Some good fishing coming up

By Bill Bartusek

I had no more than written my article last week, when the phone rang. It was my son calling to tell me he had found some crappies in open water. So Monday night, I headed to a small creek near New Prague. I was joined by friend, Tom Ohnstad for the drive. As we came around the corner near the lake, we saw the people fishing from the bridge. It was broad daylight and they were catching fish. The fish were there because the fairly large creek was dumping warmer water into the lake. The lake was much cooler and still had some ice on it. Also, in the creek were bullheads. All you had to do was fish near the bottom with some worms. I'm sure there were other fish in the creek too, but I didn't see any others that day. That was early last week and by the time you read this, that scenario may be over.

As spring approaches, the sun changes angles. Actually, the earth does. Anyway, the sun quickly begins to warm surface water and penetrates water on the north shores of the lakes. This time of year we will see warm southerly winds. If the lake has a nice and fairly shallow bay on the north you're in business. The food chain explodes and the fish come to eat. This kind of action can last for weeks. It happens right after ice out. Keep in mind I'm talking about both sunfish and crappies. Open water is heading north fast. Good thing! The opener is only about 30 days away.

Some of the lakes way up north had some pretty good ice last week. I'm sure it will be gone in a month’s time. At least in most places. As we head out on the water or in the field, let’s all be careful and safety minded. Each year we encounter more and more people in the outdoors.