Good morning from Happy Hooker, looks like pretty decent weather on tap for the upcoming week, with a possibility of rain mid week. High temps look good though, not very hot and cooling off nicely at night!! The fishing overall has been pretty good lately for all species. Here is a rundown for this week…
Musky–The musky bite has not slowed down much lately. Fish are still hitting smaller fast moving bucktails and the topwater bite is really coming on now as well. Focus on shallow cover, whether that be weeds or rocks or even timber. Work baits over the tops or through the cover at all times of day, especially twilight and peak lunar phases.
Northern pike–Pike are still crushing all sorts of baits all over the place. Spinnerbaits have produced the best for me so far this year in both bass and musky/northern sizes. Small bucktails and even live bait fishing has caught northern all summer for other folks. Fish seem to mainly be relating to weeds, but will also ambush from points and main lake humps.
Walleye–Slip bobbers to get down a little deeper than traditional spring bobbers tipped with nightcrawlers or fatheads still seem to be the go to for walleye. Some fish are out deep in the basins and others are using the deep weed edges to hide from predators. Jigging is another great presentation to get baits down to active fish and catch a limit.
Largemouth bass–The top water bite is going strong for largemouth right now. Whopper ploppers, buzzbaits and frogs are all working. Cast over thick weeds and run buzzbaits through bulrushes in shallow water. If working deeper weeds/structure use spinnerbaits and crankbaits to find active fish.
Smallmouth bass–I have not heard a whole lot on the smallmouth bite as of late, however summer patterns would tell you smallies should be out in deeper water relating to rocks/cribs/timber and hard to soft bottom transitions. Running deep crankbaits, vertical jigging with plastics or live bait and even slip bobbers with live bait or plastics such as gulp! can all be effective.
Crappie–The crappie bite has still been pretty good, with some fish still using the weeds and other reports of some crappie schooling up out in the basins. Minnows underneath bobbers are still catching fish as are hair jigs and smaller jigs with plastic grubs cast out and retrieved.
Bluegill/perch–Panfishing has been consistent lately with fish being found in good numbers in weed beds, around docks and all over shallow bays/shore lines. Chunks of crawlers or leaf worms worked under bobbers has been the most common presentation to catch gills and perch.
Have a great weekend everybody!
Greg