What's Working Now?Fishing Reports.

[Bullwinkle]

I think you guys have a great idea keeping track of your fish total for the year. I have never done it but I should start. Here is my problem though ..... once I use all of my fingers and toes I don't have anything to count with . Keep up the good work folks. Shout at you soon.

[Tom Wilson]

Fever--that's awesome man. I haven't read this post since page 1, so I didn't see that you had some success. It's a great lake and it's full of big frogs, you just have to convince them to bite. Congrats.

[Corey Bechtold]

Cole caught a couple nice Smallies tonight on Rapala Skitter Pops.

Here is a pic from tonight...

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[Fever]

Great pic... Congrats to Cole on the Nice Smallie. I too have had some success using skitter pops for smallie although I was on Mille Lacs. Fun fish to catch on surface baits.

[Matt Johnson]

I spent part of the weekend with my brother up north relaxing with some friends. My brother Ryan ended up landing one of his biggest largemouths... right around that 2.5 pound mark...

Ryan with a nice bass... he's 6'5" for reference

Man was he excited when that fish exploded on his floating frog! He doesn't get out fishing a ton, and this was a fun one for me to watch! Needless to say... I just converted him on bass fishing

We worked structure both shallow and deep this weekend. The larger fish seemed to be holding in that 8-14 foot range amongst the deeper weeds. It was a slow approach, but the fish landed were bigger than the dock and shallow water fish.

The shallow fish were more aggressive and in higher numbers, but the size was lacking. The sun was high and it got warm quick. Lilypads produced a few shallow water fish, as did sunken timber.

Mister Twister's Hawg Frawg was the preferred presentation for the shallow water fish. Great for pitching into the weeds or lilypads, as well as slow hopping around sunken timber and tree lines.

We also threw Exude Comidas and Fat Tubes along the shallow structure.

MisterTwister Exude Comida

MisterTwister Exude Fat Tube

For the deep water, we worked either an Exude Comida (stupid rigged ) or an Exude Wide Ribbon Tail.

MisterTwister Exude Wide Ribbon Tail

Spinner-baits also accounted for several fish, both shallow and deep...

[Stratosman]

The wife and I spent the holiday at the in-laws near Crosby and of course I managed to get some bass-time in... I found that the fish were relating to the outside weed edge (10-12ft) and were pretty lethargic. There was no shallow water bite to speak of on this particular body of water, outside of numerous small bass on the shallow flats which is quite typical. However the larger sized bass were tucked up tight against the sharpest weed edges I could find and were definately schooled up. There would be a hundred yard stretch with nothing, then two or three fish on consectutive casts in one spot. This pattern seemed to hold true throughout the weekend. Slow was the key and a vertical presentation was a must. The pickups were subtle and many drops occured, but with a slow methodical approach I was able to scratch out a good few days on the water, size was fair, average about 2.5lbs with the largest just over 5lbs. A very rare occurance for me to not be able to find a bite on either crankbaits or spinnerbaits. I think the high pressure daytime with the nightime storms really kept them negative. It was a fun time and great weather none the less.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Monday A.M.... 65 deg- slight wind from the East(wind from the east, fish bite the least).. Cold front!... I knew deep was the way to go.. I threw the stupid rig with a comida and managed 14 fish.. with only 2 fish under 2.5 lbs... I had 2 that went a hair over 20"... Ihave to admit.. I didn't feel many bites.. they just picked it up and held on... any dead weight and I set the hook...

total for the year 227

[Matt Johnson]

My dad and I spent yesterday on the lake in search of largies and pike. We managed a few bass right away in the morning on a shallow weed edge working buzz-baits. Gotta love those top-water explosions!

My dad then went on to land about a 12 pound pike which took about 10 minutes to land because it decided to play in the weeds

Later on in the day we moved onto the lilypads and pulled up several more using top-water lures.

