Reports from  larger lakes on Hwy 105 have been good and improving everyday, our small lakes in the area are still producing. That local favorite in Ear Falls continues to produce great walleyes.  Betty and I actually tried to get a big musky this week along with a trophy walleye yesterday but it didn't happen.  We pretty much got skunked two times out, but we really were only looking for two specific fish. (40 plus musky and 30 plus walleye)  You'll get skunked more times than not when you look for those creatures only.  The anticipation with every cast is awesome when you are out for one bite.  Lots of good reports on walleyes for this time of year, mostly simple summer time spots, fishing breaks and humps, no real secret there.  The late evening bite has been the best, (the best Jerry the best) but with a nice chop during the day.  Guys are doing just fine.  The musky reports from others have actually been good.  One person yesterday caught 3 over 40 and a 30 inch walleye as a bonus.  A local outfitter said his lake is in the low 70's now and many more fish are being raised with quite a few in the upper 40's being landed.  Small Mouth Bass are still hitting everywhere, you can really have some fun on top water right now.  The "Kevin Van Damm" of Rochester, MN Jim Kostroski aka JIMMER turned me onto the swimn' jig a couple of years ago.  Definately a fun bait to fish for small mouth but what Mr. Kostroski didn't tell me was that the swimn' jig was also a great bait for 20 inch northerns, maybe he is the Spence Petros of Rochester.

Last week reports on all our small bush lakes were great.  Usually this time of year the small lakes get a little tougher to fish because of the heat and high water temps, but this year is very different as you already know if you been reading this blog.  The Small Mouth Bass fishing is so good right now Betty and I are actually going ourselves today, which I know is a shocker for many of you to hear.  Walleye fishing was good last week as well.  Good numbers and size were caught last week.  The bigger water in the area still remains spotty for walleyes, improving a touch, but spotty.  We will be fishing a few times this week, I'll be bear baiting for the next month, So we're going to get a little fun in over the next few days.   Musky fishing for me, has been slow, no follows in two evenings out, but tonight may be different, I'll let you know.   I did hear that guys were doing pretty good over the last two weeks but not great is the report I got.  One tip for muskys is always check and sharpen your hooks.  I was blazin' big buck tails thru weeds with rocks around and I couldn't believe how dull some hooks got, so fast.  The hooks were lazer sharp before I left, and I happen to check them out today and couldn't believe how beat up they were.  You are out there for hours casting with no luck and finnally you get some action, I sure would want a sharp hook.  Pretty simple thing remember but do we always do it?  Weather is still cool but nice, we're lookiing forward to a few days out fishing this week.  Take care and thanks for ready.

Please do me a favor and keep a friend of mine (Bob Corcoran) in your thoughts, as he is going through his second neck/back surgery, thank you. 

Mixed reports seem to be the norm.  Fishing has been steady but not always great.  It seem to be the story of the year.  Getting on stacks of nice walleyes has been a challenge for most, guys are catch 5 here and 10 there, then moving around and repeating.  You can get on lots of small fish with a few big ones in the weed beds now but the average big fish seem to be spread out and deeper.  In stead of running all over the place I would try and catch your active shallow fish, exhaust the area, and then move out into deeper water near that area find a break and fish that area.  The fish are there but are moving in and out at different times.  We have had three days now of stable weather with sunshine believe it or not.  Lots of high water levels and still relatively cool water temps for this time of year.

Mayflies are hatching in pretty good numbers around our area.  Water temps still haven't settled in on 70 degrees yet but our weeds are finally up and maybe we can put a summer patterns together.  Weather is still wet and cool for this time of year, but nicer weather is coming ,I think.  The water levels are way UP, I'm not sure I have seen water levels this time of year so high, in fact, any time of year. Great cathes of big smallmouth were reported by Cory McNeals group this past week, along with good numbers of walleyes and northerns.  I was on the big lake yesterday and did just fair, (30 walleyes) sometimes i think we're spoiled.  But really, I'm not spoiled, I could not find a good concentration of fish yesterday.  Our deep water fish moved, they were not there, and there were not good numbers of fish in our favorite weed beds.   Today we will try some main lake humps, that can be a fun way to fish if you can get on em'.  It sounds like we should be fishing our smaller bush lakes maybe next week.  Muskys should be going soon, the weeds seemed to mature in just a few days, and if you looked hard enough you could probally find 70 degree water.  Guys from last year did very well musky fishing when the water was 78/79 degrees, we have a long way to go to reach that.  Well, the grass is still too wet to cut, I'll let you know how it went today, fishing that is.

