The wind was the big factor this past weekend. We experienced some strong west winds on Saturday morning that did limit our fishing plans. The wind let up a bit midday and blew strong again Sunday. On Saturday I had the opportunity to fish with Scott Bloecker and his father Rich. Our plan was to fish smallmouth and walleye.
The walleye bite has been ok in the shallow rocks here on the eastside of the lake. I have been catching some nice fish in the 15-17 foot areas and also a few fish on the gravel on the southend of the lake. Pictured above is Rich Bloecker with a 27 3/4 inch walleye. Rich caught his fish bobber fishing a rock reef near Lakeside on the eastside of the lake. Rich was fishing in 17 feet of water using a leech on a slip bobber in the big waves. I have been rigging 7 foot lindy rigs on the gravel catching some nice fish. The edges of the gravel areas have been holding most of the active fish. This nice walleye that Rich caught was the only walleye for our efforts on Saturday, along with a few bass during the midday.
The smallies have started to turn on a little now with some warming water temperatures. Last Thursday I spent some time sight fishing them along some reefs north of Hawkbill Point. I saw a number of big females cruising shallow on top of the reef. The day was sunny and I had calm water perfect for an outing to see some fish!
This past Saturday was not the best day to fish for smallmouth with the windy conditions that we had. It caused the water to get all stirred up and on the cloudy side. I did find a few smallmouth to take after a Mepps bucktail #3 casted in 3-4 feet in the shallow rocks. Our biggest bass was around 19 inches caught by Rich in the photo. His fish hit a white bucktail #3 on a 6-6 Avid St.Croix. These fish do put up a great fight for only 3-4 lbs! I think the Mepps gave just enough noise and action to trigger the bass.
Click on the photo to in-large them!