Pepin crankin’ bite… How long does it last???

I’ve never made it over to Pepin for the crankin’ bite. We talk about it every year, but I’ve never done it. This year we finally made plans to get there, but the next possible free day I have is July 9. Wish I could be there right now, but its not to be….

As far as seasonal movements and hot bites, how does the crankin’ bite (core and longlines) generally progress throught the summer? Sounds like the most consistant bite starts in early to mid June. How long does it generally last? I’m sure its all water temp dependent, but if you guys have any “Pepin generalities” I would appreciate the insight.

Can I expect to hit some decent crankin action when I head over there on July 9? If I don’t succeed at first, should I just keep relocating until I find them, or should I switch tactics altogether and try draggin or pitching?

Thanks!!

Mike

I expect that’ll still work just fine. Play the wind and you’ll be in good shape. Don’t overlook suspended fish holding off the breaks.

If the crank bite is slow, jig dragging should take up the slack just fine

The pepin cranking bite will continue to be strong throughout the summer, but there will be lulls in the action like the mayfly hatches which usually take place around the forth of july or so. Like Jason said play the wind and you should be fine. The fish may be in 5 feet of water out to 24 feet. Good Luck

I was out on Sunday with my father and we caught about 60 fish. Here is a photo of one of the wells with a nice meal and my Nephew with a chunk back sauger!!

Ace

Follow up question.. Does the bite on Pepin seem to be somewhat time of day dependent, or will they bite all throughout the day?

With the water clarity we have been having I have seen a change in the shallow water bite big time…that being said the north end of the lake the water was getting a little color Saturday an by some of the reports i think the daytime bite should do nothing but improve with the recent rains to the north and the Minnesota River valley….Deer island area last week I was seeing 6 ft+ water clarity!

Was out Monday about mid lake,water clarity was 3 to 5 ft and the walleye were smacking the cranks as we let line out.Fished from 5am till the sun came out bout 11am and never stopped catching eyes from the bottom to suspended up 3 or 4 ft.

How about bug hatches, etc…. Does the mayfly hatch effect the walleye bite much on Pepin? (I assume there IS a mayfly hatch?)

Sort of sounds like they should be going somewhere on the lake on any given day. I assume a key to fishing there (and most places) is just keep moving or trying different tactics until you get bit, then refine, refine, refine. If the bite shuts down, try a new tactic in the same sport or move and target a new area…

Sound about right?

Mike

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Does the bite on Pepin seem to be somewhat time of day dependent, or will they bite all throughout the day?

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Mike;
My boat rarely sees a fish before ten o clock am.
Yours may,…….but mine won’t. As far as the bug hatch goes, I have had my best lake days during major mayfly events. Just get out and fish!@!!…….B

Mike;
My boat rarely sees a fish before ten o clock am.

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Thats the time the short bus drops off at Everts isn’t it ?

Oh burn!!!!

Ya got a response Brian

I was just going to say that your boat seldoms see the water before 10 but then Stuart has to pick on the Iowa guy

Do you guys usually try to troll cranks a certain direction (upstream/downstream) in the lake, or doesn’t it much matter? I would assume that the flow of the river during the summer is relatively minimal in most of the lake portions.

I assume flouro leaders aren’t that critical, depending on water clarity? What type of line do you guys run for leaders – mono, flouro or braid? length?

What depths are usually targeted? Should I be prepared to troll between 15 and 25 feet generally, or does it tend to go deeper/shallower than that?

Thanks again!

Mike

My trolling direction depends more on wind direction that anything else. At this time of year, much of the lake has very slight to no current so paying attention to flow direction really isn’t an issue (at least for me). In the uppermost and lowermost portions of the lake, where there is more flow…you’ll want to take that into consideration. I tend to work upstream rather than downstream, but don’t discount a downstream pass or two!

Daytime….for lead, start down deep at the base of the breaks. Longlines….run them out on boards, sampling the upper 10-12 feet of the water column. Morning and evening: I fish shallow flats as a rule, 10 feet or less.

You’ve seen my standard trolling setups….I run those same things on Pepin. ~ 8 ft. fireline leader on my leadcore, no leader on the longlines.

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I was just going to say that your boat seldoms see the water before 10 but then Stuart has to pick on the Iowa guy

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Stuart and Rich:

As you pointed out to all the world, I really hit it hard between ten and four. Yes it’s a long day, but don’t worry…..We generally take a break for lunch

I was out on Pepin this past weekend and saw a lot of folks using planer boards. I’m curious how folks are rigging them and what brand is a good one and if the are really needed in some of the deeper water I was seeing them used in?

I’d be interested in the same question (regarding planer boards). I generally run church’s walleye boards or off-shore’s. I do have some of the Church mini’s – about the size of a dollar bill, which might work ok… I pull leadcore off of boards (up to a full core) on Michigan, but haven’t done much board pulling for walleye…

Do you set the board to release, or do you set it tight and take the board off at the boat?

Any brands you guys prefer?

Do you run the tattle flags to help with fish detection, or just watch the boards themselves?

Mostly cranks, or will you run walleye spoons or other baits?

Any other tips/tricks/tactics that seem to shine on Pepin (or elsewhere) for walleyes?

Mike

I did well on boards last weekend on Pepin. We run off-shores. I do use the tattle flag, but you can make your own flags for about $1.50 instead of spending $20 on them.

I usually run straight mono off my boards, however I will run lead on them on occaison. Last weekend I ran two boards in towards shore, and two leadcore rods (one of each side of the boat). One guy watched the boards and the other watched the lead. It is nice to be able to cover more depth ranges. Our outside board was in about 10′ of water, the inside board was in about 14′ the inside leadcore rod was in about 18′ and the outside leadcore rod was in about 20′.

