Hmmm, a fish fly hatch a couple of days before the opener. Lilacs are in bloom. Temps in the mid 50’s, overcast- and enough wind for a good walleye chop. Everything fell in place to be one heck of a opener. How did the anglers do?
I talked to quite a few folks out on the water, here are some of the things I heard. "Best opener I can remember". "Best opener ever". "fishing was fantastic"!
You gussed it, everyone I talked to had their limit or the amout of eaters they wanted. Among everything else the forage minnowa were close to their spawning areas. Needless to say the predators were close by.
Smallies and largemouth were being caught casting cranks to shoreline rocks. Smallies were also being taken, jigging deeper water. Pike and some dandy gills were also taken jigging deeper water.
Most anglers were out looking to put some eyes in the boat. From what I seen and heard most if not all were pleased with the bite. Most had results similar to the eaters in photo #1.
Varying presentations all seemed to work. Lindy rigging, slipbobbers, jigs, cranks, all were putting eyes in the boat. Fishing the main river channel or close to it is no secret, and most opted this method. Depths from 15 to 20 ft. Photo #2 is a the jigs that were working best for me. I also worked plastic and that produced my bigger fish. Chart./pepper ringies and doo’s seemed to be the color of choice.
One thing that I noticed, is that most, if not all anglers are releasing the fish over 20". This is good to see because their are good numbers of 15.5 to 17" eaters.
Water temp. is sitting at 57.5 so look for the fish to make a move to the lake soon. have fun and see ya on the water.
Nice report, gets the blood pumpin’ !!!
big g
Great report Don looks like some good eating right there !!
Yep nice eyes Don. Did you have any crappies? Just curious as they should also be snappen.
Nice bunch of eaters there Don. Just curious, what is the biggest eye you have pulled out of Menomin in recent years?
I did not venture into crappie waters, darn eyes kept me busy.
In the fall of 2001 I pulled a 32 incher on a Fuzzy grub. The fish was bulking up big time. Digital scale 11.5 lbs.
How is the water in that lake? Back when I went to school in Menomonie, I was afraid to eat anything out of there.
Water temp was up to 59.5 Monday night, fish were marking below the RR bridge in 13-16 feet but the bite was lite.
It gets a little iffy late summer but the fish taste fine. Just like any lake, probably do not want to consume fish out of there every day but a meal here and there is fine. As long as your not nursing or pregnant
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Have to agree with Darrin, bite was light Monday night–seemed though that the fish migrated up on the flat above the RR bridge as the evening progressed. The deeper fish were definitely pinned right to the bottom and fairly neutral as Darrin said. Our boat caught 4 walleyes, others caught more–esp. the guy in the little boat anchored above the RR bridge.
Thanks for the update guys. I found that the late day/night bite is not as strong as the morning. Time to start hitting the flats on the main lake.
One place someone should try is the bay-flat off of the Wakanda beach. Since that is an 8 foot flat with old-new weed growth, the walleyes should be in there feeding on spawning perch, 2 years ago I witnessed 2 fellas just floating around that bay this time of year catching walleye after walleye, pitching spinners and cranks. They were in 7th heaven.
I may have to give the lake a try next time out. With the quick warming temps, cranks are going to start real soon. I seen a few guys trolling cranks but did not get a chance to talk to them. Anyone chasing crappies?
Say Mr. Hanson? Would this be a good time to mention the ARM Event on June 2nd? …and we need a few boaters yet?
I would post that…but I don’t have all the info.
Yes it would Captain. The Event will be held on June 2nd from 7:00 until ?. We are in need of boaters to take the kids and their big out for a day of fishing. Coffee and probably a few cookies in the mornig and lunch is included.I will have a good supply of crawlers on hand for everyone but bring your own leeches.
Watch the ARM forum for more details.
Great report!
Don, I was catching crappies this morning by the 2 foot sandbar just out from the sportsman boat landing. there is a 10 foot deep channel just north of the brush on top of the sand bar and the crappies were hitting orange beetle spins, fish were 8-13″, took about an hour to catch five keepers for lunch.
Current water temps. going into the low 60’s should get those crappies spawning, one thing about Menomin, you may not catch a lot of crappies, but when you do, they tend to be really nice. Seems most people miss the crappie spawn as it can happen sooner than people expect.
You must have been there when I headed up river.
I agree with the Menomin Crappie population being good sized, but not huge in numbers. However this winter I fished the point out from butchs bay one afternoon and was marking a ton of fish. The numbers were there but they were all small, 6-8″ I would say, not an eater in the bunch. So good or bad, take that for what its worth.
Seems to be a fair population of crappies in Menomin, seems more are caught during ice fishing due to concentrations in specific spots, but once summer arrives, those concentrated fish scatter. Like any lake, has it’s strong populations of species and lower numbers of others. Interestly, in the past it was known as a good crappie lake, well as large perch lake.