Good morning from the Quiet Lakes, right around 50% chances of rain today and Monday, however the rain Monday looks to bring a cold front and we will see temps drop from the mid to upper 80s into the low to mid 70s after that. It looks like we will end the week with pretty good weather with abundant sunshine and temps right around 80 degrees. Water temps have skyrocketed on the surface as we have had hot sunny days and much less wind. I was out Tuesday night and we were seeing 78 on Little Spider and I have heard the same for the Quiet Lakes as well. Personally I would say its still safe to musky fish as those are pretty much surface temps and that even a foot or two below is going to be much cooler, however this time of year we need to take extra precaution with fish handling/pictures/etc…..if you are an angler who has caught plenty of musky maybe skip the measurement and pic and just release it. If it’s your first fish or PB congratulations!! Try to keep the fish in the water in the net, get all of the measuring devices and tools you need to get the fish unhooked ready and get the camera ready before you take the fish out of the water. Then a quick hold, measurement and pic and get the fish back in!
Musky–The musky bite has been decent lately and fish are still on the small to midsize bait bite. Bucktails and top water baits should be what anglers first throw for ‘skies right now and if you aren’t finding active fish on those, slow down with baits such a Suicks or pull/pause baits. Look for fish on the deeper break lines off of shallow structure.
Northern pike–Pike have been active and still hitting most everything thrown at them. Spinner baits, jerk/crankbaits, and any kind of live bait as well. Look for pike on shallow structures such as weeds/timber and even rocky shorelines that have weeds close by.
Walleye–Not sure if anglers are mostly targeting other species or not, but the walleye report has slowed way down. A few fish coming up at dusk and hitting leeches and a couple reports of fish being caught deep while trolling crankbaits. Anglers should fish summer patterns for walleye on the lakes they are on as it appears fish are starting to relate to deeper water.
LMB–The bass bite has been good on multiple styles of fishing. Crawlers have been the best way to catch them with live bait, while top water baits such as frogs and whopper ploppers have been great. Lots of anglers have done well on plastic worms as well either ned rigged, wacky rigged, or the traditional texas rig. Largemouth are in and around shallow weeds and lily pads right now.
SMB–Smallies have been hitting the net on live bait such as leeches and jigs and plastics ned rigged. Work baits deeper as fish seem to be relating to bottom on deep week/rock transitions. Drop shotting may also work for smallies right now.
Crappie/Bluegill/Perch–Anglers that are finding crappie say the bite has been hot, with both good size catches and numbers being caught. Fish are mostly being caught on crappie minnows and plastics of that same size. Bluegill and Perch have been mixed in with crappie right now and anglers are finding them all in that 6-10 FOW range in and around weed beds. As the water warms the crappie may head to deeper water and school up, but for now they are relatively shallow and predictable.
That’s all I got for this week. Have a great weekend and we will talk soon!
Greg