I got up early on Sunday and decided to see how Jacko Lakewas fishing. I hadn't been there since spring when I didn't catch much. I had good success last fall, however, so I thought that things might be improving with the cooler weather. I was the first one at the lake around 7:30 and saw a few fish rising near shore. As I was getting my gear together a very experienced fisherman showed up with his boat and trusty German Shepard. He told me that he had caught some on small shrimp on the floating line earlier in the week. This gave me some hope and and idea of what to try.

I find Jacko can be very moody at the best of times. You can go hours without a touch and then experience a half hour feeding frenzy, only to have the fish turn off again. The morning started out in typical fashion as I went a couple hours without a bite. I tried a shrimp, leech, booby fly, and dragon on both sinking and floating lines.

As I kicked around the lake I noticed two things. First, the weeds seemed to have taken over the shallows. Some of the bays were almost choked with weed growth as they came up to the surface from areas that were 10 to 15 feet deep. This made for good shrimp habitat but very difficult fishing.

Second, the water was noticeably warmer at the south end than the north end. There was a wind blowing from the north so I think all the warm surface water was piling up in the southern bays. It was in the southern bay that I had a half hour of success casting a small shrimp into the shallows on the floating line. I landed two fish in the 15 to 16 inch range and lost a couple more.

The fishing turned off again and I didn't get another bite as I slowly kicked my way back to the launch area. It was a very typical kind of day for Jacko.