A Rite of Spring
Phil Taunton
Friday, March 16, 2007
Thoughts of going fishing have been repeatedly cast into my mind lately, and I hope to wet a line this weekend at Council Grove City Lake.
It’s time to open up the cabin once again and let the fun begin.
Fishing, cookouts, holidays and just getting away to spend idle time at our favorite outdoor retreat has been a big part of my life since the early 60s. Our cabin isn’t elaborate — it’s really just a place to hang your hat — but the memories I have about the place are priceless, a fortune in family experiences and togetherness.
My father and I always liked to play tricks on each other just to see what we could get away with and to test one other’s gullibility. He once tied store-bought tomatoes on his vines to win the first ripe tomato contest we had every year, and he always had a fish story or two to tell that were sometimes only partly true.
He also once claimed the pot when we had a bet on whose bird dog would find the most birds. We ran and trained a lot of bird dogs on the prairie land behind the cabin through the years.
On this particular jaunt, my dog pointed seven single quail and his dog pointed only twice, so I thought I was a clear winner, until he told me with a twinkle in his eye that his dog pointed the covey and he knew there were more than seven birds in the covey.
He got the best of me once again. But I wasn’t always the loser.
Pop and I made it a point to fish a shallow shelf area from shore for walleye right after ice out. He had to drive from Junction City, and I beat him to our favorite place. The lake was low like it is this year, and instead of waiting for his arrival, I went down to the lake’s edge to see if I could catch a fish before he made it down.
There on the shore, I found a 10-pound plus walleye that never survived the winter. Boy, what a nice catch it would have been!
I put the fish on a stringer as the wheels of foolery began to turn. When Dad drove up, his first question was if I had any luck. I was hardly able to stop from laughing when I reached down and lifted the stringer out of the water and, with a little shake to make the fish look alive, I showed him my “good fortune.”
Pop was pumped, got his fishing gear out of the station wagon and raced down to my side in record time only to see the decomposing fish fall to pieces before his very eyes.
Dad has been gone almost 12 years now, but Saturday I will fish that special place once again, for memories if nothing else.
Lakes in our area are warming and are between 42 and 45 degrees now. Walleye should be in their pre-spawn staging areas. When the time and temperature is just right, and mostly at night, the fish will leave deeper waters and come in closer to shallow water, gravel/ rocky shore lines and onto the rip rap along the lake dams to spawn.
What lures are best to use this time of year? Anglers should use what they have confidence in. Jigs — plastic, hair and feather — are all good, but I like to use a shallow running stickbait such as a Rapala or a Rogue to avoid the snags. Retrieve stickbaits slow, twitch them a time or two, pause and hang on!
Smaller walleye males will be the first to arrive on the spawning areas, followed by the egg-laden females. Please remember to keep just enough for a meal or two. The practice of catch-and-release really comes into play this time of year. A successful spawn renews the resource and provides fish for generations to come.
Walleye are a favorite of fishermen, both for the challenge of catching them and for their delicious firm white filets.
Where to go? Surveys by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks point out that Hillsdale Lake should be a great producer this year. El Dorado Lake continues to develop into a quality walleye fishery and, as evidenced by the numbers of walleye brought in during last summer’s Kansas Walleye Association Tournament, Melvern also will be a great place to fish.