eating. Hope this helps.

Thanks JT!


Where to fish? The main channel areas of the lake from the end of the ski area all the way to Beaver Bay should be the best. Take water temperature into consideration. Surface temperatures should be colder than deeper water. Concentrate on weed covered points and flats in 8 feet of water early and late. Then as the day goes on, drop deeper into 12 to 30 feet and fish the drop-offs adjacent to the points and flats.

Crappie remain the same and I only have a few fishermen fishing for crappie and reporting the fishing is very slow with a few fish caught jigging the drop-offs at 10 to 15 feet of water.

Oh, in response to last weeks report/article on LOE shad, a good friend of mine Jim reported there is a third species of shad in LOE and that it is called a Silverside Shad or Shiner and closely resembles minnows. It’s about 1 ½ inches long and is silver to silver/chartreuse in color. These are the more acrobatic of the shad family and will jump clear out of the water when chased to the surface by foraging fish. Jim reports when bass are foraging heavily on silversides, bait bigger than 2 inches will not trigger a strike. Keep this in mine when using rubber finesse baits like Flukes. Sometimes smaller is better.

This passed hunting season I tried taping hand warmers to my lower back waist area. I must report that this is a bad idea. It resulted in a first-degree burn and me frantically tearing off my overalls to remove them! Since then I’ve modified the method by wrapping the warmers in a thin cloth and then belting it to my waist. This worked very well and keeps me very warm in the coldest temperatures.

Fish On!

Mike O.
UBetcha Outdoors
www.ubetchaoutdoors.com

p.s. - As an addition to my services I ‘m starting to book hunters into some of the best wild pheasant hunting the world has to offer. If you’re interested in having a pheasant hunting experience of a lifetime drop me a line at mikeo@ubetchaoutdoors.com. Don’t wait too long I’m filling up!