Rob Manthei
05-16-2014, 06:58 AM
Wow, 2 nice days of weather, 180 degree wind switch, and now below freezing, just in time to warm up again this weekend....
Walleyes:
Live bait and jigs, cranks, and swimbaits are all taking fish right now. With these massive fronts, pick your lakes wisely. The largest and deepest lakes(39-40) degrees Wednesday, are still seeing the fish staging and getting ready to spawn. This is my experience. All females were full of eggs! Fish were deeper 13-20 feet. Yesterday fished another deep lake and caught all our fish from 12-26 feet. The smaller shallow lakes with some darker water are on fire. Switch to one yesterday, and yes with the wind howling and 50 degree temps we pounded walleyes in 4 to 6 feet. Still look around gravel/sand areas with wood on the deeper to mid-sized lakes, and any new or old weeds in the shallow lakes.
Crappies:
These guys are in and out....far from spawn, mind you, but biting very well. Look for last years weeds and fish the edges. They are 10 to 12 degrees(depending lake) from spawn. Select your harvest and leave some for next time. FYI, a 12" crappie is 9-10 years old in our area...hard and long to replace.
Bass:
Can't add a whole lot here, but I hear SMB's are biting good. I will out for them next week, so I can add to them also.
I've got 2 trips a day for the next 10 days with another Gillespie trip in between...I'll try to post some pics soon
Good Luck out there!
Walleyes:
Live bait and jigs, cranks, and swimbaits are all taking fish right now. With these massive fronts, pick your lakes wisely. The largest and deepest lakes(39-40) degrees Wednesday, are still seeing the fish staging and getting ready to spawn. This is my experience. All females were full of eggs! Fish were deeper 13-20 feet. Yesterday fished another deep lake and caught all our fish from 12-26 feet. The smaller shallow lakes with some darker water are on fire. Switch to one yesterday, and yes with the wind howling and 50 degree temps we pounded walleyes in 4 to 6 feet. Still look around gravel/sand areas with wood on the deeper to mid-sized lakes, and any new or old weeds in the shallow lakes.
Crappies:
These guys are in and out....far from spawn, mind you, but biting very well. Look for last years weeds and fish the edges. They are 10 to 12 degrees(depending lake) from spawn. Select your harvest and leave some for next time. FYI, a 12" crappie is 9-10 years old in our area...hard and long to replace.
Bass:
Can't add a whole lot here, but I hear SMB's are biting good. I will out for them next week, so I can add to them also.
I've got 2 trips a day for the next 10 days with another Gillespie trip in between...I'll try to post some pics soon
Good Luck out there!