Commonwealth -- weeds and gunk...spinners possible?

[mlinkletter]

I went and checked out Commonwealth Lake this afternoon since I live about 10 minutes away from it. My plan was to just cast and retrieve some spinners for awhile and hope to get a few catch and releases, what I got was weeds, lots and lots of weeds.

I tried a few spots and had the same results everywhere of not being able to cast more than once or twice without having to degunk the spinner of tons of weeds.

So you guys and gals that fishh there on a regular basis are you only doing bait off the bottom or are you somehow able to run spinners and I am just doing something wrong?

As an aside if anyone has any good recomendations on resources to really learn how to retrieve spinners successfully I would be very interested.

 

[beaverfan]

Nope no spinners in the summertime. Way too many weeds in the summer. It's hard enough to bait fish this time of year and it only gets worse. There's a few trout still in there and some carp, bass, sunfish and 6-12inch catfish with a few larger catfish mixed in. IMO it's not a great option during the hot summer months.

 

[mlinkletter]

Nope no spinners in the summertime. Way too many weeds in the summer. It's hard enough to bait fish this time of year and it only gets worse. There's a few trout still in there and some carp, bass, sunfish and 6-12inch catfish with a few larger catfish mixed in. IMO it's not a great option during the hot summer months.

I kinda had a feeling that might be the case. So when is the lake at its best? In looking at the stocking schedule is it more of a January to April sort of place?

 

[beaverfan]

The best time is early to mid spring IMO. They start stocking it towards the end of February-to early March so anytime withing a week to 10 days of a stocking is ideal. Commonwealth gets a ton of pressure in the spring and gets fished out pretty quick. Great spot for the kids as they're sure to catch something. Your best bet right now would be find a spot semi clear of weeds and throw out a single piece of corn on the bottom. Good shot at hooking a BIG Carp!

 

[fishinmomma]

Thanks for posting this we went to Commonwealth last night too...had a couple nibbles but nothing that was hard enough to hook. What time were you out there we may have seen you?

 

[mlinkletter]

Thanks for posting this we went to Commonwealth last night too...had a couple nibbles but nothing that was hard enough to hook. What time were you out there we may have seen you?

We were there from 6:30 til 8 or so. Walked around the lake and tried a few spots. The only person I recall seeing that might be a fishinmomma was a lady on the dock with her daughter. I was there with the wife and the little girl kicking around a pink soccer ball.