What's workin' now...

[CALVINIST]

What lake did you say that was? Kidding. Those are some amazing gills!

[juggs]

Someone is responsible for the slobber on my keyboard!!

[Matt Johnson]

Targeted some shallow water gills today with Rick. We worked over some lilypad spots, as well as shallow flats. Depths anywhere from 1-4 feet. Exude Micro Shads were the ticket again today.

Here's a bull from this morning...

[united jigsticker]

The Holiday was good and hot, and I don't mean just the weather.

We located Crappies holding very shallow, less then 1 foot of water in some cases, and they were fairly eager to dine on our offered meals.

Surface temps rose rather quickly on this central MN lake. 70 was common, even with the wind blowing and mixing things up a bit.

I can't wait for post-spawn action though....

[Cyberfish]

Had some good fishin this last weekend!

Jack "juggs" was kind enough to get me out in his boat for a little crappie chasin'. after a bit of running around we finally found some shallow crappies in some thick reeds, mixed with bullrushes. got lots of nice slabs, and some bonus big sunfish. this was the biggest Crappodile, a 2 pounder!

The next day I went out huntin for huge bluegills in the float tube, got some big piggies!

this one needs to go on a diet! haha

10 inchers!

Theres a fat one, and that fish is pretty heavy too!

Got em all on a 32nd oz jig with a black and green stub grub and mini stealth float using a 15 foot pole and 8 lb mono. just dipping it in the pockets in the thickes reeds.

[Matt Johnson]

Nice fish Mike! I heard about the 2-pounder, that's a dandy fish! Congrats!

[Carp-fisher]

More floatubing action!!!

My sister (no wizeguy comments please) and I went out on Monday. Big gills in 3 feet of water...1/16oz jig heads and 2" white Gulp grubs under a bobber. Matt Johnson, if you want a sure way to sneek up on gills in shallow water, try floatubing. We had big panfish swimming right up to the tube whereas they would scatter from a boat.

[Cyberfish]

great pics! we will call her MNtubin'Gal.

[Tyler Holm]

I had an awesome outting last night with a couple presentations. First, the Tadpole Spin produced sheer numbers of fish. I caught countless smallies, largies, white bass, crappies 1 rock bass, 1 perch, and 1 gill all off the 1/16 Tadpole Spin red/pearl.

Towards evening I put on a 1/32 oz Crappie Delite (blue skirt with a blue hook) and the crappies were going crazy over it. Right at dusk, I was catching about 1 fish a minute. I had it set about 18” below a small float.

Tadpole Spin

Crappie Delite (Blue)

[Walleyeguy31]

Sorry to bother you. I was wondering if someone could give me approximate directions to JB lures as I am driving home from the cities tonight (on highway 7 to Montevideo)and want to stop there.

[Tyler Holm]

608 Western Ave

Winthrop, MN 55396 - 2336

Take Hwy 15 South to Winthrop and it should be on your left (East) as your coming into town.

[Walleyeguy31]

Thank you Ty

[Matt Johnson]

We found the crappies relating to the deeper weed lines today, anywhere from about 9-13 feet. Small spinner-baits proved to be the ticket on the crappies.

The sunfish are both shallow and deep. Some are on their beds, while others are out roaming in the weeds and on the weed lines. Plastics worked well on the sunfish, as did small spinner-baits.

The activity has picked up in some areas lately, but the extreme shallows have basically shut off on the lakes I've been fishing. Nothing happening in less than 2 feet with all this high sun and warm weather. The beds are barren in those areas, and the bedding sunfish have found comfort in the 2-4 foot ranges...

[Corey Bechtold]

Woo-hoo!!! I'm back from Florida!!! I was able to get out Friday evening with Bailey and her friend to chase some Panfish. We found lots of smaller Sunfish and some dandy Crappies. The fish were mixed and keeping the small Sunfish away from your bait till a good sized fish could take was a bit tricky. I fished some Micro Shads with little success and went to the Power baits. What we found was the Bluegills liked to peck away at the Tube baits but the Minnow baits would allow the Crappies enough time to come in and take the bait. Some fish were hiding in the shade while there was a good number of Bluegills that were sunning themselves. Fishing the break seemed to be the most productive. Floats weren't necessary as the fish wouldn't move the float even though they were biting. Vertical jigging seemed best for the larger Crappies. Water temps on Lake A were nearing the 80 degree mark on the surface. Also caught today were Rock Bass, Pike, Walleye, LMB and Perch. All fish were using the same shoreline break.

