Shell and I started our hunt for Giants this weekend with a short trip to the Chain of Lakes. Split the days casting and trolling . Not much going on except for small pike and some monster Smallmouth. One smallie that I had get off while I was trying to lift him into the boat may have been 24" long and 7 lbs. Biggest I have ever seen anywhere. It hit one of my new prototype Claws. 7.5" version in Rainbow sucker. Raised one Musky with a scarred face . It was about 45/46" thick head. Took a swipe at a Copper Carp Little claw in about 7 feet of water. Weeds were not up yet but some Cabbage starting to grow. Water temps 52 average. Torch 47 to 49 . F.Y.I. Torch lake has a very bad snag area off the mouth of the Clam River. 24 to 29 feet of water slightly north of the mouth nearly emergant Logs . They were all over the place. Hooked up a Big Bait on one and were lucky to get it back. It looked like a sunken sailboat at first. Be advised. Kingfisher
I want to clarify something about that snag field. It was not there 2001,2002,2003,2004. I have been trolling that river mouth for 5 years now and never saw this bunch of logs. The guys at the Motel say it just surfaced this year. They say they are old logs from the logging days a hundred years ago.. They are popping up all over the lake . Must be from temperature shock or somthing weird. The Motel owner says they floated thousands of logs across Torch Lake to be shipped to Chicago in the 1800's They look like white birch trees without branches which is why I thought it was a sunken Sailboat at first. There were at least 20 logs standing up from the bottom on Saturday. I wonder how long they will stay like that? Kingfisher
Mike, wow……..I journeyed all the way on Friday (20th) from DNR launch on Skeg to Clam and apparently missed seeing those logs at the entrance to Clam. I did see a huge 18-20 ft log floating freely in Skeg beyond the second stump field from the Torch river which was probably 16 inches in diameter. Luckily it was pretty calm at that time of day and I saw it in plenty of time as I planed toward the river. I shudder to think what the result would have been had I hit it. Upon my return later in the day it was nowhere in sight!
We (Gary Doty) fished only about 4 hrs on Friday in Clam Lake and Torch R and saw nothing. Clam was warmest in high 50s. Saturday Helen and I fished 4 hrs on Skeg looking for warm water and weeds. Neither the weeds or bull rushes were up but I was surprised to see a couple dead ones from last year standing submerged (brown and beat up) rather than
lying on the bottom decayed. In any event, we casted near Skeg Pt and near some inlets at the East end and I only managed to raise the attention of a big smallie on a Mepps Black Fury near Barker creek. It was 60 degree water at that East end in the sun of Saturday afternoon.
Went to the trolling session after dinner and had no rips. The breaks along the South end in 18 ft looked promising with some bait fish and zig zagged into the basin fringes and saw some isolated BIG marks holding above the occasional major hump. Would have thought something would have happened with 4 lines out, varying speed, and probably the warmest water of the Spring in that part of Skeg at 57. Transitioned into Elk toward the S end along the East shore breaks and saw some bait in the 20 to 40 ft range but again no action in the 45 degree water. Didn't stay on Elk long, mostly near the Narrows.
It's tough to fish here and time the low density population. My records indicate June is a better historically.
Mike, wow……..I journeyed all the way on Friday (20th) from DNR launch on Skeg to Clam and apparently missed seeing those logs at the entrance to Clam. I did see a huge 18-20 ft log floating freely in Skeg beyond the second stump field from the Torch river which was probably 16 inches in diameter. Luckily it was pretty calm at that time of day and I saw it in plenty of time as I planed toward the river. I shudder to think what the result would have been had I hit it. Upon my return later in the day it was nowhere in sight!
We (Gary Doty) fished only about 4 hrs on Friday in Clam Lake and Torch R and saw nothing. Clam was warmest in high 50s. Saturday Helen and I fished 4 hrs on Skeg looking for warm water and weeds. Neither the weeds or bull rushes were up but I was surprised to see a couple dead ones from last year standing submerged (brown and beat up) rather than
lying on the bottom decayed. In any event, we casted near Skeg Pt and near some inlets at the East end and I only managed to raise the attention of a big smallie on a Mepps Black Fury near Barker creek. It was 60 degree water at that East end in the sun of Saturday afternoon.
Went to the trolling session after dinner and had no rips. The breaks along the South end in 18 ft looked promising with some bait fish and zig zagged into the basin fringes and saw some isolated BIG marks holding above the occasional major hump. Would have thought something would have happened with 4 lines out, varying speed, and probably the warmest water of the Spring in that part of Skeg at 57. Transitioned into Elk toward the S end along the East shore breaks and saw some bait in the 20 to 40 ft range but again no action in the 45 degree water. Didn't stay on Elk long, mostly near the Narrows.
It's tough to fish here and time the low density population. My records indicate June is a better historically.
Hi Chuck, the standing timbers as Ill call them were in about 23 to 30 foot of water slightly north and out from Clam River mouth. Now thats a long way out there before it drops off. I was running deep divers in 30 foot when we got into about 25 and hooked up the bait.. I was surprised to see these timbers standing up from the bottom like they were. It looked like a couple of sunken sailboats. They may have sank back to the bottom . They were not there last year or I would have hit them all LOl. They must have risen from some kind of temperature shock or something. Strange. Mike
I have only been to the spot that you guys are talking about once, but I recall seeing a tree or something submerged, or just under the surface. It was just before Christmas a couple of years ago and it was freaky. Bomba and I were just wondering what it was and how it got there. I remember the water being even deeper that 30 feet though, but it was along time ago.
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