I lost one just out from the boat that we figured might have been in that 5-pound range. We got to see it jump a couple times, then it wrapped itself around the lilypads and game-over

We found a few fish deep while working Exude Wide Ribbon Tails. We also picked up one under a dock with the Exude Comida. The fish seemed to be both shallow and deep, but those that were shallow definitely needed some sort of heavy structure, whether it be a dock, thick weeds, or heavy mats of lilypads...

[ocf]

this mornin i went to a pier and did some fishing. i only managed 2 fish... 1 bluegill about 3 inches and an 18 inch bass there was a mess of smallies there but i didnt figure out how to catch them before it was to late and they stopped biting. it was amazing to watch those fish jump out of the water.

[TNFL]

Deitz,

What size stick bait do/did you use and what size hook?

This year has been tough on me, the shallow bite has been near non-existent. In my league, the deep weedline guys are doing better than they ever have. Its time for my team to learn how to fish deeper. We got a few on Sugar Lake last time out with a jig worm. Tonight is gray's bay landing 5:30-9:00 pm. I read somewhere the weed growth is down this year and the water is more stained hopefully We can figure something out.

[Deitz Dittrich]

4/0 Hook on an Exude Comida...it only comes in one length.. Its 5" in length... Today I got them rigging it on a muchroom head jig.

[LittlebroD]

Nice Job Bro, Is this at a spot that I have fished with you B4?

Sounds fun. I'm a little jelous- I am itchen to fish.

[TNFL]

I got a couple small bass on the weedline east side of big island. Had a tough time finding decent weeds on Minetonka. I know that sounds stupid but when you only have 3 hours to fish you can't drive all day without wetting the line. And, being not efficient at deeper stuff, I hardly know what to look for anyways so I just try new stuff. Once again the shallow bite was zero, just had to flip a couple nice looking docks.

I tried some spots where cabbage turned to milfoil in 3 or 4 feet of water, nothing. Went to the edge of the thicker but not real thick milfoil 8 feet, nothing. Go to the edge of the sparse milfoil or whatever weed it was in 20 feet, nothing. Obviously the quick rain in the afternoon turned them off, but it was rediculously slow last night.

[grab the net]

Sunday night, fishing deeper reeds in 5-6 feet of water. From 3:30 to 7:15 pm only had 5 fish between the two of us. Quality fish, but slow, one here one there. Up to that point we had been rotating between weedline and sahllow.

7:15, somebody flipped a switch, one small patch of isolated reeds, gave up 26 fish in about an hour and half. All quality fish between 3-4 and 4-10, just could not break the 5lb mark that night. Some were in the reeds themselves, but many were out away in about 8 feet of water. Senko style bait, rigged texas to come through the reeds. Several decent pike along with the bass. Occasionally were fooled by a dog fish or a rockbass. Overall a great night, beautiful sunset, and doubles on when a pontoon would troll by.

[OnTheWater]

Very tough fishing today on lake marion. Got a few bites in about 15 ft. on a jig, and lost a nice one. Other than that, I almost saw a head on collision between two ski boats; that's 2 birds with 1 stone if you ask me. Just kidding, but seriously, some people need to go back to boating 101 before they get back on the water. I can't tell you how many boats came plowing by me, only 15-20 yards away, and didn't think nothing of it.

[Fever]

Spend the day on a small west metro lake. Hot... Anyway did hook into a 5lb 12 oz 20.5 inch pig. Using trigged gulp worms in 2 fow near reeds. I will figure this picture posting thing out soon. Did get pics taken. There was a guy and his son on beach at a county park that was near so I cruzed over with the fish in the live well and he was kind enough to take a couple pics for me. Great day on the water.

[Fever]

Got it. Guess it wasn't that difficult. [image][/image]

[Juan Grande]

We hit Chisago & South Lindstrom last night for a few hours. With limited time and knowledge of the lake we just decided to troll the shorelines and cast the docks with small spinners. We also hit the stump fields on both lakes.

