What is working at Pepin?

The old man who owns the property I deer hunt wants to go fishing. So, I had considered taking him and his brother to Mille Lacs but the reports do not look promising and I want him to catch a few fish even if they are only sheepies. I know I was to Pepin about 3 weeks ago had a great time trolling Rapalas in the traditional areas. Now that the water level has come up so much, what has been working? I see casting to shoreline trees is going. Is the trolling bite still going?

I am a little concerned since there have not been many reports recently, especially from James or Dustin. Are the fish biting?

Thank you in advance for your report or tips.

Was out Sunday and trolled all day long, lead and longline, ended up in the neighborhood of 40 fish, mostly sauger but a few stripers, northern and catfish in the mix. Worked the 10-14 ft mark, action pretty much all day long.

Did you by chance get up get up around the Maiden Rock area,or does anyone know if they have been doing any good up that far?

The winners in a local walleye tournament caught their fish by Maiden Rock trolling and casting. Hope this helps, and good luck.

Tony

I was there Sunday morning and did’nt see too much happening. James said casting cranks into the willows worked good that afternoon. What a surprise! They bit after I left. Caught a number of “dinks” ,NO LEGALS. Blue Chrome and orange shad raps caught most of our fish. Tried crawdad.yellow, firetiger and whatever else I could find. Even tried trolling a choc. lab a couple times. Damn dog fell out of the boat,not once,but twice!

The walleye bite on the lake has been great casting the flooded shorelines. 20 to 50 legal fish have been common with a couple over 24″ in the mix as well on the last few outing for me. Look to the shorelines in areas you caught fish when the water was lower a couple weeks back and you should get bit. Hope for wind because if you get it your catch rates will increase dramatically. I just have not had time to make an official report on the lake bite. The last couple of times I have been on the upper part of the river the bite has been slow for me.

Dustin , Sorry for asking for details but I don’t fish the Pepin area enough. When you guy’s are talking about the lake, is that everywhere from the head down ,or from say Lake city down ?

I have been spending my time from Hoksila on up to the head of the lake. #5 and #7 shad raps should do the trick. Colors have varied day to day.

“the lake” would be from the head at the bouy line on south to Lacupolis. When Dustin and I offer up lake talk and reports we’re almost always talking Bogus Bay and north. Just too much ground to cover in a day to get down to the south end of Pepin for us two. If anyone ever is in need of some very good lake info on the south end, Greg “reefrunner” Vandemark is “the man” on that end of things, regarding the walleyes anyway.

Thank you for your replying guys.

I am definately going to give willow tree deal a whirl.