I bet that forecast will change.  No way the snow waits until the weekdays.  Will likely push to Saturday, with 50mph winds.
 
I have racoon face from the winds yesterday!

Friday is looking good. Might try to bail out of work at noon and take the boat out in the afternoon. I imagine the lake will be a mud pit after all this rain.

There was definitely a bit more color this Sunday compared to last Saturday, but not too bad. No torrential downpours, so I doubt it would really mess things up. Friday is looking to be windy. Tomorrow looks like the money day IMO. Low winds, warm, should have the water temp right at the go level.

 Been raining steady for hrs. up here with some heavy still happening now 10:00 pm M/C arm area. Supposed to continue raining till 6:30 am.   Robins gonna be happy tomorrow. A Little Tikes wagon in back yard today was loaded with drowned earth worms. Heading to Pymy on Wednesday with a load of lures smh. 3001 posts, that's more hits than the Great One had in his career. So much could have been accomplished instead of posting that much.    
 
crappy

Oof yea, wind forecast for Friday looks terrible. I was thinking about tomorrow too, but I won’t be able to get out of work until 4.

I could shoot over to north park or glade run in the kayak tomorrow after work. Maybe try to grab a few stockies for the freezer, just to get a line wet. A friend of mine has been taking his son to north park and they can’t seem to get on any fish. If I spent an hour or two there I could probably figure out something easy they could do to catch some trout. I haven’t spent a lot of time fishing for stocked trout, but they can’t be that hard to catch, right? Minnow under a bobber or something? That would be easy enough for his kid. There’s also some surprisingly big bass in north park lake.

I’m a little apprehensive about kayaking this early in the year in that cold water though.

Windfinder app seems to be pushing the stronger winds on Friday towards dusk.  If it keeps pushing them later, then Friday may end up being a gem.
 
I think you are likely good with a minnow or waxworm under a float.  Roostertails work well to vary up the color options, but if kids are small, not really going to work for them.  Same with the trout magnets or other jigs under a float.  Even a crawler chunk or smaller worm under a float will drive them nuts some days.  Really depends if they are actively biting or not.  Minnows are a great choice for small kids, but may end up wanting to take some home as pets...  We have had many fatheads as pets as well as a stickleback that was in with our fatheads (lived close to a year in a 10 gallon aquarium).  I used to fish NP when my kids were little.  Great lake to fish for 1/2 hour, then run over to the playground, then take a walk or bike ride, then toss a ball or frisbee around. 
 
It takes 15-20 minutes more from the Shaler exit to get to Arthur than it does to get to NP Lake.  Less if McNight Rd is backed up, which it often is.  I find it to be worth the extra time to hit Arthur.  NP is a nice place to take a kayak for a ride and grab dinner and a beverage at the OTB.  MUCH more eye candy at NP Lake than Arthur too.  But also a lot more crowded in general.

I always avoided north park because I wasn’t interested in stocked trout and I thought it was too crowded. Then, a couple years back I met my buddy and his kids to fish for an afternoon and I took my kayak. I caught like six bass in a couple hours with two of them in the 18” range. I was shocked. I saw some guy pulling in some pretty big channel cats on cut bait too.

I might be able to burn some PTO and hit Arthur later today after all. It’s about 45 minutes from my front door to McDanels launch. The problem is that I keep my boat at a garage in Elliot, so I have to factor in pick up/drop off time for that.

Anybody have luck making their own chatterbaits? I ordered some blades on eBay because I have a million bitsy bug jigs and it would be way cheaper to attach blades to some of the jigs I have, rather than spending $5+ each for a bait that I might lose after a few casts. Seems like some jigs work with blades better than others?

Hey all. Happy spring 2022. Getting a late start this season. Was hoping for this weekend but the wind sounds insane so maybe hold off a week. Be sure to say hi to the sasquatch in the green Alumacraft!

Sunday looks great. If you don’t mind your family not talking to you for months!