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Editor: Tom Raschke tomraschke50@gmail.com Club Web Site: http://www.yaharafishingclub.org

April

2019

Noah Humfeld, Madison Angler Guide Service, presented techniques and locations for catching some of his favorite fish (except muskies) on the Madison Lakes through the open water season. What do you do after ice-out? It may be a month or more until the game fishing season opens. That means you have time to concentrate on panfish. Noah’s suggestion - Winne-quah Park in Monona for bluegills. Use a double-dipping rig. On the bottom put on a 1/32-ounce jig baited with a waxy, red worm, or spike. One foot or more above tie in a trout-fishing nymph. The fish might be on the bottom or higher in the water so this rig targets both depths. Use a rocket bobber with no additional weight and a rig you can cast far. Aim for the piers on the opposite side of the chan-nel from the park. You will probably have a lot of competi-tion from other anglers. Other areas to try are the north triangle and Monona Bay. Opening day-first weekend in May-walleyes will be shallow. Many times in 2-3 feet of water near any emergent weeds. If you like night fishing be there at 12:01 A.M. Fish over or next to weeds using Husky Jerks or Shadow Raps. The fish will be scary in this shallow of water so you need plan-er boards to get the lures away from the boat. Run the lur-es 15 feet back from the boards and at a boat speed of 1.5 to 2.5 miles per hour. A glow stick on the flag will let you determine a hit after dark. If you don’t have planer boards and trolling rods, you can buy mini planer boards to use with ordinary spinning gear. This bite usually holds up until the end of May. On clear water, calm days you can also try sight fishing for walleyes using a drop shot rig. Cruise the shoreline looking for walleyes. When sighted, back off and cast a drop shot rig to them and wait. Put an octopus hook about a foot up and bait the hook with a one-half nightcrawler, minnow, of a 3-inch Berkley power grub, nose hooked. One place to look is to cruise the shoreline south of Babcock Park on Lake Waubesa. Mid-summer-back to bluegills. Find suspended bluegills roaming the depths of Lake Monona. The basic rig is a 1/8-1/4 ounce egg sinker placed on the main line above a snap swivel. Add about a 2-foot leader. Tie on a 1/32-1/64 jig (your ice fishing jig). Bait with spikes, leaf worms, or Gulp red or tan angleworms. Drift out in the main basin in water anywhere from 20-60 feet deep. The fish are suspended so a depth finder helps locate fish and determine depth to fish. Remember you can fish with more than one line.

What do you do after Ice-out?

Mid-summer walleyes - Noah’s favorite spot is a horseshoe shaped rock bar north of Tenney Park in 15-25 feet of water. The technique is snap jigging. He likes a VMC, quarter ounce, purple Hammer Head jig for this technique baited with a fire cracker, Berkley ring worm cut in half. Make a long cast, let the jig sink to the bottom on a tight line, give it about a 4-foot snap and let it sink again on a tight line. Do this all the way back to the boat. You could probably use a leech, but leeches freak Noah out. When water temperatures drop below 50-degrees Noah considers it fall fishing time. Panfish, pike, and muskies head back into the bays so return to spring fishing techniques. However, some of the biggest fish of the year are caught from shore this time of year. Olbrich, Tenney, and Marshall Parks are some

Notes by Stan Nichols

Noah in action at the monthly meeting

Continued next page.

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YFC Outings, D&S, Next Meeting Info

Spring is finally here. I hope everyone enjoyed the ice fishing season. I just wanted to share with you some of our upcoming events.

Crappie outing Saturday April 27th, Lake Wisconsin - Tom Klein

Dave Dockus is our group leader. He will have a mini session at our YFC meeting on April 10th starting at 6:30 pm. Dave has fished Lake Wisconsin numerous times for Crappie and can guide us to the hot spots. Dave will focus on baits and tackle and also for you to keep, we will have the 3D maps from Mapping Specialists which you can mark up with the fishing spots (bring something to write with). We will meet at 7:30 at the Sunset boat launch Saturday morning. We could have a grill out, weather permitting, after fishing, in the Sunset parking lot. I am anticipating additional hints from guides Ron Barefield and Wally Banfy. Please sign up using the form that was sent electronically. It is important to sign up by April 5th. If that does not work just give me a call at 608-225-4968. You can email Tom at TomKlein@excede.net or call him by the 5th or sooner. so he can have the appropriate number of maps available and grill out stuff ready. Passengers can sign up to a boat captain at the April 10th meeting. If there are not enough boats to accommodate passengers, boat assignment will be on a first come (sign up) first served basis.

Below is the D&S seminar schedule for spring.

4/04 | Ron Barefield Wisconsin River Spring Walleyes 4/11 | Tim Pattermann Fox River Walleyes 4/18 | Pat Klingelhoets Spring Panfish from Shore 4/25 | Dave Berg Mendota Walleye 5/02 | Dan Oele Madison Area Fisheries Biologist

April 10, 2019 YFC Monthly Meeting, 7:00 pm

Mini session at 6:30 - Dave Dockus - Crappie fishing Lake Wisconsin

Keith Krinke is the main speaker. Keith will be talking about baits that work on the Madison chain and how to fish with them. He will spend some time talking about his Beavertail Baits and how to fish with them. He has donated many of them to our club raffle. Tom Klein

favorites areas. Fish with the same lures you used for spring trolling. The water is cold so slow down your presentation – cast, twitch, twitch, pause all the way back to shore. Tie on a 20-pound, titanium wire leader so you won’t get bit-off by a muskie or pike and loose an expensive lure. Use a headlamp to spot fish, but only quickly or you may spook them. Fish seem to be most active just after dark. Be careful, there are other things that prowl Madison parks after dark. Noah has an 18-foot, red Tuffy boat, with a tiller Mer-cury motor. If you see him on the lake or at a landing, say hello. He also has a website-Madisonangling.com-where, if his computer is working; he posts a weekly fishing report. He is also willing to answer questions when contacted.

