Fishing Report

Good morning from the Quiet Lakes, today looks to start a little heat wave with the next three days hitting the mid to upper 80s.  Tuesday and Thursday have chances of rain and temps look to remain in the 70s all week.  Labor day weekend looks like it may cool down even more, but anything can happen in a week!  Water temps should still be holding in the low to mid 70s as the weather has been pretty stable.  This  week really slowed down at the bait shop and I did not get much from anglers who got out on the water.

Musky–The musky bite has been pretty good, especially during the moon phases.  Last week’s full moon had fish moving and a few anglers saw multi fish days.  Bucktails and faster moving baits have been consistent in catching and raising fish.  Dive and rise and pull/pause are great throwback baits and work great to throw all day as well.  Fish are mostly related to weeds and edges in shallow water.

Northern pike–This report is going to sound like a broken record as far as the pike bite goes.  Spinner baits, chatter baits, and topwater baits are all still catching pike.  FInd a weed bed, throw one of these lures out and get ready for some action!  

Walleye–The walleye bite has been up and down, both literally and figuratively.  Some anglers are finding walleye off of deeper structure while others are finding them still in “shallow” weed beds.  Trolling crankbaits seems to be working for deep fish, while jigging seems to be the ticket for shallower fish.  

LMB–The largemouth bite has been decent and anglers are still doing well on topwater baits such as Whopper Ploppers and frogs.  For suspended fish, spinnerbaits, swimbaits, plastic worms and live bait have done ok.  Look for fish anywhere from 2-6 FOW and fish lily pads or any other shallow weeds.

SMB–The smallie bite has pushed deeper and anglers are doing okay fishing deep rocky points and jigging plastics.  Running crawlers harnesses deep on these points can work well too.  “Deep” could be anywhere from 10 -20 FOW depending on the lakes structure.

Crappie/Bluegill/Perch–Panfish are still holding tight to cover on lakes without much basin.  Look for those fish anywhere from 6-10 FOW and target them with jigs and minnows.  On lakes with deep basins, look for crappie suspended over deeper water and perch schooled up on rocky bottoms.  Dropping jigs and minnows down to these fish can be productive too.  Gills should still be in shallower water compared to the other two panfish species.  Those fish can still be caught on crawlers and leaf worms under a bobber.

Greg

Good morning from the Quiet Lakes, a slight chance of rain this afternoon but the rest of the week looks great.  Mid to upper 70s and sunshine.  We have had some good rains the last few days and that has kept water temps in check.  Most lakes are low 70s right now from what I am hearing.  The fishing has been decent but slowed down quite a bit from a couple of weeks ago.

Musky–The musky bite has slowed down a bit, and anglers have been doing better on small baits.  Bass sized baits and pull/pause baits seem to be working the best.  Work weed beds and shallower water for musky right now.  

Northern pike–Pike have also slowed down a little bit, but are also relating to weed beds and shallower water.  Spinner baits and small bucktails have been working and should continue to do so.  

Walleye–A few anglers have been finding walleye both in shallow weeds and in deep water……on the same lake system!  Jigging with minnows up in the shallow weeds have produced fish as well as trolling crankbaits and bottom bouncers for deep fish.  For shallow fish look for weeds/humps/ that top out at about 8-10 FOW and for deep fish get your baits down to 18-25 FOW.  

LMB–I have not got much of a report on largemouth lately, but anglers should focus on emergent weeds such as lily pads and reeds.  Casting frogs or other top water style baits such as buzz baits will entice strikes.  For fish in deeper weeds, plastic worms wacky or Texas rigged would be a good choice.  

SMB–Anglers have done okay jigging slightly deeper water for smallies.  Walleye guys have also had success catching smallies while trolling/bottom bouncing baits.  Look for fish in 15-20 FOW and work deeper weed/rock transitions.

Crappie/Bluegill/Perch–Beetle spins tossed out in shallow weed beds have still been working great to catch panfish of all sizes and species.  Baits with black or black/chartreuse seem to work the best.  Anglers can tip them with a minnow or piece of worm if they choose but its not necessary!

Not a great report this week but we are kind of in the dog days of summer as far as the bite goes. Have a great weekend/week and we will talk soon!

Greg