Fishing is tough!

[john skarie]

Was out for a 6 hour shift with a buddy yesterday casting. Saturday did several hours of deep water trolling. One fish hit trolling but got off.

That's it! Only saw one follow, no other hits trolling.

The steadily cooling water temps seem to have the fish in a funk up here.

Anybody else have better news?

JS

[BrianLucky13]

Fish are going John. Try different things and different places then normal and you will find em!!!

[50inchpig]

About the same down here for the most part. Couple days of very funky fishing after a good opener and some action earlier in the week. Hopefully the warmer weather later this week gets things going again.

[Musky Buck]

Excellent for my friends who know which lake to be on, they sent me pictures of a 47,48,52,54, with 3 under 40" so far this season. 2 lakes 20 miles apart and 1 is wildly hot and the other the fish are extremely lethargic. Time for me to get off the lethargic lake and hit the hot one. Twice I drove by the hot lake that had a good bite going, my luck will be the one I've been targeting will turn on and the other will be slowing down.

[Scoot]

I fished for about nine hours last Thurs- it went pretty well until about 11:00 AM, then shut off completely for me. We saw a dozen fish in the AM and had five hits. Sadly, we were 0/5 on those fish. Three of the five hits were "nips", but legitimate chances at catching the fish- they did make contact with the lure. One was a fish that overtook the bait from behind and hit it fairly hard- no hook up though. The last was an upper 40's fish that came from behind, swung out wide, and t-boned the bait at boatside. I had her on for about two seconds, then she spit the hooks with some headshakes.

Saturday I didn't expect to get out, but it kind of came together on Friday night when my wife wanted to go to a concert. I played the "well, if you go to that, how about if I go fishing in the morning?" card. It was tougher- we saw a dozen fish from 7-noon, but all were low and slow follows. Nothing really interested...

I was out once before last Thurs too- man, we really struggled that day. Saw a few fish, with the biggest being in the mid-30's.

From the reports I'm hearing, the general trend has been very consistent with John's report-- tough sledding.

I'm heading to LOW this coming weekend to try my hand up there for the opener. Maybe that'll go a little better for me...

[john skarie]

Last Sat. was my first day out. I've heard the fishing was better on opener and steadily became more difficult. Makes perfect sense with the weather patterns that have been here since then.

Brian;

Fished on lots of stuff, inside and outside edges. Sand, right in the thick of it etc.

Right now is a time when you need to be out everyday to get into 'em.

Windows will be there and with this kind of weather and water temps they probably will be short but intense.

JS

[Shawn Kellett]

That's the same report I've been hearing from your neck of the woods John. The metro's been better then average for this time of the year, but with the cooling water temps we'll see what happens.

[urban cowboy]

Excellent for my friends who know which lake to be on, they sent me pictures of a 47,48,52,54, with 3 under 40" so far this season. 2 lakes 20 miles apart and 1 is wildly hot and the other the fish are extremely lethargic. Time for me to get off the lethargic lake and hit the hot one. Twice I drove by the hot lake that had a good bite going, my luck will be the one I've been targeting will turn on and the other will be slowing down.

Just out of curiosity, what is the difference in water clarity on the two lakes?

[JRedig]

The fishing has been quite good for some friends and I. A few people I know are getting slaughtered.

Sounds like muskie fishing.

[10,000 Casts]

we need a consistant week of good hot temps and they will start to go

[eyehead]

Right now is a time when you need to be out everyday to get into 'em.

JS

Aint that the truth. Got a lil 39" on opener and thats been it. Been out 3 times and it seems that the windows are completely different everyday/night. The lake I fish is usually money for whatever reason between 1-3 ish or before a front. Not this year. Ive tried just about everything and just cant seem to find any pattern what so ever. I'm seein plenty of fish just cant seem to hit em when there eatin. Oh well, lots of time to figure these things out yet.....

[nater]

The activity definitely slowed over the past 4-5 days. Opener was great lots of fish raised Sat with a 46.5" on Sunday with water 67 degrees. This past weekend started with a blowup from a nice fish, two casts later I landed a 40.5" at 4pm, water at 66, turned off shortly after that. Saturday showed no active fish on the weedline mostly off the edge or in open water, water now at 64, so we moved to a darker lake on Sunday and had one eat boatside on blades which was NOT happening on the clearer lake.

Hopefully the warm weather turns them on again because I much prefer the clearer lake!!

[urban cowboy]

Nice example Nater. Way to put the odds in your favor by moving to a darker lake.

[BrianLucky13]

Last night sucked. Only 2 follows and both little fish. The fishing windows are tiny this year. Not good with 15 muskie fisherman on a 2500 acre lake!!! O well...

[Castinski]

Last night was awesome. Doubled up on a 38 and 39 in the drizzle. Been seeing a lot of short hits and misses. Last night was redemption. Must've hit 'em just right.

[iceman16]

tonight we saw two fish. one mid to upper 40s hit boat side but couldnt get hooks in her and and other lazy fallow around dark. have had alot of those in the last 4-5 outtings.

iceman

[Musky Buck]

The 5,600 acre clear lake has been good, the stained lake poor, but since opener the sun has been out for very few hours making a clear lake in the overcast much more appealing.

[bronzeback]

finally found where a few fish were hanging out. Caught one low 30's and moved two bigger fish within the same 40 foot area.

Definitly was tough before that though. I couldn't seem to get anything to show. Sad thing is I can't seem to put my finger on why the fish are sitting where they are...my best guess is new weeds. Didn't see any balls of baitfish or anything else that would make it such a hot bed. oh well. I just feel stupid now for not getting out at all in the last two days seeing as how the weather and visibililty haven't really changed much around here.

[Bassinbob84]

I've had the exact opposite. Opener raised 6 fish then Sunday only raised 2 in 12 hours. Last weekend in 12 hours my boat was graced with a 46" and a 48.5 (my buddy's first) and fish would actually follow into the 8.

[john skarie]

Was out tonight for our MI wed night league. Kind of a small turnout, 12 guys. Only one fish boated, a 44" on a bull dawg. Brett Waldera and I only saw 2 small fish. Other guys saw very few as well.

We need some stable weather, this cold front with rain every other day is getting old!!

JS

[aceswild012]

Was out yesterday on a metro lake. had alot of action 20 follows lost 4 between myself and my partner all on blades but as soon as the clouds moved out mid morning everything shut down.

[50inchpig]

DeBo kicked off the weekend last night with a nice metro fish - hope everyone is ready to pound it this weekend and get some revenge on them after a slow couple of days last weekend!

[Nick Kuhn]

I won't be able to get out unless dad decides he wants to go fishing Sunday.