Noah, continued.

Bait passed around by Noah. To the left of

the pin is a husky Jerk, I think, and to the

right a VMC, quarter ounce, purple Hammer

Head jig as described by Stan.

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Iverson Sportsfishing, Sportsfishing, Madison Angling Guide Service, Metcalfe's Market, City Detail, Hair Excellence, Wisconsin Outdoor News, Medieval Times, Cisco Fishing Systems, Ryan Brother Ambulance, Harbor Recreation, Green Bay Packers, Mikes Prop Shop, Clam, The Shoe Box, Miller's Market, Madison Mallards, Coots Lures, Fleet Farm, Quam's Marine & Motor Sports, Finicki Auto Electric, Mapping Specialists,

Meikle'sMorthside True Value, Stoughton Opera House, Adam Gers, Spark Spices, Kwik Trip, Northside Jung Seed Co, Rodeside Grill, Madison Top, Collector's Choice Coins, Bowl-A-Vard Lanes, Off Broadway Drafthouse, The Girl Barber, Bennett's Meadowood Country Club, Daly's Bar & Grill, Varsity Bar & Grill, Club La Mark, The Draft House, Rockhound Brewing, The Curve Restaurant, D&S Baits, Blue Ribbon Outdoors, Wisconsin Wildlife Federation.

The Yahara Fishing Club would like to recognize these business and people who donated prizes for the 2019 YFC kids raffle. We ask that when you are shopping at these business to thank them for their support of the Yahara Fish-ing Club and Kids Fishing Raffle. Below is a list of the business that donated. The Yahara Fishing Club thanks them all for their support.

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Arneson’s? from about 2006.

Winter fishing in central Florida from Clay Russell 2002-2019 Newsletters

now on the YFC Website.

Long-time member Jeff Western has

spent a great deal of time scanning in old

issues for the Website. We now have

over 200 previous issues there, with an

index and more issues to come.

If you have room in one of the two next newsletters, you might

want to put the attached picture in. On March 15 (the Ides of

March) I caught this in Lake Yale (where I took Stan Nichols about

a year ago) on a spoonplug in 17 feet of water (deep for a Florida

lake). It was 23 inches and weighed about 7 pounds.

Wisconsin Smallmouth Alliance Auction

The 16th annual Wisconsin Smallmouth Alliance auction is on Tues-

day, April 16, 2019 at the Maple Tree Supper Club in McFar-

land. Dinner and registration start at 5:30. Auction starts at 6:45. It

will end by 9:00. Credit Cards are accepted. Bid on guided trips,

rods, reels, flies, lures, tackle, maple syrup, baked goods, local busi-

ness gift cards, etc. This is their only fundraiser of the year. From

the profits, they donate $600 to the YFC. See Rich Connor for more

information or go to: wisconsinsmallmouth.com

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Letter from the President

Big thanks to Noah Humfeld for his presentation last month. Great infor-

mation or those of us that fish the Madison Chain. Not only did Noah give

us a great deal on his speaking fee, he also donated a guided trip for the

Raffle. If you’re thinking about a guided day this year, make sure you con-

sider Noah. His email is: info@madisonangling.com.

Its that time of year again where we get the boat out of storage, refresh our

fishing tackle (like we really need more stuff), and drive by the lakes look-

ing for open water. As I look back at past years, fishing can be slow, and

fishing can be great. Almost all were good times.

See you at the April Meeting!

Gary Schutte

President

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PLACE STAMP HERE

Yahara Fishing Club Membership Form

P.O. Box 3271 Madison, WI 53704

Annual Dues are from January 1 to December 31. Please print. *** ESSENTIAL

Name *** ____________________________________________________________________________

If Family or Youth, Additional Names ______________________________________________________

Email ***_______________________@__________________________________

Street Address ____________________________________________________ State __ Zip _______

Phone Number and Area Code *** ______ - ________- ____________

Individual…………… $35.00

Family …………….. $45.00

Student……………….$10.00

Youth Members are free with other paid membership.

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The next YFC meeting is Wednesday, April 10, 2019 7:00 pm. at the VFW Hall, 301 Cottage Grove Road, Madison, WI

SPEAKER Keith Krinke

Calendar of Upcoming Events

Board of Directors and Officers

Gary Schutte, President Tom Wilke, Speakers Tex Torgeson, Auctioneer

Phil James, Vice President Mark Riederer Ken Terrill

Kathy McGee, Treasurer Larry Reed

Jim Krause, Secretary Gerald King

Mary Regel Helps Us Again

Once more Mary has donated

$500.00 towards the Kids Fishing

Days from the Rod Regel Memorial

Fund.

Thank You Mary!

May Events

April Events

April 10, Meeting at the VFW Hall at 7:00 pm. Keith Krinke . See notes page 2.

April 16, The 16th annual Wisconsin Smallmouth Alliance auction at the Maple Tree Supper

Club in McFarland.

April 27, Crappie outing Lake Wisconsin. See page 2.

May 4th, Wisconsin Fishing Opener

May 8, Meeting at the VFW Hall at 7:00 pm. .