It looks like the rain is finally wrapping up for a few days and the winds have calmed a bit. The fishing has been tough on several of the lakes in the area over the last week with much of the area experiencing a Mayfly hatch. For those that have found success, the walleye have been scattered; in the late evenings and early mornings troll a spinner tipped with a leach or crawler harness tipped with a crawler. Start in about 5-8 feet of water and be prepared to move out to 15+. Look for mud flat transitions, rocky humps at about 8-15 feet and river mouths and cast Rapala Scatter Raps, Shadow Raps Jerkbait or X-Rap Slashbait. The three crankbaits by Rapala have amazing, erratic action that consistently trigger strikes.
For both large and smallmouth bass, top water action remains hot, if the lake is not overrun with Mayflies. Classic topwater presentations will all work just fine. For a soft plastics approach, Ned Rigs like the Zman Finesse TRD on a Zman Finesse Shroomz Jig Head worked though shallow flats should prove very effective.
Northern pike are following typical summer patterns. Smaller pike are usually in the weedy, shallow bays and river mouths while the larger pike have moved out a bit deeper. If you are targeting bigger pike, large crank baits like a Rapala Shad Rap in size 9 or a Deep Tail Dancer in size 9 or 11 might just be the ticket for a big pike strike. There are also the old school tried and true spoons, Mepps Spinners of simply a large sucker minnow suspended under a bobber.
Lake trout are deep, 40+ feet. Here again, Deep Tail Dancers, large Salmos like the Salmo Freediver in size 12. Troll these using weighted line or a downrigger. You may also want to give jigging a large buck tail or Dr Spoon a try as well.
