Hayward Walleyes?

Hi All,

I will be in Hayward from 7/12-7/19 staying at a resort on the Chippewa Flowage. Fishing the Chip in mid July has been hit or miss for us and I would like to branch out and visit some new lakes. LCO, Grindstone and Round are the three lakes I have in mind. It looks like they are all deep clear lakes that hold bait such as cisco, has anyone had any success trolling cranks over the deep basin in July? I have had luck in Northern MN with this pattern, however only at night.

Any info one the walleye bite (trolling in particular) is much appreciated!

Forgot to add one more thing… It looks like there was a formal report written on here a few years back regarding LCO trolling walleyes. Is there anyway to go back and find these reports on this new site?

I have a cabin just west about and hour from Hayward and have only fished LCO in the winter and have done well on some of the islands. I know what I have seen and had luck with is trolling rapala’s off plainer boards over the weed beds. I hope your trip had some success.

ssperch wrote:

Forgot to add one more thing… It looks like there was a formal report written on here a few years back regarding LCO trolling walleyes. Is there anyway to go back and find these reports on this new site?

@SSperch

I created a custom search link for you that will provide access to the reports you’re looking for. Tanner Wildes – LCO / Hayward Area Reports on In-Depth Outdoors

I’m staying on windigo (right nest to grindstone) 8/20-8/24, I’ll just miss you. I have gotten a few nice eyes trolling the basin around the islands. shad raps and deep huskys have been the best baits in the past. I was also thinking about trying grindstone this year, let me know how it goes for you.

Thanks for adding that link, James. I did make it out on LCO on 7/22 while on vacation on the Big Chip.

Started the day pulling cranks behind boards over the tops of the weeds on a few different flats with no luck. I then switched gears and did some smallie fishing on a hump not far from the South shore. They key was to find them on the graph, then sit right on top of them in anywhere from 20-26 fow.

Then I went searching in the open basin. I focused on the middle and East sections of the lake. I marked a fair amount of bait, but never got bit. I did see a lot of big marks on the graph though in 80 FOW and 5 ft off the bottom.

The next move to was to pull leadcore with perch colored shad raps outside the weed edges on gradual breaks. If you could find some with good rock outside the edge even better! Pull out a few walleye with the biggest at 24″.

All in all it was a great day on LCO. The weather was unseasonably chilly the previous 4 days (lows into the 40’s at night), so I think that may have shut it down a bit, but always fun to explore a new body of water!