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Sports : Fishing report 8/23/06
Bucks Lake Fishing's great! Kids and adults alike are catching fish up in the Mill Creek and Haskins area. Mostly brook trout and rainbow are coming out, with an occasional brown trout. It seems like early morning and late afternoon are the best times to fish. Report courtesy of Bucks Lake Marina, 283- 4243
Lake Almanor Hamilton Branch is worth a try-use nightcrawlers or wooley buggers. The jetties in Prattville are mostly underwater, so try down by the dam with SW 10 Kastmasters or use nightcrawlers with PowerBait. Maybe crickets and mealworm for good-size browns. Trollers are fishing down 10 to 30 feet early morning. There have been reports of trout 3 to 5 pounds on the west side. Try using Uncle Larry's-maybe red/gold speedy shiners. Good reports of salmon being caught by the dam and Hamilton Branch with tails of anchovies.
A Fisherman's Friend Can Often Break Ecologists' Hearts
There may be plenty of unwanted fish in the sea for government ecologists, but often those invasive aquatic species are a boon to local anglers. Take the brown trout. A European native, the trout was introduced into America in the late 19th century and can now be found in bodies of fresh water from coast to coast. Though they may might provide tasty meals after lazy summer afternoons, new fish species come at a cost greater than a bucket of worms. "There's a number of either purposely introduced, or accidentally introduced, species that have provided quite a recreational resource," said George Madison, fisheries supervisor for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources for the Western Upper Peninsula. "So while smelt can be desired by people, or brown trout or rainbow trout, it's very clear that they out-compete the native species." In the Great Lakes region, the introduction of salmon has changed the aquatic landscape, displacing native fish such as the coaster brook trout, a minnow forager.
river people at heart
But, while owning a fly-fishing shop helps pays the bills, Mann and Williamson are river people at heart. They study rivers, fish them and praise them. "The Flambeau is as good as rivers get,'' Mann said last week, while he operated the oars on a drift boat on the Flambeau River. "It has smallmouth bass, muskie, catfish. The Flambeau ranges from lots of fish to big fish. It's loaded." We had met at the Flambeau with two drift boats, lots of fly rods and plenty of bottled water to endure one of hottest summer days in years. Williamson piloted one boat with Dave Carlson, a television outdoors reporter from Eau Claire, Wis. Mann operated the other boat, where I would fish with wildlife artist Bob White from Marine on St. Croix. A bounty of rainfall in northern Wisconsin has pushed the Flambeau River to normal levels, a stark contrast to conditions earlier this summer.
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