October 10 Fishing Report

Oct 10, 2010 Fishing Report


Hi folks

Unbelievable weather dominates the October fishing so far. As lousy as September’s weather was, is how nice October’s has become. Bluebird skies, mostly gentle to no wind, and temps ranging from 70 to 80 have been the order of the day. Now while this is easy on the body, it’s not doing our fall fishing patterns any favors. We were close to turnover at the end of September. Muskies were putting on a spectacular bite and the walleye fishing was beginning to shape up, as fish were starting to congregate deep and fall patterns were gearing up to go in full swing. Now, with water temps reaching 60 degrees for a daytime high, turnover has been put on hold. We are still catching walleyes and doing fairly well. Fish are beginning to bounce a little bit now though. While 20 foot hard-bottom was the ticket, these fish are beginning to pull up into 16 to 18 feet on rocks. They’ve also started pulling up into timber and weeds again. Is this keeps up for any length of time, I may have to break out the nightcrawlers again – as we’ve gone into full REVERSE. To be successful on walleyes at this time, you must be PATIENT !! Work your spots slowly and thoroughly. Keep your presentation extremely slow and watch for some very light bites. Treat any pressure on your line as a fish. More than likely it will be. We have been catching some nice fish lately, and this bite should again pick up quickly when cold weather returns.

MUSKY fishing also is still producing fish. Where we were averaging 1 an hour back in September under the cold, stormy skies – now you may be tying into 1 or 2 for your day. Suckers have been working and I highly recommend you keep a trailing sucker out there at all times. Lures have also been working very well. My Suicks have become deadly – at last. I’ve been finding most of my action in 8’ weeds -- very little action deeper than that. Now suckers are tough to come by this year. That “perfect” size has been elusive. Most of the time you’ll either find very large or very small – and muskies haven’t been particularly fond of these types. I’ve been looking for those fat 10 to 12 inchers. Again, once the cold weather arrives, the large suckers should start working well.

Good luck fishing. Jeff Winters