Good morning from the Quiet Lakes, it should be a pretty nice weekend for MuskyFest. Mid to upper 70s this weekend and then mother nature really cranks the heat up. I am seeing 90 for Monday and then 80s the rest of the week. The lows are not getting very low as they look to stay in the 60s all week. I am seeing some chances of rain Tuesday through Friday with the highest chance on Thursday. Surely water temps will jump as well which will be good for some species and not so good for others. With the rain and cool days/nights we have had water temps hovering around the mid 60s from what most folks are telling me. Fishing has been decent overall, and we filled up our first musky board which is a great sign for how the season should go.
Musky–The musky bite has been good, and anglers are catching fish on jerkbaits, glide baits, bucktails, and minnow/twitch baits. On most of the lakes in the area, ripping these baits over or through the cabbage, or running baits along the deep weed edges seem to be producing catches. If water temps rise like I think they might, anglers may see fish push onto deeper structure over the next week.
Pike–Northern pike are still hitting everything that swims by them. Smaller bucktails, spinnerbaits, and all manner of bass and musky sized baits are catching pike. Work baits through weeds, both shallow and deep that top out on mid lake reefs, extend from points, or fill up bays.
Walleye–With the cooler water temps we have had, walleye seem to be related to shallower water than a typical “summer” pattern. Look for ‘eyes on top of the structure, especially in low light conditions. As water temps rise anglers may find walleye suspended off of the deep edges or pushed down into the water column off of deep structure or suspended out over deep basins. Jig and leech combos have been working, as have jerk/minnow baits worked over humps and reefs to catch walleye.
LMB–The bass bite has slowed down significantly with these cooler water temps, but they should really fire up over the next week. Anglers should focus on two presentations in my opinion…..top water baits or plastic worms worked over or through shallow weeds. Any top water bite anglers can get are some of the most fun in fishing. It doesn’t get much better than seeing a fish explode out of the water to eat your bait!
SMB–Anglers have seen some smallies lately and they have been chasing baits higher in the water column. I had one angler tell me they had a nice sized smallie follow in their glide bait while they were musky fishing. Anglers should work the entire water column for smallies right now as some will be related to deeper structure and others are up on top of structure. Top water baits, or jig/plastic and livebait combos will all work to catch smallies right now.
Crappie/Bluegill/Perch–All of the panfish are related to weed beds/shoreline structure/ or docks. Crappie seem to be somewhat scattered in weed beds anywhere from 6-10 FOW, with perch mixed in or on the deepest edge. Crappie minnows or small bladed jigs/spinners seem to be working great for crappie and perch right now. Gills are up in shallow weeds, around docks, and up in shallow timber from deadfall trees on the shorelines. It’s tough to beat a crawler under a float for summer gills.
That is all I have for this week’s report. Going to be a busy weekend/week and the lakes will surely be full of all manner of summer recreation if we see temps into the 90s! Have a great weekend and we will talk soon.
Greg