Help Me Decide

[TOXIC]

My wife just gave me the dates to our annual trip to Waupaca, King Chain of Lakes, Wisconsin this year.  We are going for 2 weeks at the end of July and beginning of August. We have been making this trip for 24 years.  I know the obvious answer is going to be “It all depends on whether it is worth it to you” but I am seriously 50/50 on taking my boat this year.  First and foremost there is no cost consideration.  Extra gas in the truck and a launch fee isn’t relevant.  I use about a 1/2 tank of gas in the boat in 2 weeks.  In the beginning, I actually pulled a small trailer with a 2 man pvc boat and fished small areas close to whatever cottage we were staying in.  In the 24 years, we have stayed in 4 separate cottages, all on different lakes in the chain.  I started pulling my big boat up and had a blast, the fishing was excellent, launching the boat was a breeze and all was well.  During this time we were staying in a cottage on McCrossen lake and I would launch my boat at the marina, pull the trailer back to the cottage and park it across the street in a lot the cottage owner had.  This worked out for a number of years and all was fine.  Then we had to move to another cottage that was on Sunset Lake (there are 22 lakes in the chain most all are connected).  This cottage, which is our current one, is nestled deep in the forest and there is no room for the boat trailer.  There is a dock with power but it is down a hillside pretty much out of sight. Pulling the big boat there requires me launching at the marina, then taking the trailer to an offsite storage lot owned by the marina.  It creates a bit of a logistical nightmare because I am the only one who can handle the trailer.  It was well worth it when the fishing was good.  Then the unimaginable happened.  They decided to spray the lakes to control the aquatic vegetation.  The fishing went from fantastic to horrible.  I went from catching 50-75 a day to 4 or 5.  It became a night bite if you wanted any kind of numbers. One year my wife flew into Appleton and I picked her up there and I used the extra time to spend a couple days on another lake before she got there. I fished Big Green.  I don’t night fish so for the last 5 years, I left the boat at home and was content just chilling and tooling around on the pontoon we rent every year from the marina.  I helped some of my relatives fish off the pontoon but it is for everyone and used for booze cruises and swimming excursions. There were not very many fishing boats on the lakes either.  I watched them dwindle every year.  For the last couple of years the number of fishing boats has exploded and I can’t tell if it’s from regrowth of the vegetation or just a spike in tourism.  There’s not a lot of active fishing reports for the chain so it’s pretty much a guessing game.  Soooooo…….long story long, do you think it’s worth the hassle of hauling the boat back this year? 

[gim]

Man, that is a lot of effort and energy for minimal payoff.  Hauling a big bass boat from Virginia to Wisconsin, parking the trailer offsite, which is resulting in poor bass fishing success on top of it?

 

Would be an easy decision for me.  It would definitely stay at home.

[Darth-Baiter]

I would call someone local up there and take the temperature of the fishing conditions.  then go from there.

 

honestly, I would be 85% taking the boat.  hehehe...

[A-Jay]

28 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

  Then the unimaginable happened.  They decided to spray the lakes to control the aquatic vegetation.  The fishing went from fantastic to horrible.   Soooooo…….long story long, do you think it’s worth the hassle of hauling the boat back this year? 

 

First week of August is a often a great time to be on the waters up north.  

If it were me, I'd be looking for 'greener' pastures. 

So I'm going with NO.

At least until you find the fishing has improved, 

or you plan on fishing something else.

Good Luck.

btw,  personally not a fan of 'the spray'.

Toasted at least two of my favorite little canoe lakes.

It was brutally bad. 

Haven't been back in over 5 years.

A-Jay

 

[Darth-Baiter]

can your even rent boats?

 

I would still call.  what if they say the fishing is on fire?

[Fishingmickey]

How much fishing time do you get in during that two weeks? There is a lot of what looks like good fishing lakes close by. Tough call. Is the hassle worth the fishing rewards?

FM

[gim]

43 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

btw,  personally not a fan of 'the spray'

A number of smaller lakes around here do that too, generally in late May or early June when weed growth is just starting to take off.  From a property owner perspective, I can see why they do it.  But it has clearly changed the behavior of the bass in the lake (and other fish), because it inhibits weed growth and greatly increases water clarity.  Clarity in some of these lakes has doubled over the past few years.

[Susky River Rat]

2 hours ago, gimruis said:

A number of smaller lakes around here do that too, generally in late May or early June when weed growth is just starting to take off.  From a property owner perspective, I can see why they do it.  But it has clearly changed the behavior of the bass in the lake (and other fish), because it inhibits weed growth and greatly increases water clarity.  Clarity in some of these lakes has doubled over the past few years.

This is one of the reasons I became a river rat. I avoid most lakes at all costs. Unless I can’t get on the river due to safety.

 

@TOXIC I would sooner not fish if it meant fishing a lake without weeds. I’d def do some homework before I’d take the boat all that way.

[TOXIC]

Very interesting responses.  For a number of years, even with the bad fishing, I was totally against not pulling the boat up when I was staying on the water.  I assumed that would be the prevalent response to my question but it seems there’s a lot more logic than passion.  I didn’t even relay the true amount of frustration and stress of pulling 2 days up and 2 days back, all of the gear packing, stress getting in and out of fuel stops on the way up and back, possibility of trailer breakdowns with a well maintained 2005 trailer, etc.  The wife wants me to take the boat because she thinks I need more to do than just hanging around the cottage and taking folks out on the pontoon.  She doesn’t understand the frustration of going through all of the hassle to just be able to take the boat out for casting practice.  I can’t easily pull the boat out and go explore other lakes even though for a number of years, I would pull the boat to go fish with a friend on Wineconnie and the Fox river for a day.  He has since passed so that is no longer a priority.  It would be well worth it if the vegetation is coming back and the daytime fishing was better.  Night fishing is a not fun for me because of the blood sucking mosquitoes that are the size of sparrows. ? They used to remove the excess vegetation with grass harvesters but opted to spray.  I have seen the grass re-emerge better the last few years but nothing like it was before.  I guess I’ll keep my ear to the wall and see if I get clear information to help with the final decision.  

[TnRiver46]

I take the canoe in such scenarios 

[casts_by_fly]

I'm probably the opposite of everyone else.  If you don't take it, you definitely can't use it.  I would definitely ear to the ground on the conditions.  5 years should be enough for the fishing to be rebounding.  The weeds should be back and its just a matter of how much the fish dropped off and came back up.  Plus you're going for 2 weeks which is a lot of time to be sitting there without the boat after learning the fishing is good again.

 

it would also come down to the type of trip you're having.  I am in a similar position.  We go to the outer banks every year with friends.  It was for 2 weeks the past years, and 1 week this year.  I've long considered bringing my kayak down because there is a ton of fishing in the sound that is perfect for a kayak (specs and reds on bass type tackle).  However, the purpose of the trip is to hang out with friends, not find new fishing spots.  Leaving for a day on the water means not seeing them all day.  Leaving in the early morning and coming back mid-day means I'm too tired to enjoy the day with friends.  Instead, I take a couple surf rods and a small bag of gear.  We sit on the beach and drink beer while maybe catching a fish here or there.  I get a little fishing in, I also get a lot of friends time in.  Priorities.