Any current reports?

Thinking of fishing the Big Pond tomorrow. Called the 2 bait shops I usually go to.

Tutts said the bite was strong on the mud (had to coax that out of him) and we can set you up with everything you need.

Prince said the bite was better than last year (which wasn’t very good) and the walleyes should be deeper now.

Any info from IDOrs on the bite or bugs?

Have found fish on mud gravel and sand.
Been primarily fishing with blades and crawler on flats or slip bobber and leech. Don’t be afraid to target eyes that are suspended. I have caught them as high as 10 feet below the surface in 30 feet of water.

Just got back from up there. We found most of our fish on the mud. Looked on some gravel but just didnt see much. Spinners and crawlers, rigs with leeches were better one day but seemed like mostly a crawler bite to us. Got em on bobbers at sundown either on rocks or mud. Good luck, it’s a solid bite.

IMO it’s been hit and miss. Been plenty of tough outings this year for me with some good outings mixed in.

We have caught some perch this year and have actually seen some young schools in the shallows (along with good numbers of shiners earlier in the year). So the fish have food to eat, which is a good thing.

Thanks for the replies. How’s the water level?
The cove bay station hasn’t been functional since about last October.

Water levels are back up from last fall, I see rigs at Cove Bay access every time I drive by. I know there has been hatches but I haven’t experienced them yet.
Evening bite on the gravel has been good to me but will start playing in the mud soon.

The deep mud on the west side produced bigger fish than what we found in the rock/gravel transition to mud. However the perch kind of offset the size difference.
There is a minor mayfly hatch now but nothing like years past.

There are fish biting on the deep cranks. I couldn’t get them to go on spinners/crawlers near july bar, so threw out a blue chrome and a clown. both got bit a few times in that general area, 30-35 fow.

My report from last Tuesday.
I only fished the mudflats. Caught 7 fish, 4 on slip bobber with leech or crawler using LiveScope. 3 caught on spinner on bottom bouncer with a crawler. Couple of bites on Lindy rig and leech but no hook ups.
First fish was a 24 1/4″ that I caught on the top edge of the flat. It stole 2 leeches (nose hooked) on slip bobber. The next leech I hooked in the middle and caught the bugger. It moved around but never farther than 30 feet from the boat.
The second fish was a 25″ caught 20 minutes later right under the boat. Other fish were 12″, 15″, 19″, 21 1/4″(did not keep) and 25″ (spinner rig).
Plan to head back up on Thursday and will pull more spinners.

tk7, how deep were your lures running?

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i was using a 1oz snap weight, 50/50. deep husky 10’s

Went out over the weekend and the fourth. Bobber bite is still the best bite out on the flats. Put my boys on quite a few in mid afternoon on Saturday so figured the bit was on. Marked fish but only got a few bites on live bait rigs, even less hook ups. Went to the same spots on Fourth of July morning, marked only 1 fish while doing an entire lap of East flat. Not sure if the storm the day before moved them or if it’s just that time of year, but they were no where to be found after the weekend.

Fish were on the chew yesterday.
Flats, spinners with crawlers, 1.3 to 1.5mph caught around 25 in afternoon. 7 bonus JP.

Saturday the 1st was good on the flats with spinners and crawlers.
Caught 32 walleyes by myself with the biggest being 22.5″.
Bearcat and his boy followed along in their boat and caught about as many. Top side and edges, didn’t see much activity off the edges.
Monday the 3rd was much tougher fishing until early afternoon when some clouds moved in. Fished west side flats and rocks and did best on flats, again spinners and crawlers did best. Managed a dozen fish or so with most coming in the last hour or so before we left. In seeing good variety of walleye sizes from 13-23″ which seems to be a good sign for the future

Was up last Monday and lots of fish on mud, like grubson said top edge was most active. Bobbers and slow death were small fish, but blades and crawlers were better fish. Had one slot and one over

Any secret colors or more detail on spinner presentations that have been successful? I have been using gold or yellow orange, 7-8ft snell leading up to a 2 oz bouncer or snap weight kept off bottom. planer boards and no planer boards with very minimal success on gravel and mud pulling 1.1-1.3 typically.

Same routine yesterday same result. One adjustment I had to make was to widen the gap on my harness. Was getting some short bites.

willconj wrote:

Any secret colors or more detail on spinner presentations that have been successful? I have been using gold or yellow orange, 7-8ft snell leading up to a 2 oz bouncer or snap weight kept off bottom. planer boards and no planer boards with very minimal success on gravel and mud pulling 1.1-1.3 typically.

I use a much lighter bottom bouncer and allow it to hit bottom. This allows you to get further from the boat. We noticed more hits further from the boat. Also if you change to a slow death rig you can slow down more. Make sure you are using mono leader not floro to add extra float. Silver, chartreuse have been good for us.

10 ft lead with larger Colorado blades have been working for me. I never drag weight through the mud.
I have been using custom painted blades with a variety of colors working.

What size weight are you using and how much line out at 1.3-1.5?

2-3 oz depending on how rough it is. Let back till I hit bottom couple cranks up. Keep checking by dropping back and feeling for mud.
I am also seeing a fair number of fish suspended way up like 10-15 ft down over 30 ft. I have only marginally targeted those fish with bobbers. They seem to be bigger fish. Have had the kiddo with last two times so action has been the main focus. He has had the hot rod with a custom glow yellow blue and black pattern copper back.

I struggled last Thursday. The fish would come up and look at the bait whether on slip bobber or pulling spinners. Marking fish all over. I saw one fish caught all day. Another guy I chatted with had no fish either and saw one fish caught. Beat the skunk with this smally caught on a spinner/minnow on a 14 hump working my way back to the access. The first time up to the boat it jumped and sprayed me.

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I fished Saturday, and only got one small. Marked fish all over, but no takers. I did see one net come out. I did have what I assume was a big northern break me off after fighting the fish for about 5 minutes.

Same routine for me Saturday. Similar results as earlier in the week. Tried some flats that I do not normally fish. Some were loaded on the edge some not.
The sharper the break on the flat the better.
Probably be pulling lead next time out.

Big mayflies being blown off the lake this evening.
Fish flies drove me off on Friday. I got nothing going so far but I have only tried longlining cranks.

Anyone have any luck over the weekend? We fished pretty hard Saturday with only a handful of real small ones to show. Saw very few get caught.

We hit the lake on our way up north to another lake just on the north side Vineland area. We had just put a couple hours in. Caught a few smallies and one Musky (43) with tube jig.