Willard, first skunk

[Tin-Can]

The weather was so nice Saturday, and I had been advised there was some open water off the edges around the north marina, I loaded up my poles, tackle bag, chair, and thermos of coffee, and got out to Willard North about 9 AM. The wind had died off, the sky was sunny, and there was open water. The whole north marina is ice free, and the ice edge was a good 30 yards out off the edge of the channel outlet. But the water is quite shallow still, and pretty cloudy, what I could see of it. But I did my duty and completely washed a small tub of Wally World Worms. No bites, no swim by snags, nothing, nada. But a nice day. Even started off with being greated by the DNR Rangers just as I parked my truck. Checked my Park Pass, yep, good thru June, then my Fishin license, yep, good til March. I bet they will want to check out the TinCan when I get ready to wet it down this year. But no problem. I follow the rules and don't mind an early morning conversation with those Ranger folks. They got a rather difficult job to do at times, and far be it from me to make it harder.
Hey, I see in another thread that the Cat Fish Contest is already getting some attention. John, Jeff, Curt, Mike, and you others I met last year, I'll be ready to go after them again this year. Can't promise I will do any better than last year, but will give it my best. I think with TD fishing for the South, we are gonna have our work cut out for us. And I hope the Upper Bear gets plenty of water in it. Would like to see and join the Cuttler Flotilia again this year. Maybe you can see by my profile avatar, but I invested in a new BFT Flag over the winter. A bit pricier that the ones we had last year, but this one can be read from both sides, is heavy duty material and embroidered. Can't wait to fly that proudly from the pointy end of the TinCan.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Consolation and commiserations to ya. Hope you used up the skunk for both of us. I am usually one of the first masochists to hit Willard each year and it often hands me my first and only skunk of the year. On the other hand, I have had some surprisingly good first outings. Every year is different...and this year the open water came early. The fish have to get their schedules lined up.

I hope we have run out of excuses for not fishing together. 'Bout time we shared some water up there. I fish it plenty and so do you. Just gotta get our dance cards in order. We both like to fish the same areas around the north marina and we could each fish from our craft of choice.

Let's stay in touch and make it happen. As long as you don't bring up the north vs the south thing it won't make no nevermind to me. Heck, I ain't proud. I'll fish with a yankee.
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[Tin-Can]

OK Pat.......I guess I'm a "Yankee" in Utah. But born in Southern Calif and spent big majority of my military career between N. Carolina and Florida. Normally I don't fish out of the north WB except when south is "dry" or I'm just bank tangling like I was Saturday.
As far as the North and South thing in the Cat Fish contest, well, that just happens to be where I am.
And when the water is all clear of ice, and I can get the TinCan out of winter wraps, I'll be hittin WB again. I think I may even take a run or 2 down to UL this year. Haven't been there in several years.
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[Flounder70]

Good to hear you had a nice day. I use to ask a good friend of mine what he caught every time he went fishing. When he told me he had a nice day, I knew what that meant. Well, I had a nice day at Rockport Sunday. We were also checked by DNR for the same thing.
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[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Forest great to hear you made it out, is this like the ground hog looking for his shadow? Hope it means the soft water season is just around the corner. My early trips sure don't provide much meat, but they do feel good to get out on the water. Guess I better get my invasive species permit updated and get my boat worked over so it's ready for the upcoming year. Sure didn't get much ice fishing in this year, but I'm excited for walleye and wiper and cat wrassling. Will look forward to you being part of the contest and the Flotilla. Guess we ought to discuss where we want that to be this year. We can do the same float as last year and we have a good stopping spot for lunch or we can look at the Cutler Canyon again. It's a cool area if you haven't seen it before and I swear it should be better fishing than it seems to be when we go there. Or I guess we could look at Mantua, Willard or Porcupine. Not as much of a float trip but maybe better fishing. What do you think? Later J
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