When Rob speaks, people listen. Please don't over harvest the resource. 

plastics will out fish minnows any day of the week.....

A warm and rainy week helped those anglers not afraid of getting a little wet while angling for their favorite fish.  Lots of good reports across the board.  A bit of a cool down on Sunday seemed to affect fishing by late morning, but things picked back up by Sunday evening.

Walleye:  Very Good-Good – Back in the spotlight as the cloud cover and warming water brought Eyes into the shallower water on many lakes to feed.  Leeches were hot for most bites with dace, fats and smaller chubs not far behind.  Wind blown weedy shallows where small Perch, Bluegills and Crappies congregated were tops!   Reports from Bass and Pike anglers catching Walleyes over shallow weedy flats were not uncommon over the weekend.

Crappies:  Very Good-Good – Reports vary as some anglers finding Crappies still on beds while others moved out to nearby weeds to feed.  Don’t expect to find bedding fish for much longer, but Crappie populations seem to be strong and still very good catches being reported.  Small jigs (Gapen Freshwater Shrimp and Mini Mites) under small floats as well as the good ol’ bobber & minnow rig working best.

Smallmouth Bass:  Very Good – Big Smallies in the 3-5# range being reported every day as fish are up shallow and on beds!  Top-water action on Chug Bugs, Pop-R’s, Zara Puppy’s have been a blast!  Ned Worms, Wacky Worms and tubes not being turned away.   Remember, season is catch & release only, get ‘em back in the water quickly to ensure great Smallie fishing to come.

Largemouth Bass:  Very Good – Not in spawn mode like the Smallies, but cruising and hungry.   Spinner baits and chatter baits scoring well as Bass active.  Swim baits and shallow cranks also producing over weed tops.  Lots of #’s with some nice LMB in the 18-20” range reported.

Northern Pike:  Very Good – Take your pick!  Actively pursue with a spinner bait, chatter bait or Mepps, or kick back with a bobber and chub or sucker, Pike have been willing participants.

Bluegills:  Good – Anglers targeting other species for the most part, but doing well with shallow water action.  Like Largemouth, Gills are not bedding, but enjoying a smorgasbord of bugs and small invertebrates.  Tiny jigs or just a plain Aberdeen hook with some worms, small leeches or thunder bugs all producing well.

Yellow Perch:  Good – Like Gills, not heavily targeted, but decent catches in and around drowned wood and cabbage flats of 4-8’.

Looks to be a good, yet cool weekend weather wise.   Cold mornings may lead to better late morning bites and better evening fishing.

Musky opens on Saturday, May 29th.  A lot of sightings of paired (and tripled) Musky in shallows as they are spawning, many fish showing signs of “rough” Love!   Could be finished on small to mid-sized lakes by week’s end.     

We did not do well on big smallmouth. Lots of smaller ones. 

We did not do well on pike.  

We did get a mixed bag of crappie sizes, some small perch, a LM bass, and some big rock bass today. 

However, the story of the day on both lakes was that we were funneled into bluegill fishing because it was simply so good! Quite a few fish and some truly impressive sizes. So easy, that my son did not need bait on his jig at times. I don't bluegill fish much....so I'm no expert, but I can see where this is a very fragile resource. These small lakes would be severely affected by over harvest this time of year. Just too easy to catch them when they are stacked together in the shallows. 

Great day to be out. Makes up for the poor fishing my son and I had in early May. I call myself the "Average" fisherman and that's my report!

(NO FISH NO PAY GAURANTEED)

A few days behind in posts.

Some of the nicest clients possible. These 2 brothers were awesome. Catching fish and laughing all day long.

Always asking questions, wanting to learn more about fishing and enjoying the day. Great job guys, look forward to seeing you in the fall.

Warmed up nicely today after 2 days of rain.

Our store hours are M-T-W-Th 6am to 7pm, Fr 6am to 10pm, Sat 6am to 7pm and Sunday 6am to 5pm.

Someone sent me a friend request to offer some crappie tips. Unfortunately I accepted it before I made note of the user name and now have no idea who sent it to me. If you're reading this, you should be able to PM me now. And thank you for replying!

Fished a couple deep clear lakes a week ago. Hoping a good 7 days of warming trend should get things going.  Did not find any smallmouth or crappies shallow.

Obviously there's no predicting the future, but based on how things are progressing, how do we look for Memorial Day weekend to be in general?  More specifically, if the crappies are spawning now or soon, what do you look for to target them post spawn?  Never been much of a crappie guy before, but we're headed up to Little St. Germain again and was able to show my wife and daughter a good time fishing them shallow last year. Seems we're looking at a different timeline/pattern this year. 

With the poplar and dogwood trees blooming, it’s a sure sign of Crappie time!  Surface temps are rising quickly on lakes as warm weather with lots of sunshine is adding energy to the shallows!  Oddly, not all bodies of water are seeing a rush of life to the shallows.  Certain species on some lakes have held out in deeper water (Walleyes in mud flats), but this should change soon.

Crappies:  Very Good – In to spawn, anglers are finding bedding fish in 1-4’ of water depending on water clarity and available backing or cover.  Following a weekend of high pressure, some areas are picked over, move around to less obvious spots, but keep movement down and cast long not to spook fish.

Northern Pike:  Very Good – Live bait and artificial lures all producing well as Pike active in new weed growth.  Swim baits a good choice as anglers can “count down” to different depths, retrieve speed and vary action (straight, hop, etc.)

Smallmouth Bass:  Good-Very Good – Catch and Release only as season not open ‘til June 19th.  But action good with big fish in the 19-21” range being caught in shallows (anglers reporting bedding Smallies already) using X-Raps, Husky Jerks or going soft with plastic craws or Ned worms.

Largemouth Bass:  Good-Very Good – Cruising shallows taking offerings meant for other species (Crappie, Smallmouth).  Black, brown hair jigs, Ned worms, Wacky worms all good choices.  Some anglers working spinner baits over 3-5’ mud/muck bottom areas also doing well.

Walleye:  Fair-Good – Surprisingly, not a lot of hot shallow bites.  Bright, cloudless days could be affecting, but a few days fish turned on in shallow weeds at times.  Jigging leeches, fatheads, dace on 1/16 oz weedless Jacks or Invasion jigs.   In some bodies of water Walleyes remaining over mud flats feeding on Mayfly larvae.  In these areas small to medium leeches best.

Bluegills:  Good – Lots of fish roaming shallows, mostly smaller fish.  Worms, thunder bugs, poppers behind clear floats.  Not a very targeted species right now with focus on Crappies.

Yellow Perch:  Good – Little attention, but a few anglers targeting Perch in wood scoring nice catches on medium fatheads, half crawlers or thunder bugs.

I’ve been seeing Smallies bedding already, Musky paired up in shallows and suckers also working beds at the same time the Crappies are spawning.   Not totally unusual, but as early in the month and so condensed at the same time is.  Weed growth seems behind, but improving with all the recent sun and warmth.  Weekend should be good, yet forecast says wet - but that can change.