Good morning from the Quiet Lakes, just a tiny of bit of snow covering the grass at our house this morning and temps showed 27 on my truck. I am seeing a low temp of 16 degrees tonight, however folks should not panic as we are back into the 40s and even seeing a 50 degree mark by next weekend. Water temps are still pretty warm, as I am hearing low 40s on lakes such as Lost Land, Teal and Spider, and I saw 50.9 on Round lake when I was on it Tuesday. Water levels are still way down on most lakes so use caution in shallow water or rocky areas. One more thing to note, is most of the public boat landing docks are now out of the water as well.
Musky–Muskies should really be putting the feed bag on for the next couple of weeks as water temps continue to drop. Live bait is always a great choice this time of year and if you can find still green weeds and fish those deep edges of those, that is a good place to start. Trolling can be an excellent way to reach fish off of the edges or out in the basins as big fish will chase schools of perch and crappie.
Pike–Pike should still be in and around weeds, and still green weeds that are holding some oxygen are key. Small suckers (either northern or musky) are good options for pike right now, and even throwing musky lures will catch pike right now. Look for pike anywhere from 5-15 FOW.
Walleye–The walleye bite has been good on deep edges mostly on walleye suckers on a jig or under a slip bobber. Target walleye right now anywhere from 10-20 FOW depending on the lake you are on and the type of structure it has. Jig/plastic combos can be another great choice this time of year to catch walleye, just slow the presentations down a bit.
LMB–No report on a largemouth bite.
SMB–Not to sound like a broken record, but smallies should be in and around the same areas as walleye right now. Deep rocky edges or transitions should hold both species and both will eat the same offerings anglers throw their way.
Crappie/Bluegill/Perch–We saw piles of bait fish schooled up in the basins out on Round lake on Tuesday when we were out. Big schools of fish were kind of all over the water column with some schools closer to bottom and others suspended in the middle of the water column. Most likely they were schools of perch and crappie. Jigs and minnows worked through these schools are a great option to catch both crappie and perch right now as they are suspending out over deep water to get ready for the ice season. Not much on bluegill and very few if any anglers are chasing them right now.
Not a whole lot on a report these days but I will keep trying to get everyone some relevant info week to week. It sounds like the woods are really starting to heat up with rut action so there should be a number of folks hunting right now. Have a great weekend and we will talk soon.
Greg