A friend and I tried Lake Zumbro this morning at a couple areas and were not the least bit disappointed with the fishes’ reaction to us being there. We were trailered up by 9AM and headed home….just about the time the wind got up good.
They were not shallow but certainly liked shade this morning which helped cut down on hunt time. All of our fish were relating to primary breaks where deeper water was very close by. I don’t think we looked at any water under seven feet deep.
Two things became quite evident in our “plastics only” boat: purple/chartreuse tail was the bait color to use and the bait had to be at a very specific depth so a float was handy.
The fish were very consistent in size, only three smaller fish were caught. Sunfish taken today were really chunks up to 10″, however we kept only a couple due to deep hooking and releasing the real big ones. The crappies didn’t give up any over 12″. My buddy stuck a carp which took almost a half hour for him to land. I don’t think I have ever seen a carp that size in the Zumbro before and think it may have run a scale to 30 pounds. The smallmouths were a hot annoyance again this morning too. 13″ to about 15″ was the average run on the smallies.
The fishing was fast from the first cast. We each kept a few for a meal. The trip was planned as early on, early off and wend down without a hitch. In the time it takes to back a trailer down the ramp at the pondy 5 rigs had come into the dunk lane were lined up to launch….going to be a busy day me thinks.
