[FISHONAJ]

Walleyes really biting at C.J. Brown
By Brian Plasters


Staff Writer


C.J. Brown Reservoir is famous for its summer walleye bite — high temperatures and sunny skies (both of which have been in abundance lately) boosts the metablism and turns up a feeding frenzy of one of the reservoir’s most abundant fish species.

“(The bite) starts sometime in June, but you never know when,” said Springfield resident Marc Colwell, vice president of the Western Ohio Walleye Circuit. “Once it gets hot, it stays hot.”

Fishing was slow almost everywhere in southwest Ohio during the spring, but that changed at C.J. in the third week of June, Colwell said. That’s a tad late for a normal year, but the bite should last into September.

And unlike in a normal year, Colwell said catching trophy walleye is “the best it’s been in years.”

A “trophy” fish can have many definitions — it doesn’t have to be limited to size. The first walleye an angler catches is certainly a trophy and one that hits the skillet can be considered a trophy. But walleyes Colwell and his family have been reeling in lately are trophies under any category.

On June 30, Colwell and his daughter, Mercedes, 15, caught two over 27 inches, with the largest measuring 29 7/8 inches, while trolling the reservoir. They are among many anglers pulling in walleyes over seven pounds the past three weeks.

Colwell has been catching walleyes trolling Reef Runner 400 series rip shad in areas between the boat ramp and campground. He fishes 10-pound test line from 90 to 180 feet out from the boat.

Look for underwater humps, the railroad tracks and road beds where fish suspend. Colwell said on sunny days, an Eriedescent rip shad — a flashy purple and orange color — works best.

A 400 series is a large 4-inch bait, but, “the big fish want to eat as big a piece of bait as they can find. The less energy they have to use, the better,” Colwell said.

He has a few thoughts on why the trophy bite is better this year.

“We haven’t seen the fishing pressure on that lake in the past three years that we’ve seen in the five before that,” Colwell said.

From 2003 to 2005 the Ohio Division of Wildlife stocked over 1 million walleye fingerling in the reservoir. Most don’t make it past the fingerling stage, and many that do grow over 15 inches get pulled from the reservoir as dinner (all walleye under 15 inches must be immediately returned to the reservoir).

“A majority of anglers going out looking for eaters, the fish that are 15- to 20-inches long, they’re not out fishing to trophy fish,” Colwell said.

Another contributing factor to the fish growth is available bait.

“There is so much shad in this lake that these fish gorge,” Colwell said. “They put on as much weight in this lake as they do in Lake Erie.”

For catching smaller — but more abundant — walleye, Colwell said the old standbys of small jigs topped with nightcrawlers or minnows work well.

Colwell said he practices catch and release on the reservoir.

“There’s a good, healthy population of walleyes here, and as long as people keep releasing them back into the lake, we’ll continue to have a good population,” he said.

************************************************** *****************

thought i'd post this for all at WC to see - AJ