TURNING THE CORNER LAKE REPORT 7/8/2018
As we head into mid-July we may be finally seeing a slow transition to more summer like fishing. Even though the mayfly hatch increased in intensity it didn’t seem to affect the bite. Some are starting to find some success on the mid lake reefs, but they still seem to be inactive and scattered. The best walleye fishing is still working the wind but recently a little deeper, say 12’-25’. Personally, we found nice groups of active fish around island and shoreline points. Wind and soft bottom areas werestill the key and that should stay consistent until the recent mayfly hatch subsides. Besides the depth change, you could refer to the last couple weeks fishing reports as it feels like not a lot has changed. We have had multiple weather fronts which is moving fish from one area to another, but for the most part your technique should stay the same. Live bait rigs tipped with a leech or crawler has taken over unless you are heading down to Namakan where a jig and minnow seems work well. We found multiple active areas turning fish. Picnic, Ram and Etling were all good producers and when the wind was really howling, bays like Nebraska and Daly were good. Find the bug hatch, and you will find fish.
Larger northern pike are being caught and small mouth are still active along most shorelines.
The 4th of July ended up being just about perfect. After the weather passed the day was about as good as it gets. The fireworks display on Kab was awesome. Boats were seen from east to west watching the sky light up in numerous areas. It was a fun and safe holiday week. The lake was busy as the unseasonably warm weather brought out an above average amount of pleasure boaters. It was nice to see everyone having a great time!
As we turn the corner into mid-summer start checking your favorite berry patches. They are early this year as we were already picking our favorite spots last week. It looks to be a banner season as the ground was a sea of blue with berries everywhere. The horse flies and mosquitoes were out in force so don’t forget the bug spray and headsets.
Let’s keep the summer rolling and we’ll see you soon!
Jason and Robyn Cooper
GUIDE REPORTS
Trent Snyder
Great week to be on Kabetogama. Fishing was great in general we used a variety of leeches and minnows. 15ft to 20ft produce the best results and make sure you fish the winds. Lindy rigs and soft bottom. Good time to be on Kabetogama.
Travis Carlson
Lots of mayflies on the water this week however fishing was still good most days. Windy days or cloudy days found me spending most my time shallow again. Fishing weed lines and rocky shore lines in 8-14’ with live bait rigs and either a leech or half a crawler. Also, did well this week fishing mid lake structure in 16-24’ again with rigs and either a leech or a crawler.
Fishing this past week kept us guessing. I had the overall best luck with leeches. Best bite came from windward shorelines using a slip sinker rig or jig head. Lots of small fish and most active depth was 16’-20’.
Dominic Ruis
It’s safe to say we have hit the full on transition to the deeper water bite. I still found Thursday with strong west wind to be really good in shallow water all day. If you get the 20-30 gusty days you can catch fish in shallow weeds all summer long. On Tues, Thurs and Fri I found a decent shallow bite till about 8am then found fish to be on 15-23′ reefs the rest of the day. Both kabby and Namakan seem to be a similar bit right now. Live bait rigs with leeches on kab and leech/minnow on Namakan.