Today I hit Lake B with Brooke and Cole. We found good numbers of Crappies and Sunfish in a few different areas. The lake we fished today was a bit dirtier than Lake A yesterday. The fish took White tubes and Smelt colored Power Minnows on 1/16 oz jigheads. Vertical jigging was best in 7-10' of water but the fish also had no problem with a drifted bait or swing fished. Water temps were about the same on this lake and there were also a few misc. fish that hit our offerings.

Sorry I don't have time to post some pictures today but I will try and get some up tomorrow evening.

Glad to see everyone has been getting some fish and some dandies to boot!

I'm off in search of some toothies tomorrow but I might have to sneak a Panfish rod along too .

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[Corey Bechtold]

Bailey and Allicen with a couple pig Crappies

Allicen with her first Gill of the day

Brookie with a couple Crappies she caught

Cole with a nice Crappie

Cole with a brute Bluegill

A great weekend to be on the water. Hopefully everyone else enjoyed the nice weekend and found the fish as well.

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[juggs]

Whoa!! I see what you were saying about those sumo gills, Mike. I guess I was a day late.

[eyepatrol]

Anyone noticing the bigger 'gills moving off the beds and smaller ones taking over? Me and another guy hit a lake today where the bigger 'gills were not on the beds, but smaller ones were, and many of the beds have been abandoned. We didn't find any huge 'gills today, but the bigger ones we did find (up to 9") were anywhere from 10'-18' deep.

Just curious.....maybe it was the weather today.

[Cyberfish]

Quick drops in temp can cause them to move deeper were temps are more stable. they will be back, still alot of spawning to do. I have seen them spawn into july.

[Matt Johnson]

Some areas (like where you are basscatcher ) also experienced some thunder/lightning storms on Friday night, followed by a cold-front, and today wasn't exactly warm down in the SouthCentral MN either. We haven't seen a warm spell since the storms that came through on Friday, and it will put the fish in a funk. Cloudy, overcast skies with more rain and wind only hinders the return of the increased activity level following a cold and storms.

Like Mike said, things will get better this week as the temps rise and the suns shows its face

[eyepatrol]

Yeah, we pretty muched chalked it up to bad weather. Very difficult getting them to hit artificials that day, and live bait seemed to work the best.

Speaking of sun and heat...looks like there will be plenty of that on the 17th!!!

Thanks to both of you, Matt and Cyber, for the info.

[Corey Bechtold]

Well, the reports have tapered a bit but that doesn't mean I haven't been out fishing. I have had my neices staying at our house for the last few days and they sleep in our room which is where the computer is so that's why it's taken me so long to post.

I have been out chasing the Panfish quite a bit the last few days. Different lakes and different strategies have been productive. I have spent some time trying the Micro Shads and have had limited success with them. My most productive bait has been pink and white Berkley Power tubes on a 1/32 or 1/16 oz jighead. One day I was fishing with Cole and I gave him the Power Bait tube while I tried the Micro shads. He started whooping up on me,and for a 4 year old, started talking a bit of trash. He would say "Dad, how come I'm catching all the fish" . Pretty funny kid huh? It was after about 10 fish back to back from Cole when I finally switched to the Power Bait. Most of the Bluegills have shown tail rash from spawning so Catch and Release has been practiced.

A different day I was fishing solo and started catching some nice Bluegills in shallow water near emergent vegetation. I was having a field day and tried several different baits since the fishing was so hot. The top 2 baits were Power Bait tubes (again) Pink/White or White were the ticket. The Micro shads did ok but the size went down while fishing these smaller baits. It was also harder to fish them that day because there was a good wind and keeping the bait in the strike zone was difficult. After I fished the shallow water I snuck out off the next break. I found Crappies there and they wanted Power Minnows. Smelt was the best color for the Crappies althouth they also liked the Power Tubes. Fishing vertical in 6'-10' with 1/16oz jigheads seemed to be most productive for these fish.

