TOMMY'S
2004 HOLIDAY MESSAGE
Happy Holidays to
all of you in Up North country. My adventures in Razorback
country certainly is interesting and exciting. Actually,
the only thing I’ll miss here is a white Christmas.
Other than that, the Ozarks look and feel just like Wisconsin.
That’s probably why many Wisconsinites relocate here.
Since we’ve been here, we have met a great number of folks
from Wisconsin.
The neat thing is,
within 50 miles of here, we can enjoy diversified Wisconsin-like
terrain and wild life. Just 40 miles south is Conway,
which is about the size of Wausau and offers all the shopping
malls big cities do. Little Rock is only 70 miles if one
would want the big city atmosphere. The rolling hills and
farmland between here and Conway remind me of my home area of
the southern Kettle Moraine around Waukesha County with cows and
farms. However, here on the lake, it’s much more rugged
terrain with lots of deer, turkey, bear and wintering eagles
just like we enjoy in Northern Wisconsin.
Yup, the best of
all worlds. Heck, even the Packers are more popular here
than closer teams like the cowboys or the Chiefs. The
winter here is like fall in the Great Northwoods, with lows
around freezing and then highs in the day reaching the 50s or
sometimes the 60s.
The lake itself is
a reservoir and fishing methods are just like we use in the
reservoirs, or flowages, of northern Wisconsin. The main
structure, of course, is rocks and timber. The big
difference is water depth. These reservoirs have channels
that are 180 to 200 feet deep, where deep water in our flowages
is only 20 to 30 feet. Walleyes, bass, crappie, bluegills
and even catfish are rarely found here any deeper than 50 feet,
though.
I’m finding the
same methods and structure is producing here as they do in
Wisconsin. Jigs and live bait, deep running crank baits
and spoons are producing best, with deep rocks producing better
than wood. The deeper water of 100 feet or more is the
place to fish the abundant hybrid stripers. These game
fish follow the schools of shad around in this deep water and
don’t enter shallow water except in the spring when they make
their spawning runs along with the white bass.
You know me.
Walleyes are my favorite species and most of my time is spent
hunting for them. Right now, I’m finding them beginning
to stage in creek arms in 25 to 45 feet of water along with
bass. These fish are feeding on all varieties of minnows,
including shad, which move in and out of these creek arms.
However, crawfish are also a major food of these staging fish in
the relatively shallower water. That’s why the good old
crawler is my favorite bait. I expect this to continue
most of the winter until the ‘eyes begin to move up the creek
arms into very shallow water to spawn in February. At that
time, bigger crank baits like #8 or #9 Shad Raps will be the way
to pop these big spawners. Most locals around here are
interested in hybrids or bass. But it’s us Wisconsinites
who are targeting the ‘eyes. The locals know they are
great eating, but don’t have the patience to slow down and
fish for them. All the better for us Badger State folks.
Tommy's
Fishing Adventures
PO Box 2089
Woodruff, WI 54568
715-892-2751 |
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