St. Joseph Lake and Somerset Reservoir - 30 APR 17

[CybrSlydr]

Today was the day!  Today was going to be the day we turned this whole fishing thing around and started landing the big ones (well, anything larger than the 1lbers we've gotten so far...) because...

 

WE BOUGHT AN INFLATABLE PONTOON!!!

 

If you haven't seen in the boat section, we picked up a Classic Accessories Clark Fork 8ft Pontoon in copper.  We were so excited that I decided we'd try a new lake!  This lake is St. Joseph Lake.

 

According to Game and Fish Mag 2015... 

 

Quote

 

Largemouth Bass by Size
Of lakes at least 50 acres in size, according to the ODOW, the top water in Ohio for producing big bass is St. Joseph Lake. It’s a small, out-of-the-way lake located in Perry Country southeast of Somerset between State routes 13 and 668. Also known as Lake St. Joseph, the 60-acre flood control reservoir is not listed by the ODOW and not well known, which may be why it holds so many big bass.

The best detailed directions we can locate are shared on bassfishingohio.com and read: “take State Route 13 south out of Somerset, you’ll see a sign that says oldest Catholic Church in Ohio. Turn (left/west) there and follow it past a church you see on your right, before you turn at the curve going left, you’ll see another gravel road to the right.

Take it down hill until you come to a culvert. The lake is at the end of the culvert if you follow it out going west.”  For those who want to find it by GPS, the LAT/LONG coordinates are 39.7721, -82.2839.

It may be easier to locate Lake St. Joseph by referencing Clouse Lake, which is better known and located on the same watershed just below St. Joseph, according to our source at Wildlife District Four, fisheries biologist Matt Hangsleben. He said that both lakes share shoreline within the 148-acre Clouse Lake Wilderness Area and that the ODOW was planning on producing a map of the lake in the near future.

The biologist added that Lake St. Joseph has a 20-foot maximum depth, offers an unimproved boat launch area on the east side off Township Road 122. He notes that the lake permits boats powered manually or by electric motor only.

 

 

 

 

Read more: http://www.gameandfishmag.com/forecasts/ohio-bass-forecast-2015/#ixzz4fmVQJwXh

 

 

 

 
 

 

After about an hour drive, we arrive and are met with this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

-sigh-

 

Yup, the lake level is down around 5ft.  Couple folks who came to the area said that they were draining it for another reservoir and it hasn't returned to normal pool yet.  Allegedly they're also looking to build a dock and some amenities where the ramp is but haven't gotten to it yet.  There were also some folks with kayaks who had attempted to venture out and said once you got to the turn it was too shallow and muddy and they couldn't get out on the lake.

 

lmao  If it weren't for Sampson luck, none of you would ever have any!

 

Regardless, we put the pontoon together and gave it a go.  Only to find out we put it together wrong and my brother was nearly dumped/slid off into the water near the ramp.  He didn't smell right the rest of the night.  And almost lost a flip-flop.

 

So we pulled it out and re-assembled it correctly and he gave it another go.

 

 

As you can see, the electric pump we have doesn't quite inflate it well enough.  It doesn't get it full enough and then it loses too much when we try and close the valve.  It's REALLY annoying...  We've been suggested a manual pump and will be looking into it - however, I'm not sure how in the world you're not going to lose a bunch of air trying to close the d**n Boston valve on the pontoons...

 

Despite this, we can say we finally got out on the water.  Unfortunately, we were feeling a bit sorry for ourselves and spent about the next hour just faffing about.  My brother never did manage to get coordinated enough to try and make it around the bend, just spun in circles.  I can't say much because I didn't give it a go.  lol

 

One of the locals who stopped by told us about the Somerset Reservoir a few miles down the road, so we packed up the pontoon and our gear and set off for the reservoir.

 

When we got there, I decided I didn't want to mess around with the pontoon and neither did my brother, so we just fished from the shore for a little while.

 

We also realized that if we were going to use the pontoon, THIS was the place we should have tried, not dicked around at the other place for over an hour.  lol

 

 

 

 

Very nice little area.  We tried some Rat-L-Traps, tried a chatterbait and before hand we picked up a couple Boo-Ya buzz baits. 

 

We only fished for about half an hour or so before we had to pack up and head home.

 

So...  While today was nowhere near the triumphant cruise we anticipated (more like North Korean missile test...), we did learn some important bits to use in the future.  Such as a manual pump to top off the pontoons, to correctly assemble the darn thing in the first place and to skip St. Joseph lake for now and hit up the reservoir.

 

Anyway, we'll see you next trip!