Fishing Report 6-13-2013

Conditions have varied greatly over the last week. The bite has been good or awful, with not much in between. Weed growth is about average for mid-June, with milfoil really taking off in many places. Water moved into the low 70's on many area lakes this week.

Panfish are spawning, but the numbers of beds you will see shallow is down significantly this year. There are some decent fish spawning in the 10-18 FOW range. Waxworm tipped plastics fished vertically on tight lines are catching these bigger gills, but a light lindy rig with a panfish leech can really produce, especially in the deeper water areas. Sand or gravel are key areas.

Largemouth fishing has been spotty. Its not that you can't catch fish, it is the patterning of fish that is difficult. Some fish are still defending fry, but many are in a post spawn mood. You can target LM by fishing for bass around the outsides of areas where gills are spawning. Wacky, popper-topwaters, minnow baits, soft jerkbaits or bright colored floating worms can really produce when the fish are on. If the bite is tough, tubes, jig and chunks, spinners or buzzbaits fished around scattered weed clumps (and tight to them at that) can trigger some less agressive fish to bite.

Pike fishing has been on-fire, with lots of guys who are fishing for bass or musky reporting solid catches of pike. Keepers are coming in 6-12 and 18-25 FOW.

Walleye are biting great, although the best bite has been mid-day. Shallow weed edges adjacent to deeper water are holding fish which can be jigged/rigged for, or fished by casting grubs or minnow baits.

Not much to report on the musky front. Reports seem to indicate lots of lazy follows from smaller 30 inch class fish.

There's a tournament on Okauchee on Saturday...WABTA.

Good Luck,
CT

Lac Labelle Day 2

Fished a little more today, primarily in the afternoon.

Took my older son Shannon out for just some father-son time. Shannon likes to fish, but he has a time limit for how long it is interesting to him. I knew today would be no different.

Headed right out to one of the waypoints I set yesterday. Dropped the lindy rig over the side, let out some line and handed him the rod. We made it about 75 feet before he asked me if he had a fish, saying there was something pulling.

Here was the first of the two walleyes he caught. I was proud of him as he did it all by himself.

First one was 15 after we caught a 16.5 he had "beaten" the longest fish that Quinn had caught yesterday, so he was ready to go in. I dropped him off at the pier and headed back out.

The wind was picking up, so I killed the motor and had two rods out drifting. I caught six walleyes 14-18" on one long drift, and headed in for dinner. Pops and I went back out after the kids went to bed, and we caught a mixed bag of crappies and whitebass before we called it a night.

Fish were shallower early, deeper later. Weed edges, especially those adjacent to a drop off have been key.

Going to hit it in the early AM tomorrow, looking for smallies.

Cheers,

CT

Lac Labelle-Day 1

My parents are staying at a place on Labelle for a couple weeks. We are looking forward to spending some time with the kids at the lake before they get busy with summer activities. I don't fish Labelle often, but I always enjoy it.

Made it out for a couple hours mid-day today. I wanted to show my Dad how to fish the weedlines for walleyes.

Found weeds out to 13 FOW, but the real weedlines are in about 10 FOW right now. Kept it simple, lindy rigs with leeches. Caught 4 and missed a couple more in about 90 minutes of fishing. Hit the first fish in 19 FOW, but the next three were right on the weed edge in 9-10 FOW. Fish were 14, 15, 15, and 16.5.

Will be at it several times over the next couple of weeks. Going to focus on primarily walleyes, but I'm looking forward to doing some smallmouth fishing in the early mornings, and some topwater for musky after dark.

Here's my daughter Quinn and her "Pop" with one of the ones we caught today.

Take a Vet Fishing

I had an absolute blast at the Take a Vet Fishing event on Lake Waubesa Today. I signed up to take a vet out for the event and I'm absolutely glad I did.

I'd never fished Waubesa before, but tried to keep it simple. Long drifts over a mainlake point with a mix of sand, rock and weeds. We were casting jigworms, and Steve had a rod out with live bait on a split shot rig. Like I said, simple.

We hit some active fish early and caught a mixed bag of both largemouth and smallmouth bass. After a bit, we also started picking up some walleyes and even grabbed a nice pike. Fished 7-11:30am, ended with more than a dozen mixed.

It was a fantastic event, well organized and well executed. Boats were launched/taken out quickly and in orderly fashion. I'm really looking forward to next year.

Here's Steve with a nice smallie from today.