Fishing Reports.

[Wayne Ek]

It was a good opener. We hit a small dark water lake on Saturday and had a ball with big fish that had already spawned out. Tails starting to heal up. Biggest 5.8 with lots of 3's and 4's. One 12 plus northern. On Sunday it became a little difficult. We hit a smallie lake, and got good action, but smaller fishing nothing over the 3 pound mark.

[ocf1]

Got outon ida, nothin but dinks, but we found them in great numbers caught bout 10 in an hour.

[st.crioxfishin]

Agape,

Was there any apecific presentation that worked best for those postspawn fish? or were you getting them on lots of things. I have had trouble with postspawn fish in the past.

[Wayne Ek]

Most of the quality fish came on a jig/pig in 2-3 feet of water. This is an extremely dark lake, lots of turbidity. Immediately after the spawn, post spawn females can be tough. But within a few days they will start moving shallow again to put on the feed bag. This is what we had on this small shallow lake. Deitz and I fished it last year and did some damage to a couple of pigs.

[Mr. Pike1]

My Opening weekend report.

Opener got out for a few hours in the afternoon.

Pre-rigged with:

senko, tube, spinner bait, crank, mepps spinner, jig an pig, xrap, scum frog, ratteltrap, grub, and misc others.

Targeting large mouth

The fish were very very shallow, six feet or under. Opener produced 20 plus bass in the 12-17 inch class with no pigs. The small mepps spinner tossed in the shallows over the weeds turned out to be the number one producer. When I say small I mean the Mepps aguila in 0 or 1 with a small twister tail. Many sunfish and crappie joined on the bite.

Sunday- Hit the Mississippi for small mouth action. Same presentations. The water was high, stained, and a bit of breeze. The breeze calmed down and the bite heated up. The senko or tube seemed to worked best around the wood with the number 3 mepps a close third. The x-rap, cranks, and top waters produced nothing. I got my best smallie on a Mepps number 3 aguila with a red blade and black tail. This fish spit me at the boat but it was a 20-22" fish. The bite was good but we decided to go more North to an area on the river that had produced large smallies and nice eyes. The afternoon was simply gorgeous but the bite was less then expected. We got a few pike, no walleye, and limited smallies. Overall on this day I would guess I got 10 smallies in the boat with most in the 15-17" class.

Today same pre-rigged poles and hit my local little pond. I would guess it to have been a 30 bass day but most were under 16" and almost all were caught very very shallow tossing the small Mepps spinners. I had one large fish on a senko under a shady dock but got spit and never saw the fish. I am for the most part a dock guy but the docks were not producing so I cruzed the shallows tossing the Mepps. They were scattered and shallow.

Moral of the story, don't forget the old Mepps spinner it was a winner this weekend. The reason being the fish were shallow and you could easily keep the small spinners over the shallow weeds. Many crappie and sunfish as well.

[Cyberfish]

We started out at my favorite area on (Contact Us Please) looking for panfish and bass. Most of the panfish had left the area except a few small bass and crappie. we then headed out onto the main lake when the wind died down. no fish for me, but Jack and BP got a couple of nice big bass.

We tried a smaller brainerd area lake, the smaller bass were quite active, got lots of keeper sized, nothing really big, but good for eating

But BP came through again with this big Sallie

[Deitz Dittrich]

my opening weekend report

Saturday morning greeted me with beautiful weather. I was the 2nd boat at the landing, and got the boat unloaded without any problems. I had already decided where I was going to start. The same place that I did last year, and the year before that. I had quite a few rods rigged and ready, but only pulled a couple out of the rod locker. #1 a Funky Chicken colored Exude RT Slug, which I rigged on a 4/0 Gamakatsu Skip Gap hook. #2 was a Grasshopper colored Exude Fat tube that I rigged Deitz Rig(very similar to a texas rig, but the sinker is only semi pegged with a slip bobber knot and bead system.) The bass as I expected were post spawn and holding tight to an inside weedline. My 4th cast found an open mouth, a short battle and the boat deck was wet. A 13” small male bass. In the next hour I caught a dozen all about the same size. And was off the lake by 11am with 18 total bass, the biggest was 16” and two Bob Barkers(dog fish).

