Good morning from the Quiet Lakes, we got a fair amount of rain out this way yesterday, right around three quarters of an inch. We could use way more than that, as the lakes are still way down in the area. It does not appear we will see much if any precipitation over the next week and the weather looks pleasant with temps in the 60s and 70s for the 15 day forecast. Overnight lows range anywhere from the low 40s to the mid 50s. This should really help water temps cool down and get fish more into early fall patterns. Fishing overall has been pretty slow, but it should get better as the water cools down and we have stable weather.
Musky–The musky bite has been hit or miss, and anglers seem to still be having more success than not on small baits. Small bucktails have put a few fish on the board this week here, however an angler did put a fish on our board and caught it on a double 10 yesterday before the storms rolled in so that is a good sign! Fish are still related to weeds and edges.
Northern pike–A few pike have been caught lately, but they have slowed down a bit as well. Pike are still too related to weeds and edges and fast moving baits such as bucktails or shallow running crank baits and slow moving stuff like live bait is working too.
Walleye–I have honestly not heard much on a walleye bite this past week, as most anglers (here at least) aren’t targeting them as much as say musky or pike. Walleye should be relating to basins this time of year and coming up shallow towards dusk. This does change from lake to lake as some lakes hold walleye in weeds vs. the basin. For basin fish, trolling crankbaits can be effective, and in the weeds, jigs and plastics or minnows snapped through cabbage can be excellent.
LMB–Largemouth have been active on everything from jigs/minnows all the way up to topwater baits. Spinnerbaits and chatterbaits are working too and those fish might start to slide deeper as the water cools down.
SMB–Anglers have done well catching smallies on deep rocks. Slip bobbers with crawlers anywhere from 12-20 FOW with rocks have been good for smallies right now.
Crappie/Bluegill/Perch–The panfish bite has either slowed down, or more anglers are fishing other species and not targeting panfish. I have not really heard much of an active panfish bite, although they should still be in green weeds and shallow. Minnows and crawlers with jigs or under a float are great choices to target panfish. Plastics on jigs can work as well.
Have a great weekend and we will talk soon.
Greg