Fishing I would say is good.  Pickerel lake is really good and many of our small lakes are still producing good size and numbers of walleye.  Water temps have not and maybe will not warm up.  Most water in the area is averging 64 degrees, like I said in the last post, the surface water is 64 and 20 ft down is 64.  Walleyes are scattered in the water column, but many fisherman are still finding them and doing very well.  Tony A. and I went out for two hours last night for musky and Tony was able to land a 37 incher, no other action there.  The Dan Miller group left today with alot of smiles, over all they had plenty of limits of fish through out the week and had a great time, three generations of guys in that group, how priceless is that?  I heard the big lake was producing some pretty nice numbers of walleyes but guys are having to run quite a bit to really get on them.  Couple groups have been fishing a local Ear Falls Lake and doing pretty darn well, actually the lake has produced well since the opener, one of the few lakes that have been real steady.  It sure is nice to move around and stay on the water where the walleyes are active.  I'll be out on the lake with my father on friday and saturday, we are going to try and find some shallow fish first but looking over the maps last night, we will try some of our favorite summer time deep water humps.

The weather is still cool, overcast, wet, with very few sunny breaks.  Don't leave your coats at home, if you are coming north soon.

 

 

Over 3 inches of rain in two days, 25 mph winds and 58 degrees, kept most guys abay.  Talking with local guides, the story seems to be the same, great one day, not so good the next.  Water temps are cool but the same on the surface and 30 ft deep in some lakes.  This will disperse the fish in many areas of the water colunm.  All I can say when this happens is use your electronics, find the bait fish, and hopefully find feeding fish.  Fish are not staying in one spot for long.  If you have confidence in an area I like to stay put and let the fish come to you, or simply run and gun until you find them.  The Millers from Iowa tuffed it out in this weather today and caught a little of everything out on Pickerel today.  Musky's seem to be slow still except the guys who are staying out until dark, the evening bite has been better.  Some lakes are starting to hold walleyes on there summer time humps, which is a fun way to fish once you get the hang of it.  Send some of the nice weather you guys are having up here, just not the heat.

We were fishing yesterday on the big lake not doing so well, actually not well at all.  ( But still having fun!!) Called some guys on a 2-way and asked them how they were doing and how deep.  They did well at 18 to 22 feet, so we headed deeper and caught around 25 nice walleyes.  If I was to tell you how to fish that lake this time of year with out a doubt I would say shallow and in the weeds, this year so far anyway is not the case.  We went out deep from where the fish should have been and caught a few as deep as 32 ft.  Sometimes we need to change and try different things, I'm not one to usaully do that, but this year with the water cool I guess we need to adapt.  If you can find a few fish and stay on that break line, deep water fishing can be alot of fun.  Boat controll becomes pretty important here and having confidence helps alot also.  I don't believe you catch too many fish on acident, if there is one there probally are more.  Get lucky, catch a fish or two and stay in that dept and see what happens.  Oh by the way, My father kicked my butt fishing yesterday, many over 20 inches.

Not a computer guy,  I pump gas and dish out minnows.  Computer was down and Betty was in the States driving my mom and dad up here, sorry for the delay.  Al Frankovich and company had a great day yesterday with 150 walleyes and many over 20 inches.  With that being said fishing still has been spotty this year.  One great day two or three fair days.  Water temps are cold for this time of year. (low 60's)  Fish are not where they are suposed to be.  Commercial fisherman are fishing for whitefish and are catching walleyes in their nets in 70 ft of water.  Musky's are slow, not many fish or follows.  This maybe one of those off years that fishing is not excellent for an extended period of time.  Some one always finds active fish but its has not been easy.  Are weather has been cool and overcast, feels like early May.  I am looking forward to a fish fry tommorow as I will be taking my dad and betty out fishing.  The guys that are finding bigger fish in 20 to 25 ft of water, usually we find fish in the weeds this time of year but the weeds are still not grown.  When weeds are growing they suck up alot of oxygen until they are fully grown then they give out alot of oxygen which attract fish when the water warms up.  I don't know if the water ever will warm up this year.  The HS hunting video featuring Pickerel Creek Camp in one segment is out and calls are coming in.  If any one is interested in a great whitetail hunt for 2009 or 2010 give us a call.  Hope all of you are enjoying your summer, we don't have a summer yet but thats OK with me.  Bear baiting will start in a couple of weeks, I have a spot or two open for any one interested.  Got to put some new line on some reels, take care.

 

Dave