Sunday was not so nice on the weather front. I chose a different lake and was out at about the same time (5:15 am) and again was the 2nd boat at the landing. I fished till about 10am, with nothing to show, not a bite. The cold front had them shut down… and I tried a ton of different things…

Monday I choose a lake that would be less affected by the cold front. A lake that had quicker drop offs, so that when the fish would pull back from the shoreline they wouldn’t have as far to go. I arrived at the lake a little behind my sched around 6 am, and was…. The 2nd boat at the landing again.. LOL…I started with a Rapala X-rap, and caught fish on my first 3 casts. I also through swim baits(Twister Sassy Shad) and a jig worm. I ended up catching 26 bass with 3 nice ones, all about 19”, spawned out females. 2 of the big fish came on an outside weed edge on the jig worm, the 3rd came on the sassy shad also on the outside weed edge.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Good report, Deitz!

I found our weather much different than yours. Saturday was dump! Sunday was cooler, but the sun was showing. Monday was alright, but the wind had switched directions and was really whipping.

We had our best luck Saturday and Sunday. Found most of the fish in a shallow bay in weeds. A majority of them came in 4-6 feet of water over sparse weeds. An original floating Rapala by far was the best option, altough a few fish came on other lures. It was just too windy most of the weekend for me to bother with plastics too much.

I didn't keep numbers, but we had a decent share of 14-18 inchers, with a few snot rockets mixed in.

Later in the day on Sunday, I was cruising the shallows (< 2 feet) looking for carp to arrow, and I saw decent numbers of bass in there still. Nothing on beds, but they were still sicking around the area.

[uwecsteeple]

Fished the Mighty Miss. around Otsego Saturday and Sunday morning. Picked up a few smallies on a Yamamoto Craw on a 1/4 oz football jig. But the majority came on a 3inch senko or 3 inch sassyshad on a 1/8oz round jighead.

Lots of fish in their summer locations already, both shallow and deep pockets around current edges. Color didn't seem like a big deal, they liked both dark and light color patterns with purple w/ gold speck and white w/ blue speck producing alot.

All in all, a good opener weekend, and I am glad I waited until opener and didn't cheat, I think Karma rewarded me with some good luck.

[cjac]

Snuck out Sunday AM ( I hope my surgeon doesn't read this) for a few hours here in Hennepin County. Had to work for them, but we ended up with about a dozen fish. Mostly small fish, but a few solid 18 inch range fish. 4 inch tube in pumpkinseed color was working the best, worked really slow. Based on RKs color scheme, I found a pack of "Smoke" flukes by Zoom that I had, tried that and hit a few, but the wind made it tough to do a finesse presentation like that.

Much the same as R Wigg's report, 4-6 over sparce weeds, couple off the deeper side of a wind-swept point.

Thanks to all you guys for lure and color tips, helped my boat out.

Chris

[sicheneder]

started sat. on chisago. i was surprised to see males still guarding beds and we saw a pair spawning later in the day, the female was 4-5 lbs. with the wind and the clouds it was hard to see the ones guarding beds. only caught 2 fish on the weedline. lots of empty beds thou. our best pattern was flippin shallow.

sunday was even more confusing with a smaller lake in chisago county.water temp 60-64. flippin shallow was the pattern again for the day. caught 3 fish 4+'s and 4 fish 3+lbs. we could see males guarding fry in holes in the weeds and in a channel the there was still pre-spawn females sitting outsides of beds that should spawn soon. so there was a second wave of spawners coming in. lots of bedded males. we did caught 2 nicer fish on a main lake point that must have still been pre-spawn because they looked fine. How long does it take for females to recover from spawning?

