Any Reports?

[Deitz Dittrich]

I was out for 3 hours this morning.. going back out in a bit. I caught 10 legal(over 12") this morning. 5 On a flipping tube(Exude Salatube, 1/2 oz weight) Flipping and dippin in the holes(curly pond weed),4 on a soft plastic jerk(Exude RT slug)1 on a JB Proseries Spinnerbait...

72 degree water temps, lots of panfish on beds.. only saw 1 bass(male) sitting on a bed.

[Andrew Erickson]

went out earlier today and got 4.My dad got 5.and his freind got 3.It was pretty slow.I caught all my fish on a floating worm fishing weeds

[Doonbuggy]

I was out early on a metro lake and caught seven. Four small ones, a 16" and two 17s". Also lost another one that was around that range.

A floating rapala twitched over the weeds on the inside weedline was the ticket for me. They were not hammering the bait, more just inhaling it.

I also got into some bonus crappies and found a big school of bluegills starting to build their beds (didn't fish for these). Only saw one small male bass on a bed.

My water temp was 68-70. Based on this temp were the bigger gals on the deep weedline perhaps? Finished spawning?

My bite seemed to die down when the wind kicked up at 9:15. A lot of boats were moving around on this lake so I'm wondering if it was kind of hit and miss for people.

DB

[cwmn]

Was out early, 5 AM, lots of boats on Demonterville, don't know where they were parking. Anyway, caught 4 fish all males, saw lots of big girls cruising around the beds, threw everything in the boat at one for 15 minutes and she wouldn't evan look just kept swimming back and forth in a 10 by 10 area. Left at 10:30, too much wind for a slow bite.

Tons of gills on the beds a couple evan managed to fit a 1/0 wide gap and tube in thier mouths.

[MedicineMan]

Doonbuggy, what lake were you fishing?

As for myself, I found a school of Bass that made there way out to deeper water so I was throwing lizards, Tubes, and Beetlespins at them. I ended up catching 4 Bass all between 18-20" I lost twice as many as I caught. I also got into a school of big Crappies as well.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Was out on an East Metro lake today and did ok, not as good as I was expecting though. I got 16 bass mostly males, biggest going 17" and one walleye. My dad got seven bass, a walleye, a carp.

practicly all our fish came from shallows on plastic jerkbaits (even the carp and walleyes). One fish came on a jig/pig. We tried to locate the females on the weedline and first break closest to the areas we got most our males but had no luck.

The cotton was the worst Ive seen in years!

[Andrew Erickson]

The cotton was horrible!It screw up most of my reels.

[Slyster]

Yep.. the cottonwoods just started seeing a few days ago.. and THEN this wind.. bad combo! For me.. both motors are in the shops, so I couldn't go out... stinks.

[JPSavage]

Good day on the lake.....20 bass in three hours 2-4 lbs, spinnerbaits in shallow weed beds , senkos on the first break .....All bass were active ....Spawning just seemed to be starting ........Park Rapids area.

[Metroguy99]

We got 12 between two of us for a couple hours. All on dingers or slug-gos. Seemed like the slug-gos were working better. Weed holes seemed to producing more than shallow weedlines. The wind didnt help much in a canoe, and the cotton wasnt exactly friendly to the reels.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I was out this morning(Sunday) and got 15 fish... three over 4 lbs.. Got most of the fish on a rapala x-rap... but most of those fish were small(12-14").. I got one decent fish on a spinnerbait, all the rest including the bigger fish came on a flipping tube.

Strange part.. all the big fish came out deep 10+ feet on areas I would normally fish in July. I figgured the big fish were not shallow, find them deep.... Also pulled a 28.5" walleye for fun....

