Mosquito Lake - 2012
Early in the 2012 season, my uncle purchased a Lowrance Elite-4x DSI fish finder. We spent a day preparing his boat for the season and installed the new device. It took a little bit of effort to fish the cables through the driver’s side of the boat, but once we figured that out, it was a breeze installing the rest.
I believe it was the very next day, we made our first fishing trip to Mosquito Lake in Cortland, OH. If I recall correctly, this was also the first time he let me drive the boat. I think he still launched it off of the trailer, but I backed it up and picked him up after he parked. He took over after that. One step at a time.
As soon as we got past the break-wall and out onto the lake, he did a few hole shots, since we were both couped up inside since last season. Keep in mind that this was new water and we had no idea of the restricted areas or speed limits. Regardless of the law, it was fun anyway.
We settled down after awhile, turned the new fish finder on and started driving slowly to find some underwater structure. Right away, we were impressed with its capabilities and its resolution compared to his much older Bottom Line that he has had for years. As soon as we found some structure, we scrambled to get the marker buoys out of the back hatch to throw them off the side of the boat. This is always the case as we are never prepared.
Once we found that spot, we used the trolling motor to stay relatively close to it. It was very windy that day, so we drifted quite a bit. Not too long after that, we started catching some bass, as seen below. I caught at least one on a crankbait. I also caught an unknown, presumably larger fish that broke off the line. To this day, I still wonder what it was.
We spent a good amount of time searching for underwater structure, periodically referring to the printed map we had that showed stumps, bridges, buildings, etc. Finally, we came across an underwater bridge and threw out the marker buoy. My uncle was doing pretty good on that spot, but I wasn’t having too much luck.
All in all, we were very impressed with the new Lowrance fish finder and how well we were able to pick out structure using it. We were also impressed by the new location and by how well we were doing in open water, since we typically stay close to shore, fishing for largemouth bass.
Catch Data
| Date | Saturday, May 12, 2012 |
| Species | Smallmouth Bass |
| Lure | KVD sexy shad crankbait |
| Air Temperature | High 73°F |
| Water Clarity | Murky |
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Location: Mosquito Lake |
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