Late July Morson reports

[Wild Thing]

YeeHa!

The walleyes are on the reefs big time! And we had three great days with only minor whitecaps for an hour or two, no gales!!!

Went up Wednesday night and fished Thursday, Friday, Saturday without problem. Did lose Sunday morning to rain and thunder but we'd had more than enough fishing by then.

The best fishing was, as usual during sunny, calm days on the tops of the reefs, but we also had periods where they were down to 16-18 feet off toward the edges. Most were caught in 12-14 feet and less on the tops of the rock.

Nothing huge, again, but fishing 3-4 hours each day we caught two 26's, two 24's, multiple 22's and TONS (dozens) of fish over 17 inches. We caught by far more fish bigger than 16 inches than smaller. Nice fat keepers just slamming the crawlers on spiners/bouncers. (several pound-size perch as well but those are not allowed in the livewell!)

Lost two BIG fish to the stinger hook on the crawler harness coming off, not sure if they were bite-offs or what. Hmmm. Need to talk to Cabelas about that...

They were just starting to show crayfish in their stomachs so the bite is on!

Crammed four adults and four kids into the Trophy and fished for an hour Friday evening then had a great shore dinner on a sand beeach on Bigsby. Flat calm. Beautiful weather. Pigged out on fresh walleye. What a great time! Kids swam with their cousins while my wife cooked fish and I took pictures and drank beer. It doesn't get any better than that! (Hope she doesn't read this!)

Water temp still not that high, ran from 68 to 71 degrees depending on sun.

Water level continues to inch up, must be near 90 percentile now, but some dry weather should send it back slowly to normal. I'd say the depths are now about 12 inches deeper than charts/GPS maps show. (10 foot reefs are now 11 feet down, etc.)

That's it for now. Unfortunately, I may not get back up for three weeks! Ahhh!!

Take care all!

P.S. Musky bite is on as well, lots of reports of 40-inch plus fish coming in...

[Shorelunch]

Sounds like a nice weekend WT. My brother-in-law and his crew had good luck this weekend too fishing around the reefs. They had similar success, w/jigs and plastic grubs. Were you using real or Gulp crawlers? Were you trolling just crawlers?

They went to Whitefish Saturday and marked some lakers - but no takers (sorry).

I'm heading up this weekend, looks hot! Hopefully (but not likely) a west wind a 10mph . . . probably 30mph . . .

Two weeks ago, I came up to some that are usually a foot out of water that are now a foot under. "Let's be careful out there."

[Wild Thing]

Shorelunch...

Bounced ONLY crawlers on gold spinners. Nothing else! Didn't have time between hits to change tactics!

Did try Gulp crawlers on occasion and so far have not had great success. The guy with the real crawlers outfished me ever time I tried the fake ones... Odd becasue Gulp minnows have worked great the last couple of years, same as live minnows.

Maybe I just haven't given the fake crawlers enough time?

Good luck!!

[Shorelunch]

That is surprising that the fish wouldn't take the Gulp crawlers. I've had very good luck on their grubs and minnows this year.

[rockpt]

Great reports!

We'll be up from Fri., July 25 to Sun., Aug. 3. Weatherman says it may get hot next week. We're running a Crestliner 192 DC with Merc. 200 and Pro Kicker. There'll be a goofy coonhound with us. Stop by and say hi if you see us.

[dmoore]

Where are you located? We have a trailer at Mylie's. Heading up next Wed. for a couple of weeks. We run an 18' Lund Alaskan (camo color),75 Honda with a 8 Honda kicker. Ch. 14 (Baitmaker).

[rockpt]

Staying in Miles Bay and fishing all over. Ch. 68 (rockpoint).

I'll keep an eye out for ya.

[benelli_dude2002]

A buddy from work has a cabin up in Morson. He is up there just about every weekend. THis last weekend he said he did good on the reefs in Miles Bay with jigs and leeches.

[Wild Thing]

B-Dude!

We are making an emergency, unplanned blueberry and walley trip to Big Grassy Camp NEXT weekend -- be up late Thursday (7/31) through Sunday morning.

Will you be available to serve as ballast in the boat?

Over.

WT

[lumpy]

Thanks for the great report. We are heading up Saturday and staying at Crow Lake. Our lodge has a dock in Stephens Bay. What would be be best places to go from there? What jig colors work the best? I see you used the gold spinner colors on top of the reefs and hope to give that a try. What works best for Northerns? Thanks.

[benelli_dude2002]

WT!

