Good morning, looks to be a decent week of weather on tap with the only significant chances of rain coming Sunday and Wednesday. Temps look to rise into the 80s by the end of the week and next weekend. Could be a hot one for the 63rd Lumberjack Worldchampionships. Hopefully the fishing will warm up with the weather, it was a tough bite this past week for most species, although we did fill out our first musky board of the season so that’s a good sign!
Musky–Like I said the musky bite has been pretty good, lots of small fish being caught, although I have heard a few reports of some very large fish being seen. The baits used to catch them so far this year have been all over the board, its been mainly small bucktails mixed in with a few decent sized crankbaits and back down to crappie/walleye jigs. Anglers can find fish in and around weed beds and any kind of structure that has shallow water and weeds close by.
Northern pike–I have not heard as many pike as earlier in the year being caught, but they should still be active given the current water temps. Look for pike in the 6-10 FOW range and use bucktails, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits to find fish.
Walleye–Either nobody is catching walleye or no one is telling their secrets on how they are catching walleye because I have not heard anything recently. Given time of year and water temps/levels I would focus fishing on deeper structure where bottom transitions from hard to soft. Deep rocks, deep weed edges with subtle approaches such as lindy rigs, crawler harnesses, and bottom bouncers to keep baits in the strike zone.
Largemouth bass–Largemouth have still been active, lots of fish coming on spinnerbaits, frogs, and on both plastic and real worms. Bass are hanging around both emergent and submergent weeds so look for fish there and up on shallow sandy shorelines.
Smallmouth bass–Smallies have been active on deeper rock structure so far this year on baits such as drop shots, ned rigs, deep diving crankbaits and live bait. Deep is relative on all lakes, but look for where the hard and soft bottoms meet.
Crappie–The crappie have vanished with walleye evidently because I am not hearing much on a crappie bite. A few anglers have seen them on their electronics, but even then have struggled to catch them. It sounds like the fish they did find were relating to the basins and some were found on cribs. Pretty much had to drop baits right on top them to get them to bite.
Bluegill/Perch–The panfish have stayed pretty consistent throughout the season so far, although most fish have been on the smaller side of the scale. Most fish are being caught off of the docks with chunks of nightcrawlers on small jigs/hooks.
It has been a pretty tough bite this past week, but it should improve with the somewhat stable weather coming. When fishing gets tough, it’s usually best to simplify set ups and slow down and work over spots longer. The fish are still there, sometimes you just need to hang baits in front of them longer to get them to eat.
Have a great weekend and we will talk soon.
Greg