Martin Creek 1/01/21

Woulda, coulda, shoulda gone to Naconiche but changed my mind and rerouted to Martin Creek, thinking I didn’t want to get skunked on the first day of the year. Got skunked anyway. It was cold 36 and windy and I thought I’d rather have 70 degree water on my hands than 50 degree, plus I just really like foggy lakes with smoke stakes billowing white smoke.


Had on all my warm weather gear, dry bag, and chemical hand warmers...on the water at 9:00 a.m. Knew from wind direction it would be hard to fish my shallow grass spots as the wind would be blowing 49 degree water from further up the creek into it, so decided I would try to deep crank the bridge first. Not much bait there and I wasn’t convinced what I was seeing on graph weren’t talapia. Water temp 68 degrees. It was 74 earlier in th week.

Want to crank the trees and stick ups along the way to discharge but wind is blowing me 2 miles an hour and when I get hung up it’s going to be a pain to use plug knocker to get bait unstuck. Decide not to even try and paddle on over to the discharge where I’ve seen two other boats headed.



About halfway there I paddle closer to bank and start chunking in 8 feet of water. Nothing. Lake is down at least 2 to 3 feet and my marked spots are void of the brush that used to hold fish. I normally don’t fish this area and it’s been several years since I’ve been up this way. Fish the bank all the way to discharge.



Thought for sure I would catch something here. Never saw anyone else get bit either. I don’t like fishing discharge at any lake from a kayak. If you hang a good one over the buoy cable it will pull a kayak right over it. Spend too much time rotating spots with everyone else then fish my way back to bridge.. Nothing.



Paddle over to the cut, don’t see anything but fish it anyway. Then fish bank back to bridge again.

Decide to fish shallow and start near eagle nest as there is a lot of grass in area and I had it marked the last time there.




Get my eagle pics and start throwing spinner bait and lipless crank bait. Nothing.

Tie on big swim bait that I caught a good one on last time and start tossing it around the stumps and pad stems. I get blasted. Fish is a good one, buries up in stems and as I’m reeling kayak to fish it comes loose. I’m encouraged. Miss one soon after, then 15 minutes I hang another that I couldn’t do anything with that breaks me off on a stump. The bad news is that’s the only swimbait I brought with me as I’d made a commitment to deep crank most of the day and I didn’t feel like paddle back to car to get other tackle box.



Started throwing other stuff... swim jigs, spinner baits, nothing. Paddled to the opposite shoreline and fished my way back to ramp. Right before dark I hear dogs fighting and barking then pigs squealing. See pigs come into opening and paddle over to get a better look. Counted at least 5 before I spooked them off.



Long day, zeroed, but enjoyed trying. I’ll kill em next time...just watch.

Cold muddy water after a cold rain = very tough fishing
Got skunked for the first time in a while yesterday at a neighborhood lake I always get bit at (knew it was going to be tough). I left at 10:30. Bite probably started around 2pm to give the water more time to clear up and get warmer.

Great report!

At least you were out there trying, and you got bit on a swimbait - twice. Sounds like you found them and the bait, just maybe not geared up enough for the battle.

Thanks for the great pics and all the recent trip reports. I'm taking notes.

[quote=JPeel]Great report!

At least you were out there trying, and you got bit on a swimbait - twice. Sounds like you found them and the bait, just maybe not geared up enough for the battle.
[/quote|

Yep, wasn’t planning on being shallow, throwing swimbait in the stems and stumps or I would have been using heavy braid instead of 17lb mono. Just stopped at Academy and got me some more braid.

The fish I had on were in same 50 yard stretch I caught the one below in last time when I was using braid.

There you go! I fish swimbaits / big baits exclusively and to me finesse means I drop down to 20 lb line

I met you at Martin Creek about this time last year, I fish out of a Santa Cruz kayak. I almost went to Martin Creek Saturday so now I feel better about staying home.

Iconn4 - do you accept messages? If so, your inbox is full.

Thanks... might be the first time I've had to clear it since becoming a member.

yep, I remember... don't see many Santa Cruz kayaks... saw my first one years ago in Jamaica Bay, New York, yours was the second. Christain on here used to be a rep for them.

There was a little area where runoff was pouring into the lake in water that was 74 degrees... the water in that stream near the bank was 55. Of course at this point I tried it too.

01/10/21

Back to Martin Creek today. Air temps 38, have no idea what water temps were as I left the graph in car. Was planning to fish shallow and didn’t want to mess with it. Didn’t realize snow was in the forecast as it was sleeting soon after getting on the water.


Repowered my boat with 220 Bending Branches Navigator, had stopped by Mariner Sails on Saturday. That place was humming! Thanks Duc!


Had my last 5” fringe tackle swimbait, respooled with braid and brought another rig with braid as well. No excuses today.

Hooked five before ever getting first one in the boat. Lost a couple in the 3 lb range and one that looked to be around 4 lbs.. Fish were hammering bait, I just couldn’t keep a hook in them or they would wrap me quick and I couldn’t get over to them quick enough. Dropped down to smaller swimbait and land the next three. No size but it was much more fun than loosing them. Slowed down when it started snowing but caught a few more after paddling back through the area I’d lost them before. Beautiful day on the water and the snow made it that much better.










Long slow drive home. Saw where several folks had left the roadway.


Drive safe!

Great report! Good job on getting out there and doing the work. I like catching fish but not enough to yak in the snow

^^^Exactly this^^^

Iconn is way tougher than me.... I tap out when the air temps drop below 55! LOL

I'm a wuss when it comes to being cold... can't stand it. That's why I dress to swim. You can lock a lot of heat inside outerwear with chemical handwarmers inside chest waders with chest belt. On coldest days I'll use 8 or 10 chemical warmers inside my clothing... feet warm, neck warm, chest warm. Hands are the hardest to keep warm. I have a pair of big mitt type gloves that I'll put a couple of warmers in each and store away until I need to warm my hands if its really cold and damp. Otherwise a pair of glacier gloves is about the best I've found. Can even put warmers on top and in palm area of Glacier Gloves if I have to. The chemical warmers are your friend. I carry a dry bag with everything I need to make it through the night if worst comes to worst. Towel, giant trash/leaf bag to sit in and change clothes if I get wet and its cold and windy, fleece lined ski pants, more layers, and an extra semi dry top, socks, lighters, and more chemical warmers. Highly recommend the trash bag because if you get wet and its cold and raining cats and dogs, your dry clothes will be soaked before you get changed into them. Don't ask me how I know.

Awesome report!

One of the absolute best days (3 of them) fishing that I have ever had were in mid-Winter on Martin Creek!

Temps were in the upper 30's to low 40's and for 3 days we caught limits of the biggest White Perch we had ever seen.

Every one of them at least 15" long and swollen like a Dog Tick!

On the first day it was just cold and we were fishing from the bank.

On the next two days it was sleeting / snowing and we had taken a little plastic boat that was 10' or so IIRC.

They were stacked up like cord wood.