Early summer fishing patterns, when compared to most typical seasons, are running a bit behind schedule this year. Water temperatures remain cool, baitfish are moving in and out across the flats into and out of the shallows. Walleyes following their preferred food source, move in and out with them, appearing in a variety of depths, changing locations from one day to the next.
For some, the nomadic behavior causes problems because the moving schools of fish are more difficult to “pattern”. There are some anglers taking advantage of it though, finding small schools of walleye in a wide range of locations, depth ranges and feeding moods.
The best way to describe their method might be “stalk. locate and fish”. What that means is that they move along slowly, watching for fish on side-imaging sonar, locate schools of fish and then stopping to zero in on them. For some folks, advanced “forward facing sonar” is then used to pinpoint fish. Folks without the advanced electronics can still catch fish, they just have to make a few extra casts, and move a little bit more to do it.
“For me, knowing the general territory fish inhabit is good enough,” Jeff Sundin says. I get a handle on the key depth, or structure that the fish are using and then ask my customers to cast in that direction. If anything, knowing the structures fish are using and following my Lakemaster chart to stay in position, is more important than being able to see individual schools of fish on my sonar screen.” The veteran fishing guide adds. “Being determined, following the contours, and casting deliberately toward potential fish holding structure will eventually lead us to new schools of fish.” He concludes.
Structures most likely to hold fish right now are shoreline breaks in the 16-to-24-foot depth range. Often, walleyes during the daytime, are positioned along these breaklines. When conditions turn favorable for feeding, they begin moving across the mid-depth flats, heading for the shallower shoreline breaks adjacent to the shallow sand flats where minnows and small baitfish are plentiful. Key depths during the feeding spurts range between 4 and 8 feet of water.
Jig and minnow combinations continue to be favored by most anglers on the big lake. There are some folks using slip bobbers and leeches, and a few more using live bait rigs and larger minnows, or night crawlers. Suring the evening, and just after dark, trolling the flats using crankbaits will produce not only walleyes, but some larger size northern pike too. Tailor your lure weights to the depths you’re fishing, 1/8 ounce jigs are more common than anything and work well in shallow water, 6 to 12 feet. On the deeper breaklines, ¼ ounce jigs are better and at times, 1/16-ounce sizes should be used in extreme shallow water, 3 to 6 feet, for example.
Crappie anglers, accustomed to finding fish in shallow water during late spring, are reporting mixed results. In certain, select areas, crappies have been found in patches of bulrush in water depths of 3 to 3 feet. There are more fish being found deeper though, located in patches of cabbage in water depths of 6 to 10 feet of water. The cabbage plants are often used as transition areas both before, and again, after spawning. Right now, we think they are still in a “pre-spawn”, but knowing for sure can be hard to pin down.
Jig and minnow, jigs and plastics, and bobbers with live minnows are the most common presentations. Some crappie anglers troll the cabbage patches with spinners, or spin jigs too and this presentation can be effective, especially for locating small schools of fish. Troll at speeds of .9 to 1.3 MPH until fish are encountered, then stop and fancast the vegetation using jigs tipped with plastic tails.
Perch anglers report finding low numbers of high-quality fish on the big lake. When you find them, they are nice, 11 to 12 perch are common: that’s the good news. The bad news is that finding them takes effort, populations are low, and key habitats vary wildly. Shallow vegetation in 3 to 5 feet of water is one key area, so are shallow patches of mixed gravel and light rock. Another key area to check is the deep, sand to mud transition along shoreline breaks.
Marl, a semi soft mix of sand, clay and mud is where insect hatches occur and the bugs, especially bloodworms, are highly attractive to perch. Marl can be found anywhere, but on Lake Winnie, can be found easily in water depths of 24 to 30 feet along the shoreline breaks and even out on mid-lake bars and humps. There are reports of folks finding perch in these areas and catching them using live bait rigs with short, 2-to-4-foot leaders tipped with live minnows. The best minnows for this presentation are rainbows, larger fatheads and some of the “river-mix” varieties.
Northern pike have been caught in good numbers ever since the fishing season opened in mid-May. This week though, there’s been an uptick in the number of larger pike being caught. Chunky fish in the 26 to 30 inch range have been reported daily, and occasionally, fish over 30 inches strike as well. Most of the pike have been caught are bonus fish that come along during the pursuit of walleyes. Pike striking on jig and minnow combinations is not breaking news. So, if you want to catch a few for dinner, you will probably get plenty of them while you fish for walleyes on your jigs and minnows.
Catching larger pike may not be that simple, they like bigger meals than that. To target larger pike, try casting large spoons like Red Eye Wigglers, or big Daredevils. Jumbo size spinnerbaits are good too and so are crankbaits like magnum Rapalas. Fishing vegetation like cabbage is one good location, but rocks are another, sometimes overlooked pattern. Live bait rigs, tipped with larger, 6-to-10-inch size sucker minnows is a good presentation for deeper rocks, and along steep breaklines on mid-lake bars.
Sunfish will become important soon, but so far haven’t appeared on the radar screens of our guests. As water temperatures warm, they’ll be getting more active, and a larger part of our daily conversations, we’ll ley you know when that happens.
As we roll into summer, expectations for walleyes transitioning into summer feeding patterns are heightened. As a parting thought, we think this is a good time to start experimenting with alternative presentations. Even though jig and minnow presentations are still reliable, leeches, night crawlers and artificial lures will begin working better soon. Carrying a few of everything, rather than a lot of any one thing, is an idea that makes sense right now.