Signs of Spring Fishing Happening on Lake Zumbro

With the water temps climbing into the high 50s the bite on Lake Zumbro is heating up and thats a sure sign that spring fishing is upon us. And that means its FISH ON time.

Mike [HOF] Smith and I decided to check out Lake Zumbro tonight to see what the fish would tell us about what stage of spring they are presently in. And I worded it that way because it seems like every other time out has been a decent early bite. Which also means the other time has been a tough bite. Spring is a time of change in the fishes world. Its a time of constant changes. One day it bluebird skys and sunny and the next day it can be colder, windy, and cloudy. All of these things affect the fish more than we realize.

On our outtings we have found fish deep, shallow and somewhere in between depending on how the weather has affected the fish. Some nights they have been deep. Tonight the bluegills were shallow and the crappies being alittle deeper. The bite wasn’t what you would call a hot bite yet but it was fun. Mike was on fire tonight outfishing me to the point that I had to check out what he was doing different than me. What I found was he was just plain o’l catching more fish than this guy was. lol.

The technique used was attaching a fixed float onto our line up anywhere from 1-3 feet from the jig for the fish that were more shallow and in between. For deeper water we casted jigs letting them sink slowly to the bottom and then retrieving them slowly back to the boat. The jig of choice that caught fish was the Mini-Mite jig. This jig is a light jig with a plastic body that has a tail that wiggles up and down with the slightest movement of the rod tip. The weather has been fantastic this week so be sure and get your boat ready if its not ready and get out on the water and have some fun catching fish.

And speaking of fun, every Thursday night there is a Hooked On Fishing Leaque Event on Lake Zumbro. It runs from 5:00 pm to 8:30 pm and the entry fee is only 5.00 per person. This is a 100% payback event where you can weigh in 4 crappies and 4 bluegills. It pays back 3 places. This is a very low key FUN event for all. You can have as many people in your boat as you want but each persons fish caught has to remain seperate from the others. There is no sharing of fish. Each person brings his own fish to the scale. Take off and weigh in is at the Ponderosa Campground boat ramp. This is a fun event where you can bring the family if you like. And you don’t have to be a competitive person to fish these events. You can do it just for the fun of it and seeing both old and new friends like me or you can do it to try kick ”Hot Stick Mike” in the events. lol. Either way you will have fun. Hope to see you there.

Thanks, Bill