Nelson Lake - Hayward

[CJH]

Am taking a trip to Nelson Lake around Hayward May 19th through the 21st with 4 friends to one of their cabins and am wondering if anybody can give me any tips? We'll probably try and fish for a little bit of everything.

Any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated as the guy that owns the cabin just started fishing and doesn't know the lake very well yet.

Thanks much!!

CJH

[Quickstrike]

I also don't know the lake very well as I've only fished it through the ice. We have done very well on crappies and sunfish on the northwest end of the lake in the winter and I know the lake also has a good population of eyes. For crappies I would assume the crappies would still be shallow lets say 3-10 feet. I would look for down trees, piles of timber and weedlines near shore. For eyes or other game fish I can't really help you out, but I'm sure someone here can.

Good luck and let us know how you do!

[CJH]

Thanks Quickstrike, I appreciate it!! Any other tips would be greatly appreciated!!

I will let you know how we do!!

Thanks again,

CJH

[unicat74]

Quickstrike is right about fishing the structure. Been there three or four times, last time two summers ago, hotter than h3ll, and slayed the pike in the early a.m and 6 p.m. to dusk, casting the shore and weeds/trees. Also, took lots of scrappy little bucketmouths, just placing a piece of worm on a simple hook and laying it on the bottom in almost any depth of water.

'Course, early season and late season are different!

[CJH]

Thanks Unicat.

Anybody have a current fishing report?

Thanks much!!

CJH

[mntraveler]

Was up on walleye opener, mainly to get the cabin ready for the muskie opener so we didn't even get in the boat but I can report the gills and craps weren't in shallow yet.

[CJH]

Thanks for the update!! I am heading up there tonight for a long weekend, so this is really helpful. Will let you know how I do.....

CH

[CJH]

We did pretty good on the gills last weekend and also managed to get a few crappies. The fish were pretty shallow then moved into the 5-10 ft range after the front came in. The tended to bite on pink or chartreuse jig heads with a little chubby body. Tipped them with a waxie. Couldn't get them to bite anything else.

Only caught 1 northern but, didn't fish too much for them until the last day, and everything seemed to be pretty negative from the cold front.

CJH

[mntraveler]

Thanks for the update CJH, I'll be up again this weekend to give it a try.