I got run off the lake friday afternoon by the storm and struggled a little on Saturday, but Sunday morning was good. 5 fish over 26″ with just me in the boat and a 29″ was the biggest. I was hoping to break the 30″ mark, but no dice. It’s unreal the amount of big fish out there on the graph. Did better on lead core than a long line or a board.
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Nice! Hoping to pull some lead next week. Did you find a bait they liked best?
I ran just about every color of taildancer I had on Saturday with little luck. Ran a few reef runner colors too, but you aren’t going to believe what actually worked. I caught all but one fish on this kwikfish and all but one on this with leadcore.
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Saturday was tough. 3 lead lines running #5 hornets and tail dancers produced nothing in 2.5 hours in between the north end flats. Kept changing line out colors and speed between the three and nothing. Was marking the crap out of em. Then pulled spinners for a couple hours got two. Guess I should have tried Sunday.. dang
I ran just about every color of taildancer I had on Saturday with little luck. Ran a few reef runner colors too, but you aren’t going to believe what actually worked. I caught all but one fish on this kwikfish and all but one on this with leadcore.
Interesting. I haven’t been out in over a week but last time out my best luck was a lazy ike on lead. But I wasn’t getting them over the basin yet. Was picking things up near shallower gravel piles instead.
We were pressed on time Saturday and about the time we dialed things in we had to go. Chrome blue was the ticket. Nothing else got bit. We were running boards.
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I actually caught 9 fish Saturday morning (I believe you were just north of me) but I was rigging. Sunday was tough only able to get 2 (same area) Sunday Morning. I knew I should try trolling but just could not bring myself to switch. But I never would have pulled a kwikfish since I don’t have any. I have to bite the bullet this weekend and commit to trolling. Just wish I could get my wife out consistently so I could pull 2 lines.
I was out Saturday too … it was slow until the sun came out about 11am. Seemed like everybody starting picking up then.
The first trolling pass Sunday morning was very good, producing 8 walleye. 5 between 24″ and 26″. Trolling Tail Dancers. All 3 of the lines caught fish. It was slower after that, but that first pass was great. That lake is a lot of fun.
I told my wife the the buoys on 3 mile are a bass boat corral
Darn nice weekend out there! Was not trolling, but the power corking was going well again.
Think I saw more power poles than kicker motors the last few trips out! Man there are a lot of bass boats on the south end rocks.
-J.
I’ve never been in a bass boat but the ride didn’t look comfortable watching them cross the lake Saturday morning. Several were making the run from south to north.
Darn nice weekend out there! Was not trolling, but the power corking was going well again.
Think I saw more power poles than kicker motors the last few trips out! Man there are a lot of bass boats on the south end rocks.
-J.
I was one of those bass boats out there Sunday on the south end. Smallie bite is brutal right now with how stained the lake is. Switched to trolling crawler harnesses for eyes after a lunch break on 18-23 ft breaks. Still not great but caught 12 walleye from 2-8pm. And of course the first fish I caught on a crawler harness was a dandy smallmouth. 
Looks like we needed to go out a bit deeper.
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Hey everyone looking to make my 2nd ever trip up to the big lake this weekend. Not being familar with the lake a whole lot, my initial thought would be the fish should be out in mud (at least during daylight hours).
I am just wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction with any additional information would be great. I am willing to launch from anywhere so I don’t have my mind set on fishing any particular part of the lake…
Anything would help.
Hey everyone looking to make my 2nd ever trip up to the big lake this weekend. Not being familar with the lake a whole lot, my initial thought would be the fish should be out in mud (at least during daylight hours).
I am just wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction with any additional information would be great. I am willing to launch from anywhere so I don’t have my mind set on fishing any particular part of the lake…
Anything would help.
That is a very loaded question! There are walleyes in 6′ of water on the rocks, walleyes in 24-30′ deep gravel and walleyes all over the mud. It’s hard to point you in the right direction. How do you want to fish? Troll, lindy rig, pull spinners? Are you looking for big walleyes, numbers?
Unless you plan on fishing for muskies… after your done fishing the mud “during daylight hours” you best be headed in.
Nice job sticker. We fished the basin Friday and Saturday. On Friday we had a boat full and ran 2 lead and 2 boards. In the morning Reef Runners on boards dominated but lead caught up before we quit in the early afternoon. Chrome or predominantly white colored baits worked best. The biggest fish was 28” and our top 5 were over 26.5”. Saturday was the couples tournament. The day started great with 2 nice fish in the first 7 minutes. One on a Thunderstick on lead and the other a Reef Runner on a board. Ten minutes later a fish buried the board and a couple cranks in the line broke. There went the hot Reef Runner and our hot bite. Picked away at them the rest of the day and averaged about one fish per hour on mainly chrome/blue baits. We took 5th place and my brother and sister in law won the tournament. They put 4 nice fish on the card in 15 minutes Saturday afternoon about 2 miles away from us in the basin.
Two observations from 2 weeks ago-the fish we were on for a few weeks moved South over the last week and we didn’t catch many when we were in the heart of the big schools. Two weeks ago there was a big school and we were able to stay on them and catch fish all day. That school is gone but there were 2 schools of fish we worked Saturday. Where the fish were the thickest there was a quite a bit of bait and we couldn’t catch fish. The fish we did catch were usually on the edge of the school just before we started marking them.
Are you guys running braid/mono on the boards with a lot of line off the board to get down that deep? I have never trolled the basin but always have wanted to. I Love pulling boards 
I have been running 10 pound braid with 30 feet of floro leader. 120 to 140 back and then put the boards on with TDD-11 Tail Dancers. They should be running down about 29 to 31 feet.
Everyone is a little different on this. I run a 15 lbs. Power Pro and tie my cross lock snap right to it. Depending on where I see the baitfish in the water colum, I’m running 125-150 feet back depending on the dive curve of the lure.
Dont’t be afraid to fish up to 10 feet off of the bottom. These fish will go a long ways to hit the lure.
Everyone is a little different on this. I run a 15 lbs. Power Pro and tie my cross lock snap right to it. Depending on where I see the baitfish in the water colum, I’m running 125-150 feet back depending on the dive curve of the lure.
Dont’t be afraid to fish up to 10 feet off of the bottom. These fish will go a long ways to hit the lure.
I wouldn’t stop at 10′ 
good info thanks guys.
one more ? im in a 14 northwood which side of the lake would be better to launch at?obviously weather is a factor… closer to the action as my prop is sub_par so it will take a while to “run” anywhere.
Thanks, jeff
Sticker-
MPH?
Sticker-
MPH?
1.7 to 2mph, but don’t listen to me any more. I stunk it up Friday and Saturday. Ton of fish out there, but I could not for the life of me figure out what they wanted.
We bounced around a bit and found some active fish. Just enough to keep us interested.
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We went up Saturday morning again. 3 nice fish in short order and then they were done biting what we were dragging around. Marked lots of fish, but couldn’t get them to go.
Same results for me on Saturday. Marked lots of fish and only got one 25″ in 6.5 hours.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>eelpoutguy wrote:</div>
Sticker-
MPH?1.7 to 2mph, but don’t listen to me any more. I stunk it up Friday and Saturday. Ton of fish out there, but I could not for the life of me figure out what they wanted.
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