Dec

December
2014
Editors: Tom Raschke (tomraschke50@gmail.com) or 608-219-9243
Stan Nichols (sanicho1@facstaff.wisc.edu)
Any Fish, Any Water, Any Time
Any fish, any water, any time is the motto
for Vibration Tackle’s Echotail blade bait. Rob
Blanchar, co-owner of Vibration Tackle along
with his son Justin, gave us an introduction to
the Echotail at the November meeting. Rob is a
native of McFarland and lives on Lake Waubesa.
It sounds like he does most of his lure testing,
quite successfully, off his pier (in case you
want to know it is next to the Green Lantern).
Although blade baits are not new, the
Echotail has a number of unique features. First
is the tail. It is spear shaped so you can attach
any number of plastic tails or even live bait to it.
It has a number of holes drilled along its dorsal
for different attachment points that allows for
different lure actions. It also has a hole in the
nose of the bait and two different holes on the
ventral surface for different hook placement or
for the attachment of spinners. My descriptions
may be a little “foggy”. It is best to go to their
web page (www.VibrationsTackle.com) to better
view what I am talking about. The lure comes
in many sizes from one-tenth ounce for panfish
to eight ounces for muskies, northern pike
and salt-water species. As a starter, Rob
recommends the one-half once size for catching multiple species and he has caught ever
thing from panfish to muskies on that size.
A basic rigging is to first match the hatch
as far as size of the lure to use. A plastic tail is
inserted on the spear shaped rear of the lure.
Then take the rear treble hook and hook one
prong into the plastic (again check the website).
Deciding which hole to hook the line takes some
experimentation. Generally the rear holes give
the maximum vibration, slower presentation,
rides higher in the water column and works
at slower trolling speeds. The front holes
Club Web site: http://www.yaharafishingclub.org
By Stan Nichols
produce less vibration, are a faster presentation,
and work better at faster trolling speeds. A
forward hole also works best for rip jigging.
The lure can be casted, trolled, or jigged. Generally Rob uses no-stretch line and a fluorocarbon
leader. The fluorocarbon leader helps maintain a
straight-line retrieve. If the lure isn’t running “true”
the tail can be bents slightly to allow it to run straight.
For jigging Rob recommends using a stiffer
rod, a cross-lock snap, and putting a barrel swivel
above the leader to prevent line twists. Jigging can
be subtle (use front holes) versus aggressive (use
back holes). The jigging action can be stopped and
the lure “dead sticked” as the tail will still vibrates,
especially if there is some current. Jigging in rivers
Rob recommends using the smallest size lure
that stays on the bottom and using short snaps
when jigging. If you mark a “bait ball” lift the lure
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Yahara Fishing Club
and follow it back down through the ball. To mimic a dying
minnow let the lure lay on the bottom with the tail quivering.
This is an especially good technique for catching northern pike.
If you are fishing in an area with a lot of snags, remove the
front hooks. The lure runs nose down so it snags less this way.
Also use heavier line. The lures sink at about 3-feet per second
if you want to “count down” the lure. For trolling, dive curves are
found on the Vibration Tackle website. In the summer a good technique on soft bottom is to let the lure “plow” through the bottom with
an Uncle Josh’s meat product attached. Generally the one-quarter
to one-ounce lures are used in 3 to 5-feet of water. In 8 to 12-feet
use the 1.5 to 2.5 ounce lures, in 12 to 20-feet of water use the
2.5 to 4-ounce lures. In water over 20-feet deep use the 4-ounce
or heavier weight lures. Keep the rod tip low for a good hook set.
Seasonally Rob recommends fishing shallow water, dark
bottoms, north shorelines, docks, and emerging weeds in the
spring. In summer try springs, weed pockets, large sand or
mud flats, structure and reefs, open water and look at the entire
water column. In the fall, go back to spring areas. The small
Echotails can be used for ice fishing. Put grubs on the tail.
A good winter technique is to drop the lure to the bottom and
“pound it” to stir up the bottom. Because Echotails casts well it is
a good lure to use for shore fishing when long casts are needed.
There is a lot more information on the Vibration
Tackle website than I am giving you here.
Check
it out! Rob can be contacted locally at:
608-279-0516
Warner Park Lagoon
Management Alternatives
As many of you may know, The Yahara Fishing Club, with
Jack Hurst as a driving force, have been involved for many year
with the WDNR and others to restore the lagoon. Click on the link
below for the extensive report created by the WDNR for this effort.
