Good morning from the Quiet Lakes, what a difference a few days makes! Todays high temp is supposed to top out at only 54 degrees (according to my phone) which is about a 30 degree swing from Wednesday when we saw 86-87 degrees. We also had a line of severe thunderstorms roll through on Thursday afternoon, although everyone in this area got away mostly unscathed from what I can gather. The power lines did come down across the bait shop parking lot, but the power company got that all fixed around 1 a.m. Friday morning. The wind the last two days has been brutal as well, mostly sustained 20-30 with gusts up to 40 mph. The rest of the week looks to be cooler until mid week and then a great looking Memorial Day weekend as of right now. Sunny and right around 70 all three days of the holiday weekend. Fishing has been pretty good overall and most species were all up shallow, but they may start to scatter and hit slightly deeper water after this cold front. I did hear water temps plummeted almost 10 degrees yesterday from morning to afternoon.
Musky–The musky season doesn’t start until next weekend, however many anglers reeling in crappie/bluegill/perch have had fish come up and grab their panfish or follow closely up to the boat. Anglers looking to target ‘skies early season should look for new vegetation and for schools of panfish. Contrary to popular belief, anglers can throw just about any baits at musky this time of year and they will eat. Smaller baits may help anglers see more fish, but if fish are coming in to eat a 10-12″ crappie being reeled in, they most certainly would entertain a 9″ Suick or bigger rubber bait (bulldawg, medussa) as well.
Pike–Pike have been eating everything from small jigs/minnows to chunks of nightcrawlers under a float. Small crankbaits have been working great as well. Look for pike in anywhere from 5-15 FOW in and around weed beds and weedy bays.
Walleye–The walleye bite has been hit or miss and this weather probably won’t help that. It seems like jigs/fathead minnows or walleye suckers seem to be working best right now as the water temps still seem a little cold for leeches. Deeper rocky points or reefs are holding some walleye, and they should be working shallower sandy shorelines around dusk.
LMB–Anglers have been catching largemouth on everything lately and our warm up last week really got them going. Plastic worms, live bait, and shallow running crankbaits have all been working for largemouth. Look for fish around weeds in anywhere from 3-12 FOW.
SMB–I have not heard much about anglers catching smallies over this past week, although they should be holding to some of those same walleye spots on deeper rocks.
Crappie/Bluegill/Perch–The panfish bite has been good lately, but again this big cold front may push them out and scatter them a bit. Anglers should start in and around shallower weeds for all species of panfish right now and use jigs/minnows/crawlers or any kind of smaller plastics on a jig head. It sounds like anglers can see lots of beds already in shallower sandy bottoms so fish have been up shallow.
While helping clean fish at the Fishing Has No Boundaries event yesterday we noticed lots of skinny fish and almost no panfish with eggs. It seems almost every species brought in has already spawned out for the most part which is a good sign. That should produce some predictable fishing for late spring and summer! Have a great weekend and we will talk soon!
Greg