Pepin Trolling

I was out last night for about 2 hours. I caught 7 walleyes and 2 white bass.
I was trolling with a dropper rig and #5 firetiger shadrap on 1 rod and on the other I tried 4 different baits. Bad news is the largest fish was approx 15″
couldn’t find anything bigger
The #5 firetiger caught all of the fish.
I started out straight across from Lake city, just west of Bogus point and worked west/north. Once I found and area that I got a couple of bites, I kept working the area between 7 and 13 feet.
All of the fish came out of 9-10 feet.
Also, once the wind died, so did the fish.

Been trying bottom bouncers with crawlers and it’s been pretty slow. Mostly small ones.

I am going to take a couple of friends out with me on Saturday morning. I haven’t tried live bait yet this year and have done ok. But all 30 or so fish I have caught have all been under 16″.
Last Saturday I fished around Deer Island and Hoksila on Monday. Both areas were slow trolling, managed a few but all small to very small.

Did you get a chance to check the water temp bitzenguy?

69-71 almost everywhere I went on Wednesday night

Thank you!

Fished the same area yesterday, managed to put 5 walleyes in the box between 15″ and 18″. Also kept 2 slimmers and 2 large perch. Caught probably 25 undersized walleyes spread out between 15 to 22′.bussiest crank was a clown no 7 flicker shad.

I’m taking my mom out tomorrow any advice

I don’t have any as of now. It sounds like people are catching them trolling though. I have been fishing up north all spring.

Bigguns,
I certainly am probably not the person to ask. But I will tell you what I am going to do tomorrow morning.
I start in Lake City. The wind is supposed to be out of the north 10-11 mph. I will start trolling around the Dairy Queen and continue north around the point. Then head to Hoksila and work my way up towards Hansons Harbor and then take it from there. most of the fish that I have caught have been 9-10 feet. However most all of my fish have been small. So I am not much help there. #5 shad raps have caught most all of my fish.

Thanks guys. These reports are dead on accurate.

I was out today with my son and we put 30-40 walleye and sauger in the bost along with some perch, pike, white bass, and a smallie. The only issue which was also accurate was that we only put one keeper in the boat.

The hot bait was the #6 fire perch smash shad but almost all baits we tried caught fish. We even trolled some stick baits like flat raps, bomber long A’s, and X-Raps in 5′-8′ and caught fish.

Thanks again and I hope someone found some keepers out there.

Never fished pepin. Going to have to give it a shot here sometime soon.

The winds were a little more than expected yesterday morning and it sure wasn’t very warm. We did about the same as days past. trolled cranks for about 2 1/2 hours with only a couple of short walleyes and saugers to show for it. I am guessing that I am fishing the wrong depths. most of my fish have come from 9-10 feet.
We were on Minn. side for the morning and then went to Wisc. side in the afternoon. We only caught 2 along side the road at Hoksila. then went straight across the lake and worked our way down. I did have a very nice long fight with a bonus fish when we got to Stockholm. I pitched a jog and Moxie up into some green bushes in about 1 foot of water and the fight was on. I was sure it was a big Pike. NOPE!! My biggest accidental Catfish of my life. I never realized that they fought like that. We finally got her to the boat and she barely fit in my net. We guessed about 15 lbs.
Our best luck by far was Bogus point and Deeer Island area, There were a couple of other boats there and they picked up a few as well. mostly 10-14″ fish
We ended the day with 7 walleyes and saugers, 3 jumbo perch. 2 silver bass, 1 25″ Pike, 2 sheephead, and the catfish.
We had a fun day but it’d frusterating when You fish that much and can’t find 1 18″ walleye.

My son and I made it out today. Launched out of hoksila. Tried all over. Managed 4 from 15″ to 18″. Many small ones too.

Definitely not on fire but ok I guess.

Still doing bottom bouncers and crawlers. Saw many guys with cranks so I was in the minority. But didn’t see many keepers being reeled in.

Yep, same for my boat yesterday. We put 35+ fish over the side with 5 being 15-21 inches. All the rest were dinks up to 14 inches.

Similar story for me. Trolled a lot of shoreline Saturday on the WI side of Pepin with lots of 10-12″ Saugers. Put on a few miles before I found a fish over 15″. Stopped on that spot and dropped down leeches for a couple hours and ended up with 5 fish between 15″ and 18″ plus lots more of the 12″ Saugers. Also tried crawlers but mostly I was just feeding the fish, kept getting bit off even with a 1/2 crawler.

I am going to be up there in a few weeks, hopefully the fish get bigger by then. I went out last year on Pepin for a week in June and a week in August and didn’t even catch one Sauger on either trip. Are they not as plentiful as other years or am I just a poor fisherman? Probably the later.