The vast majorities of my days since the bass opener have been on Minnetonka either guiding or fishing or prefishing for tournaments. The bite for quality fish has not been consistant for me yet. Good quality fish have come in the boat, all the way up to 22", but the next day they shrink back to 2 lbers. The most consistant bite for numbers has been working inside wed edges. Texas rigged tubes have been my go to bait on the deeper inside edges. I like the Outkast Tackle 4 1/2" Flipping Tube due to the solid head and bigger profile. Most deeper edges also have pockets just in the weeds that are good places to work as well.
On the shallower edges I like to use a 4" Texas rigged weightless Stickworm. Many of the shallow areas have scattered weed to the shore that can hold fish as well. We did manage to get a decent crankbait bite going one day, but have yet to reproduce those results. We also tried some rocks, but found the water temps on the bottom to only be 57. The weed growth really varies from bay to bay. In some the milfoil is almost to the surface and they have begun harvesting it, and in other bays, it isn’t visible.
Every single day I have been on Tonka I have seen at least 1 muskie. This one I didn’t see until she hit a tube on an inside weed edge last week and measured 47". Most all of them that I have seen were over shallow sandy areas. Wed I did have another one in the mid 40’s hit my jig while trying the deep milfoil, but she came unglued when she got to the boat.
One word of caution for right now is to keep an eye open for debris. After the storms that rooled through on Tue night there are a lot of branches and docks parts floating. There were a couple channels blocked on Wed but are now clear. There are still many docks and canopies blown sideways from the strom winds.
Those are some dandy fish! Looks like you guys are having a lot of fun! Hope to see you some time this summer! Say “Hi” to Jim for me! I never see him anymore!
Tuck
Mike,glad to see your staying busy!! Enjoy the pics of the largemouth and that ski is awesome.Bet that was fun.The boys and I seen a little ski try to get a red wing BB on the surface of the water last week.Best of luck with your bass tourneys this summer.
Ryan Hale
Mike,
Nice fish
I’ll be up this week to sample the action. If I’m stumped I’ll give you a call!
John
I was going to put up a new report, but it wouldn’t have really changed much. There are still lots of fish on inside edges. The quality fish have been becoming less. I’m sure they are working their way to their deeper haunts. I plan this week to start checking them mre often.