Black Lake 6/14 to 6/20

[bridget]

We wanted to share our week at Black Lake.

 

6/14 Saturday

 

Launched at the State Launch and headed to McClears. White Caps on the lake. It's interesting to launch a relatively fairly large boat by Black Lake standards (18.5) with the water level. down, and the wind up. Bring a long rope or have someone in the boat to motor out.

 

After dinner out on Saturday the lake laid down and the rain stopped so we went out by Tin Island with some left over worms and jig heads. Was out for about an hour and half before the bait ran out and sun went down; the fishing was constant action. The two of us kept about 60 fish, mainly bluegill and perch. Fished in about 12 FOW.

 

Sunday we went out stocked with minnows and set up in the same area just a little deeper (15 FOW). Action was a little slower, but this time many more crappie, and also landed (after a battle) a nice northern pike. Fished Raspberry Island as well and did better on crappie there. Ended up with 40-50 keepers.

 

For the rest of week, fished solo for the most part, mornings and afternoon, and focused more on the crappies off Raspberry in anywhere from 10 to 19 FOW. Fishing shallower caught more perch and bluegill, deeper crappie.Lost count on the number of crappie caught, several doubles on the dual crappie/perch rigs. Crappie at Black Lake have to be 9". As has been the case in the two years I've fished there, the majority of crappie are from 8.5 to 9 ". Not many smaller, and it's typically 3 or 4 throw backs for a keeper, and maybe 1 out of 10 is a nice slab.

 

Relative to Perch, 5 out of 10 are not worth keeping. Maybe one out 10 is what I would consider to be a nice one. 2 out of 3 Bluegills were decent.

 

Caught and released 3 nice Large Mouth Bass.

 

We fish mainly for Trout and Salmon on LO and the FL. I like the change of pace however and relaxation of going out on Black Lake and the constant action on the good eating pan fish. I don't think there was a 5 minute period at any time I didn't have a bite or fish on.

 

Only negative, if you call it that, I would say was the amount of bait I went through, weeding through the small fish. I would buy 5 to 8 perch minnows on each outing and fish until I ran out of bait. Most of the full time guys at McClears fish strictly with plastic, but for us short timers it's hard to resist the constant action of live bait. I did dangle out a jig every now and them and caught fish, but most of time couldn't keep up with it with the constant action on the bait.

 

If you want action,diversity, and to fill your freezer I would highly recommend giving Black Lake a try. We are going up again in early August, which I'm sure will bring the algae bloom, but based on last year, still a lot of action. May try night fishing with lights for crappie and maybe some night walleye trolling???????????

 

 

[sandwick50]

Bridget....Great report.  I am almost exclusively a panfisherman (gills/crappie) & having grown up in the north country still get up to Black Lake on several occasions.  I  struggled the last time up there & given your info I think its because I was fishing too shallow.  I have had tremendous success with the Gulp 1" minnows on a #8 Caty ice fishing jig below a bobber.  I presume fishing in 12-15' you are drifting or anchored and just dropping the jig/worm or minnow right over the side, correct?  I fished the shoal off the south side of Tin early in the year and did well shallow there.  The last time up I tried it again but its weed choked now & I didn't have much success.  I take it you were fishing right off the break of the shoal.  I might give it a try again soon but given your report I'll try deeper.

[bridget]

Most of the resident retired guys at McClears fish plastic and bounce around using their electric trolling motors which is a good plan. I have an ETM on the boat but don't use it to much with my 18.5 Lund set up. May use it more next time up?. One of the residents came in the Friday I left when I was cleaning my fish and had about a dozen or so bluegill but only one crappie. I probably caught over three dozen that A.M.. He was fishing in closer than me. I think that's probably where they had been catching them earlier during the spawn?

 

I like to drift my self and throw out the anchor when I start catching crappie. Of course you are at the mercy of the wind with that game plan. I did fish the shoal north of raspberry - I have it on my GPS but its kind of hard to locate even with that. South of Tin is pretty weed cluttered even now.

 

I'm definitely just learning the lake and have much to learn - but enjoy it very much.

 

Just getting to the point of making friends with some of the resident folks at McClear's. Overall a great bunch of folks, but like anywhere else, some don't immediately share their "secrets" with the short timers. The perception I have at this point is that bobber / jig plan is the way to go early in the season, but post spawn may be different.

 

I do want to try the bobber / jig technique at night using floating lights in August.

 

Thanks for the tips.