Thanks for the show on the Chippewa flowage. I have often thought about fishing there but never have. Thanks to the show, I knows it’s a pretty good size body of water and there aren’t many people there!! Always a added bonus! 
I was surprised to see you even knew how to fish largemouth. 
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I was surprised to see you even knew how to fish largemouth.
Definitely not one of my strong suits… I guess I can fake my way through most anything if a fish is involved.
As for the pressure, we were there midsummer during a glorious run of nice weather and I don’t think we had to share a bay or fishing spot with another boat and the boats we did see were all families traveling around.
For those that missed it, here the link to today’s show >>> http://www.idofishing.com/videos/viewvid.php/Number/1107385
I kept waiting to see a Muskie come flying through the air and take a swipe at one of those bass that you were lipping 
Did Tanner mention much about those floating bogs? Do they move quite a bit or does it take a BIG wind to move them? I have heard the bogs will move from day to day sometimes. I never heard really how far they move.
Last question, what kind of depth did you find most places?
James do you guys take suggestions on show ideas LOL? You guys do such a great job explaining your plan of attack, i’d love to see you guys do a show on snap weights and spinners for suspended walleyes. Its something i am now outfitted to do and will tinker with it this summer.
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James do you guys take suggestions on show ideas LOL? You guys do such a great job explaining your plan of attack, i’d love to see you guys do a show on snap weights and spinners for suspended walleyes. Its something i am now outfitted to do and will tinker with it this summer.
Absolutely we do. In fact this Hayward show was based on a suggestion I received by email asking for a show that had the family in mind.
Spinners and snap weighs? Check. No guarantees… but I’ll put it on the list. 
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Did Tanner mention much about those floating bogs? Do they move quite a bit or does it take a BIG wind to move them? I have heard the bogs will move from day to day sometimes. I never heard really how far they move.
They definitely do move. In fact one area we fished had a huge bog on one side of a bridge we needed to pass under and Tanner mentioned that with the wrong wind the bog would drift up against the bridge and completely block the passage to the other side. The whole concept of moving structure was a new one for me.
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Last question, what kind of depth did you find most places?
We found almost all of our fish in shallow water. 1.5 – 4 feet deep with all the fish coming from arms and bays. The main “lake” was plenty deep for navigation… no worries there with a good map chip to guide us, but when it came time to fish we were in SKINNY water. It seemed like any place we found cattails growing out to 1.5+ feet of water… the bass were there waiting.
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James do you guys take suggestions on show ideas LOL? You guys do such a great job explaining your plan of attack, i’d love to see you guys do a show on snap weights and spinners for suspended walleyes. Its something i am now outfitted to do and will tinker with it this summer.
I would love to see that show also.
DT
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Great show. A little troubling to see how well the LM bass are doing up there. Starting to see a few over on the Turtle Flambeau. Not sure that’s a good thing for the walleye or smallies. It is what it is
So are you saying large mouth bass affect the Walleyes? 
I know some Muskie guys that have heard the same thing for years.
I absolutely believe that LM bass impact walleye. I’m starting to see more and more in the SCR. I dont think it’s a good thing
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I absolutely believe that LM bass impact walleye. I’m starting to see more and more in the SCR. I dont think it’s a good thing
Pfft….so please explain, Mille Lacs, Tonka, Leech, Mississippi, heck half the lakes I can think of have a good bass population along with a good walleye population. Really the only thing you can blame for the decline in a walleye population is over-pressure and over-harvest. Think about it, most people fish for walleye for the meat, whereas most bass fishermen fish for the sport, the only reason bass populations stay the same or go up is because a good majority of them get released, and the reason walleye populations go down is they are taken home for the dinner table.
Quit blaming a fish for the decline of the walleye and start looking in the mirror.
I’m a bass fisherman and I don’t keep walleye
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I absolutely believe that LM bass impact walleye. I’m starting to see more and more in the SCR. I dont think it’s a good thing
Pfft….so please explain, Mille Lacs, Tonka, Leech, Mississippi, heck half the lakes I can think of have a good bass population along with a good walleye population. Really the only thing you can blame for the decline in a walleye population is over-pressure and over-harvest. Think about it, most people fish for walleye for the meat, whereas most bass fishermen fish for the sport, the only reason bass populations stay the same or go up is because a good majority of them get released, and the reason walleye populations go down is they are taken home for the dinner table.
Quit blaming a fish for the decline of the walleye and start looking in the mirror.
That’s not quite true in this instance. The flowage is drawn down every winter and the way they’ve been drawing it down has been more beneficial to the spawning success of bass than it has been for the walleye. So the bass are flourishing and walleye recruitment is down. Do the bass eat some walleye fry? I’m told they do. But that is a secondary impact and not the real root cause. The good news is that the walleye anglers have worked together to greatly increase walleye stocking efforts, to make up for some of the lack of spawning success, and populations seem to be rebounding.
I also know the WDNR has removed the 14″ minimum on LM bass harvest in efforts to reduce the population. They would not do that if the fish managers didn’t believe they were making an impact.
