Fishing Club?

[fhm555]

I've posted earlier in this thread how my brother and I rent space at an RV park that's on a fantastic fishing lake in central Wisconsin. We've been going there on available weekends every summer for about 15 years.

The lake has lots of trophy bass and northern pike and is overflowing with blue gills, crappies, and perch.

At least it used to be. Four years ago, a coalition of homeowners with lakefront property decided to spray the lake with herbicide to get rid of all those pesky weeds. It seems there was no way to stop them because the lakefront is 100% privately owned and the Wisconsin DNR had no legal justification to prevent it.

Within 3 weeks of spraying, there was no vegetation left anywhere, and the water chemistry from the mass of dead weeds changed so much that it killed thousands of fish. The surface of the lake had piles of rotting, smelly, fish carcasses on it until the October lake turnover.

Since then, we've still been using the RV, but have been taking our boat to other nearby lakes with good fishing.

Last summer we've noticed some weeds returning on the lake, along with some respectable size game fish. Our first 2 trips to the lake this spring show that the lake is on it's way to recovery. Left to itself, the lake will be back to full health in another 3 or 4 years.

Except, the same homeowners who poisoned the plants and the fish 4 years ago, are talking about spraying the weeds again, and making it a regular occurence.

Their justification is that none of them fish. The only reason they vacation on the lake is to spend the weekend put-putting around the lake endlessly at 1 mph on their pontoon boats, drinking Bloody Marys' and Tom Collins' and other old fashioned drinks mixed from their floating bar. They hate it when weeds get tangled up in their outboard motor propellers because it interrupts their drinking routine, or something.

If the lake was turned into a giant hole filled with water, with absolutely no life in it whatsoever, they'd be happy.

There is (or was a few years ago), a guy in south Georgia who built what amounts to an aquatic lawn mower he hired out to keep the (mostly) hydrilla from choking out the tons of small ponds in that area. For a while he would just cut it and toss it up on the bank, but later started bundling it up and selling it to some place using it to produce dietary supplements. It’s been a while since i met the guy but I’ll ask around and see if he’s still at it and try to get some details on his machine.

 

[Fishheadjoe]

Here's another pic from my trip. We came across "Yogi" on the shoreline as well trolled through the saddles of some islands. He wouldn't let us get much closer, before trotting off, into the woods.

Fishheadjoe

 

[Fishheadjoe]

I've received a couple more pics from the boys as some of them stayed until last Thursday.
Don't have a dock, well we can fix that!

Steak night on Saturday...

Fishheadjoe

 

[hbarcat]

I went fishing after work at one of the local ponds. There are some decent bass in the 15"-18" range, plus lots of panfish. Nothing to get excited about, but it's nice to moisten a few lures after a day at the factory.

Imagine my surprise, when I caught a record size bass on an artificial lure.



Here she is:

 

[elgecko]

I went fishing after work at one of the local ponds. There are some decent bass in the 15"-18" range, plus lots of panfish. Nothing to get excited about, but it's nice to moisten a few lures after a day at the factory.

Imagine my surprise, when I caught a record size bass on an artificial lure.



Here she is:


View attachment 4334055

I've caught many a "keychain bass"

 

[Fishheadjoe]

This swimmer was bitten by a musky on Lake St Clair.... and having received my fair share of bites before, I can tell you that those bites will hurt for a long time and will take forever to properly heal. Ouch!
Windsor Ironman triathlete recounts 'mistaken Muskie attack' in Lake St. Clair
Fishheadjoe

 

[fhm555]

This swimmer was bitten by a musky on Lake St Clair.... and having received my fair share of bites before, I can tell you that those bites will hurt for a long time and will take forever to properly heal. Ouch!
Windsor Ironman triathlete recounts 'mistaken Muskie attack' in Lake St. Clair
Fishheadjoe

When i pier fished a lot in NW Florida, people got bit all the time. One day a tourist with a rent-a-rig got a medium king mackerel on a gotcha lure and managed to get it on the deck. He was behind me trying to hold a green king down with one hand and get his lure out of the fish with the other. In a minute I hear grunting sounds in concert with the sound of a fish flopping on the deck. I turn around and this guy had his hand in the mackerels mouth with it clamped tightly around three of his fingers, and in the melee had managed to get two barbs of the trailing treble hook embedded past the barbs in the fat part of his palm below his thumb. He was bleeding like a stuck pig from the bite and impalement, and trying desperately to keep the fish from flopping with his free hand. I grabbed my needle nose pliers and got the hook barbs pushed through and nipped off, then stuck the pointed in in the fishes jaws and pried them open. I carried a small bottle of peroxide and a combat gauze bandage in my pier bucket so i flushed out his cuts then wrapped his hand and tied off the dressing and told him he should get to the ER and have that hand cleaned and stitched up. It was pretty gnarly.