Link to the report:
http://www.yaharafishingclub.org/yfcnews_files/
Warner%20Park%20Lagoon%20with%20Management%20Alternatives.pdf
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Yahara Fishing Club
O u t i n g s
For those of you who don’t already know, Tom Klein has stepped down as our outings coordinator
after years of outstanding work and taking our club to the next level. So I am taking over and have
some very big shoes to fill and need your help. I plan on preserving our most popular outings and adding
some more including more local outings in the summer in addition to our on the water meetings. I took
a poll of our previous outings from the last year at our last meeting but what I would like from all of you
is recommendations. Please tell me your ideas for outings, tell me the lakes you want to fish, tell me the
species and I will do everything I can to set it up. Also if you would like to help lead an outing our club
would appreciate your help. Please send me an e-mail at jimannepan@aol.com or call me and leave
a message on my phone at 608-709-6442 with any suggestions you have so we can plan out our year.
December Outing: We have no formal outing planned but the hot bite right now
is ice fishing
for panfish
on Mud Lake so please post on our yahoo group if
you’re looking for someone to go fish with. Get there now and don’t worry about
the crowds because the fish are in the weeds everywhere and also around the hole.
January outings: We have our kids fishing day and our fishing derby. We will
have another ice fishing outing for sure.
February outing: I’m in the process of setting up our annual whitefish outing in Sturgeon Bay.
Hope to hear from you all!
Jim Pankratz
The Future of the Yahara Watershed
On November 19th, UW-Madison’s Water Sustainability and
Climate Project (WSC) and Dane County’s Office of Lakes and
Watersheds co-hosted a workshop called Our Future Watershed
and Well-being. It was a workshop specifically for the Watershed
Network to discuss possible and desirable futures for the Yahara
Watershed. It presented “Yahara 2070”, a set of scenarios
that explore possible futures for the watershed, and facilitated
discussion among workshop participants around what kind of
future is desirable and what roles watershed groups play in
achieving desirable futures. The goal of the event is to help
leverage and enhance the work of watershed and related groups
to ensure clean lakes and waterways for future generations by
offering an innovative way to think and go about such work.
I participated in the workshop.
It was interesting.
There were about 30 people there, almost all from regional
planning agencies or the UW.
The scenarios were
dramatic extensions of what the watershed would look like
depending on what kinds of climate change occurs and
the population’s responses. If anyone would like more information on this project or want to participate please let me know.
Tom Raschke 608-219-9243
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V.F.W. Post 1318
133 Lakeside St.
Madison 53715
608-255-5955
Yahara Fishing Club
D&S Bait, Tackle & Archery, LLC
Winter2014 Fishing Seminar Schedule
1411 Northport Dr, Madison, WI
(608) 241-4225 | www.dsbait.com | info@dsbait.com
We’re happy to announce our lineup for the Winter 2014
Fishing Seminar series! With local experts stopping in to speak
on a variety of topics, it’s a can’t miss for every fisherman
(and woman). Come on in on Thursday nights to catch some
pointers. The seminars start at 7pm and are always free to
the public. There’s often special sales that run right after for
those who want to pick up new gear or a new hobby. We’ll be
starting on the first week of December. The line-up is as follows:
12/04 Pat Klingelhoets - Nearby Panfish Hotspots
12/11 Mike Michaels
- The Hunt for Gamefish
12/18 Roy Vivian
- Panfish Tactics
John Quam
Work: 608-873-3366
Fax: 608-873-6663
john@quamsmotorsports.com
1896 Barber Drive • Stoughton, WI 53589
www.quamsmotorsports.com
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Yahara Fishing Club
Notes From The Prez
I’m slowly coming to grips with the early
arrival of winter, and the resultant premature
ending of my 2014 open-water fishing season.
No doubt many Club members are in the same
boat, which as a practical matter means no boat
at all. My fishing boat sat unused in my garage
for a few weeks after the marina closed, before
I gave up on the fishing season, winterized the
boat, and took it out to storage. The batteries
are hooked up to the float chargers, and the
gear from the boat has been taken to the basement to await the arrival of spring. So, I
guess a long cold winter is in store for us, and
fishing is “out of sight, out of mind” for the
next five or six months. But wait, not so fast!
There are plenty of ways to keep fishing in our
hearts and minds over the next few months.
First and foremost, I intend to devote a lot
more time this winter to my budding interest in
ice fishing. I have a lot to learn, but with some
basic gear and time to use it I should have plenty
of incentive to get out on the ice on our area
lakes and catch some fish. I hope to be able
to tap into the considerable store of information
on the subject which we have among our Club
members, and to learn something more about
where and how to catch fish through the ice.
