Lake Zumbro fishin’

Hit the lake the other evening and found mixed results. A tip from a buddy started me out at ryan’s bay and didn’t have a hit, then started to work the bluff shoreline and found some nice crappies both suspended and up against the shore, first crappie was 14 inches. The rest were right in the 12 inch range, decent fish. After they slowed a bit I decided to float the shoreline down a little more, after I got about 10-15 yards away, a boat just pulled right in and started flippin’, don’t know if they saw me catch some or what, but man are people that desparate to catch a fish?? So after I saw that I just pulled away and tried some other reliable spots but came up dry. A couple of 80 degree days should really put the crappies in a hitting mode.

LARS

Hey Lars,

Thanks for the report! Keep em coming!

Good Fishing,
Mike

Fished for a few hours on mon. evening. We caught 12 nice crappie’s, all nice size. Sometimes they would swim right up to the minnow, then swim away. It’s just getting started as far as crappie’s .One guy coming off the lake said 2 bass and no crappie’s to be found. The next guy said he got his limit. You got to work for them, but they are out there. And the great minnows were bought at hooked on fishing, great baitshop. Good luck out there!

Thanks for the report Jim!

Good Fishing,
Mike

Thanks for the report Jimmy. Keep em comin! It getting closer to the hot crappie action time. What did you have for water temp? Once that water warms up into the 60s and the water temp is closer to the same in the depths that it is on the surface its time for some really hot action. Thanks, Bill

Thanks for the report Lars. By any chance were you fishing on a Tuesday night? The reason I ask, and I don’t know if they have started yet, is that on Tuesday nights in the summer the bass club has a small tournament going on so the guys that came up close to you and flipping might have been guys in the tourney who were after bass and not after your crappies. Keep the reports comin! Thats how we all learn from each other. Thanks, Bill

Hey Jimmy, I see you were using minnows. Have you tried using the plastics under the bobber at all? This year I’m going to give the plastics a good work out as Mike and Crappie Tom swear by them. And considering that the B-Fish-N Tackle ringworms and superdoos do so great on walleyes I figure that the crappie plastics should also be great on crappies. Mike at Hooked On Fishing has a very good supply of both walleye and crappie plastics so he can set you up right. Its really nice having a guy like Mike who owns the bait Bait Stores in town AND also fishes the area lakes and rivers with the same baits and lures that he sells so we can get the best of the best stuff and reports from the guy who knows. And he’s a staff member of this site so all we have to do is tune in and see whats happening and if we don’t see what we are looking for all we have to do is ask a question to get the answers. Thanks Mike. Thanks IDA.
Thanks, Bill

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the bass club has a small tournament going on so the guys that came up close to you and flipping might have been guys in the tourney who were after bass and not after your crappies.

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As I understand it, the bass season does not open for another two weeks. The local bass group would not be sneaking in ahead of the rest of us would they?

OPPS!!! My mistake. I’m so use to the bass fishing season being open all year on the Mississippi River that I never gave it a thought that its not open on the Zumbro River yet. Must be a senior moment. lol. Thanks for setting me straight.
Thanks, Bill

Had a slow night for craps on the Zum last night……just a few, but all decent and all DEEP.

Did much better this morning….For some odd reason, the lake is crystal clear right now. You can see almost 7′ down……makes the fish spooky, but you can’t beat sight fishing 12″ craps

I’ll be out again tomorrow night. see yall out there

At the ramp at the ponderosa the water was ”real clear.” I’ve never seen the water so clear. Unfortunately thats all the farther I got. Couldn’t turn my key to start the motor. Figured it must be the key switch as I’ve had problems with it before and have had two replaced before. So I took out and came home and took the key cover off and couldn’t find anything wrong so I went into the house to get all my boat keys and checked them all out and finally found one key that would work. Looked at the numbers on the keys and they were all the same but the one that worked. Guess some dummy didn’t throw the old keys away so I grabbed an old key when I left to go fishing.
Nice to hear you caught you fish than I did Jake but I will get caught up! Tomorrows another day.
Thanks, Bill