Fishing Report 7-25-14

Conditions have been relatively stable.

Water temps around the area are in the low to mid 70's.


This is the Okauchee Tie-Up Weekend...so you might be looking for another place to fish on Saturday.

Panfish are in the late summer pattern. A few quality fish are still with the little fish in the dense shallow weeds, but the large majority of keepers are suspended in deep water. Look for schools of fish 14-22 feet down over deeper water, or along the bottom in 18-22 feet. Slip bobbers or tightline vertical presentations are you best options, and if you can get a good drift going, that's your best bet. Panfish leeches, plastics tipped with waxies, leaf worms or chunks of nightcrawler will work.

Largemouth bass fishing has been surprisingly good the last week all things considered. Lots of fish are suspending just off of mainlake structure that has a steep drop into deeper water. If you're out early, you can connect with some of these fish on topwater until about 8:30am, then you'll have to go deeper. Shallow fish are using the docks and isolated clumps of weeds along rock/weed transition areas. Flipping jigs, or skipping plastics has been very effective, and has even pulled in some decent fish. The slop bite has been so-so, but docks have been hot.  Out deep: crankbaits, drop shots, big texas rigged worms (10-12") and slow rolled spinnerbaits are catching some fish around deep weed edges and off the secondary structure located on major points.

Smallmouth bass fishing was so/so the last week. Lots of fish are cruising the shallows, but getting a consistent bite has been very tough. Schools of smallmouth are  patrolling the rockbars and shallow rocky points a couple of times a day.  Skirted grubs, jig and chunks and tubes in natural patterns work great, as does the old standby, the Rebel Crawfish.

Walleye fishing continues to be a hit or miss proposition. On cooler days with some wind/cloudy conditions, some anglers are catching fish out of the weeds vertically jigging the holes with live bait. Evening fishing has been about average, with lindy rigs and nightcrawlers catching most of the fish. Look for fish on the weededge in 12-18 FOW and again between 22-27 FOW on deep gravel, rock or in the sandgrass.

Pike fishing has been slow and steady. Lots of smaller pike are chasing spinners, lipless cranks and buzzbaits around mid-depth weed clumps, but bigger pike have been hard to come by consistently this year. As the days start to get shorter, the photocycle will start to trigger some more fish to chase yellow perch or small suckers into the weeds.

Musky fishing...has been pretty slow. A few fish are using current areas with lots of baitfish, but they have been hard to catch. Topwaters are producing a few early and late, as is trolling the main basins with deep diving stickbaits.

Good luck out there. Be safe.

Cheers,
CT