From Rain and Rough to Calm and Sunny

John H. and Dan P.

Fished with John and Dan. Temperature this morning was in the upper 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 80s. A rain storm came through this morning with winds out of the south up to 26 knots and waves up to 3 feet. After a couple of hours the wind laid down and the sun came out and it turned out to be a nice day. The water temp is 74 degrees. Our goal was to fish the dumping grounds so we set up a troll 1/2 mile south of the dumping grounds with jet 40s set at 35 feet and wiggle warts set at 65 feet. We made that downwind troll and picked up 6 walleye so we pulled lines and headed back to our starting spot. Set up this time with jet 40s at 30 feet back and wiggle warts set at 70 feet. By this time the lake was calming down and we were able to troll where ever we wanted. Caught most of the fish around (41 48 100 / 083 21 800). Had very few junk fish, only 1 small walleye and 1 walleye that was 15 1/2 inches that we put back. Kept 18 walleye and I think the guys had a great time. This last week has been some of the best walleye fishing all year. Again, we were done early.

Too Fast and Too Quick

Fished with Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70s. The wind was out of the west northwest 10 to 15 knots with waves 1 to 2 feet. The water temp is 76 degrees. We started fishing southeast of the E-Buoy at (41 49 500 / 083 19 500) and we never left this area. Ran jet 40s set at 45 feet on one side of the boat and wiggle warts set at 80 feet on the other side of the boat. Both set ups were producing fish so we left them alone. The catching was very good and we only caught 1 silver bass and 3 throw back walleyes. Kept 12 walleye and 1 perch and we were done fishing by 9:15 AM. It sure makes it nice when the junk fish are not biting!!

Fishing in Front of TBM

Captain Doug

Fished with Uncle Dan. Temperature this morning was in the upper 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 70s. The wind was out of the north east 10 knots or less and the waves were around a foot. The water temp is 73 degrees. Started fishing east of the dumping grounds (41 49 450 / 083 19 200) and we never left this area. We set up with jet 40s set at 45 feet on one side of the boat and 55 feet on the other side of the boat. The side with the 55 foot set up was working better so we switched the side with the 45 foot setup to 60 feet. We caught a lot of fish which kept the both of us very busy. We did not have any time to eat or drink while we were on the water, which is not a good thing. Kept 12 walleye and had at least 15 under size walleye that we put back and countless number of silver bass and white perch. The weather was great and the catching was great so we went to Trappers and had a fresh walleye dinner which was awesome.

92 Degrees, That Says It All

Fished with Captain Daryl and Mark. Temperature this morning was in the middle 70s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 90s, and it's only the middle of June. The wind was out of the south at 10 knots when we started fishing and it laid down to 5 knots after a couple of hours. The waves were a foot or less. The water temp is 71 degrees and that helped cool things off a little. Started fishing in front of Bolles Harbor by a pack of boats (41 51 250 / 083 17 175) trolling with jet 20s set at 60 feet back and jet 40s set at 35 feet back. Made 3 or 4 passes here and we caught a lot of silver bass and only 1 walleye so we pulled lines and headed past Sputnik to (41 48 375 / 083 09 100). Set up on an east troll with jet 20s at 80 feet back and jet 40s at 65 feet back. It did not take too long and we were into some fish. We trolled around the 48/08 line for the rest of the trip. We lost at least 7 fish behind the boat that we thought were walleye, kept 16 walleye and 3 perch and had 3 little walleye that we put back. Daryl hooked up the mister again like last year and that helped cool things off a lot. When we were cleaning the fish another fisherman was cleaning his fish and they caught all their fish at the first spot we stopped at, we just did not fish deep enough. They ran jet 40s back 60 to 70 feet in 21 feet of water.

Another Tough Day of Fishing

Fished with Daryl, Uncle Dan could not make it. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 80s. The wind was out of the south east 10 to 15 knots with waves around 2 feet. The water temp is 69 degrees.Started fishing at (41 51 600 / 083 17 200) which is where we have been fishing the last two trips. Started setting the lines and we noticed all the weeds. Stayed here about 15 minutes and we caught 2 silver bass and a lot of weeds. Made a move to the east and set up at (41 52 300 / 083 12 100) with jet 20s set at 80 feet and jet 40s set at 60 feet. We were out of the weeds but we were catching a lot of junk fish, silver bass and sheep head. Again we would catch a walleye every so often just to keep us in this area.. We put the jet 20s back to 100 feet and that was the only change we made. Kept 5 walleye and we had to work hard to catch those. I broke the e z steer connecting rod for the engines when we first set up for trolling so we trolled with the main motor all day, which worked out OK because it was pretty hard to steer into the waves.

