Sorry for the absence here but as we all know spring fishing is in full swing and I have been very busy. The walleye fishing continues to be very good with most all fish being post spawn at this time we are beginning to see fish spread out in the bay and moving away from the areas that they have spawned at.We have been continuing to both cast and troll for the walleyes our casting presentations have been casting the Rapala Rippin Raps in size #6 and #7 along with using 3/8 oz VMC Hot Skirt jigs and snap jigging 1/4 or 3/8 oz VMC Mooneye Jigs with soft Plastic Trigger X Drop Dead minnow.
Most of the walleyes that we are casting for continue to be shallow in water depths from 6 to 15 FOW but we are also casting for some larger fish that are coming from water depths of 20 to 25 FOW. On days that the fish are more aggressive we have found that working the baits faster and snapping them harder works best and on days that they are not as active slowing the presentation down gets more bites.
We are also finding fish that have moved off shore and are suspended relating to deeper water here we are trolling crank baits behind planer boards such as the Storm Smash Shads along With The Rapala Husky Jerks. Depending on the day and the weather we have been varing the depths of these baits to keep them in the strike zone. On days of more stable weather and lots of sunlight we have found the active fish are higher in the water column and are responding to more flashy colors and on cloudy days they have been choosing the more solid color baits.
Along with the great Walleye fishing on the Bay the smallmouth Bass fishing is beginning to kick into gear. With water temps varying greatly depending on your location the quality of the fishing varies greatly. This time of year you definitely need to spend time looking for the warmest water you can find and by doing that you will find the most amount of active fish. The warmer water temps right now are in the southern portion of the Bay with water temps up north still being very cold. Our best presentations for the Bass this past week have been jerk baits such as the Rapala X Raps and Trigger X tube baits on 1/8 oz VMC tube jigs in the colors of green pumpkin.
Paul Delaney