I was also surprised how deep the fish were bedding on these lakes with all the curly leaf. the beds were right in the middle of the curly leaf from 1.5-4 fow. only a few fish were beded along the bank.

[Matt Johnson]

I hit a few different lakes throughout the weekend. Spent some time in the Chisago area and met up with Deitz on Sunday morning for a little while. Sure was tough working a few of the spots out there, but we managed a few along a shallow, woody, wind-blown shoreline slow-rolling spinnerbaits. Also hooked a few along a newly lilypad-budding shoreline. Flipped Ogur Slugs for those fish.

Yesterday was a much better day. Worked buzzbaits and RT Slugs along an inside weededge and hooked quite a few nice fish. Also worked the deep weededge and managed to boat a few more... and of course the pike decided to jump in on the action too

The extreme shallow water pattern was not going from what I could see. I worked several areas with reeds and couldn't muster up anything special. Most of my fish were in 3-4 feet or deeper...

[Mr. Pike1]

Good reports to read. It appear presenatation and location definatly varied by body of water.

I have the remainder of the week off and was hoping to get out each morning for 4-5 hours and give an update.

Today- The plan was to be on the water fishing by 6:00. The reality I ran into some unplanned lower back pain. I am sure I could have still fished. It was the loading and unloading of the boat by myself that concerned me and forced me to make the stay home and do things around the house call

Looks like tomorrow may be a bad weather day and may force me off the water again. We shall see.

Anyway the poles are all lined up and ready for action. I made a few minor changes to the line up and added a buzz bait bases on Matt's report. I also have this top water prop bait made by Mr. Twister that is weedless, shaped like a torpedo, and you rig it with plastic trailer. Can't think of the name but a great biat for shallow weeds and cover. You can fish it like a buzz biat over the cover without ever having to worry about snagging or let it sit and twitch it almost like a scum frog. Those were the two new presentations I was going to try next time out. I always like to try one or two new baits just to see. I have my top five and if they are producing it limits my time with the new stuff. But if not it is always nice to experiment and see what might be that next go to bait.

Heck I never ever would have thought looking at the Senko that it had any potential. However after fishing it years back it has stayed at as my number one for the last 3 years running. Can't beat it for fishablity in rocks, weeds, structure, river, docks, etc for large mouth and small mouth. I have also got a few pike, walleye, and many musky. For the musky I actually landed one in the 5lb range on Vermillion. The other 40-50 inch fish that struck Mr. Senko gave me some unbeliabel entertainment up to the point they busted my line...

Hope to have a actual fish report on Wed...Would go out yet later tonight but have to coach soccer so Wed is my next shot at it.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Quote:

---

I also have this top water prop bait made by Mr. Twister that is weedless, shaped like a torpedo, and you rig it with plastic trailer. Can't think of the name but a great biat for shallow weeds and cover. You can fish it like a buzz biat over the cover without ever having to worry about snagging or let it sit and twitch it almost like a scum frog.

---

Mr.Twister Top Prop.

[bassman222]

We had a good opener, between my buddy and I we boated a ton of smallies with many in the 17-18 inch range. Biggest was 19.5 inches

[Duffman]

Bass still seem to be in pre-spawn mode where I was, 54-57 degree water temps. Crappies were just beginning to head in to the reeds. Caught a 17 incher and another smaller one on a spinnerbait, that's it. Also, after hearing rumors of smallies in the lake, I actually caught my first out of there in 19 yrs of fishing it - 15". Not the greatest lake for bass, I'll try it again in a couple weeks once some structure starts growing. I swear I had close to a hundred hammer handle follows on the spinnerbait, stuck a few. Overall it was a slow weekend with the ever changing weather conditions, even the walleye weren't cooperating, nothing more boring than a slow 'eye bite.

But now,it's time to turn it up a notch, yep, time to edjamacate some city bass.

