Lake Improvements = A Whole New Body Of Water

  My home lake aka Candlewick Lake underwent a vast change this past week. The lake itself was closed for a week due to some water treatments that where being done. Candlewick has an amazing team that helps regulate and manage the lake and it's resources. What this group decided to do has made huge improvements to the lake. They performed a treatment that would rid all of the unwanted weeds and algae, and at the same time boost water clarity. The bonus is that the treatment will last for 10-15 years I believe.

  Prior to this lake treatment the water clarity at times was slim to none. Usually on an average day you could see 2 feet down. Now the water has cleared up so much that you could see 8-10 feet down. This changes the game all together as far as tactics go. Here are a couple of photo to show how much the water has cleared.

After day 1 of the water treatment

 

Day 2 of water treatment

  They covered almost every square foot of the lake with the treatment going off of GPS. There are places that I have never seen what the bottom looks like, and now it is like a whole new world.

  Last night I got on the lake because I was anxious to see what it had looked like for myself. I was blown away, and can't thank the guys in charge enough for making my home lake even better than it was before. Now for the fishing. I started out tossing my go to twister tail and ended up catching a few Crappies. That was good, but I wanted to explore and see what the rest of the lake was like. I started at the mouth of a finger and started tossing a Zara Spook Bait (topwater). 2nd cast in and something exploded on the surface, and I set the hook. Not my biggest or my smallest, but it was my first pike of the year.

  I had a few other misses on the top water, but just couldn't hook up. All in all it was an awesome night to explore the new and improved home waters. Should be interesting to see how the lake progresses and how the fishing tactics will change.

The Next Rod Build Begins

  The start of yet another rod build is under way. This particular rod is for my first fishing mentor, my dad. Fathers day is approaching fast, and after the last rod build I had old dad drooling  over it. So I figured what better than a custom rod for my dad for fathers day. He is a big time Bass fisherman and has a ton of casting rods, why not build him a spinning rod. This particular rod is going to be very different than any other spinning rod you will find on the market today. I am setting him up with a Microwave Guide System that just came out last year I think from American Tackle. The guide system itself intrigues me on its functionality. It will reduce line slap on the rod itself, increasing casting distance and accuracy, and also increasing sensitivity. Here is a pic of the first guide or stripper guide as it would be called in the rod building world.

 The little eyelet in the center of the big one actually comes out about a quarter of an inch past the big eyelet. This is what helps keep line slap on the rod down. After this guide there is one slightly smaller than it goes down into micro guides after that, similar to what you would see on a micro guided fly rod these days. Here is a slow motion photo taken of the Microwave Guide system in action versus a conventional run of the mill type of spinning rod.

 Here is a photo of the complete guide set.

  It will be very interesting to give this rod a cast when complete. I already have a feeling it is going to phenomenal!

  As for the rest of the rod I went with an MHX blank 7' 1 piece 6-12lbs line in a medium/light action, with a split grip layout. Here is a photo of the grip mounted with the reel seat on the blank.

  When the package arrived from Mudhole, I was shorted the fore grip. I had to improvise as I am under a time restraint right now with other things I already had on the agenda. The fore grip wouldn't be here until mid to late next week and that would have set me way back behind schedule. So a couple of weeks ago I was fishing on my home lake and was snagged in the rocks and needless to say I broke my rod that I was fishing with. I was sitting in my work area wondering how in the hell I was going to complete this rod without the fore grip, and then I saw the broken rod in the corner. It hit me to use the fore grip off that rod as it was no longer a good rod to use. I pulled the old fore grip off the rod and gave it a sanding as it was tinted with dirt and fish slime. Polished it up and slipped it on the rod and it almost looked like it was meant to be.This fore grip is actually slightly longer than the one I originally ordered, and I believe it will be a little more comfortable fishing with the new/old grip.

  I will continue to post pics of the build as it progresses. I started wrapping guides last night in a dark green color, as green is dads favorite color. I will have some nice trim bands on the guide wraps, as well as some pretty cool cross wraps to go along with the rest of the rod. Stay tuned!

Memorial Day Monster

  This Memorial day weekend was a little more memorable than most. A few exciting things happened that will leave these memories forever etched in my mind.

 First and foremost eventful thing that happened was my great friend Jordan tied the knot with his now wife Danielle. I have know Jordan for years. We have camped, fished, and hunted together for many years. When I first started getting into the blogger type realm of things I started a dot com which was Trailtheoutdoors.com. Jordan was the first guy I signed up to post stories, how-to's, and many other things. I closed down the site for awhile and was work with Blake at Illinois Wisconsin fishing, and now here I am as Trail the Outdoors again, but on Blogger. Jordan I am sure will have some posts to add on here come hunting season. I look forward to them and also look forward to watch him progress in the next chapter of his life. Congrats again you two.

 After the Saturday wedding I more than needed Sunday to recoop from the many barley pops that were consumed during the reception. I saved my fishing time for Monday.

 Monday morning we had a slight drizzle on my home lake. It finally quit around 1 p.m. So I hooked the boat up, grabbed my son, and we headed to the lake in hopes of finding some fish. With all the crap weather we have been having I thought for sure we where going to get the old skunk. I was wrong. We landed one fish, but this fish was one for the memory book. If you have been following me for any certain amount of time, you would know I target Walleye quite a bit. On my home lake I finally found some sort of pattern that would produce walleyes constantly. I think my biggest to date was 22 inches. That all changed Monday afternoon. I was pitching a stand up football jig in a pumpkinseed skirt with a uncle josh's pork trailer in hopes of catching a few Largemouth Bass. To my surprise I hooked into something large and full of life as it peeled drag from my new baitcating reel. As I finally saw a flash as it got to the boat I told my son to grab the net. He hasn't had many nettings on big fish, so it took him three tries and thankfully he landed this monster for me.

  This beast was 26 1/4" and just over 6lbs. It is my biggest eye to date out of Candlewick Lake. It is a fish that will stick out in my mind for years to come. Hopefully one day I can top this one out of the old wick.