Warm weather brings fish into shallows

This unusually warm stretch of weather has brought all species of fish into the shallows to soak up the sunshine and in many cases prompt the spawning ritual.

I've seen this happen in years past. A springtime cold snap followed by very warm sunny days with calm winds and fish moving up very shallow. On one particular lake this past week I saw every species of fish that swims the lake up in 2' to 6' of water. Largemouth, smallmouth, crappies, bluegills, perch, suckers, dogfish, muskie, northern, and even walleyes were all up in there. We were able to catch many bass and panfish but only an occasional pike or walleye during the daytime. Was a lot of fun just going along the shallows quietly with the trolling motor and watching for fish even if they wouldn't always bite.

Walleyes for the most part have been tight lipped during mid day because of the high skies and light winds. Best bet to score on them is early or late in the day under these conditions. Leeches and crawlers should start becoming more effective.

Bass and crappies have been very active any time of day. No need for live bait. Use plastics or twitch baits for bass and small jigs and plastics for crappie.

The warming waters will definitely help keep the fish active and when we get some cloudy or windy days I'm sure the daytime walleyes will cooperate as well.