8/1

[Jerry Tipping]

Dawg Day's of Summer!
I met Mike from Naperville, Il and his son's Justin and Griffin at Northern Bay for a morning trip. Mike is new to "The Rock" and wanted to learn a little about the lake besides fishing spots. He had a prop problem on Sunday when he got out of the channel and found one of the many stumps that lurk beneath the surface. It was a great morning for a boat ride, absolutly no wind at all. It has been this way for almost a week and the fishing is suffering. I showed them areas to stay away from, and how to get to places around the lake safely, and hazzards to keep an eye out for. We jigged some of my favorite spots for about two hours with only a couple of bites and two lost fish. Put the planer boards in but there is so much grass and weeds floating in huge mats it was almost impossable to keep the baits clean, expecally near the river inlet. We only managed 4 White Bass and 1 Northern. Probably my worst day on "The Rock" this season. But, I guess that's why thay call it "fishing" and not "catching".
I think they still had a good time, and learn a lot about the area.

Keep a tight line!!!

Jerry

[Luke McGarry]

I find it interesting that someone wanted to know more about the lake than just fishing it. That is a nice change. What has always amazed me is how someone would want to propel themselves across the lake without any regard to what was beneath them. A simple $10 fishing map should be the least someone should do to become more informed about the lake bottom.

I remember one story of a boater new to the Rock who had wrecked his lower unit on "something" in the water. He blamed the DNR for his problem. I asked where it happened and sure enough, I wouldn't go that close to shore where I knew there were occasionally visible stumps.

One last story...
I was fishing in one of my favorite spots where a sandbar reaches out from a bay. I was on the edge of the sandbar in 3 feet of water when a pleasure craft came cruising "on plane" between me and the opening of the bay. I signaled the driver that the water was going to become shallow right in front of them causing the driver to veer toward deep water just 30 feet short of grounding in 8 inches of water. That saved all aboard from a nasty collision with the sand bar. An unknowing soul in the back of that boat said to me as they passed by, "You didn't want us to disturb your fishing spot!"

LOL

I am glad to see someone was wanting to know the lake.

Luke