[Mr. Pike1]

The report for small mouth on Satureday. I pre-rigged 8 poles for a starting line up of:

1. Senko- Cinn blue/red speckle

2. Weedless Tube- Watermellon with black speckle

3. Standard Tube- Crawfish green speckle with red hook

4. White spinner bait

5. Rapala number 7 perch shad rap

6. Rapala DT 10 firetiger crank bait

7. Rattle trap- Brown/orange

8. Jig and grub twister tail.

We hit the water and fished from 3:00pm-9:00pm. We got 21 smallmouth and 2 pike between me an my partner. The smallmouth ranged from 14" to 19" we could not get a 20"er to kick of the year.

Due to the wind the water we were fishing became very stained and almost like chocolate in color. This made me think some of my orginal lure and color selection might not be the perfect choice but I had to try them to see and then switch accordingly. We found the fish shallow and for the most part around the rocks and wood structure. Me and my partner try to fish different baits until we find a pattern of what the fish want on that paticular day.

The most productive bait was a senko in more of a green color/baby bass and the perch shad rap. I did have success on senko in Cinn with blue red sparkle along with my all time favorite the Rootbeer Senko. For the shad rap the technique that worked was to twitch the bait to give it an erratic movement. This really triggered the bitea as they would hit the bait as it came to the surface. The other odd thing we noticed is that the fish were not really hitting the senkos on the slow fall. They were hitting them when twitched or moved fast. We also had success on the tubes but with the wind and all the sunken structure and rocks that you could not see this lead to a lot of snags and the weedless tubes worked but the hook setting percent declined due to the hidden hook in the tube.

As for the other baits the firetiger DT 10 produced fish just outside of a sand bar we found. You could see the bar two feet down and in a very large circle. It dropped down all around it gradually to 14 feet. In the past when there had been drainage coming out on the sand bar this area has been a gold mine. On this trip there were a few in this area but staged deep and the the number 10 crank got them to strike on the deep side of the sand bar. They were larger fish as well in the 17 and 18" class.

To my surprise the white spinner with the silver double blaids did not produce a fish. This combo is usually deadly on the small mouth when covering shoreline. A few pike and a couple smallies were caught by my partner on a spinner bait that was firetiger with gold blades.

Anyway that is the report I will be going out again early in the morning on Monday. Today was just to windy and hot for this guy.

For Monday's trip I am going to mix in a few different presentations to include:

- The X-rap in a perch color. I think this will work just like the shad rap did.

- Number 4 firetiger mepps spinner with a grub twister tail added for effect. Last year I found the mepps spinners to be deadly for the smallies. I used more the gold blad and squirl brown tail with a little twister tail. The mepps spinners ranked in my top three last year for small mouth.

-Timber doodle. Using the gold blade with a green speckle trailer body. These baits are entirely weedeless and work well in tough structure.

- Mix in different colored senkos due to water clarity. I am not a huge believer in color but some of the different speckle in the senko's depending on water clarity and light conditions may make a difference. I always struggle with the thought of was it the presentation or did I just happen to toss the bait I was throwing in the right spot at the right time.

Anyway that is the report for today. I will update how the fishing is on Monday and if any other baits appear to do better or worst.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Made it out again today and had a quick fish through on two lakes here in the metro I have never fished before. Didnt get many fish, nine between my dad and I, but we did get some fish around 18". Smaller males were shallow and the bigger fish came from a pretty deep, 6 foot, inside weedline.

[Mr. Pike1]

Bass fishing opener part II.

We went out today and fished 7:30-1:30. The numbers were a little more then Saturday. We managed 30 fish today. As stated in prior post I try to mix in two different presentations each time out. Today I mixed in the x-rap, Mepps number 4, and the timber doodle.

The fish were relating to shade and rocks. Nothing on the sand or the wood. The Senko's again were the top producing presentation. Color did not seem to matter. The x-rap was a definate producer and I will be picking up few more. Actually on my very first cast towards a drainage area I got spanked on the x-rap. Can't beat getting hit on the very first cast with new presentation. The x-rap continued to produce through out the day. The Mepps spinner also produced and will be used again. The timber doodle was great to get in areas of structure and looked great in the water however it did not produce a fish and I gave in pleniy of water time. Will try again under different conditions but for today it did not pass the test.

