I hadn't been out to Clymer yet, and Steve's recent post about the property spoke to me like a Shackelton ad. So I loaded up the kayak and headed out to fish Sunday morning from 7:30 to 12:00. As advertised, the lake is messy. The road is one of the roughest I've come across on a PWF property. The area I launch from is relatively free of reeds, but the mud is very thick. You will get very dirty getting out to open water.

Once on the water, it's a great lake to fish this time of year. The coontail is manageable and the fish were hungry. I boated 18 and lost a good deal more (the downside of kayak fishing; very little leverage to get a good hook set when fishing plastics). While there were a few dinks, most were 1.5 to 3 lbs and strong fighters. I landed 5 or so that were full of eggs. All of these were on the north shore, in shallow water (3 to 5 feet). I didn't see an signs of beds, but they appear to be moving to warmer, shallower water. The start of the spawn can’t be far off.

It's a great lake to fish, but get there soon. The coontail and cattails will be out of control soon and you'll have to wait till next year. I don't know if it was quite the payoff of traveling to the South pole, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable morning.