Water Temps

[AWH]

I haven't had the chance to get out in nearly two weeks. But with this weather recently we have to be approaching the dangerous point with water temps in many places. How are water temps around the state? It might just be time to put away the musky gear for awhile so we can save some fish....

Aaron

[TBone1]

79 degrees on Tonka yesterday morning. I have been chasing Bass, I'm leaving the Ski's alone 'til we get some cooler temps.

[Andrew Erickson]

79 on calhoun today

[tearin' lips]

80 on the North End of Lake of the Woods yesterday...cooling down to 75 at night.

78 on the Muskie Water of Rainy Lake to.

[JRedig]

I've seen anywhere from 78 to 84 on WBL in the last 3 days.

[Pistol Pete]

Temps in the Alexandria area are all over 80 from what I hear. Have had my muskie gear put away for 2 weeks now. Sucks but I don't want a floater either. Wish more people felt this way. Hopefully in a couple weeks things should start to cool off. A good rain would also do wonders.

[B420]

Surface temps on Leech Lake (walker bay) were 79 on saturday, she is getting warm out there. More heat forecasted for this week.

[beatuplund]

I found a fat 45" floater last week that was cut in half by a prop -- three parallel cut marks through the belly. Not sure if the prop killed it or it was dead already. But its a good reminder to stick with the fish for a while after release. They sometimes will float back up if they've been stressed too much.

[Peachy]

could this be one of reasons why its been hard to catch Muskies lately?? Perhaps it will be easier to catch them in late August or early September? **I'm a rookie, i'm still in the learning phase*

[beatuplund]

They're always hard to catch.

[MUSKY18]

Was out on Miltona and the temps were 81, same thing for Alexander.

[Peachy]

I know they are always hard to catch. I just want to learn more and more about Muskies!!!!

[Silver Scale]

On Vermilion on Sat I had 84 during the heat of the day in Big Bay. Cooled to 77 by dark. I have seen a few floaters. Lots of pressure too. If you have to fish try not to during the heat of the day in the afternoon.

[RK]

Hiya -

I've been hearing of temps in the mid-80s too. I've put the muskie gear away until it cools down quite a bit. I can't fish when I start worrying that I'll kill one just reeling it in.

To me, the real tell-tale with water temps is how much it cools off overnight. If it's not cooling down much on the surface, even if the air temp is down, it sort of tells me the lake's holding a lot of heat through the water column rather than just the top few inches heating up. This summer I've had an Aqua Vu MAV on my boat (for muskie fishing, these things are FREAKING COOL by the way...), which has a temp sensor on the camera head. The last few weeks I've seen the temp 10-12' down climbing a lot. So it may take a while for things to cool down enough for me to fish muskies again. I'll live. I kind of like bass fishing in August. (Spent Saturday morning flipping up in thick cane and rushes, catching bass from 3 to 5 lbs. Flipping sticks, 50# braid, straightening the hooks out on big flipping jigs, pawing through big piles of cane to find a hooked fish. Total combat fishing. It was a hoot...)

Peachy - to answer your question... Yeah, sometimes real hot water can throw the fish into a funk. To a point, warm water's good news as it does increase their metabolism, but get into the 80+ range, and I think it does tend to put them off activity-wise, even aside from the risks to the fish catching them in very hot water.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Rebel9921]

Hey Rob... how about replying to my posting earlier titled "water clarity and night fishing" Matty and I would really like to know what you know or think of that? Thanks!

[Capt.Blaine]

Anyone know the water temp in Canada's LOTW and Crow?

[RK]

Hey Reb -

Missed the post altogether - I'm behind on my board reading... I'll check it out.

Cheers,

RK