Balsam Lake

[protrapper]

Anyone hit Balsam lake this spring yet for some panzies. Would like to get into some gills and craps. Wondering if anyone was out yet.Was a pretty slow march on the ice only highlight was for 2 days we hammered 9-12 inch perch in 5 feet of water. Never caught that many bigguns like that before in the lake... Later..

[ole]

Was up there today, still pretty quiet, they have been getting some crappies on Deer!
Good Luck! Maybe next weekend weather permitting.

[protrapper]

Anymore news to report on Balsam?

[Chev_trucks501]

Trapper,

Was on Balsam yesterday fishing for Bass and noted that there were almost no fish in the shallows. Even the sunnies were out in about 10ft. Bass were full of eggs staging to spawn. Other than that there were a billion boats on Balsam yesterday.

Good Luck
Chev

[protrapper]

Chev,

Thanks for the input. Gonna hit the lake this week maybe, I fish it winter and spring for panfish. Thought you mite want to know I caught lots and I mean lots off bass in 5feet of water through the ice in March while fishing perch. They where in weeds, on the south side of the lake east balsam part..
Good Luck and Thanks..

[protrapper]

anyone been out? I hear still slow on the lake never made it out this week. thanks..

[SPIN DRY]

Was out WED. water is still cold. Crappies weren't in the shallows yet. Good luck

[protrapper]

Was out on Balsam today with a friend of mine. We caught probably over a hundred sunfish and only a couple crappie. Between the two of us we kept 24 sunnies and 1 crappie. The crappie was full of spawn, so they have yet to drop eggs.

Lady at Gens Bait in Amery told me the crappies have spawned, I told her no way, water is still to cool.

[Guest]

Was at The Fishers of Men Bass Tournament prefishing the 16th and Tournament 17th. Man there were nice crappies everywhere, but the 14" plus bass were another story. The fish seemed to be spawn and immediate post spawn and mostly neutral to skittish and negative. It would have been a good day to teach people who say catching bedding fish is easy a lesson. When the fish really start "bedding" they are not so easy to catch because they are spawning and not feeding.

[catchin'whopper]

So would you say the bass were on beds then if they were spawning? yuou say post spawn in your post but made it sound like you were fishing bedding fish. how were water temps? what was winning weights? thanks for the info!

Catching'

[protrapper]

Was out there a few times this week. We hammered the slabs, you could see them down there. Caught some nice sunnies too. We also caught a bunch off bass on minnows and waxworms, they where in with the crappies. Biggest was a leat 5 pounds.

[Moses2531]

Does anyone go for Walleyes on Balsam? I haven't caught anything yet, and I was wondering if anyone had had any walleye success on Balsam lately??

[protrapper]

I have caught a few and only one was big enought to keep. 17 incher. THe other eyes where small and skinny judt like in the winter.

[Guest]

"So would you say the bass were on beds then if they were spawning? you say post spawn in your post but made it sound like you were fishing bedding fish. how were water temps? what was winning weights?"

Water temps Fri Mid 50's to Low 60's. Sat. Mostly low to Mid 60's.

There is a big difference between the "bedding" of pre-spawn and "bedding" once the spawn begins. In the pre-spawn the males are shuffling for position and may get moved off by other fish or move off themselves. The pre-spawners are making beds which may or may not serve as a spawning site. The males will be feeding aggressively at this time and so will the females. The fish are really moving around and active at this time.

Once a male starts spawning on a site than it takes a lot to move them off that spot although they will move within a certain radius of the bed to find females and guard the nest. This is what I consider true "bedding" fish because they have found their spot and will stay there. They are "bedded" down. Females move around in the spawning area and usually spawn with several males.

At this point the fishing will generally get tough. The fish mostly spawn at night and all it takes is a night or two for most of the spawning to take place. As soon as the females are at or near empty they vacate the bedding area to rest. Males that spawned successfully will guard the nests.

In the North under the right conditions, which I think we just witnessed (warming stable weather at the full moon), the fish can go from a vast majority of pre-spawn to post-spawn in a day or so. The bite goes from very good, good with lots of nice fish to tough and few quality fish nearly overnight.

Results: 60 Boats MN Division
1stCline & Bosshardt 5fish 14.34lbs &2nd Big Bass@ 3.69lbs.
2ndOswald, S & Langevin,R 5fish 13.30lbs
3rdDeFlorin, L & Kientop, J 5fish 12.96 lbs& Big Bass@ 3.80lbs.

I don't have the WI division results, but I think their top teams were less or the same people. Between the two divisions there were 73 boats on the water Sat. For 73 boats a Big Bass of only 3.8lbs shows that the prespawn and early spawn was history. All the big females had dropped and gone lethargic. Just when I though conditions called for a super slamfest, we missed it by probably 2-3days. That is the difference between the pre-spawn blitz and the post-spawn blues sometimes.

[protrapper]

The fishing has been great for me lately on this lake. Lots of nice bass and sunnies. Crappies are few and far between. The ones I caught the other day though still had spawn in them. Sunfish are on there nests in shallow water, bass are every place, can't keep them of the hook. Later....

[protrapper]

Anyone been out fishing here???