outdoors

Well the weather is heating up and so is the fishing.  We had a great week.  My fishing team won the multispecies event.  Crappies were hitting and we did well on them, our bass and bluegills.
 
The crappies were in 4-6 feet of water and not overly agressive.  You had to slip bobber them, with plain hooks and crappie minnows.  We were missing fish when hooking the minnows thru the lips, but a good trick to use, that worked for us again, is to hook them thru the dorsal fin or tail.  Crappies love em and if they are not staying on the hook, it's up to you to figure out how to improve the odds.  We did and connected with solid hooksets after that little adjustment. 
 
The bluegills are spawning and using the bass beds when they can get them.  The bass are done spawning and putting the feed bags on.  Bass can be caught most any place now and are interested in biting most anything too.  Try plastics on docks, weed edges, mostly shallow, but they are moving to the mid depths already. 

The bluegills and warmouths are spawning in the shallow, 1-2 feet of water on sand and will bite anything near them.  You can get some nice ones right now.  But we released everything to keep the fishing at good levels.
 
Pike have been slower than expected on and off.  But they are still taking spoons and spinners trolled and pitched to good weeds, so don't forget them, that's some awesome fishing. 
 
Good fishing and hope to see ya on the water.
 
Minnesota Fishing Guide.com

Another day fishing, Sunday, May 24 and this time on a big Duluth area lake.  We were scouting out new areas while pitching spinnerbaits to shallow weeds and found small pike and had a big muskie follow right to the boat.  Water temps were in the 57-65 degree range, depending on what bay you were in.  Big shallow bays were warmer and reeds held pike. 
 
Some smallies were caught and biting, but it's not a fast bite and they were in their normal locations for spring on shallow wood and rocks.  Pitching right into stumps, trees and rocks was the ticket and you needed to use plastic worms to get them.   
 
The weeds are just starting to grow.  Many people were on their docks and even out fishing walleyes off points and sunken humps.  Jigs and minnows were the number one lures for walleyes.  
  
Yesterday, Saturday, May 23rd, I was out fishing with some great folks yesterday on another area lake.  
 
We found that the crappies had moved into 5-6 feet of water and on spawn in 62 degree water.  The males are very black now, so the spawn's on.  You could pitch or pull jigs and minnows behind the boat with the trolling motor and catch crappies, but over night the wind turned around completely, from out of the SE to out of the North at about 10mph. 
 
We had cloud cover early that turned into a clear sunny day.  A few walleyes were coming out of 10 feet of water with jigs and minnows or leeches, early and late in the day.  The crappies were slow today, except one here and there on wood.  We saw lots of bluegills, crappies, pike and bass moving in the shallows, along with the painted and snapping turtles. 
 
We pulled many bass including one 4 plus pounds.  So a jig and pig was a great goto bait. 
 
Pike were easily taken with spinnerbaits trolled at 2.5 mph, this bite will just get better. 
 
The bluegills are in full spawn and another boat beat me to the hot corner with loads of them in it, for a second day in a row.  Hey guys, my turn next time?  
 
Remember to get kids out fishing and I'll see you on the water.
  
MinnesotaFishingGuide.com  

Monday, May 11, 2009 Duluth area fishing report.  Well fishing is going great.  Lots of crappies and bluegills moving into the shallows.  Bass near spawn and heavy, but taking baits offerred in the correct spots.  Walleyes are hitting regularly on the St. Louis River, with lots of big eyes being taken. 
 
For the crappies look for the warmest water, start in shallow bays with lots of protection and sunlight.  They will be near structure, namely wood or reeds, at this time and very shallow.  You'll most likely see them high in the water column catching some sun to warm up.  Try small jigs, and use the lightest you can.  I like to start with 1/32nd ounce crappie jigs and pitch them and walk them over and through the wood and weeds, to search for crappies.  When you find them you can switch to light bobbers with hooks or tiny jigs tipped with minnows to stay on them. 
 
For bluegills do the same as crappies but tip with a piece of worm.  It's the same with all panfish and you'll find them all together or near one another at this time of year, just warming up and looking for the first bugs and minnows for food.  Food and shelter, that's what brings them to the shallows and wood. 
 
Now not all wood is equal, look for the aged wood, that will have the most food in it.  Some new trees are fine, but some will turn to slime and no fish likes that. 
 
Pike are easy with slow baits, or even trolled with spinnerbaits.  They are cold blooded and very aggressive, most anything works now, but they are also in the shallows 3-10 feet looking for food. 
 
The bass are getting going.  My bass fishing buddy, is a wiz with reading bass water and has already boated several over 5 pounds.  We've already boated over 100 bass, most over 14 inches.  They vary from lake to lake and spawning is coming soon.  You'll need to work to find them, but they are there and they are eating anything within their sight for long enough.  Slow baits are working best, but there are times you need to trigger and provoke a bite. 
 
Walleyes have been caught with jigs and minnows, spinners and bouncers, rapalas, and many other typical spring walleye patterns.  I have heard for fishing buddies of many over 8 pound walleyes already.  That's a great start and means that they are still running and spawning, meaning the big walleyes can be caught without going onto the big Lake Superior.  That's awesome and hasn't been the case for years.  That also means that we have a couple of great weeks of fishing before the majority of them leave the river system. 
 
That's it for today.  
 
Minnesota Fishing Guide.com