[serpent]

Opener was good. Fished my usual small lakes. Sat. we caught 27 biggest being 21 3/4". Unfortunately that was the biggest fish for the weekend. On sun. we caught 39. That was a blast we ran into a school of 3-4 lbs. good times good times. The only way we could get the fish to bite on sun was to dead stick it. We would let the tubes sit there for an eternity and when you thought you should move it you'd let it sit even longer. THats the only way we got bit. Mon sucked. We caught only 14 biggest being maybe 4 lbs. Most of the fish all three days were caught on tubes, spinnerbaits, and deep diving cranks. Anyone else sick of wind yet??

[Fishing_High]

Opener was good spent the weekend in Brainerd, caught the majority of fish on 1/4oz jig head and mister twister 4" grubs and 7" powerworms. Also on Saturday I caught 10-15 nice bass on a buzz bait over the lillys that are still underwater. I was curious did anyone else have good luck on topwater?

[Stratosman]

The wind did suck big time...fished near Crosby area and Saturday was the best day, didn't count the fish caught but I suppose about 20 or so, all found deep on a texas rigged tube...Sunday was terrible with the wind and the cold front, managed a few more but all small. Monday was the same story...Weather didn't do me any favors. Sure was fun though!

[Andrew Erickson]

made it out for a couple hours after school today with my dad.We fished bush lake from shore around the pads and the hot baits were zoom horny toads and a scum frog.The biggest fish was about 3.5 pounds.

[Bullwinkle]

Got the boat out for the first time (OUCH) Monday morning about 7am. Lot was almost completely full except two or three spaces. The Ranger fired right up and off I went. Fished for a couple of hours until it became apparent that my trolling motor batteries decided to stop holding a charge at some point over the long off season. In the few hours I was out I mananged to pull in a dozen. Most coming on a slow retrieved, flat sided cranks in the 7-10ft range. Biggest of the day only 17.5 and came on an inside weedline throwing a T-rigged creature bait. Glad the real season is underway.

[TNFL]

My battery didn't hold a good charge the first few times either. I just charged it up and let it run/drain in the garage. Now it seems fine held up for 5 hours on Saturday.

Monday, I was on a different lake for 3 hours 4 bass each for 2 guys. 12-14 inch bass in the pads. 15-16 inch bass with a jig worm in 8 feet of water.

Tuesday, League night on Sugar lake. Mostly small bass in and around reeds, docks, cat tails, etc on weightless senkos. bass in 7-8 ft flats were small also on spinnerbaits and jig worms. did catch a few around 15 inches and one over 16 though.

[Andrew Erickson]

fished the slop at bush again today and had 7 hook ups but all got off.I lost a biggun on a horny toad.

[Mr. Pike1]

I made it out for 6 hours today. Prior to opener I caught more 18-20 inch "untargeted" large mouth bass then I can count. Since the opener I can not buy a 18"er. Some of this may have to do to the lake selection as with the weather report kind of iffy today I agian stayed local.

The Report:

I found the water temp today to be pushing 70. I still found a lot of agressive males guarding the beds and non of these fish topped 15" I would guess I caught 25-30 in the 15 and under class. All on Mepps spinners size 0 an 1 with an exude twister tail trailer.

I worked the deeper weed edges and found some 16" fish but the bite was very slow. Jig and worm, jig and twister tail, tube, and ratteltrap were effective.

While chasing the bass I got some nice sunfish to hammer my mepps. In addition I picked up some crappie in the 10" class and ended the day with a nice tiger musky. Very pretty fish and heck of a fighter.

Did I mention the wind sucked... If not the wind sucked. It forced me to fish other more calm areas of the lake and working the deep weed edges was work not fun.

Anyway great day to be on the water. I bumped into one other guy fishing bass. He was in a smaller boat powered by ta rolling motor. He stated he did get some 5lb bass on topwaters along with four tiger musky.

Tomorow is another day and weather pending I will give it another shot. I may target some sunken islands this time to see if I can find the 20"ers or a few walleye/pike.

[TNFL]

I just learned how to post pics

Saturday's 18 incher

Monday, my partner TNFL01 (he doesn't post often)

with a jigworm bass