Good morning from the Quiet Lakes.  We finally got some much-needed rain in the Quiet Lakes area, with our rain gauge at the bait shop showing 2″.  I know other folks had anywhere between an inch and two inches locally as well.  The holiday weekend looks good, with temps in the upper 70s and no rain until Tuesday.  I don’t see any big fall cooldown coming until at least next week, when highs look to top out in the low 60s.  While it was great to see the sky open up and downpour, it did not do much to help the lakes.  Lake levels are at or near all-time lows from what I have seen and what I’ve heard from folks who have had cabins/houses in the area for a while.  Water temps are cooling slightly, with most lakes in the upper 60s and a few still at the 70-degree mark.  The fishing has been hit or miss over the past week, with short bite windows really making the difference in angler catches.

Musky–We did not add any muskies to our board this week, and the few anglers I spoke with said it was pretty tough out there.  A few anglers moved fish on bucktails worked through cover.  Musky should still be around shallower structure, whether that is weed beds, or rocky reefs, or mid-lake humps that top out with a combination of both of those.  

Northern pike–Pike have been fairly active in and around weeds, and anglers are catching them on everything from jigs/livebait to small crankbaits to bigger musky baits.  Look for pike anywhere from 3-12 FOW with good weed cover.

Walleye–Walleye seem to have very short bite windows lately, and from what I am hearing, they are moving up extremely shallow into sandy banks/shorelines during this time.  Smaller jerkbaits or crankbaits thrown in front of them and twitched over these sandy spots seemed to be the key to catching them.  These bites happened towards dusk; the midday bite should not find the walleye too far away, maybe just pushed off of the shallow structure.  

LMB–Largemouth are still biting, and anglers are doing well on fathead or sucker minnows underneath floats right now.  Plastic worms are also working for largemouth.  Work live bait or artificials through weeds or along weed edges, and get baits down a few feet in the water column.  

SMB–Smallies have been active, mostly on or around some kind of structure, be it weed beds or deeper weed/rocks or weed/basin transitions.  Jigs and live bait or jig/plastic combos worked down toward the bottom, have been the key.  

Crappie/Bluegill/Perch–All of the panfish will still be related to cover; for gills and crappie, that most likely means weeds/weed beds and for perch some lakes may be weeds but usually deeper rocky areas are what perch favor.  Minnows and smaller plastics or jig/spinner combos can be great late-summer baits for crappie and perch, while crawlers and leaf worms are still the best option for gills.

That is all I have for this week’s report. We hope everyone has a great holiday weekend; however you choose to spend it!  Talk to you soon.

Greg

Category: Fishing Reports