White Clay Lake: Bad weather means good fishing

Paul and I decided to give Wisconsin another go after a slow opening weekend.  The spring was really late and appeared as if it would never come.  All the lakes were really far behind, as was evident by the few fish earlier in the month.  We planned on spending the weekend in the Green Bay area, immediately after school was out for the year.

On Thursday night, once I had finished grading, I gave Paul a call to see if he was ready to go.  We were not sure if we wanted to rush to get up there, as the weather was supposed to be really crappy on Friday.  I had to be back by Saturday night, so that I could attend Sunday’s graduation.  We made the decision to chance it on the weather, and it was one the paid off big.

Paul began the day by working a small, simple grey and silver crankbait.  We worked the shallowss a lot with out success in the early morning.  At around 9 am, we started to work to deeper drop offs.  It did not take long, and we found a pattern.  Almost all the fish wanted a smaller crankbait with a steady retrieve. Blue, black, and silver were the hot colors.  All fish seemed to be about half way down in 15 to 20 feet of water.  The hits of the fish were very violent and exciting.  Paul and I both agreed that despite not catching any monsters, this was one of the more exciting days of fishing we’ve ever had.

Paul landing the first pike of the day on a crank bait.

Matt gets a smaller bass on some soft plastics.

Matt gets a better bass deep in the early spring weeds.

Paul with the best fish of the day, a 25 inch Northern Pike.

Fish Totals:
Matt – Few northern, few largemouth bass
Paul:  Lots of northern and bass