East Aurora Advertiser

Column: Sunny thoughts for the Fishing Spirit of Summer



With the summer in high gear, many of us have enjoyed wonderful experiences in the outdoors and we have been blessed with memories, recollections of moments that will survive the test of time.

Isn’t that one of the really cool things that the outdoors can provide for each and every one of us? Great memories that stimulate us to come back to the woods, the stream, the hiking trail and the waterfront. Each day, if you are up early enough, it begins with a familiar orange glow in the sky to the east. Another day is born. If you check your watch and you are sitting in the same place as the day before, you’ll notice that the actual moment the sun breaks the horizon is one or two minutes later. Our daylight is getting shorter each day as approach the winter solstice (when the days begin to get longer).

Hey, who said winter!? Let’s enjoy summer right now.

The very best place to watch the sunrise might be different for each of us, but for me, it’s from a boat afloat on Lake Erie. When we fish for Lake Erie walleye, the best daylight time to catch the fish is right after sunrise and through about 10 a.m., the light transition period. So we are on the water when it is still dark. We launch in the waning hours of darkness at the Buffalo Harbor State Park, or Sturgeon Point Marina, or Dunkirk Harbor or Barcelona Harbor. Even if we are late and are still at the boat launch, the sunrise is clearly visible to the east. It is so spectacular. It takes about three or four minutes for that first burst of orange, the upper edge of the sun ball, to clear the horizon. In that short time, you can now see the entire round image of the magnificent orange sun. It begins to reflect on the water, reverberating with the lake surface, waves or not. 

Is the sun sending a primordial connection signal to the forage and predatory fish that the boundary of the daytime is upon us? That may be so, but on the end of our fishing lines, we ready at the launch with lures that mimic the very forage that may now be visible, and vulnerable to the predatory walleye. The “hot lures” these days vary from day to day and can be light/silvery colors or darker/golden colors, depending on the type of sunlight and cloud-cover combination that the day will offer. Some anglers prefer to use stickbaits such as Rapala’s, Rogue’, Bay Rat’s, Bagley’s, Rebel’s, Renosky’s and others, to name a few of the more popular lures.

East Aurora anglers, Ted Morgan (88), Hank Durski Jr. and Hank Durski Sr. (85), enjoy a day of sunrise fishing from Buffalo Harbor State Park last week, with this triple header walleye catch – the small ones were released. Photo by Forrest Fisher

For the Renosky stickbait style lures, savvy anglers remove the front treble hooks altogether and then, also, remove and replace the middle and rear hooks with new, nickel-plated, VMC brand, size 4 hooks. The effect is an exaggerated wobble and tilt while the lure is running in the water deployed behind the moving boat in a troll pattern with the boat running at 1.5 to 2.1 mph. The revised action is a definite draw to the schools and schools of hungry predatory walleye, some 45 million of them, which roam from Buffalo to Detroit in Lake Erie. It is a 4-hour period of feast for predators and casualty for the forage. Some of the larger walleye actually eat the smaller walleye, too. 

For anglers, it’s a time of powerful transformation, cycling the boat, rod, reel, line, lures, net and friends that fish…through the continuum of the fishing cycle and meeting the tradition of the natural world for one day. Anglers fool the predators, the walleye, as they honor the code of the circle of life, as our predecessors did. Respectfully cleaning the fish for the present and future moments at the table honors the code of life in the outdoors. Just as hunting does. Relationships with nature, supporting nature, understanding nature and respecting nature ensure that the outdoor community will need human help to help nature overcome obstacles in our modern world. We must all work together to understand sustainability, as man is the ultimate predator in this cycle of life and nature, and can also provide the ultimate solution for issues.

The spirit of the fish and time cycle live on. 

Outdoors Calendar

Aug. 2-4: WNY Youth Archery Camp, for 12-15 yr olds, Elma Conservation Club, FREE.Contact Jerry Barber: jbarb438@gmail.com

Aug. 2-4: Northern Chautauqua Conservation Club Walleye Tourney, Zen Olow chairman, 716-640-2776

Aug. 3-18: Orleans County Rotary Derby, Lake Ontario from Niagara River to Genesee River, visit Slippery Sinker or call 585-589-9881

Aug. 7: 2019 VIP Fishing Day, 6AM meet/greet, Charter/Lunch/Seminar, NCCC Club, Dunkirk Harbor, Zen Olow: 716-640-2776

Aug. 7-18: Erie County Fair, Conservation Building Events, George Rocky: 716-207-4862

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Share life with others, make new friends in the outdoors, lead by example. Send comments to nugdor@yahoo.com.

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