Well the first thing to decide was what body of water to hit. I wanted to give the Chippewa river a try and also hit Menomin. Pete hit the Chippewa on Thursday and after his report of a slow bite, I decide to stick with menomin. I had been busy with some dog training so I hadn’t been on the water for a few days.
Getting reports of water temps pushing well into the 60’s in the shallows, I packed the trolling rods. The trolling bite for me kicks in when the water temp hits 62 on the main lake. getting a mid morning start. we found the main lake temp at 57.5. Getting close to that trolling marker but we decide to throw some plastic and livebait on the river. The first few cast produced some hard hitting eyes caught on chart./pepper doo’s. Off to a good start but things didn’t seem right. We were catching fish but I wasn’t in the "zone". We moved to a couple of spots up river for a short time. Could of worked the spots over a little harder but I didn’t feel right there either. I finally decided that the only way to get it out of my system was to break out the trolling rods.
Started off trolling along the main channel break on the lake. A short time after getting our lines set, we had our first fish on. On for a short time anyway! after about 5 cranks the fish came unbuttoned. getting and keeping the speed adjusted was a little tricky in the crosswind but I was able to keep the speed between 1.8 and 2.2mph. hitting the slough area in 11 fow, we had our next fish on. As Pete picked up the rod, another fish came unbuttoned. After having a couple more hard hits and fish on, only to come undone, we decided it was time to go back to jigging.
Earlier in the day we had a good chat with Doc frigo. He had the eyes dialed in dragging jigs. Since our plasic and jig/livebait bite was not going that strong, time to pull livebait rigs. We swiched up to pulling Roach Rigs downstream. A switch that turned a good day into a great day. 1/4 ounce Roach sinker and a 4ft snell along with a leech tipped bleeding bait hook was boating at least one fish a pass. We ended up with 29 eyes for the day. A couple that taped in just short or 20" (released) photo two. And a couple for the pan, photo three.
Thanks for the tip on dragging Doc, you had a great day out there.Photo 1
This is what we been waiting for guys. Great time to be on the water,see you out there.
Nice!!
Saw you were there last Friday the 9th. I got the wife and kids out for some crappie action, they had alot of fun reeling in many fish, wife had big fish honors with a 13.5″. We kept some 10-11″ers for the pan and man were they tastey! I see they dropped a bunch more cribs this year.
those crappies are fun. I got into a little of that action also. wanted to give it another try yesterday but just did not get around to it.
Don, great report and some nice pics.
water was 60 yesterday and should be a little cooler today with last nights weather, think this cold front will make fishing today a little tougher. Good luck and see you out there.
Maybe just a tad tougher. The water temp is at a point where the fish are entering their pre-summer pattern. Looking to feed! Good luck out there and let us know how you do.
Crappies were biting in cemetary slough with good numbers caught by about 10 boats, most fish were in the 11 inch range. Hooked a 40 plus pound snapper and pulled it to boat with 6lb line, very unhappy turtle.
Used a roach rig with leeches in the channel and hooked a small channel cat and two 12″ eyes. trolling bite produced several hook ups, but lost fish on way to boat. Boat control was an issue with the strong wind and it was very difficult to get a good drift.
Sounds like your starting to get those fish dialed in
Great report Don
I’ll see you at the ARM event in a couple of weeks & I’ll try & remember ny tackle box this year. 
Nice report Don
Good to see you and Pete out there, on the day I ended up with 15 walleyes and 2 rock bass. For me, the livebait bite has been the daytime ticket with this past week the ringworm day bite really slowing down.
Jeremy
Water temp dropped about 1/2 degree. i don’t know if that made a difference but 75% of my fish came on plastic today. Doo’s and Ringies.