Fishing Report

Good morning, this one is going to be short and sweet. Another gloomy weekend up here as we have had a good solid rain for the last couple of days, however tonight they are calling for 1-3″ of the “S” word…..as I am writing this flurries are coming down……I am not getting my hopes too high, but starting Tuesday of next week it looks to get nice and stay there with temps mainly in the 60s during the day and above freezing every night! The past few weeks’ weather has not helped the lakes as most of the big deep lakes are still locked up with a good amount of ice and it seems like the only lakes open are those with river systems or very small shallow lakes. I am still hopeful all of the lakes will be open for next Saturday’s opener, but I honestly think it will be the 8th or 9th of May for some of them.

With very little fishing pressure this winter, and no fishing pressure for the last month the bite should be excellent once the lakes do open up. Fish should be jumping in the boat! Anglers should take this last week to go through their favorite gear and stock it up, go through the boats one last time and get ready for a good open water season!

I have not heard much about the turkey season, but have seen/heard birds almost everyday so they are active.

Thats all we got for this week, hopefully next week we can start talking fishing again! Either way we will keep you guys posted on the lakes opening up or not. Everyone take care and have a great weekend.

Greg

Good morning, a big warm up on the way and looks like it may stay well above freezing for the foreseeable future.  While it will rapidly deplete the ice on the lakes, it could make for a big mess for some of the roads around the area.  We do still have some solid ice on the lakes, but by mid week much more runoff will be happening so anglers should be mindful of that.  As far as fishing goes I have not heard a whole lot close to here.  A few customers have been traveling to some of their favorite panfish lakes that they have been fishing for years.  That can still benefit anglers here, as it tells me most fish are probably in shallow water staging up for the spawn.  

Crappie/Bluegill/Perch–With longer days and higher sun, weeds will get some much needed sunlight to start growing under the ice.  Combine that with runoff water coming into the lakes this time of year and things will be happening in shallow water for panfish.   Bluegill will be feeding on any of the bugs anywhere in the water column and jigs tipped with waxies is the most common way to target them.  Try different jig styles to really dial in the bite (banana style jigs seem to be producing up here right now).  Perch will most likely be taking larger offerings of crappie minnow heads on spoons or baits like jigging raps or puppet minnows.  The crappie bite can go either way right now, jigs tipped with plastics or waxies can catch fish and so too can larger offerings much like you would fish perch.  The crappie spawn is just a few weeks away so fish will be aggressive and starting to get territorial.  For all species of panfish I would start fishing anywhere from 5-10 FOW and try to find some new weed growth or fish existing weed beds.  

Have a great weekend, and we will talk soon.

Greg