Tobico- 2-17

[Ruler]

Fished Tobico Lagoon/Lake today. Lots of good ice- 6-8" in most spots, but no fish. Not a single strike in 2 hours. :(

We did meet one guy as we were going out who was a real winner though. We're getting the spud, shanty, and sled out of the car and he's unloading a noodle rod. I ask him where he plans on fishing and he says by the bridge; it's open water over there. He then goes on to rant for 3-4 minutes on how he's not a stupid *****%*le to go out on that ice and how the warm weather has got it rotten and on and on with lots of profanity interspersed and lots of comments directed at us. :mad: At this point, I was thinking to myself, "Is this guy trying to get us POed or does he just have the IQ of a tic-tac?" I just let it go and keep getting the stuff ready to head out- eventually he ran out of steam and shut up. :) Anyways, we go out and start fishing, but I forgot my lures in the car. I used some of my father's for a while, but decided to go get my own so I'd have more variety. When I get back there, he's loading up his rod & reel and getting out a spud and ice pole. :eek: It was all I could do not to say something that would start a fight. :cool:

Afterwards, we drove over to the bridge he was talking about to check out the open water possibilities. There's an area by a culvert that's open- it's about 8-10' wide and 15-20' long; the rest is ice. :rolleyes:

All in all, a bad day fishing, but the entertainment was OK; we laughed about it all the while we were fishing. :) Kept making comments back and forth between us about how stupid we were to be out on the ice. I told my dad after he was tired out after spuding the holes about how weak the ice was, he kept making comments about the shanty (I made it) being too heavy for the ice to hold, etc. :D

[NEMichsportsman]

It has been a while since I lived in Bay City, and even longer still since I fished Tobico. What do you generally catch there?With the lower lake levels I wouldnt think it is very deep??? I have been meaning to get over that way for a long time but I was never sure if the fishing was good enough to merit stopping...



thanks

jp

[Ruler]

Actually, the water level in the lake hasn't been affected by the low water because they blocked it off from the bay a few years ago. Used to be really good for perch and northerns, but now there's not much there. Too much fishing pressure and no access for new fish to get in. I was fishing there very early in the open-water season last year and got a nice northern out of there; released it to spawn and try to get a few more fish, but I doubt it did- too many people. Teachers take their classes out there for a field trip of fishing. The fish they don't keep, but they gut-hook 70%+ of them. :(

The reason they blocked off the lagoon and turned it into a lake is because they were too $%#ing cheap to dredge the mouth and keep it up. Worked great for maintaining the water level, but totally screwed up the fishing. The lake is too small to support much of a fishery when fished that heavily. I usually don't go there, but it's close to home and doesn't take any time to get there. :)