MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND outlook

Hi Folks. The Memorial Day Weekend outlook looks good as far as fishing is concerned. WALLEYES continue to put on an extremely good bite despite the up and down weather we’ve been receiving. This weekend we should see several big events take place. BASS are moving into the shallows to prepare for their upcoming spawn; CRAPPIES are trying to move in for their spawning period and Saturday is the opener for the 2009 MUSKY season. With all this going on, there will be endless opportunities for anglers in the area.

If you’re going walleye fishing, concentrate your efforts on green weeds. Fish have been flocking to new weed growth and are putting on an aggressive post-spawn bite. I’ve been using jig-and-minnow combinations along with slip bobbers tipped with minnows. This has been an extremely effective method for catching walleyes in these high winds. Last Saturday in the wind and snow we boated 53 walleyes using slip bobbers. We’ve also begun to see some activity taking place on both leeches and crawlers. Fish are remaining in fairly shallow water. We’ve been concentrating in water depths ranging from 9 to 13 feet.

BASS are being caught up in the shallows as they make their nests. We’ve been catching smallmouth up to 21 inches in length and on a variety of lures. Plastics have been very good and there’s been some decent crank bait activity. The new Xwraps have been extremely effective when it comes to crank baits. With the up-and-down cold weather if you don’t find them up tight to shore, back up to either your first or second breaks leading to 8 feet. They’ll be staging right outside their nesting areas.

CRAPPIES are just looking for a reason to put on their spawn. If we ever run into a stretch of 2 or 3 warm days, crappies will move in and put on one of the most tremendous bites of the year. The problem we’re having are these every-other-day cold fronts and cold nights. This shoves them back into the deeper weed to wait it out. This weekend if we run into some warm weather look for the peak of the crappie spawn to be taking place. If the nights remain cool, late afternoons and evenings will be your best bet to find those fish running up. Look for downed trees, brush piles and shallow weeds when looking for these tasty little morsels.

MUSKY OPENER is Saturday. There’s a large segment of anglers that have been just waiting for this day. Muskies have finished their spawn and are rested. Look for these fish to be up shallow where all the food is, as they begin their post-spawn feed before retiring to their summer haunts. Many times you will see a large fish traveling with a smaller fish. This should be a great weekend as timing is almost perfect for a heck of a good bite. Keep your lures on the small side as you can run these much slower than some of your larger baits. Speed is the key. Water temps are still on the cool side which makes these fish sluggish and not willing to expend a lot of energy. I find Rizz Whizzes, minnow lures and small jerk baits to be very effective this time of year.


That’s it for now. See you on the water. Jeff Winters