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I also know the WDNR has removed the 14″ minimum on LM bass harvest in efforts to reduce the population. They would not do that if the fish managers didn’t believe they were making an impact.
Tanner was telling me that largies used to be fairly uncommon but 5 or 6 years back the populations exploded. Now they’re very common and becoming one of the more dominant predator species.
The local folks I talked to in Hayward are somewhat concerned. Would be interesting to get Tanner’s thoughts since he fishes it so much. I liked the show and was surprised at how good the largie fishing has become up there.
In the grand sceam of things there are a multiple of problems to the increase of LM Bass,the over presure and harvest of Walleye,also the lakes the bass have taken off on are not prime walleye lakes. with the warmer weather patterns and low water levels there is more weed growth and the lakes are ageing which is more advantages to LM spawn and growth. last but not least there is a huge following of catch and live release and not in the frying pan like the walleys. Stan 
Agreed. Seeing the same thing over here on the St Croix
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That’s not quite true in this instance. The flowage is drawn down every winter and the way they’ve been drawing it down has been more beneficial to the spawning success of bass than it has been for the walleye. So the bass are flourishing and walleye recruitment is down. Do the bass eat some walleye fry? I’m told they do. But that is a secondary impact and not the real root cause.
Yes, in this instance it is not true, but for him to point blame specifically at the LMB, when in this instance the reason they are flourishing in the Flowage is because they are drawing down the water level is complete nonsense.
I’m just tired of reading (on this and other forums) and hearing people blaming bass and musky for the reason of walleye populations decline, when there are so many other factors to contribute to the decline, most notably over-harvest.
The more people that have his mentality the worse it is overall for the fisheries. I hear of people that slice the belly of musky and bass and toss them back whenever they catch them. If I ever witnessed someone do that I would call TIP immediately. It’s such a waste!
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Do the bass eat some walleye fry? I’m told they do.
Do you not think walleye eat bass fry also? It’s nature, it happens. Have you never heard that walleye eat other walleye fry? I’d bet sunfish, northern, perch and every other carnivorous fish eat walleye fry also. So I guess since that’s the case we should net every lake and remove all the non-walleye species because walleye are the only fish that apparently should be in the lakes.
Lighten up Francis. I’m just relaying what I am hearing from locals and some research I have been doing. I wanted some “discussion” on the matter.
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Lighten up Francis. I’m just relaying what I am hearing from locals and some research I have been doing. I wanted some “discussion” on the matter.
Holy smokes, no kidding. Next time I’ll draw a food pyramid or a flow chart to illustrate species interaction and I can’t even count the number of off base assumptions made in that response. WOW.
And with that…
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Lighten up Francis. I’m just relaying what I am hearing from locals and some research I have been doing. I wanted some “discussion” on the matter.
Holy smokes, no kidding. Next time I’ll draw a food pyramid or a flow chart to illustrate species interaction and I can’t even count the number of off base assumptions made in that response. WOW.
And with that…
So you guys don’t believe that throwing something up on a public forum that is so blatantly false is bad for fisheries? IMO the more people that believe that, the worse the fisheries will get for all species.
BTW…why does defending a side of a topic that could have the potential of damaging a fishery require me to “lighten up”? Like I said, there are people out there that will kill a fish for no reason and dump it overboard because they believe in ridiculous things like that.
I think blaming bass for walleye population decline may be a bit of a stretch. I could see it being a big problem though if water levels and the overall make up of a lake cause poor spawning years for walleye and huge year classes for bass. If one species became too dominant I think it could definatly cause a steep decline in another. I think that is the fear with the asian carp, right? I get Rob’s frustrations though, musky anglers probably hear it the most. As soon as a guy has a bad day of walleye fishing the presence of the musky gets blamed. Nobody cares that some of the best walleye lakes in Minnesota are also the best musky lakes. A healthy lake or river should be able to hold healthy levels of several different species of fish.
In response to Rob2001…
And….ahhh…. I think that about wraps up this convo!
Well said Rob!
I’m not “blaming” bass for anything! Google “impact of largemouth bass on Chippewa flowage”. educate yourself by reading articles written by actual fishery managers. There is a legitimate concern over there on that particular body of water.
My question Stev-o would be, is it the bass causing the problem, or is it what james was saying and the spawning has just favored the bass?
Just like the issue people have been seeing with eel pout and the decline on them. People just killing for no apparent reason. I don’t think Rob was overboard just passionate about the topic and in defense for nature itself. That’s just how I see his comment.
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I’m not “blaming” bass for anything! Google “impact of largemouth bass on Chippewa flowage”. educate yourself by reading articles written by actual fishery managers. There is a legitimate concern over there on that particular body of water.
You said it…
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I absolutely believe that LM bass impact walleye. I’m starting to see more and more in the SCR. I dont think it’s a good thing
BTW..where’s your research on the “impact of largemouth on the St Croix”?
I think James is right with the spawning issue and water levels and temps, but what Rob has said is and can be true as well. There are a whole lot of factors in the decline of walleye in the Flowage.
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