Another Gardner Lake Kayaking Fan
I left home at about 6:30 headed for Gardner lake via Duncs (again). The bridge on Lake Road over Gardner Brook is closed for construction so I had to follow a detour. After trying to get there twice, thinking I had made a wrong turn, and instead of going all the way around the lake to the bridge/dam where I've launched the kayak in the past I stopped at the state boat ramp. Nobody was there launching but me. Went straight to Minnie Island where there is a deep spot on the northwest corner of the island (or so I thought). Jet skis beat me to it. As chilly as it was Saturday morning the jet skis were out at around 8:00 AM. Went north along the east side, shady and wind swept. Came up empty. Then proceeded north about 1.5 miles where I noticed some mono hanging in a tree and followed it up to what looked like a jitter bug lure. I forgot that I had my grandson's Shakespeare Spiderman fishing rod with a spinner hanging off the back of the kayak. When I slowed down for the "shinny object" in the tree the spinner apparently snagged and before I knew it, the little fishing rod was gone. Now I owe him a rod, but it will be a little better than the Shakespeare Spiderman Spincast combo. And maybe some day I will recover that old one as a memento. ALMOST lost all my gear trying to grab it before it went out of site, including my Nikon D50 and (for carp13) my cell phone!!
Continued north beyond the sand bar and still came up empty. Started coming down the west side paddling into the wind and then drifting back casting around. Picked up one small chain pickerel (9:30) on a spinner, dropped the hook and continued to catch a blue gill (decent sized 11:16) and several more little ones, and a bass (2 lb I think ) that I got right up to the side of the kayak, but before I could get the net he/she shook off the hook and went back to the depths (all on a bladed hard crank bait minnow, but since there is no proof I will claim it was a 7.5 lb'r). After no more action I pulled up the hook and continued south. Went into the weedy patch with the southerly facing inlet southwest of the sandbar and came up empty there as well.
Stopped south of the area where there is a series of 9 (or so) docks and a swimming area, came up with a couple small bass and a bluegill or two.
I continued south to the inlet west and a little south of Minnie Island. Experimented with combos. Thomas double spinner with the addition of a little piece of Berkley Gulp! Extruded Nightcrawler. Chain Pickerel! (2:01)
I replaced the Berkley Gulp! Extruded Nightcrawler with a Berkley Gulp! 3" Smelt, Large Mouth Bass (2:45)
Then I moved to the east back toward the boat ramp with that combo and another bass (3:42) a bluegill (maybe the biggest bluegill I've ever caught, 3:46), then another bass (3:50) then nothing else.
Pulled the kayak at around 4:30 PM, if you're keeping track of time that's 9 hrs on the lake) !!!
As it turns out the deep area I was heading for is actually on the north side of Minnie island, not the northwest corner. And I had originally headed out looking for some of those Gardner Lake Walleye, but would have like a few good sized yellow perch. But it would help if I used the right bait/tactic for walleye/perch. I did take pictures of the main ones listed here but I will not waste space since there was really nothing special about any of them.
I was there the same Day from 9:30 to 2:00 we camp around the corner, we left and went to ct river. caught alot of smallies on wacky rigged 5" watermelon seed yum dinger (1 of my favorites if you can't tell from all my trips) along with a couple LMB nothing over 1 lb. small world.