Lake Zumbro Panfish Report

We all live near at least one. Bodies of water that we mean to get out on, yet never seem to find the time to fish. Lake Zumbro for me has always been such water, though I was impressed with the panfish bite we encountered this past weekend. It took some searching, quite a few holes, and sorting through some smaller fish to eventually find some schools of quality biters. Don’t confuse that term with fish that were always willing to cooperate, but with some coaxing we had a decent run of fish throughout most of the day.

I’ve been fishing quite a few reservoirs lately, and for good reason; they’re a blast. The range of species you find in most river systems and their attached reservoirs is nothing less than spectacular, making each and every bite a new experience. We ended up with bluegill, crappie, and perch, but on the camera saw walleye, spot-tail shiners, catfish, suckers, and some other unidentified’s. The other great part about these fisheries, is that for a newbie to the lake like myself, the channel and its breaks are always a great place to start. Imagine the river coursing through the valley you’re in, minus the lake, and you’ve found a pathway to success.

Fish were finicky, but a #10 gill pill in the white/black zebra colors seemed to do the best. These were tipped with red spikes, though we had to start threading them onto the hook to avoid the bait-stealers. Later in the day, my friend and fishing partner Mike Walerak, did better on a red/white ratso with waxworms. What was consistent with these fish is that most, if not all, were caught on the initial drop. A good handful we got to yield after working them for some time, but those were typically smaller to mid-sized fish. The best fish of the trip required you to break away from a school of fish (hard to do!) and move to another close hole. The better fish in the school would rush up to meet your offering from the bottom. When they wanted it, they wanted it!

We both brought our sons along, and they both had a great time running around the ice and stepping into holes. I’m proud of Isaac, 3 holes stepped in, and no complaints for several hours. While the bite wasn’t necessarily conducive to kids in that you had to work for them a bit, they had a great time reeling them in, drinking hot chocolate, and running around the ice.

Best fish of the day was caught by Mike and just over 9″es, but we had several in the 8-9″ range, along with quite a few in the 6-8″ group to keep us busy. I was truly surprised by the amount of life in this system, as there were times when the shiners were so thick, it was difficult to sort through the marks on the graph. All in all, a great time on the ice spent with friends and kids. Thanks Mike!

Joel