Weather affected first-day fishing season turnout

The follow information was received from Fish and Wildlife about the March 1 opener. As you will see, the weather was a factor, as it is during most of the spring fishing openers. The word creelers is used to identify the people who traveled from lake to lake and checked the creels of the anglers. A creel is a place to keep fish.

When I was young, my dad and I carried a creel when we fished a stream. Today most anglers don’t use an actual creel, but a stringer to keep fish or a cooler where the fish are placed.

As for the results of opening day, first you will notice…, well read on.

From Fish and Wildlife Region 2 headquarters:

Brrrrrrr……….The March 1 lowland lake opener in District 5 has come and gone, but the internal body temperature of the creelers has still not reached 98.6°F yet.

Angler participation was good considering how poor the weather was on the opener. On Saturday, anglers were greeted with temperatures in the low teens, with wind chill, a damp and bone chilling wind blowing constantly at 10 to 25 mph, and light snow.

Had the weather been nicer there might have been twice the crowds on the opener, especially considering March 1 finally fell on a weekend. In spite of the weather though, anglers were generally happy to be out fishing and spending time with family and friends.

Angler harvest was very good on Upper Caliche and Martha lakes averaging three trout per person. Burke Lake was lower at two trout per person. However, if you only include the interviews of anglers who braved the elements and fished for two or more hours, harvest rates increased significantly to four or slightly over four trout per angler.

Trout were a smidgen on the small side at 10.5 to 11.5 inches, but very hearty and robust. The slightly smaller trout size is not too surprising because they are one to two months from a full year of growing.

These same trout will be 12 to 13 inches in length by April. Anglers should continue to fish these lakes through the spring. A few carry overs measuring 14 to 18 inches were recorded by creelers.

Lenice Lake also fished very well on the opener, although effort was way down from the previous couple years. Between 10 and 12 anglers fished Lenice Lake over the weekend. Most anglers caught between 12 to 15 trout ranging in size from 12 to 20-plus inches in length. Most trout were 14-16 inches. The trout were very robust and hard fighting.

The next 10-day weather is forecast to contain highs in the 50s and lows above freezing. This is sure to bring out the anglers.

I encourage you to head to Martha Lake and take the family. It is not necessary to get up at dawn, but rather wait for the temperature to warm into the 40s. Eat a hardy breakfast and take a lunch.

Now this is where some of the fun comes forward. Your lunch can be as simple as sandwiches, with mayonnaise, mustard, sliced onions, lettuce and any type of lunch meat desired. This could be sliced beef or deer roast, or tuna or any purchased lunch meat. Slicing the meat and onions at home makes preparing the sandwiches easier at the lake.

Another idea is to take a camp stove along and prepare a hot meal. Reheat a stew or soup or use a skillet to cook hamburgers or hotdogs.

Take plenty of time to fish, for sure, but a meal assembled or prepared at the lake will create those memories which will last a lifetime.

Using salmon eggs, worms and lures are all possible ways to entice fish, but the most common bait will be PowerBait of various flavors.

The weather held my wife, Garnet, and me in the house for the weekend, but with the weather climbing into the 50s, we are sure to head to Martha to try and catch a trout or two. Now will we take the makin’s for sandwiches or heat up a beef stew? I say the beef stew.