Hi Folks,
Have we been seeing some big fish caught lately! And not just locally, but from many customers such as you. Tournament fishing results have been astounding with some of the largest bag weights we can ever remember, even in some of the regional tournaments.
I’ve talked to many of you and most share my amazement as well as curiosity as to just what produced this awesome Spring fishing. My take is the long, cold March had a lot to do with it. Here in Indiana it tied for the coldest March on record. Now I’m no fish biologist, but I have to think that certainly pushed the spawn back.
Then we’ve had some pretty warm days, like 85 degrees and lots of sunshine and good, steady winds of 10 – 15 miles an hour. That had to have stirred things up and prodded those big gals to get busy loading up. We’ve had reports of all sorts of lures and baits producing nice fish. Plastics, crankbaits, umbrella rigs, jerks, you name it and they seem to be producing.
So I have a theory. I know that Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and all of the northern Midwest are just now coming into fishing season. I’m betting that whether you fish for smallies, walleye, northern, perch, largemouth, or whatever you’re going to have one crazy good season this year. You know, Spring moves up from South to North, so why wouldn’t this “better than normal fishing” do the same?
I can be the eternal optimist and will admit that there have been times when my optimism wasn’t necessarily supported by much other than hope, but I think in this case I’ve got some solid support if our Midwestern fishing over the last few weeks is any indication.
My plan is to start hitting some of the lakes a bit north and hopefully follow the warm weather all the way up to the border. This year the selection of quality rods and reels is as good as I can remember, and with some of the high grade lures, jigs, and plastics this should be a year that will go down in my personal record book. I still have my goals for some trophy fish whether they be smallies, largemouth, walleye, northern perch, or lakers. And I figure that when the warm weather has driven me to the Canadian border I can then head south to try some saltwater fishing.
I guess that’s the nice thing about fishing. No matter what time of year you want to get on the water there’s fish biting somewhere. And like all fishermen I know this will be my year. Probably yours too!
Thank you once again for your great support and friendship. We’re really excited about our new format for the newsletter and we’d like to hear from you with any thoughts you have. We are always trying to improve, so help us out with any suggestions or comments you have.
Tight Lines,
Tom Ashby
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