Surprisingly the tubes did not produce well and neither did the spinner baits. White spinner with double willow blade usually can always put me on smallies and a few pike. For opening weekend however nothing. I tried a couple other color spinner baits and nothing but will try again next time out. So far this year my top 5 presentations are:

1. Senko

2. X-Rap

3. Mepps spinner

4. Tube

5. Rapala number 7 shad rap in perch color. Twitching the bait produced most fish with the hits coming as the bait came up to surface.

Next time out the two I am going to mix in are:

- Sluggo

- Storm crawfish soft plastic

- I am going to give the timber doodle some more time on the water as it has great action and totally snag proof. However, if no results this bait may spend the rest of the season in the tackle box.

- Few other soft plastics

[river rat316]

My go to crank for wood infested waters is a Square A from Bomber, has the classic bomber wobble and goes through timber better than anything Ive used, I havent lost one to timber in 2 years, and I throw em in places where you have no business throwing a crank!

[Deitz Dittrich]

Pike1- I get a kick out of reading your report... So few people throw an inline spinner for bass... Truth is, its one of my go to baits in the spring. I am field testing a new mepps bait that will hitthe market next year. Its not all that unlike thier regular spinners, but has marabou instead of bucktail. very nice action!

Keep up the great reports.. very fun to read! I myself ran into a bunch of walleyes today. I was throwing a jig worm in about 8 feet of water on a wind blow shore and caught a walleye and 3 were chasing it.. I caught and released 5 before I thoughtto myself.. HMMMMMM walleye taste good.. took me 15 mins to get my 6 fish limmit and caught 19 in total.. hence I only caught 11 bass today.

[Mr. Pike1]

Deitz, I am a for the most part a multi-species angler. I have covered the gamet from perch to musky. If it swims I am open to angling for it. However, about 4 years ago I started to target small mouth as my inlaws have a cabin on Vermillion and one of my best friends lives right by the Mississippi. I got the small mouth bug and really think they are the premier fish for the catch and release sports angler. A 17-20" smallie on 6lb test and light spinning rod and real combo. Priceless.

I have found that what works for the smallies generally translate to the large mouths. Concerning the inline spinners you are correct I do not know that many bass guys use these on a regular basis but they should. The only time I had used the mepps spinners was for trout fishing in the river and actually some small ones for crappie and sunfish. I seen the tackle shelves covered with these and thought hey mayby there is something to these Mepps spinners. In my opionion these work better for smallies but the largies will nail these as well. What I like to do with these is add an extra twister tail to the inline spinners. In my mind I believe it adds to the strike rate.

Every year I seem to stumble on to a lure that really works. One year it was the senko, and other years something else. So far this year I am very high on the new x-rap. Used the perch and the clown. You can work these in so many ways and the small mouth were crushing them today. Some would hit on the twitch and some would hit on the slow retrieve to the boat. Many would hit right when it nailed the water. What happens with the x-rap is that when it hit the water it dip under about 6 inches or so and wobbles to the service and bam, Fish on !!!! I am hoping to try these on large mouth at a local lake maybe Wednesday as I coach soccer on Tues and Thursday so my only open date to hit the water.

I also believe in pike infested waters the x-rap will get destroyed. I am anxious to try these on Vermillion when I next get up to the cabin to try on the smallies and the walleye. I think these trolled slow at dusk by the rocks or simply tossed to the rockes at dusk will be a walleye killer as well.

Oh and I know you are a Mr. Twister guy. Another bait I discovered a few years ago for panfish was the Exude micro shad. I like the one that looks just like a 1" minnow on a 1/32" jighead. I have got crappie, sunfish, bass, pike, rockbass. Whenever I panfish I always without question have this little gem on a line.

[Matt Johnson]

What a weekend! I went up north with my brother and we hit a couple different lakes.

