Fun on Lac La Belle overshadows eclipse
OCONOMOWOC August 21 was a red-letter date on many American calendars.
As you know - unless you’ve been under a rock on the third rock from the sun - last Monday the moon blocked the sun in a solar eclipse.
The path of totality stretched from Oregon to South Carolina in one of the most notable celestial events of the century.
Here in southeastern Wisconsin, the effects were more modest, with 83% of the sun blocked at its peak.
Still the rare event caused my mind to race. Most of my thoughts were related to the outdoors: How would wildlife react to the unexpected loss of light? How about plants?
And as a die-hard angler, I also was drawn to the unique opportunity presented by the solar convergence.
Would the fish bite? Would they shut down? Would the eclipse provoke a once in a lifetime fish feeding frenzy?
I’d have burned my jigging rods if I didn’t get on the water to find out. It would, at a minimum, be data collection in the ongoing experiment that is a fishing life.
I was particularly interested to see if walleyes, a predator fish that has evolved to thrive in low light levels, would become more active during the eclipse.
Chris Terry, 43, of Wauwatosa enthusiastically agreed to join me in the odd project. For Terry and me and countless other anglers, there is one overriding guideline: there is no bad time to go fishing.
“I’ve never needed a reason,” said Terry, who is an assistant professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota and works part time in summers as a fishing guide.
“But this is one of the more unusual circumstances I’ve had for an outing. I don’t typically intentionally go walleye fishing in the middle of the day.”
As a destination, we chose Lac La Belle in Oconomowoc, a 1,154-acre drainage lake on the northwestern end of the Oconomowoc River system that has one of the strongest walleye populations in southeastern Wisconsin. Lac La Belle has a maximum depth of 45 feet and a bottom substrate that is 80% gravel, 10% sand and 10% muck and assorted other material.
It was the first time in my life I read the celestial forecast as closely as the weather.
The eclipse was slated to start at 11:53 a.m. and peak at 1:18 p.m. The end was predicted for 2:40.
On my way to the lake, I picked up four dozen leeches at Dick Smith’s Bait and Tackle in Delafield.
“Don’t look at the sun!,” said Becky Smith.
I assured her that I’d keep my eyes on my rod tip.
Terry and I met at La Belle’s public boat launch in Oconomowoc at 11:15 a.m. and motored out to a flat in Lac La Belle’s northeastern lobe. The water here, just east of the old river channel, ranged from five to 13 feet deep.
The sky was overcast, the wind was very light and variable, and the air temperature was 74 degrees.
We put leeches on light jig heads or live bait rigs and Terry used an electric trolling motor to move us over the flat at about 0.5 miles per hour.
At 11:30 a.m. a 10-inch white bass hit my line and was the first fish in the boat. Ten minutes later a 15-inch smallie did likewise, as did a 13-inch walleye at 11:51.
The action, we noted, was before the official start of the eclipse.
“Get ready for the onslaught,” Terry said, a smile creasing his face.
Lac La Belle has been managed as a biomanipulation lake since the 1980s when carp dominated the system. Biomanipulation strategies include increased protection of game fish, which results in higher predator fish densities that prey on young invasive nuisance species such as common carp.
Special regulations on walleyes have allowed the lake to maintain 2.1 adult walleyes per acre, according to the last Department of Natural Resources fisheries survey.
Lac La Belle has a daily bag limit of one walleye and a minimum length limit of 20 inches.
The general statewide walleye regulation is five fish per day and a 15inch minimum.
The decent habitat and restrictive bag limit combine for a relatively large population of naturally reproducing walleyes on Lac La Belle.
Fisheries biologists generally consider two adult walleyes per acre the minimum necessary to maintain a solid, naturally reproducing walleye population.
DNR reports also show Lac La Belle has a good smallmouth bass population and excellent size structure with about 25% of the adult smallie population longer than the 14-inch minimum.
The late morning sky was a dense mix of clouds. If we wanted to view the sun, we had no chance.
“We’re here to fish, remember?” Terry said.
Besides, our glasses were the standard polarized variety, not some fancy eclipse models.
As the eclipse advanced, we continued to work across the flat. Common carp jumped clear of the water and did belly flops back in at frequent intervals.
At 12:15 p.m. the wind dropped off entirely.
Between 12:20 and 12:40 Terry and I caught eight fish, including five walleyes, two white bass and one smallie.
At 12:50 Terry hooked into a carp that weighed at least 15 pounds; the hefty fish ended up breaking the line.
As the eclipse neared its peak, the conditions changed very little. It was indistinguishable from a normal, overcast afternoon with a threat of rain.
A flock of Canada geese flew over at 1:05.
The walleyes and other fish kept hitting; most of the action came when we passed over areas with clumps of weed growth on the bottom.
At 1:17 - just a minute before peak eclipse in our neck of the woods - a 16-inch smallie hit my jig. The fish fought like a normal smallie; it was unhooked and released.
Fifteen minutes later Terry landed a 17-inch walleye.
At 2:40 the eclipse was officially over. The fish continued to hit sporadically.
At 3 we moved to a rocky-bottomed area a few hundred yards from the lake’s dam. The wind had switched to south at about 10 mph and the mercury had climbed to 79.
Drifting the live bait rigs near bottom in about 8 feet of water we caught a 16-inch walleye and a 12-inch white bass. We also lost a couple fish that felt big.
“Makes me want to come back out here at night,” Terry said.
Maybe also in 2024 when the next significant solar eclipse visits the U.S.
Our eclipse outing left us underwhelmed in terms of the darkness. Terry and I both expected darker conditions when 83% of the sun was blocked. The eclipse was far more dramatic areas of totality. My friend Pete Faszholz of Kenosha traveled to Missouri and reported the temperature fell at least 10 degrees and the cicadas started singing as the moon completely blocked the sun.
Terry and I wrapped up our experiment about 2:30 and returned to La Belle’s public boat launch.
The fish bit during the eclipse, including near the peak. But they also cooperated before and after the celestial event.
For this angler, there was only one logical conclusion - definitely go fishing during the next eclipse. And at every opportunity between now and then.