Finally, a fishing report!

[The Bait Shop Guy]

Man, this weather since the ice went out has been killing me! Ice has been gone about two weeks, but yesterday was the first chance I've been able to get out and chase some perch.

Started up near the Days River where we did good at the start of the season last year. Marked some fish, but they were very scattered. Ran up to the mouth of the Rapid, then East of Butler's Island, then north of Saunder's Point. Marked very few fish at all those spots. Ran to the south side of Saunder's and finally marked some decent numbers of fish on the graph in 30 to 40 FOW.

Anchored up and started fishing. We had fish under us pretty much all of the time, but the bite was slow. In several hours of fishing, we caught 8 or 9 perch and a couple small walleyes, and only kept 4 of the perch. Water temps were 39 to 42 degrees. It needs to warm up another 10 degrees before the fishing really heats up.

We caught fish on basic perch rigs with 2 inch fatheads, 3 inch shiners, wigglers, and chunks of crawler. There fish didn't seem to have any real preference, but the biggest fish, (a 12 incher,) bit on the crawler.

[jfish121]

That's a nice size perch you got there. I am from downstate and I will be up there around Memorial Day weekend. So what are the water levels like?? Up or down?? Any info will help thank you.

[YooperTroll]

Thanks for the report, Chris.

It seems things are a bit later this spring in comparison to other years (?)

I'm sure this mid-week cold front won't help matters.

[The Bait Shop Guy]

I'd say the lake level is down a good 6 to 8 inches compared to last year. I had no problem getting in and out of the Kipling launch with my 16 footer. One of the local walleye pros came in behind me last night with his 20 foot Ranger without major problems, (FYI, the bite SUCKED yesterday!)

YT, I'd say all in all, this has been a fairly normal spring. I normally get the boat out the first time around the 2nd or 3rd week of April. Last year I was out on April 4th!

[jfish121]

I'd say the lake level is down a good 6 to 8 inches compared to last year. I had no problem getting in and out of the Kipling launch with my 16 footer. One of the local walleye pros came in behind me last night with his 20 foot Ranger without major problems, (FYI, the bite SUCKED yesterday!)

YT, I'd say all in all, this has been a fairly normal spring. I normally get the boat out the first time around the 2nd or 3rd week of April. Last year I was out on April 4th!

Thanks for the info. I am hoping to catch some fish around Memorial Day weekend

[lilnoc]

Always good to hear about the water levels and fish reports. Coming in on Monday the 2nd, have opened the cabin that week for years. In the past there have been some good catches of Splake by trolling during that time frame as long as the water temp stays below 50 degree's. In recent years the Splake numbers have been down, reason??? Lots of post spawn Walleyes caught but little Splake action. Any info will help thanks!

[The Bait Shop Guy]

2002 was the last really good year for splake fishing. After that, it was like someone flipped a switch, and they all virtually disappeared overnight. I've yet to hear a reasonable explanation for their decline. Plants were strong right up until last season when the discontinued the splake plants, and replaced them with brown trout. The browns do seem to be making a slow comeback. I hope they take off. I really do miss that spring trout fishing that we used to have around here.