I just reel in the fish, don’t really do anything special with the board when fighting a fish. Just be careful when taking the board off, make sure the other angler keeps a tight hold of the line and reels up to the eyelet to keep pressure on the line.

Mike,

I ran boards and lead all weekend this weekend. I do not run tattle flags. I watch the rod and board. My planer boards are Yellow Birds (the big boards) and Big Jon Mini Otter (little boards).

I’ve always heard that it’s hard on your leadcore line to run them through the boards. So I use the boards with my mono rods and leadcore off the side of the boat (close).

I like my boards to go off so I don’t have to fight them as much. However with the wind this weekend, we had to set them tight and just take them off when we detected a fish.

I’ve run all kinds of baits behind the boards. I’ve run, flies, spoons, flashers, and plugs. On Pepin this weekend it was all plugs.

The guys I brought fishing this weekend wanted a fresh fish meal. So we kept a couple White Bass as well to get them a fish supper. A nice side catch, a 13″ crappie on a #5 shad Rap. Aggressive little bugger.

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I’ve always heard that it’s hard on your leadcore line to run them through the boards. So I use the boards with my mono rods and leadcore off the side of the boat (close).

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True, I don’t think you would want to pinch your core directly into the release, but there are ways around this. My walleye board knowledge is realtively limited, but when we run them for salmon, we will run up to a full core off of the boards – deepest inside, shallowest outside. We won’t pinch the core in the release, rather we will let out all the core until we get to the mono backing. Doing this will necessitate a few things though: having a good amount of backing (mono or power pro) on your reel, and having muliple setups with various amounts of core to accomadate different situtations… Gets cumbersome. I’ve heard of guys splicing mono inbetween each color so they can use one setup with boards at any given depth, but I would think that the core left in front of the board might really drag…

Anyway, thanks for the info. If I run them, I’m sure I’ll figure out quickly what works / doesn’t work for me. I’m sure I’ll just run plain mono or whatever on my board rods.

Anyone run those smaller walleye spoons with success? I’ve heard of guys running those or small cranks right near the surface during mayfly hatches, but I’ve never tried it.

Ruger – you also mentioned flashers/fly… Something like a coho setup? small dodger with a peanut fly or something like that? Or will you run a full sized flasher/fly combo? Any certain colors that have worked for you in the past doing this for walleyes?

Thanks!

Mike

Mike, I’m at work right now so I can’t be as specific as I’d like. Think of Mille Lacs lake. If you’ve ever fished it you know how the “barren grounds” between flats out in the middle is.

I’ve got 5″ and 8″ flashers. Usually chrome with the chrome/silver reflecting on it. I have also run gold. I’ve never tried them on the Mississippi cause of the close proximity and water clarity. However in the middle of Mille Lacs, they could be more beneficial in attracting attention.

That was the long answer. Short answer, yes. Just like a small Coho set-up. Dodger with Howie Peanut Flies. Typical walleye colors. Chartreuse, silvers, etc.

I got a lot of time in running spoons on Erie for a tournament a couple years ago. We used Jet Divers and Dipseys most of the time. I have ran Michigan stingers and had success on Winnebago and Pepin. I may give it a shot on Pepin this summer yet.

The bite on pepin is still good even during this cold front….Lost a couple other 7lb+ ones next to the boat…cranks were the ticket today…

Hoping to get out tomorrow afternoon. Having a darned hard time trying to find a boatmate, though. Most of my buddies are working or out of town… Hopefully I can get into a few fish with a 3 rod spread if it comes down to that… Good to see you got into a few today!

Mike

OK… So I’ve got a gameplan for tomorrow…. Now I just want to make sure I understand the regulations correctly…

I have a WI resident license. I am allowed to troll 3 lines under this license. My buddy has a MN resident license. Is he allowed only 2 lines?

If I choose, I could keep 6 total walleyes and/or sauger. 6 of one specie or the other, or a mixed bag combo totaling 6 fish. Minimum of 15″ for the walleye, no minimum for the sauger. Same goes for my MN co-angler.

Is the above accurate? Any other specific regs I should be aware of?

Thanks!!

Mike

Sorry for the late response, but I believe the amount of lines you can use is entirely dependant on which side of the river you’re on. The boundry doesn’t run directly down the middle either, most GPS map chips will show the boundry. I usually just run 2 either way, especially if you have two people in the boat. 4 rods is usually plenty.

The Mississippi is considered boundry waters and both MN and WI licenses are OK. You have to use the one where you are staying, or live, and abide by those reles. Don’t know how that works if one of you lives in WI and the other in MN. Could get real complicated for the DNR guys.

The hot bite is over temporarly. Water temp has dropped considerably over the last week. In four trips during June I did real well trolling cranks. Fished today, Wed. from 6:15 till 2:00 pm. and caught 3 eyes and 2 saugers. 3 nice eaters is all I could manage. Fished from 8-20 ft. Min. side and Wisc. side. Saw about 5 or 6 other fish caught all day from other boats. Talked to several guys at ramp and they had similar or less results. Bite should pick back up with water temps, but mayfly hatch is looming around the corner also.

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Sorry for the late response, but I believe the amount of lines you can use is entirely dependant on which side of the river you’re on. The boundry doesn’t run directly down the middle either, most GPS map chips will show the boundry. I usually just run 2 either way, especially if you have two people in the boat. 4 rods is usually plenty.

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I read over both MN and WI regs yesterday… Regs are independant of state boundaries… You can launch and fish anywhere on the boundary water with either license. MN anglers get 2 rods, WI anglers can run 3. Seems very odd that MN won’t allow 3 rods to match WI, but thats the way it is i guess.

Mike