Things could not have started any better. Third cast on Saturday I landed a fat'n'sassy sow throwing a spinner-bait along a midlake reed bed...

It fluctuated between 5.2 and 5.3 on the digital scale. Ended up being the largest fish of the weekend for us. My brother hasn't seen a bass over 2 pounds in real life, so this was a real treat for him to see a fish that size.

We ended up working that reed bed for a good portion of the day and landed several other fish in the 1-3 pound range.

As the day progressed we moved up into the thicker weeds and hooked into a few more bass cruising the pockets.

On Sunday we stumbled across another reed bed along the north shore, and it also held a good number of bass. Spinner-baits proved to be the ticket once again and the rockbass (still a bass right? ) also joined the party.

This morning proved to be another noteworthy day targeting bass in the reeds. We hooked into a couple fish in the 4 pound range and a bunch of 1-3 pounders. Very aggressive fish and they were more than willing to perform a few acrabatic stunts as well

We also worked over a few bass relating to shallow wood. White Exude RT Slugs produced a few fish, as did Red Shad Exude Baby B-A-Hawgs.

Overall, the weekend was a lot of fun, and I got to watch my brother land several nice largemouth bass. On the way home today he said, "Man, that bass fishing sure is fun. Do they always bite like that?" I wish I could have said yes, but this weekend was something else. I'm sure glad he was there to experience that, but only problem now is his first time bass fishing might have spoiled him

[ducksnbucks]

I started this year with a tournament in Grand Rapids, found fish shallow biting on a variety of lures including jerk baits, senkos, jigs, and topwater. Largemouths were done spawning but the smallmouths were in the process. Caught a lot of nice fish, close to everyone had thier limit of fish.

[turn_in_poachers]

Was out saturday at a local lake. Water is high, up probably 4 feet. Caught 4 smallies in the 2lb range. Hit on a black and blue senko. The cotton was really, really thick on top of the water. I find that the fishing is better when the water is low on this particular lake. Went back Monday, and got skunked. Waded around shore in about 2 feet of water. The carp were in full force spawning. Making noises everywhere. They might of misplaced the bass. I had several carp swim right up to my feet. This lake will only get better when the season progresses. Havent even caught a largemouth yet.

[dlg]

Deitz,

My son (one of your former students) put a 21.25 inch 5lb.'er in the boat. We must have yelled pretty loud because my cousin heard us from across the lake. She wasn't on a bed, just cruising in about 2 feet of water. He saw her hit the spinnerbait. A memory to last a lifetime.

Great weekend of fishing with my son.

[Tyler Holm]

In the Rochester area, the weeds are in full swing in the reservoirs. You can get your fill of the 8-12”ers on smaller shallow diving cranks.

I did manage one with a little better size – stout 16”er on a Tadpole Spin

Click Here for details

[Deitz Dittrich]

DLG- great story.. that is awesome!!!! Give the MG a high five for me!!!!!

[Mark Christianson]

This past weekend was simply incredible for numbers and even good sized bass.

My son got his biggest largie ever on Saturday afternoon using a wacky rigged Senko. This 19.25 inch 4lb 11oz.

Then Sunday afternoon, he eclipses the 5 lb mark with this 5lb 1oz toad. On a wacky rigged Senko again.

A pair of 19+ inchers I got Saturday morning.

And smallie_hawgin Jr and BLB Jr with their big 4 for the morning. Thought it would be fun to get a pic with the 2 of them together holding their bigguns for the morning. (Yes they were released)

Senkos were the hot ticket. A variety of colors worked, but the black/blue was pretty dang hot.

Spinnerbait bite was pretty slow overall. Buzzbaits were smokin Sunday evening when things died down, but lots of misses.

The best single weekend of bassin I have ever had to date.

[turn_in_poachers]

Now those are some nice bass biglake. Check the girth on that one! And the kid's smile from ear to ear. Thats awesome.