Saturday, March 19, 2016
Mid-March is always a tumultuous period for Youngstown-area anglers as their overripe eagerness to get on the lakes often is burst by blustery conditions and muddy water.
This week’s warm rains pushed up water temperatures and lake levels. With the water up to the bushes and the temperature to the point where most of the local game species are stirring, all local anglers know they need to get busy.
But often as not this time of year, a heavy rain turns fishable water into chocolate milk, putting the fishing on hold. About the time the water clears, it seems, the mercury plummets and the fish get lockjaw.
Patience, therefore, is the March angler’s watchword.
The popular saying “If you don’t like the weather here, wait an hour” may very well have been coined during March in Ohio. So if you don’t like the fishing weather this weekend, wait a few days.
Conditions will improve. They always do. And when that happens, the fishing will be fantastic.
I’ll be ready. Here’s what I recommend:
For walleyes, rig a couple of spinning outfits with 8-pound-test fluorocarbon. Grab a pocketful of eighth-ounce jigs and a package of 2- to 3-inch twister tails. White and chartreuse will be good.
Stop at the bait shop en route to the lake and buy a couple dozen medium-sized minnows. Nose hook the minnows on the jig-and-twister rigs and cast along the causeways at Berlin, Mosquito and Milton, and the dam at Mosquito.
For crappies, I like light action spinning rod-and-reel outfits spooled with 6- or 8-pound fluorocarbon. Tiny jigs, sixteenth-ouncers are good, and panfish-size spoons are good baits.
Tip the hooks with 1-inch minnows or a couple of maggots and hang the rigs under a slip-bobber setup. You’ll want to experiment with the depth setting, but a good starting point is 4 feet.
If the bites aren’t happening, slip the float a foot higher and cover new water. Spring crappies don’t tease once you’ve located them, so if you aren’t getting bites, you aren’t around fish.
Largemouth bass are my favorite springtime fishing action. My first trips always find me with three basic rigs ready.
First casts will be with a half-ounce spinnerbait with No. 5 willowleaf blades. If the water is stained, I’ll go with chartreuse and white skirted lures, while white is my choice if the visibility is pretty good.
Gold blades tend to produce better on overcast days, while nickel is great when the sun is bright. The spinnerbait is excellent for covering water in search of fish that aren’t hunkered down in the thickest willow tangles or stump roots.
When the bass are locked down in the cover, I go with bass-style jigs, in quarter- to three-eighths-ounce sizes. I always start with black and blue jigs, then experiment with green pumpkin and touches of chartreuse if necessary.
For working flats, especially the dormant lily pad fields at Mosquito, I like a square-bill crankbait. The 2- to 3-inch versions made by several manufacturers are great for rooting around the dead pad stems where early-spring largemouth forage for crawfish.
Whether we’re after crappies, walleyes or bass, the weather is our biggest ally this time of year. When we catch it right, the fishing will be fantastic.