A couple of hours fishing

[Ron Young]

Today is my regular day off and I hadn't been fishing since early November. Two months is way too long! Got out for a couple of hours on a local spillway today. It was chilly (upper 40's to maybe 50 degrees) and breezy. Not much happening, but I did catch a 6" Red Ear and a 7" Bluegill. On the microlite both fish put up a struggle.

I walked up the hill to take a peak at Unicorn Lake and noticed they have drained it down about 5-6 feet. I asked the Ranger. He said that they do it to clean off the top of the dam, kill some of the vegetation and keep the pier from rising with the ice. We have been well above normal this year with temperatures, so thus far ice would not have been a problem.

When I walked up the hill, I noticed another angler fishing from the pier. I watched him catch a nice 12" class Yellow Perch. He also got a couple of other bites in a 15 minute span (none of which connected). He was using live minnows and small 2" ish blue gills for bait.

It started to rain and get colder, so I called it a day. Not stellar by any means, but I got out just the same. Hopefully it won't be so long between now and my next outing.

[jason grimm]

yeah i hear ya its been sense november or late october for me, im do for a quick 1 even if the weather isnt fair. :)

[Jim Gronaw]

I think if you drain Unicorn 5 to 6 feet then all you might have is a small round pocket near the dam. Fish should be pretty thick in there!

[Ron Young]

Jason,

There's nothing like a fish tuggin' on the end of your line to help cure the winter blues (even if it has been a warm winter thus far).

Jim,

Perhaps I phrased it wrong. The lake has been drained down about 5'- 6' from where the water and shore used to meet. Depth wise, It's maybe three feet. But that has certainly shrunk the amount of water and I'm sure somewhat concentrated the fish. Allot of the fallen trees are high and dry .

The Ranger said they will begin bringing the level back up sometime in February. Late April and early May are my favorite times there. The algae mat grows fast starting in late June.