Annual Trip, Checking into the local happenings

[robertmowen]

Hey Friends,

I'm headed your way for my annual trip in a week up from Texas, through family in Buffalo. With all the fires, and the weather forecasts I can see from a distance, it seems terribly dry up there. How is the lake handling it?

Any help on what we can expect of the seasonal traditions? Bugs (including the shad flies), blueberries, and the fish bite... With it being so warm and dry, have the walleye started to move into their deeper waters already?

Finally had keeper walleye in last year's slot after 10 years of catch and release. Hoping for an active fry pan this year...

Thanks y'all. This outsider still drops into the message board 5 days a week to keep me eager. Work has been a handful this year, and I'm looking forward to some porch sitting.

tight lines.

[Grumpa]

Hey robertowen.
My wife and I just got back from a weeks fishing mostly in South Bay on Nip.
Fishing was very good, bordering on exceptional at times.
We ended the week with 250 walleye (65-70 in or over the slot) only fishing a couple hours each day, between 11am to no later then 4pm.
It was calm and generally sunny, high skies most day. Almost too hot at times.
There was a definite forest fire induced smoke haze present throughout much of the week.
Surface water temps rose steadily all week and had jumped about 10 degrees F (up to 73-74F) by the time we left.
We caught most of our fish, certainly the better ones, slow trolling with the electric on bottom bouncers and spinner rigs tipped with worms. Then drift fished or anchored if the trolling motor became pointless in the waves.
We worked mostly on and around near or off shore (mid lake) sunken structure in the 20-40 ft range concentrating on visible fish, particularly bait fish schools, that showed up on our fish finder.
Most of the bonus jumbo perch we caught barfed up midge larvae, spiny water fleas and water snails in our live well and many of the slot pickerel we kept were barfing up fully moulted dragonfly larvae as well.
Very few fish I cleaned had any baitfish in their stomachs, mostly invertebrates and insect larvae.
We observed a steady raft of hatched midge carcasses floating by all week, but only a few hatched mayfly carcasses. We saw no mayflies rising off the surface during our stay. However, the water temps are in the right range to see the may fly hatch begin on the main-lake. The hatch probably has started in the shallower warmer areas and may have even begun on the deeper parts of the main lake since we left Tuesday.
Mosquitoes were manageable, Ive seen much worse over the years.
The lakes water level seemed to have dropped fairly quick and its pretty much back to seasonal norm, after being elevated earlier in the spring.
That?s all I got.
Good luck on your trip and post pictures.

Remember, you didn?t catch it unless you produce a photo.

[Grumpa]

My wife scores again

[Grumpa]

And again.
I?m pretty much a glorified net boy for the week.

[Grumpa]

I did however catch more then a few of these stupid things.

[crappeeeman]

WOW that is an amazing week of walleye fishing.

[robertmowen]

Perfect post Grumpa. Thank you. I'll do my best to produce proof.

[mparen54]

How's the air quality out there? Hoping this rain tamps things down a bit

[Woodfarmer]

Where did you stay Grump, cabins?

[Woodfarmer]

Where did you stay Grumpa, cabins?

[Grumpa]

Greening Bay Cottages, Woodfarmer, great place to stay. We?ve stayed there several years now. The very accommodating new owners Tara, Brandon and family have cabins, boats and docking facilities.

[Longshank]

that is some stellar fishing

fo many that would be dreams come true


keep at it Grumpa

[robertmowen]

Better late than never...

Trip went excellent! Very warm, it made the swimming easy!

Perch were back in the fishing hole that I caught them in growing up. They had been in much fewer number in recent seasons it seems.

Caught a couple keep walleye, and even one over the slot. Caught many under the slot too. Fishing was the best it had been in years, but our pike holes weren't producing.

Best bait for walleye was a worm or a leech on a chartreuse jig head with a tiny spinner. Leeches seem more durable, so they were popular, though cost a little more.

Big thanks to Bowman's bait near Fish Bay marina. Always quality bait and a good chat.

Highlight was getting mom back to the cabin and my nephew for catching his first fish. The fish were cooperative enough to keep his attention and the ankle biting flies weren't awful. The mosquitos shortly after sundown had us running from the dock to the cabin though.

Trip was end of June beginning of July. Hope everyone is still having a good season!

[Neil]

Thanks for the report. Sounds like some memories were made and congrats to you nephew on his first fish!

Those ankle biters are a pain.

[Backroadsfishing]

This was a great read. Glad to hear the walleye are making a come back in our area (I'm from Callander). The pictures were great to see and congrats to the new little fisherman on his first catch. I think it's his first of many.

Cheers

Steve