The Flag Outdoors Expert Steve Carney has your weekly Outdoors Angle right here!
As we slide into the month of May, we look forward to the inland fishing opener here in the lake's country and no doubt this is an annual celebration of fishing, family and friends.
The weather so far this Spring has been awful and the impact will be felt on the May 15th opener. At one point this Spring, we were two weeks ahead in water temperatures but then we slid back to being now two weeks behind! Not a nice turn around. Because of these unusual and abnormal conditions, it will be very important to pick the right lake for opening weekend. The lagging water temperatures means look to lakes that are shallow and dark. A good example is Pelican Lake near Ashby. This lake is very shallow and dark and will have water temperatures at least 10 degrees better than it's neighboring lakes. That is a huge advantage to the opening weekend angler.
Many anglers tend to open on the same lake every season either because that is where their cabin is located or they are just plain too lazy to trailer to a different lake. If we had a normal Spring, the lake choice wouldn't be that big of a deal. In unusually cold Springs, the successful angler needs to move accordingly. I may end up fishing several lakes during the weekend trying to find active fish. The moral of the story is be mobile, move to a different lake if your first choice isn't producing and look to shallow and dark lakes. Save the deep, clear lakes for June.
Steve Carney is The Flag WZFG Outdoors expert. He can be heard every Thursday morning at 8:05 on AM 1100 WZFG. Check out his weekly podcast on am1100theflag.com and hear his Outdoors Angle reports every Friday on AM 1100 WZFG. You can also visit stevecarneyoutdoors.com for more information.