Summer Fishing Reports
August 3, 2018
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We are still catching walleye along with a good number of crappie, sunfish and bass. The walleye bite has been best in the evenings, but the day bite has been very good at times too. The rest of the species are usually willing to bite all day long.
Finding the fish is always the key to a successful day. This time of year I like to use my locator as well as troll a small "search type" bait. By search bait, I mean something I can cover a lot of water with, for example, a small jig and a plastic or crankbait. I will troll these baits at 1-2 mph until I either catch a fish that gives away the location to a larger school or I mark the fish on my locator. Then I can go back to that area and fish a slower presentation that usually yields a better number of fish. This technique allows me to fish where the fish are and not where I think they should be. We are using leeches and #5 crankbaits for the walleye. I've been having my best luck with leeches in 18-24' of water. Where as the crankbaits have been good trolled over deep water during the day and as shallow as 3-6 feet of water at night. The sunfish and crappie have both been hitting small jigs pulled slowly over the weeds. You can tip these jigs with either a leech or worm for the sunfish and a small minnow for the crappie. The bass are not in their prime yet but we are catching a decent number of them. Soon we will be in what I call the prime season, where a trophy bass is always a possibility! The hot bite for trophy smallmouth is generally September into mid-October. It's a favorite time of year for myself as well as many anglers. I start with fast moving baits and as we move into Sept. I will throw larger baits and continue to slow them down as the water temps drop. If you have any questions about fishing in the Alexandria Lakes Area feel free to shoot me an email and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. |
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July 13, 2018
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We are well into the summer patterns at this point and the fish are hungry! Sunfish, crappie, bass and northern have all been fairly aggressive. The walleye fishing also remains good, but the best time to catch them has been during the low light time periods. Early morning and evening have produced a lot of big fish over the past weeks.
With water in the 70's it's hard to believe but the sunfish have just wrapped up spawning. There is a tremendous amount of 8-8.5" blue gills around the area. Catching enough for a meal has not been a difficult task at all. Fishing with a plastic, small leech or worm have all been producing nice sunfish. Look to weeds in 8-16' of water. The crappie have been aggressive as well hitting small crankbaits and tube jigs trolled 1 - 2 mph. Troll right over the tops of weeds in 12-16' of water. Once you locate them try a slower approach to really put some crappies in the boat. My best techniques for walleye have been a lindy rig during daylight hours and a small crankbait after dark. Use a lively leech or fresh nightcrawler on a lindy rig pulled at .2-.8 mph along the weeds. This technique has put 100's of walleye in the boat this year already. Concentrate on the outside edge of underwater points and inside turns. These areas are generally where I find the walleye schooled up and active. As always feel free to email or text me if you have questions. Try to give me a few days to respond and I will do my best to get back to everyone! Good luck fishing! |
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June 22, 2018
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The fishing around the Alexandria area remains strong. The bass, northern and panfish seem to bite at will on almost every lake right now. The walleye on the other hand have been a bit more hot and cold. One night the walleye are jumping in the boat and the next you have to work for them. With that said, there has still been many lakes kicking out limits of walleye over the past week.
Bass I've been finding bass and northern nearly everywhere on the lakes right now. Deep weed lines in 18 feet seem to hold as many fish as the outside pencil reeds in 4-6 feet of water. Casting a top water bait or jigging your favorite plastic have all been producing a lot of fish. Panfish As usual the panfish have been extremely hungry. Both sunfish and crappie have been biting well but the sunfish are much easier to find. A small jig under a bobber in 12-16 feet of water has been all that's needed to catch a pile of tasty sunfish. Crappie have been a bit more difficult to track down, but most of them seem to be suspended over the weed tops in 12-16 feet of water. The guys that are fishing them hard are catching great numbers and size. A small 1/32oz jig and a white twister tail has been working quite well. Walleye The main concentration has been walleye. I've been primarily using lindy rigs with leeches and nightcrawlers. I'm trolling these lindy rigs very slow at 0-.5 mph. I've been finding most of my walleye on the outside weed edge in 16-22 feet of water. This is where they have been the most active. I'm also locating a good number of walleye in deeper water (25-30 feet), but they have been much more difficult to catch. Regardless of where you find them I'd recommend moving through them as slow as possible with a lindy rig for the best results. As always let me know if you have any questions about a certain lake or tactic and I will do my best to answer it! Good luck! |
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June 1, 2018
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What an interesting year it's been so far! We started off worried that there wouldn't be open water for the opener and just like that we have 70 degree water. I've never seen anything like this. Generally we are in prime minnow fishing time for walleye, but that ship has sailed on most lakes around the area. A good old leech or nightcrawler has been out producing minnows for the most part.
We've been catching walleye on a wide variety of techniques already. A lindy rig, a bobber rig, a spinner rig or a jig have all been producing walleye when tipped with a leech or nightcrawler. There are certainly lakes and times when a minnow will still shine, but for the most part I'm done with minnows until the water cools in September. The majority of the walleye are coming from 12-15' of water near new green weeds. If you can find a rocky area with new weed growth you will most certainly find the walleye. As good as the walleye bite has been the panfish and bass bite has been even better! I've heard of many anglers reporting 100 fish days. A mix of sunfish, crappie and bass in all sizes has been making some great memories this past week. 4-10' of water seems to be holding a lot of fish right now. If you're like many anglers you've been scratching your head at the current water temps, but I recommend you don't fight it. If the temps are 70 degrees... then fish like the water is 70 degrees! I include myself in that comment. It was hot and calm last weekend and there I sat with a pile of minnows that did not impress very many walleye. I quickly switched to a leech and it was game on! I've been telling people to fish like it's the fourth of July and you'll do fine! Good luck! |
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