FISHING TRIPS 2001 pg 1 of 2

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MARCH

LAKE  OUACHITA ARKANSAS

In March Tim , Donna and Mom went down to Arkansas to visit Uncle Wayne and Aunt Joyce.  Tim was anxious to wet a line in some of the many lakes in the area.  Although he did not catch a lot of fish he did manage to boat this nice walleye.

APRIL

LAKE BARKLEY KY.- Tim and Craig went down to Lake Barkley around the third week of April. The lake was high and they found the bass up in the buck brush. Tim was introduced to the method of flipping and found it frustrating. He was not used to this practice of beating the banks. Although they did not catch any big bass they caught loads of small 10-12 inchers.

MAY

POND/ WESTERVILLE OHIO- Dan's boys, John (7) and Kyle (3), slayed the Gills at a pond by their Uncle Tim's house in Westerville.  In a few years they will be outfishing their dad :)

LAKE ST. CLAIR- The second weekend of May Tim and a friend of his, Steve Brooks, went to St. Clair.  This was the earliest in the year that anyone of us ever fished this lake.  The weather was cool and blustery, so they bundled up and drift fished for whatever was biting.  They caught big rock bass and numerous smallmouth bass while fishing in 12 foot of water.

HOUGHTON LAKE MICHIGAN- Tim made it up to Houghton Lake on Memorial Day weekend and again they ran into cold and nasty weather.  Some good size rockies, many largemouths, an occasional walleye and some smallies were caught.

JUNE

LAKE ST. CLAIR- The first full week of June Tim, Dan, Craig, Jeff Chrowl and myself headed up to St. Clair. We found big rock bass and 12-14 inch smallies in 10-11 foot of water.

Wednesday of this week was big fish day. Tim and I fished in a little deeper water and caught 3 big Muskies on black marabou jigs on 6 and 8 lb line. The biggest one went about 48-50 inches with one around 38 {see pic) and the other around 30. I also caught my biggest smallmouth to date, he weighed in at 5 lb. 6 oz. I even hooked into a monster carp that must have weighed over 15 lb., the best fight of the day! We also caught walleye, sheephead, jumbo perch, sunfish, largemouth bass and a few pike. Later on in June Tim, Dan, Craig and Heavy went back up to the big shallow lake.  This time they got into the walleyes.  The used Erie Deerie type lures tipped with nightcrawlers.  The 'eyes' were in about 10-12 foot of water.

LAKE OF THE WOODS ONTARIO-

The middle of June Tim went on a trip with Al Bertke and his gang to The Lake Of The Woods, which is about one hour North of International Falls Minn. They were after Muskies. Once again the weather did not cooperate. Only a few Muskies were caught and Tim did manage to land one that went about 41 inches.

JULY

LAKE ERIE/KELLEYS ISLAND-The second week of July the whole Corley family rented a condo on Kelleys Island. Tim and I managed to slip out fishing every day for 5-6 hours. For most of the week the lake was calm and we were able to check out the different reefs and shoals around the Island. We had one good day fishing on the NW side of Kelleys where we caught about a dozen good size smallmouth on tubes in about 18 foot of water. We also landed numerous sheephead (drum) up to about 10 pounds. We caught a few smallies on Gull Island Shoal which is North of the Island. It was a good week because we had a chance to explore the area and learned where all the smallmouth spots were. We also made the run West over to the Niagara Reef area and managed to boat a dozen walleye for a fish fry. All in all it was a nice pleasant relaxing week for all.

LAKE ST. CLAIR- The third week of July Tim, went back up to St. Clair with Heavy.  The air temp was pushing 90 degrees while the lake water was 80 and the rivers were in the low 70's.  They spent most of their time fishing different spots in the rivers, catching walleyes, largemouth and smallmouth bass.

AUGUST

LAKE ST. CLAIR-Tim, Craig and I went back up to St Clair in the second week of August.  We fished a new spot on the south shore called the Belle River Hump.  On the first day we caught 27 big smallmouth bass just off of the tip of the Hump in 14-16 foot of water.  They were schooling and chasing minnows on top.  What a lake!!!  Where else can you go and catch big bass in the month of August!!!

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