Ended up catching around 20 bass on the evening, although most of them were tiny. Caught a couple decent 14-15 inchers, but nothing bigger than that.

The water was very calm and I thought we'd have some luck with buzzbaits towards dusk, but nothing was surfacing.

I guess with the hot weather we should have looked for a deep weedline or rock pile for some bigger fish.

[Captain B.R.K]

Had a chance to hit a few lakes this weekend in the Alex area on Saturday and fishing was phenomonal!

Bklimek and I hit the lake around 7:30am in hopes to fish some clamer water before the winds picked up. We targeted shore lines of 3-7ft of water throwing comida's and t-rigged crawtubes. The t-rigged crawtubes where the ticket vs. the comida's. Fish hit the t-rig just as it was pulled from the bullrushes. Managed to pull a handful of fish off the bullrushes in the morning before the wind picked up.

We then went to the wind swept shoreline and tried t-rigs again but the boat was moving to fast so we tried rattle traps. There was a definate weed edge and as soon as the rattle trap came across that edge...WHAMMO! The lake we were on gave up 40-60 bass with majority of em' in the 2.5-3.0lb range.

That evening we went out to a fav of mine and worked a milfoil edge. Caught lots of bass with some huge 4-5.0lb fish! If they weren't 4lbs, they were around 2.5-3lb avg. Fish came on football jig w/a choppers tail, t-rigged tubes and brushhawgs. Worked the edges and out in 7ft of water.

PHENOMONAL fishing Saturday!

{I'll have pic's later}

[Deitz Dittrich]

sounds like an awesome day BRK!

I was out this morning.. by myself... 41 fish from 7am-12:30.. most of the fish had a mouth full of crankbait when they got to the boat. Shallow running crank reeled very fast and then killed.

[ducksnbucks]

Had a tournament in Grand Rapids this weekend, caught fish on tubes, senkos, hawgs, crankbaits, topwater, jig and pigs, just about everything we threw they bit. It was HOT!!!

[Fishin4Life]

Quote:

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Had a tournament in Grand Rapids this weekend, caught fish on tubes, senkos, hawgs, crankbaits, topwater, jig and pigs, just about everything we threw they bit. It was HOT!!!

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Lucky Duck (haha get it, duck like in your name) ok bad joke. LOL

[Bullwinkle]

41 fish in 4.5 hrs. That's really impressive Deitz! I got on the water at noon and couldn't buy a bite. I admit I wasn't throwing a crankbait because I thought with the high water temps the fish might be a little lathargic. What kind of temps were you reading? Just curious if you left at noon because the fish turned off? Also, if you don't mind me asking what color crank were you running? Thanks in advance.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Bullwink-Temps were 79-81 depending on where I was on the lake.. this lake has some stain to it.. I was throwing a yellow belly with a purplish back.. and is sunfish in color somewhat as well...

Second from the bottom.. .I really like that color.

Ileft at noon because I was hot... and hungry.. I usually fish mornings till my belly tells me its time to leave..

also, bull wink.. believe it or not.. fish do not get too lethargic when the water gets warm.. this is nothing for them!

[buzzin for bass]

THANK YOU DEITZ

I tried a couple of different approaches but landed on the shallow running crank, running hard and killing it like you mentioned yesterday. Boy oh boy did it work like a charm. I spent 3 hours on the lake this morning and caught more bass than the rest of the season combined (10-15 trips). I'm not exactly sure how many I caught but quit counting shortly after twenty and that was well under half. For the most part I was on a large weedy point that extended way, way out into the lake at 5 - 7 feet deep sorrounded by 15 - 20 fow. It was quite crazy, I could see hundreds of sunnies just under the surface in various locations and every once in a while the surface would explode as the bass pushed them up. For an hour more casts resulted in "fish-on" than not.

Deitz, thanks again for sharing what worked for you. I usually use a steady retrieve with the shallow cranks but today the fish would just hammer the plug on the rest.