Windy and Rainy

Eric, Dan and Booth

Fished with Joe, Booth, Dan and Eric. Temperature this morning was in the upper 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70s. When we started fishing the wind was out of the south at 10 knots with waves less than a foot and around 8:30 the wind started to blow out of the southwest around 20 knots with waves 2 to 3 feet and it was raining. Not a good start for the morning. Started fishing where we were yesterday with jet 20's set at 60 feet back and we caught a lot of sheep head and again the occasional walleye. When the wind started to pick up the walleye action was getting better. Started to catch a few walleye and then the wind, waves and rain just got to be too bad so we pulled lines at 9:15 to head back to port. It was a good call because when we started to clean the fish the rain just started to pour down and the sirens were going off indicting bad weather coming. Kept 10 walleye and 1 perch and caught a ton of sheep head and a few silver bass.  

It Was a Hot One!

Daryl and Doug

Fished with Captain Daryl and Uncle Dan. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 80's. The wind was light and variable which made for hardly any waves. The water temp is 68 Degrees.

Had a report that they were catching some fish in front of the Two Stacks so we made a pass through there this morning looking for fish on the fish finder. Did not mark any fish so we headed out to Sputnik. Fished just west of Sputnik with junior thunder sticks set at 80 feet and jet 40's set at 60 feet. Picked up a few fish here, but the weeds were terrible. Got tired of fighting the weeds so we headed to (41 51 200 / 083 17 500). Set up here with jet 40's at 30 feet and junior thunder sticks at 50 feet. Caught a few fish but every time we brought in a thunder stick it had weeds on it so we put on mini dipsy's set at 50 feet. Decided to put jet 20's on one side set at 60 feet and started to catch some fish. Picked up a few walleye this way so we set the other side of the boat with jet 20's also.

Caught a lot of sheephead but we were still catching walleye. Kept 18 walleye and had one throwback.

Missing Bag

Fished with Daryl and Mark. Temperature this morning was in the upper 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 70s. The wind was out of the west around 10 knots with waves less than a foot. Calm sea's, cool breeze and no bugs, just a great day on the lake. The water temp is 65 degrees. Started fishing by the Turn Around Buoy heading southeast trolling mini dipsy's and spoons set at 80 feet back and jet 40s and spoons set at 60 feet back. Picked up our first walleye at (41 49 850 / 083 09 070) off the mini dipsy and the next 4 fish came off the jets. We fished in this general area for the rest of the morning but we put jet 40s on both sides of the boat. There were a few weeds floating and quit a few May Fly Larva floating but it did not cause too much of a problem. The silver bass are still around but we did not catch a lot of them. Kept 15 walleye and had one throw back walleye(14 1/2 inches). I'll post a picture when I get my fishing bag and camera back from Daryl, Mark thought it was Daryl's bag and took it with him. Picked up the camera today and posted the picture.

The Day After the Big Blow

Fished with Captain Daryl and Joe. Temperature this morning was in the lower 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 60s. The wind was out of the northwest 10 knots and less. We just had 3 days of the winds blowing out of the west and northwest 25 to 30 knots so the lake was in pretty bad shape. We did not find any clean water until we got past the shipping channel then we saw a pack of boats so that was our starting spot (41 46 630 / 083 09 450). We set up with deep diving Jr. thunder sticks set at 90 feet and dipsy's and spoons set at 75 feet. We caught a lot of silver bass off the dipsy's so we pulled off the thunder sticks and put on jet 20s and spoons set at 80 feet. Started catching more silver bass and then we finally caught a walleye. After we trolled around through the pack of boats and not seeing any fish being caught we started a troll towards sputnik. Picked up another walleye and then the catching slowed down. We pulled lines and headed for the Turn Around Buoy and set up a troll heading towards Sputnik. Got close to Sputnik and the lines started to pop and the catching was on, for big sheep head. Continued the troll down the channel and we caught 1 more walleye and decided to call it a day. Kept 3 walleye and all of them came off a spoon called confusion.