Steve Herbeck
05-28-2011, 09:50 PM
after nearly 2 weeks of 70-80 degree weather water temps moved in the lower 60's. this week we have been having cooler nites and daytime temps
50's-high 60's. water temps dropped into the 50's main lake but are have inched back up into 60's in sheltered bays,creekmouths,and areas sheltered from the cooler e-n/e winds we experienced early in the week.
good news is the fish have been biting good.
while we did not have a full camp as we booked lighter the first 2 weeks because of the major project of the new boat house/marina being built this winter and didn't know what to expect with ice out and completion but we had enough to get reports and a good feel of what is going on and what to expect.
the huge hatches and year classes from 4-7 years ago coming up have grown now into that perfect 16-18" eater range besides the excellent number of bigger fish.
walleyes are being caught 4-14' for the most part but several excellent catches of 70-80 walleyes with 2/3 slot and over fish 19-30" thurs -fri coming 12-20' off breaklines where they were shallower earlier in the week. as sun comes and water rewarms they will move shallower as a rule this time of the season. while there have been a alot of slot and over fish biggest so far have been several 26-28",a pair of 29's caught back to back casts and a 30" fritz caught/released so i believe most of the bigger fish are suspended deeper and or off beaks deeper than most are fishing recouping from the spawn and will start to slide up very soon now that water temps are rising again. to target them now when they are deeper it's tough to beat a big chub on a rig.
1/16-1/8 jigs and minnows,jigs and plastics (ring worms,gulp,twisters) accounted for most fish,and when fish got pounded on for awhile or seemed finicky a plain hook and a shot or small 1/8 bullet weight on 6# floro with a lively minnow picked up the bite. when you find fish up shallow don't be afraid to try crankbaits or snap jiging plastics especially if it's a warming trend.pete wilkes group consistantly avgd 30-50 fish on plastics ea
some big avg sized smallies caught up to 20",mostly fishing rock/timber combos and also mixed in with walleyes in some areas but some were staging close to spawning areas earlier in the week before temps dropped, definatly pre spawn no beds or close to being tended yet. that changes quickly once water temps get into the 60's and stabilizes in the next week or so. tubes,sienkos,gulp/jig,minnow and a hook/shot best bets though some were actually caught on topwater/twitched minnow baits.
not alot of bigger pike showing up on eagle yet as weed cover has not grown much yet,lots of 24-35" , wesley ott boated a 43" 20#er for the biggest pike of the week. several huge muskies were seen following hooked walleyes and pike baits,remember it is a closed season and incidental muskies must be water released if hooked fishing other species.
some lake trout are still cruising relativley shallow 20-30' with a few big ones still being caught by walleye fishermen mostly avg. 8-15#,howard ott boated a 37" 20# er on eagle, and had a 40 fish day on an outlying lake. trolling spoons,crankbaits,spinner rigs with sucker strips,slow elect trolling and snap jigging jigs and spoons have been producing mostly in that 25-40' range though the sundbys got fish up to 15# with danny as deep as 60' yesterday.
if you are going to be "soaking" for trout try running some 2-4# mono through the eyes, or tying behind the gills with the line 1-2" longer than the baits length or tying a 2-3" piece around the tail to the bend on a circle hook,when the trout swallows the bait which they invariably do everytime and they take it head first,the bait can be or will be in the trouts gullet but the hook will be still in thier mouth so when you start reeling or setting the hook it slides into the corner of their mouth reducing deep hooking tremendously and releasable big fish ,please consider releasing trout bigger than 5-6# as a 15-25#er could easily be 30 yrs old.
all species will kick in even better once we get a run of sunny weather to warm the water column up into the 60's again. the best is on it's way!!!
good luck to all this week and if you haven't booked a trip yet check out the stickky for availablity,still got a few slots waiting for you.
herbie
50's-high 60's. water temps dropped into the 50's main lake but are have inched back up into 60's in sheltered bays,creekmouths,and areas sheltered from the cooler e-n/e winds we experienced early in the week.
good news is the fish have been biting good.
while we did not have a full camp as we booked lighter the first 2 weeks because of the major project of the new boat house/marina being built this winter and didn't know what to expect with ice out and completion but we had enough to get reports and a good feel of what is going on and what to expect.
the huge hatches and year classes from 4-7 years ago coming up have grown now into that perfect 16-18" eater range besides the excellent number of bigger fish.
walleyes are being caught 4-14' for the most part but several excellent catches of 70-80 walleyes with 2/3 slot and over fish 19-30" thurs -fri coming 12-20' off breaklines where they were shallower earlier in the week. as sun comes and water rewarms they will move shallower as a rule this time of the season. while there have been a alot of slot and over fish biggest so far have been several 26-28",a pair of 29's caught back to back casts and a 30" fritz caught/released so i believe most of the bigger fish are suspended deeper and or off beaks deeper than most are fishing recouping from the spawn and will start to slide up very soon now that water temps are rising again. to target them now when they are deeper it's tough to beat a big chub on a rig.
1/16-1/8 jigs and minnows,jigs and plastics (ring worms,gulp,twisters) accounted for most fish,and when fish got pounded on for awhile or seemed finicky a plain hook and a shot or small 1/8 bullet weight on 6# floro with a lively minnow picked up the bite. when you find fish up shallow don't be afraid to try crankbaits or snap jiging plastics especially if it's a warming trend.pete wilkes group consistantly avgd 30-50 fish on plastics ea
some big avg sized smallies caught up to 20",mostly fishing rock/timber combos and also mixed in with walleyes in some areas but some were staging close to spawning areas earlier in the week before temps dropped, definatly pre spawn no beds or close to being tended yet. that changes quickly once water temps get into the 60's and stabilizes in the next week or so. tubes,sienkos,gulp/jig,minnow and a hook/shot best bets though some were actually caught on topwater/twitched minnow baits.
not alot of bigger pike showing up on eagle yet as weed cover has not grown much yet,lots of 24-35" , wesley ott boated a 43" 20#er for the biggest pike of the week. several huge muskies were seen following hooked walleyes and pike baits,remember it is a closed season and incidental muskies must be water released if hooked fishing other species.
some lake trout are still cruising relativley shallow 20-30' with a few big ones still being caught by walleye fishermen mostly avg. 8-15#,howard ott boated a 37" 20# er on eagle, and had a 40 fish day on an outlying lake. trolling spoons,crankbaits,spinner rigs with sucker strips,slow elect trolling and snap jigging jigs and spoons have been producing mostly in that 25-40' range though the sundbys got fish up to 15# with danny as deep as 60' yesterday.
if you are going to be "soaking" for trout try running some 2-4# mono through the eyes, or tying behind the gills with the line 1-2" longer than the baits length or tying a 2-3" piece around the tail to the bend on a circle hook,when the trout swallows the bait which they invariably do everytime and they take it head first,the bait can be or will be in the trouts gullet but the hook will be still in thier mouth so when you start reeling or setting the hook it slides into the corner of their mouth reducing deep hooking tremendously and releasable big fish ,please consider releasing trout bigger than 5-6# as a 15-25#er could easily be 30 yrs old.
all species will kick in even better once we get a run of sunny weather to warm the water column up into the 60's again. the best is on it's way!!!
good luck to all this week and if you haven't booked a trip yet check out the stickky for availablity,still got a few slots waiting for you.
herbie