Not a lot of change in fish behavior this week other than the bite for all species has turned up a notch. It seems the most recent couple of thunderstorms seems to have turned them on again. Walleyes are finally narrowing their presence in the water column, settling in at 15-20 feet. Leeches continue to be your best bet for consistent hits whether you’re using a spinner, jigs or plain hook. But don’t forget to bring along your swimbaits, pumpkin seed pattern especially, Rattlin’ Traps and Rippin’ Raps. Get out early and set up on sunken islands, points with fast drops and pinch points with a little bit of current.
Both large and small mouth bass as still shallow and absolutely smashing top water cranks! The big hogs are hanging out in less than 5 feet of water and have been very aggressive. The louder and more obnoxious the top-water crank, the better. Our fishermen said their number one bass bait right now is the Whopper Plopper followed by Live Target cranks. If you want to fish sub-surface, finesse fish the bass in shallow weed cover with a Ned Rig, Whacky Rig or swim bait. There are many great soft plastics that will leave you with a bent rod and smile on your face; Z-Man, Yamamoto, and Yum, Keitech, Berkley and Rapala.
Panfish have also been thrilling anglers young and old as of late. The panfish, bluegill and crappie, are relatively shallow in heavy weed cover. All of these tactics have been producing big slabs; night crawlers, leeches or crappie minnows on a plain hook under a slip bobber or tipped on a small jig. Of course, the old and trusty and battle tested Beetle Spin, and Mimic Minnows will not let you down.
Pike are cruising the same weedy shallows. As always, loud, flashy and obnoxious is the way to go. Of course, a large sucker minnow hooked just in front of the tail and allowed to swim under a large bobber is also very effective.
Trout are deep. Larger Stream trout and Splake are sitting just off the bottom at about 20 feet. Get a Salmo, Reef Runner or Flicker Shad trolled down deep or present a delicious night crawler no trout can resist. Lake trout are even deeper, start looking at 30 plus feet. Switch out that crawler of a frozen smelt on a large bucktail or tube jig or even just the smelt head on a large spoon and vertical jig right off the bottom. If your equipped, you can always use a downrigger to get down to depth and troll.