I’m already looking forward to the ice fishing
derby on Lake Waubesa on January 24th, and
to another trip to Sturgeon Bay in February to
catch some of those elusive Green Bay whitefish.
And then there’ll be a trip south to the Florida
panhandle with my family in early spring and a
couple of weeks of fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.
The fact is that I’ve spent quite a few pleasant
hours over the past month working on getting my
ice fishing equipment and my ocean fishing gear
organized and ready for adventures to come!
And, there’s more. On deck in December
is the first meeting of our Club’s Board with
the three new Board members elected at the
November meeting. That will take place on
December 9th, and will be followed by the Club’s
holiday/Christmas party and pot-luck, with lots of
great food to enjoy. Be sure to attend, and don’t
forget, we’ll be introducing the recipient of the
Pete Froland Award at the membership meeting,
and Paul will be announcing the winners of the
Club’s 2014 Big Fish Contest. We can all look
forward to our Club’s Kids’ Ice Fishing Day on
January 17th, helping local kids and their parents
to learn to enjoy fishing in the winter months.
Then February brings us a couple of my favorite
fishing-related activities. The first is the Club’s
annual fund-raising auction of donated fishing
gear, and the second is the Fishing Expo. I plan
to spend a considerable amount of time sorting
through my copious rods, reels, and tackle to see
what I can donate to the auction (and simplifying
life in the process, especially since I’m running
out of room to store all of that stuff!). On top of
that, we can look forward as always to the Club’s
monthly meetings and having the opportunity
to hear some really good speakers, and to
talk about fishing with other club members.
If that isn’t enough, I know I can look forward
to spending lots of time over the winter months
catching up on fishing magazines, doing postponed maintenance on my fishing reels and other
tackle, putting new line on my reels, reorganizing
my tackle boxes and bags, and the like. And then
there’s the happy hours to be spent on the internet
looking at websites to figure out how to make
good use of the Gander Mountain, Cabela’s,
and Amazon.com gift cards that I’ve been given
over the past year (or perhaps the ones I will be
fortunate enough to receive in the months ahead).
Winter may have arrived, but I have
no doubt I’ll be able to keep fishing in my
heart and my thoughts over the coming cold
months, until it comes time in the spring
to get out on the open water once again!
Don’t forget – it’s time for all of us to renew
our Yahara Fishing Club memberships for 2015.
Bring your checkbook or wallet to the December meeting. Our treasurer, Colleen, will be
there and can take your dues payment (and
your entry fee for the 2015 Big Fish Contest).
Gard
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Yahara Fishing Club
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Yahara Fishing Club
Transporting a boat into or through Minnesota?
Beginning in 2015 a new trailer decal requirement is scheduled to start. The new law requires anyone who transports
watercraft or water-related equipment like docks and lifts
with a trailer in Minnesota to complete an aquatic invasive
species training course. After completing the course, you
receive a decal that must be displayed on your trailer.
Please print
Yahara Fishing Club Membership Form
P.O. Box 3271
Madison, WI 53704
Name ____________________________________________________
If family/youth member, additional name(s) ______________________
Street _____________________________________________________
City_____________________________________
State ____ Zip ___________ Phone ______ - ______ - __________
Email ________________________________@_________________________
Annual dues, from January 1 to December 31:
Individual ..................$25
Family.........................$35
Youth Member........... Free with other paid membership
An Organization to Educate, Protect and Propagate the Interests of All Fishermen in the Yahara Basin Area
Including all of Madison’s Lakes
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Yahara Fishing Club
P.O. Box 3271
Madison, WI 53704
Check out our web page at: www.yaharafishingclub.org
The next meeting is on Tuesday, December 9th
The Board Of Directors meet at 6:00 pm, The General Membership meeting starts at 7:00 pm.
Annual Pot Luck. Duffy Kopf will deploy a Nebulus flotation device.
December Events
Calendar of Upcoming Events
December 9th, Regular club meeting at the VFW Hall. Bring a dish to pass.
January Events
January 13th, Regular club meeting at the VFW Hall. Speaker to be announced
January 17th, Kids Ice Fishing Day - see page 6.
January 24th, Ice Fishing Derby - see page 6.
The Yahara Fishing Club’s doors are open to EVERYONE, so invite a friend to the meeting!
President - Gard Strother ......258-8555 Secretary-Randy Winkleman 358-4885 Director - Jim Kloth.........635-0116
Vice Pres. - Phil James ...........212-2506 Director - Paul Zoch ............ 241-5443 Director - Larry Reed ......221-0362
Treas - Colleen Marsden 630-408-9646 Director - Tom Wilke......... 834-9554 Director - Jesse Tougas ...873-3151