Cool! I should be getting home late thursday. THe wife has do a photo shoot for a wedding on friday. So I gotta entertain the boys for a bit. I will let you know ahead of time when I be heading up. But let you know I am for walleyes over picking berries. Dad is that bass tourny over on Rainy Lake this weekend so I think he will be around next weekend. I will let him know that you are gonna be around. Got home early this morning ( thursday ) and head back to work late monday. Gonna be nice to have a few days at home. Hope all is well! B-dude

[Wild Thing]

LUMPY

I don't fish Stevens or Sabaskong much, but bring long-shank white, black and gold jigs and try white and yellow Gulp minnow/grubs. Spinners and crawlers wil be great too. Try using 1.5 ounce bottom bouncers to avoid snags, fish as vertical as you can and don't drag them on the rocks. Sort of jig them.

Look for rock reefs that top off about 8-12 feet surounded by deeper water. Look for other boats and buoys (barrels we call them) to find reefs but watch your map carefully and don't push other people off a reef!

Have your resort mark 4-5 reefs for you, they will know.

Northerns will hit anything they see, BIG spinnerbaits are great. You will find musky too throwing those and black bucktails.

Good luck!

B-dude: Bring the boys up if you want, hope to see you next weekend!!

[Shorelunch]

We had a very nice weekend. Fished the reefs between Manitou and Dawson trolling spinners w/Gulp crawlers, leeches and grubs. Caught numerous 13-15 inchers and 20-21 inchers. Also caught a few 24-26 and one 27 1/2. After dinner Saturday night, we went to a nearby island and trolled cranks and in 1.5 hrs, caught a 26, 24, 23, 20 and errr . . . a 12 incher, along with three smallies. Fun fishing. Back up in a few weeks.

[dmoore]

Shorelunch

Where is your place? I have a trailer at Mylie's and a very good friend has a cabin at the end of the road past government dock. Heading up on Wed. for two weeks. Would like to meet you.

Dick Moore (ch. 14 - "Baitmaker")

[Wild Thing]

Shorelunch

How deep do you troll the crankabits? And what kind do you use? I've never tried them much up there but thought it might be a nice diversion when I get tired of bouncing...

We're heading up Thursday for a few days.. as always, on chan. 10......

Take care

P.S. What color Gulp crawlers are you using? The natural-colored ones just weren't doing it for me, but maybe I'm doing something wrong... good thing the real ones are cheap!

[benelli_dude2002]

I had a buddy up there this weekend casting spinnerbaits for musky and caught a nice 27 inch walleye in the weeds. As far as trolling cranks this is where your kicker motor would come in to get your speed down. I caught my biggest walleye on a crankbait. I actually have a rod just for pulling cranks with a linecounter. Just gave me an excuse to buy another rod. I like to use # 7 rapalas. Not sure on the depth they go but I got a mess of them in a variety of colors. Oh yeah I can serve as ballast. Havent heard anything on blueberries. My inlaws checked for berries around here in MN with no luck. Later

[Shorelunch]

We were trolling cranks in 8 feet, just outside weedlines. We use size 7 Shad Raps, Tail Dancers and Minnow Raps in perch, gold/black, purple and the clown colored. I like them for a change up too. Plus fishing with them is "like a box of chocolates."

As far as Gulp crawlers, I use the pumpkin seed and chartruse. They were the third most effective after grubs/minnows and leeches (both Gulp). Haven't bought live bait yet this year.

We're down the road from the Gov't doc too. Probably just a few cabins away! My father-in-law is up there quite a bit and usually has coffee every morning at Mylies. We also have a family cabin on Taylor Bay, but "merged" with my in-laws on Hansen Bay and are there most often.

[dmoore]

Your father-inlaws place must be just past Jack Eastman's. I think I met him a few years ago. Your place on Taylor must have been near Dick Eastman's place. Jack is a very good friend. Will be back and forth to his place next week. Stop in.

Dick

[MuskieDowg]

Good to see the Morson gang still posting. I haven't been on for a while. My parents were up in early July and said it was some of the best walleye fishing they've seen in a long time. Considering my Dad's been going up there since there were terridactiles feeding off your fish scraps, that's some good fishing. Anyway, keep up the posts, it's a great lift to read on a bad day of work!

Happy Hunting

[Shorelunch]

Your father-inlaws place must be just past Jack Eastman's. I think I met him a few years ago. Your place on Taylor must have been near Dick Eastman's place. Jack is a very good friend. Will be back and forth to his place next week. Stop in.

Dick

I know Jack. Very nice guy and good angler to boot. I used to know about every cabin owner on Taylor Bay, but not as much any more. There used to be some pretty crazy Saturday night bonfires at the Johnson's cabin (our neighbors) with Murry (the former Canadians player) and a whole list of characters.