Many of heard you me lamenting lately about having to study for this big test. Well last Tuesday I took this test and passed, which now makes me a Registered Nurse. With that over and fishing sporadically for the past few weeks I figured I earned a few hard days on the water to check on some old haunts and some new ones perhaps. My dad is a teacher in Minnesota and every year after he is done comes out to Dakota for an extended trip to get on some fish. Each year we make it a point to fish some new bodies of water and of course some old ones that have produced in the past. With good consistent weather presenting itself we went to the old haunts first to see what the fish were doing. We found active walleyes presenting on shallow weed lines in the 5-7 foot range actively hitting cranks in the early hours of the day from 6-9am.
When fishing these fish I am looking for windblown weeds always. I seldom fish the lee side of the lake unless the wind pounded in hard there the day before, and I am trying to pick up fish hanging on an old mud line. As far as color I will start with fire tiger #5 shad rap or else hot tiger colors. These two colors are bright and flashy and catch the most aggressive fish. If these colors are not producing I switch over to a perch pattern or else a Helsinki shad pattern to slightly mimic a small white bass which are also in great numbers in most South Dakota lakes. In looking for weeds I like to find isolated weed lines on a clay bank or small stretch of shore. This is just for the simple reason that they are easier to fish and it narrows the fish down as opposed to one weed line that is a mile log. I also like to look for weed lines in conjunction with flooded timber as eyes will use this as an additional ambush site to attack bait.
A quick pointer here on fishing weed line fish. In South Dakota I will sometimes see fish tailing or giving me tail as they turn around and swim back to the weeds after chasing the bait. If this starts to happen I will switch over to a more stop and go pattern on retrieve to five the fish a chance to hit the bait while it is stopped. I will also perhaps leave these fish and come back in the evening when they are more aggressive and will strike right up to the boat. When casting to these shallow weeds use a good pair of sunglasses to see the very edge, and make your cast right to it. Give the rod a few good cranks to get down right on the weed edge. Expect strike right away as fish will come out of the weeds or expect them to hit right at the boat as they have been chasing it for a bit. I also suggest make an “L” curve at the boat as it give the fish just a few more seconds to hit the bait and the erratic turn of the rod tip may perhaps turn them on to bite. I works for me late in the day when fish are really chasing cranks. For now we got the eyes dialed in as well as chased some crappies on live bait on the reeds. Hope you all have a chance to get out and enjoy the hot fishing that is happening in a lake near you. – Quintin