I have also brought the rod with me to work and have snuck out at lunch to fish from shore. There are plenty of Bluegills, Crappies and teeny Bass that have been biting from shore. Using a larger weighted float to reach the better fish has been key for these outings. I have had good luck again with Power Tubes. Using a longer rod has helped reach the fish and steer them through weeds. I have been using a 6'6"Medium Berkley Lightning Rod and a Abu Garcia Cardinal reel spooled with 4lb Trilene XL for this application.

It has been a good week for me so far and the good fishing has just been a bonus. Fathers day is coming and I hope to get out with Dad to see if we can enjoy some quality time and fishing too.

Good fishing and keep the reports coming ,

Corey Bechtold

p.s.

I hope to get some pictures up for you all to see soon.

[Corey Bechtold]

Here are a few of those pictures...

Good luck this weekend,

Corey Bechtold

[TSCTSC]

Wow...u caught a crappie!!

[Corey Bechtold]

I finally get a chance to update the "What's workin' now" from this past weekend.

Friday I fished alone before the T-storms came and chased me off the lake. The Crappies were schooled up along deep breaks and relating to docks, pontoons, boat lifts, rafts and anything that offered shade. Most of my fish came off the 1/32 oz jighead and Power Minnow combination. Skipping under cover or adjacent to it was most productive. I was even able to sight fish some Crappies as two or three fish would follow my bait near the boat till it came to a stop and one would slam the bait. It was a blast and lots of good fish were caught. Water temps were in the mid 70's and it seems as if the post spawn bite was on. Plenty of fish around ready to smack the Power Minnow. Smelt was the best color of the day. I fished a 6' Medium Light Series One Rod which skipped the baits well under cover to the eager Crappies.

Saturday I had a couple hours to fish before a graduation party so Cole and I searched out some Panfish until the rest of my family came to meet us on the lake. We found some nice Gills on a shallow point near emergent weeds and they were readily caught with almost anything. Power Tubes worked best (color choices varied). We fished them on 1/32oz collarless jigheads tight to the bottom with light line. All the kids enjoyed themselves as we caught one after another until we had to leave. Water temps were a bit cooler after the rains from the night before (73 degrees)and water clarity was down a bit on this lake compared to the one on Friday. Brooke even caught the biggest Bluegill of the day measuring out at 9.25". Here are a couple shots from the day...

Bailey with a 8.75" Gill C+R'ed

Lisa and Brooke with a team effort

Me with a 9" Gill

Brooke with here 9.25"er

A great day to get out and do some Catch and Release fishing with the whole family.

And finally Sunday, Fathers Day. I was able to share the boat with my day and Cole as we targeted some Bluegills after some other water activities. We searched a shallow shoreline adjacent to deeper water and found a good group of Sunfish in a small area. I started out pitching a Exude Micro Shad in Pink and White and started picking up some fish. After a few on this presentation I switched over to a 2" Berkley Power Grub in Black and that seemed to trigger some bigger Gills. Cole and my Dad caught several fish on live bait (angle worms) fished under a float. The artificial seemed to catch more fish as it was easier to fish the baits in shallower water fan casting and retrieving slowly. There were even some occasional Bass that took the Grub as well.

Cole and my Dad display their catches

All in all it was a very productive weekend for me and it was especially fun to share it with my family. I look forward to hearing what's been working for all of you as well.

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[Tyler Holm]

The Exude product continues to impress me! Last night I opened a package of the Exude

I had a chance to use the Exude 1.25" Nymphs last night and I was impressed. The fish were in a negative mood given the weather events, but the Nymph prevailed! All those tiny tentacles and its micro size was irresistible for the Crappies.

I went with a 1/32 oz jig head and most of my bites came on the drop. Its fun to see your line go tight followed by a nick, tap, tap. WAMMO!