Just One of Those Trips

Fishing Time: 7:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Weather: breezy, 90's
Moon Phase: 8% Moon
Location: Mantua, Newton
Bait: jig under bobber, swimbaits, plastic worms
Who Went: Bobber John, Me

Bobber John had an itch to go catch bluegills, and heard reports that Mantua Reservoir was producing them in large numbers. He pitched it to me with talk about good bass fishing as well, and as usual with talk of bass fishing and a new lake to explore, I bit on the sale. We got to the lake around 7:30 a.m. and were greeted with a windstorm and rain. The rain subsided, but the wind was off and on in all directions. It didn’t take long before Bobber John had a few bluegills in the boat, but I couldn’t find the bass. The fishing conditions were tough as the whole lake is full of moss reaching up to the surface, which makes it difficult to fish. After only one hour on the lake we began thinking of other places to fish near Mantua. After looking at the map, we decided to go somewhere a little off the beaten path and toward the Idaho border. Newton is a small reservoir that sits just north of Logan and it’s about 10 miles south of Idaho. It’s one of the only places that have Tiger Musky, and also offers a variety of other warm water species like bass and crappie. We got there around 11 and launched the boat at the only primitive launch ramp the lake has to offer. The skiers were out in full force and with the reservoir being approximately 150 yards wide, it made for an uncomfortable and rough afternoon. The sun also came up and it got very hot. We persevered through and continued casting the entire western shoreline hoping to land a bass or musky. I was throwing for musky and John was casting for bass. Halfway down the west shoreline John hooked into the only fish we landed at Newton with a small largemouth bass. The skiers and sun became too much and we made an executive decision to go home early and cut our losses. I got SKUNKED! It hasn’t happened a lot this year, but when it does it still stings! One cool thing that we did see at Newton though, was three different tiger musky surface and swim around with their head and part of their body completely out of the water. I have seen a northern pike do this as well at Yuba Reservoir, and it looks weird! Don’t know why they do it, but this was the closest we got to one all day. I also forgot my camera so no pictures, it just ended up being one of those kinds of trips!