Lake Zumbro Update 6-10-07

The fishing has been tougher this week everybody has been saying but there are still fish to be caught. When saying tougher we/they are meaning that the big ones are harder to find.

The bluegills are deeper than they were for the past month or so.

The mini-mite jig both with and without a waxie seems to be the best setup for catching the bluegills for my boat. These lures work very well both under a float or fished free lining straight down without a float. Alot of the time I will add a small splitshot 6-8 inches above the jig to get the jig down faster and also to maintain the depth I want when moving around alittle bit to fish the structure on the bottom. Fishing above wood that is on the bottom will improve your catch rate. Deep water with wood is where alot of the fish are found. Using your fish locator, which is exactly what it is, to locate fish helps. Your locator is not only a fish locator but it is also a structure locator. Find the structure and you will find the fish when fishing deeper water. Our locators are our eyes under the water. We need to believe what it shows us and fish accordingly to what it shows us. Finding the bigger fish is the challenge. But if we keep working different pieces of structure sooner or later the bigger fish will be found. It all takes time and as the o’l saying goes, ”time on the water” is how anglers catch fish and bigger fish. Of course ”luck” can play apart in it too [ ] but the more time a person spends on the water the more he/she will learn about that body of water. This year so far has been a very difficult year concerning weather and how it effacts the fish with the continueous weather changes we keep experiencing. And those continous weather changes require more homework and time on the water to find and catch the big ones. But it can be done if we are willing and able to do that. It also will make better fisherpeople out of all of us.

Thanks, Bill

Fishing with a mini-mite under a float [bobber] still gives you a very good way of contolling the depth you are fishing so you can return to the depth you had caught the last fish at. This fish was caught with a plain hook and a couple of waxies on it. As you can see he took it alittle deep so I switched back to the mini-mite jig as the fish don’t take it deep with the bigger profile bait. The top part [back] of this fish reminds me of a fish on steroids. Look how thick/musculer this fish looks. This lake does put out some pretty thick sized fish. Even though I have caught many bullgills before from this lake even the smaller fish that have been found lately are nice sized for small fish. The clearer water has helped this lake bigtime.

Thanks, Bill

This crappie was found trolling in open water. Mike at HOF has brought in some different plastics and real small hair jigs to help us catch fish. Giving the fish something differnt to see can help put fish in the boat too. We need a good supply of lures in our tackle box to cover different situations to catch fish. Even though the mini-mite has shown to be king for panfish for me on Lake Zumbro alot of fish are being caught on Culprit paddletails and other plastics that HOF carries. This crappie in the pic was caught on a 2” Tassel Tail grub trolled in open water on a small jig. Don’t be afraid to experiment and change plastics and techniques to catch fish. This particular plastic is like a twistertail but has alot of slits in the tail giving it alittle different look and action in the water. This can be trolled, casted or jigged to catch fish.

Thanks, Bill

Here are some pictures of a few of the many possible panfish lures. Left to right: Mr. Twister curly tails, Falls jig & minnow, Falls flick tails.

Left to right: panfish leech jigs, Exude twister tails, plastic crickets.

Left to right: tube jig tails, DeLong mousie, assorted small hair jigs.

On the left, top to bottom: paddle tail grub, paddle tail minnow, tassle tail grub. On the right are mini-mite jigs.

Thanks Mike. As you can see there are many proven fish catcher lures available at HOF. I know there are a few more too that Mike carries.

Heres a pic of the lure I trolled for crappies.

Another pic. Notice a great looking tail.

I noticed that HOF has some new very nice looking ultra light rods in stock now that he has on sale for about 20.00 I believe. I am becoming more and more these days a lighter action rod guy. I love the feel that a lighter action panfish rod gives you when you have a scrappy bullgill and/or crappie on the end of your line. And when you accidently set the hook on a smallie on Lake Zumbro all I can say is hang on cause you are going for a hec of a fun exciting battle bring her in. Gotta love it.
Thanks, Bill

Those tassel tail twisters are very decent baits. They are available in 2 and 3 inch. Odd that you should show the “glow” color. This is a sleeper color on the Zum and it can be a very effective color on the brightest days.

Sizing up now will amost be a must now, but don’t forget the jigging spoon/waxie or thin plastic as a tool for the crappies and larger sunfish. The Scenic Go Devil is my go-to for jigging spoons in the 1/16 and 1/8th models.

I like to get the Go Devils in solid gold metallic and shoot the backside purple with a glow dot at the top….like ice fishing but larger profile.

sounds good bill it was tough out at chester woods i planed on going to the zumbro but the pocket book was kinda empty after i bought some mini mites and waxies so we just went out to chester woods i will report later on how i did i need a nap

Does the needing a nap mean the fish wore you out from catching so many? That would be nice wouldn’t it?!!! Look forward to your report.

lol no the sun wore me out

Love your reports but the question I have on this post is do you want to save the blue gills from being caught on the beds? Please be truthful or do not report. I do not question your honesty just your purpose. JJ

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Love your reports but the question I have on this post is do you want to save the blue gills from being caught on the beds? Please be truthful or do not report. I do not question your honesty just your purpose. JJ

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These fish were all caught from deep water. The bluegills were caught either under a float set at approx. 7 feet down or freelining a jig approx. 7 feet down over 20-24 feet of water. I do not keep fish as I don’t eat fish. There are no beds being fished at the depth. The crappie pictured was caught trolling over deep water in the entrance area of a big bay. There is a gap in my reports/updates as you have probably noticed because I didn’t want to incourage bed fishing. Keeping the fishery in good condition requires letting the female fish lay their eggs so there are alot more fish to catch. If there are any more questions please feel free to ask.
Thanks, Bill

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Love your reports but the question I have on this post is do you want to save the blue gills from being caught on the beds? Please be truthful or do not report. I do not question your honesty just your purpose. JJ

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Hey JJ,

You are way off base on this one! I believe you owe an apology.
Let’s try to keep our posting a little more positive and much less accusatory.

Mike

Thanks Mike. It must be the heat with some…

I don’t think Bill knows how to fish shallow water, does he? Just kiddin with ya Bill..

Wow! This did not come out the way I intended. I do apoligize and will bend over and take the big kick coming to me. I actually was fishing for more info with tongue in cheek. It did not read that way at all! Again my apology to Bill and the site! “I done wrong”! JJ

Thanks JJ!

None needed JJ. All is well as far as I’m concerned. Making reports does run the risk of being questioned, bashed, and/or getting hate mail by someone who doesn’t like info being given out about their favorite body of water. Some love reports and some hate them. Everythings fine Bud. Glad to see you here with us on the site.
Thanks, Bill