Rock Lake

Better question would be, are there any gills left in this lake?

Are there any bluegills suspended at this time?  BG25

Out finishing up my projects yesterday (06/20/23). Very nice morning, left after 4 hours to avoid the heat. Like before marked lots of schools of fish south of the north landing. Tried to video one of them but they were on the move and I didn't have the time/patience to wait for them to come back through. During my trips to Rock Lake and scanning most of it (except the shallow areas) I've run across a few small isolated rock areas. Sample video screen grab is attached. When training people on using side scan I encourage them to take some time and concentrate on looking for structure, rock or other areas that attract fish. In the attached sample after the thermocline is well established that rock area in 28 FOW with some weeds can be a draw for Walleyes. When I used to dive a LOT I loved it when I found a small bar like this, especially when there wasn't any remnants from fishermen/boaters (not lures, beer cans, fishing line, etc.) since this pointed to an area most people didn't know about. I may actually make a trip back to Rock Lake this summer and actually do some fishing, may even keep a dozen gills! But found areas like this at all depths. The other attached screen grab is of a Pike with a deformed (broken?) back. I've seen this a few times over the years. Water clarity, as seen in the photos is still fairly decent, at least to the camera. I had similar conditions on Mendota last Monday where I dropped the camera down on an old boat before I dove on it. Looked good on camera, but when I got down to it the clarity was poor. Found a larger log in 52 FOW, water temp there was 53.4°F, surface temp was 72.1°F. 

Spent 4 hours on Rock Lake this morning. Water temp at 61.7°F, at 40' it was 10° cooler. Didn't check the deep holes, will next trip out there. Water clarity decent down to 40'. Went through 19 earlier sonar hits to identify them and shot 9 videos. While diving (and from the boat with the Aqua-Vu) I've seen freshly laid Perch eggs many times. Today though is the first time I can remember seeing them in a more advanced stage. Hard to see clearly in the attached photo (videos show up a lot better) but I saw a few areas where it looks like the egg sacs are greatly expanded and spread out. They basically cover the weed beds in each of the areas I looked at. Some looked more like the original sacs, draped over the top of the weeds. I'm going to bounce this off a DNR contact of mine and see what he thinks. The other photo (actually a video frame grab) shows a small number of little Crappies (there were a lot more, but this was basically the best frame to grab since it shows the Crappie close up. All the others showed them out far enough that it was hard to tell what they were. Now time to process all the videos!

Anyone know if the piers are in? Heading out tomorrow I will post a report after. Thanks!

Tried the marsh. No crappie or gills. 3 incidental bass. Marsh isn't what it used to be for panfish in April and May.

Main lake 44, Marsh 48-49.

Ranger, same here. I went out from Shorewood yesterday. I marked lots of fish and only caught 3 little ones. Drilled about 15 holes and fished some existing ones. The bite had been tough all year on Rock, but yesterday was the worst for me.

Fished 2-5 pm off off Elm Pt in 8’ water with weeds. Caught 2 nice 7.5” gills and 12 sm gills 3-4” . Marked many fish but were most of all negative. Tried waxies, spikes, and plastic combos. Waxies on chartreuse jigs got most bites. Air temp 50, ice surface good with Minsk water and slush. A year ago great bite at this time but not this year, yet?