Been a great May and June fishing so far. Fished quite a few lakes in the area. Been a ton of fun and quite a few pb’s for everyone in the boat but me. Couple of walleyes and a couple of crappies. 7 walleyes over 28 inches and fishing lakes that are historically not known for big fish. Lot of crappies over 15 inches too. Water temps I would say are still a bit behind schedule from what I have documented.
Walleyes
I have not spent much time fishing deeper than 12 feet of water all summer. For a couple of reasons, I have had a really reliable bite without having to explore more unless I wanted to. The lakes are changing with the invasives that are showing up and trying to learn and get ahead of what is coming. I have also become much more aware of Barotrauma and with most of these lakes having a protected slot. It is amazing how many walleyes are sitting in 4-6 feet of water with high sun and gin clear water. Pitching jerk baits, boot tails, rippin raps up shallow in mornings were excellent. Then sliding off the edge during the day rigging and slow death hooks were excellent, at times, mostly post frontal, long lining nailhead jigs have had their moments. Sliding back up into that 4-6 feet of water the last 90 minutes of light and into the dark trolling #12 husky jerks and #10 Jointed floaters have been the best bites of the day, clown and black/silver have been the best colors. Have had some great evenings anchoring up shallow and casting rippin raps and working back to the boat. The night bite has been the most fun I have had in quite a few years. Always neat pulling into the access to load out and seeing the eyes glowing up shallow. Now that the jiggin rap bite has been going really well and fishing with kids 90% of the time, the jiggin rap up front and the kids chucking bobbers and leeches have been a great 1-2 punch that will only get better. I haven’t pulled much leadcore except for teaching a few guys how it works. With the crappies starting to show up suspended and some good marks (walleyes) I will be starting that pattern back up.
Panfish bite was pretty typical except the first few weeks of May where the water was so cold, traditional floats and jigs were not producing but I tied some #16 flies and they were dynamite. Once water got over 54 degrees the traditional plastics and hair worked normal. I think this was the first spring where i never did buy a scoop of crappie minnows. Finding a lot of crappies off the first break hanging out in cabbage. To the point that that trying to fish walleyes it’s annoying catching trophy crappies on walleye gear. Good problem to have I guess. I have a few patches of cabbage that Ill spot lock outside of and bring the kids out on and cast into and have a great time. Thinking these spots will be great early ice. Funny how you can fish a lake your entire life and find new spots and all the time.
Hope everyone else’s summer has been as great as mine.
