Unicorn Lake -- 9 June

[Mark]

J. Rentch and I are launching at Unicorn Lake tomorrow, 9 June between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m.

http://dnr2.maryland.gov/fisheries/P...s/unicorn.aspx

Please join us.

[J.A. Veil]

Have fun fellas. I hope the fish are cooperative.

[Mark]

Have fun fellas. I hope the fish are cooperative.

Thanks John. I hope the wind cooperates too.

[Mark]

J. Rentch and I fished Unicorn Lake this morning. Aside from a few shore anglers we were the only people on the water.

Conditions were beautiful when we started. There was hardly any breeze.

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I quickly hooked this blue gill on a foam popper and I thought a good top water bite would be forthcoming.

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That was an incorrect assumption. The bluegill was my only surface catch of the day. I did have pickerel briefly on my 5 wt. and a foam slider but it bit through my tippet and took my fly with it.

I picked up a yellow perch on a Clouser, my last fish on the fly.

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The wind kept rising far above the forecast. It was difficult to find shelter because it was blowing from the dam straight up the lake. You can see in this photo that we no longer had a glassy surface.

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I switched to a spinning rod with a yellow 1/8 oz. bucktail spinner. I hooked 6 pickerels and got 4 of them into the boat. Here are the two largest:

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I also had a 15 incher -- no photo.

And this little guy was my last fish of the day:

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It’s the perfect illustration of the term “Hammer Handle.”

Each of my pickerels hit the yellow spinner. I had lots of taps on it too. I could even see many of the picks bump the lure. But overall, they were not aggressive today. At least they gave me some action which is more than I can say for the bass.

The lack of bass for me at Unicorn remains a mystery. This was my second trip there this season and I’ve yet to hook a bass or even see one. Pickerels are plentiful but bass are really scarce.

[J.A. Veil]

Good report Mark. You were successful with both fly and spinning tackle. Well done.

[Mark]

Thanks, John.

Enough ponds for a while.

I'm ready for some tidal fishing.

[EMSer]

Nice job on the Pickerel! How deep were they?

[Mark]

Bruce,

I have no electronics on the Ultimate but I suspect the pickerels were shallow given that Unicorn is really not a lake but a millpond.

Here's the secret:

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I've caught a lot of pickerels there in two trips and not one was hooked more than a yard from plant growth like you see in the above photo.

[BeyondTheBounds]

My first trip there only resulted in pickerel.

[Mark]

My first trip there only resulted in pickerel.

I had mentioned in a report of an earlier trip this spring to Unicorn that an employee at the lake told me that the DNR deliberately removed a number of large bass this year and "hid them". I assume that was for breeding or stocking purposes elsewhere.

The pickerel population is indeed high in Unicorn at the moment. Fortunately they have many of the same attributes as bass. They hit flies, top water and spinnerbaits. Just don't try to lip them to retrieve your lure.