I bet that all of you are just as ready as I am for a long holiday weekend!! It has been some time since we have had some nice warm weather and an extended weekend to enjoy it. I have been really thinking for the last week what I am going to do for the weekend. Well, I guess not really what I am going to do but rather where I am going to do it. With the well above average temps we have had, it will be next to impossible to keep me off the water this weekend, but which water is it going to be? I know that I can go to Sutherland and catch whites or wipers all day and I know that I could go to Maloney and catch some ‘eyes’ for the skillet. I could go up to Sherman and boat crappie until I am blue in the face or I could go down to Red Willow and try my luck at a 15+ pound wiper. With all of these options it is easy to see what a great fishing state we live in. The only problem with there being so many opportunities to catch fish is that there are too few days to persue those opportunities.
Well if I have to narrow my choice down to one lake this weekend, I am going to choose Big Mac. I know that this time of year I can go out there and rig for ‘eyes’, jig for ‘smallies’ and drift for ‘kitties’. I can go out there and fish on my own even though there may be 200 boats on the water. I can get my wife onto fish and make the day enjoyable for her, though I may need to take the bimini top so she doesn’t get too hot being 8 month’s along and everything!! I can fish for fun but yet try some new rigging or some new techniques on fish that I may not have giving enough time to in the past.
My main focus will be on ‘eyes’ and I will be targeting those fish in 3′-10′ of water. I will start out rigging those fish with a 1/4 – 3/8oz lindy weight above a red bead and a small barrel swivel and I will tie on a 4′-6′ leader with a #8 octopus style/wide gap hook. If at all possible I am going to pull those rigs around with my bow-mount electric motor so I have exact control of the placement of my bait. Speaking of bait, crawlers are going to be the main choice. Long, fat and juicy crawlers that I have been beef’n up for the past few weeks. I am going to be looking for obvious points that extend from the bank out into the water. The fish will be holding to these points this time of year and feeding up and down them. The fish that I am going to be targeting are going to be aggressive fish. These are fish that are up on these points for one reason and that reason is to eat. Now I will have a chance at ‘pig eye’ but the majority of the fish that I am going to catch will be from 17″-21″ long and fat as can be. They will be wonderfull for the fish fry that we will have for family and friends to celabrate the birth of our child this summer.
It is going to be a great weekend and a great time to remember those who are no longer with us and a time to thank and love those who are. It will be time well spent with family and friends and fellow outdoorsmen and women and a perfect time to meet someone new or teach a novice a trick that will help them for many years to come. Remember to have fun be safe watch out for those around you.
I guess that after it is all said and done, it isn’t going to really matter if there is a single fish that ends up in my boat, as long as the time is spent with those who are important. I hope you have a GREAT weekend and I hope to see you out on the water!!!
Good luck on Mac!
