June 6 Fishing Report

Hi folks.

Well we skipped spring and went right to summer. Temperatures have hit the 80’s for the past few days and water temps have soared to the 70 degree mark. The one problem we’re still having is little or no weed growth on many lakes. If you can find this “green gold” you will find fish. We are finally starting to see these fish move to timber now, and this should make life very good. I’m beginning to find fish in some lakes with crawlers, now that the water temps are up, and on other lakes it’s a redtail chub bite. Don’t look too deep on any darker water lakes. Even the cloudy ones, fish are being found up fairly shallow. I’m concentrating my efforts in 6 foot of water or less. The bite has been a little bit up and down these past few days, with one day really real good and the next day being fairly slow. This should all even out now that the temperatures are warmer and the weeds begin to grow.

Northern pike have still been putting on a real good bite and they’re hanging mainly around any kind of weed growth – old or new that you can find. The best lakes to try when hunting these fish are the weediest lakes you know of or can find. Lake such as Gilmore, Lost, and Mercer Lake in Iron County are just some of the lakes that meet these needs. Jig-and-minnow combinations as well as crank baits and plastics like gulp have been working the best.

Bass are piling in – both large and smallmouth. They are on their nests and aggressively hitting anything that comes near them. On many lakes you can just “site-fish” these fish as they are up that shallow. Otherwise concentrate on gravel, rocky shorelines for the smallmouth and weeds in the muddy bays for the largemouth. Remember to handle these fish carefully and release them as quickly as possible, so they can get back to protecting their nests.

On the panfish scene, crappies are seriously tapering off on many lakes, although reports of spawning activity are still taking place. I’ve been hearing good things about Big St Germain lately, as well as Fischer Lake in Iron County. I have neither seen or heard of any bluegills moving into their spawning beds, but this should come quickly now that water temps have heated up. Perch are beginning to make their appearances now as they move into any kind of new weed growth they can find. Small minnows have been working best for these tasty little fish.

Well that’s it for now. See you on the water.
Good luck fishing. Jeff

Hey Jeff,
Do you think your forecast will be status quo for Star Lake? I see colder weather coming in Thursday/Friday. How would you approach this?
Thanks for your help and advise.

Freddie

The cold front coming in is going to have some kind of effect we will have to see exactly what. My best guess is the second day will be a real bear. This is not a big change type front and I will continue to work the same type of structure. My advice is to be patient when fishing as fish will be a little more finicky and will have to be worked slower. Jeff