Fishing Report 8-18-2017

Hey gang,

Fishing has slowed a bit over the couple of days. Fish are still biting, but the bite has been slow, and often tough to trigger. Monday was gangbusters, Tuesday and Wednesday were a slower. Weeds are at summer peak, and water temps are in the low 70's.

Panfish are suspending in deeper water, or holding tight to the bottom in areas where the weedline in adjacent to a steep drop off. There's also a solid batch of keepers in areas with lots of current. Tightlining vertically, slip bobbers or light lindy rigs are your best options for chasing keepers out deep, small jigs with plastics or skirts are better for the current orientated fish.

The bass bite dropped off substantially this week after the weather went through. Fish are still biting, but the catch rate and size of the fish being caught is down a bunch from just last week, but expect action to pick up as conditions stabilize some. Largemouth are making a slow move into transition areas, but it has been hard to pattern fish day to day. Docks and slop are holding fish during the sunny days, and fish are chasing bait throughout the day on the mid-depth (6-10 FOW) flats. Mornings were so-so, but afternoons were where it was at for active fish. Topwater, minnowbaits, grubs, flappers and jigworms are catching these schooling fish. Flipping into holes on the outside edge of the weedlines or on inside turns has been slow, but productive for the better fish.

Smallmouth have been more active, starting to wolfpack mid depth transition areas. Drop shotting edges, humps and current breaks, wacky, small cranks and soft jerkbaits are all catching fish, but crankbait along the edges of mainlake points has produced some better fish this past week.

Walleye bite has been hit or miss. The fish are tight to weed edges or in the deeper sandgrass. Lots of guys are reporting some short bites, and I certainly saw this when I was on the water this week. I didn't do any night fishing this week, but I'd guess the fish have been active after dark.  Slow death and back trolling lindy rigs with live bait had been producing, but like most of the fishing during the last week, some days have been far better than others.

Pike fishing has been steady for action, but inconsistent day to day. The fish are doing what they should be doing (chasing baitfish in open water along the weedlines) but connecting with them has been difficult to do. Live bait rigs are still catching fish in the 12-18 FOW range, and buzzbaits, spinnerbaits and lipless cranks are still moving fish out of isolated clumps of weeds in flat areas.

Musky fishing has been slow with very few reports of legal (40+inch fish) coming in. Undersize fish are chasing bait mid-morning and just before sunset The topwater bite dropped off, but I'm hearing about lots of follows on gliders and smaller jerkbaits.

Good Luck,
CT