Fishing Report 6/14

With a little over a week into the season I can say that the fishing is a little on the slower side of normal for this time of the year, but after a long winter and months of waiting, it's still a joy to be back on the water fishing for muskies. As expected, the water is colder than usual due to the cold winter and spring, especially compared to last year, and that hasn't helped the fishing. It took a long time for the water temp to crawl above the 60 degree mark, but the short blast of heat last week helped and things are beginning to warm up a bit. The visibility is a bit low, even for this time of year. The fish haven't been steady at all - it's been one here and there with plenty of casting in between. As folks familiar with Mille Lacs know, there hasn't been any fishing allowed between 10pm and 6am, but the night ban ended the 13th. Plenty of night fishing will now be a regular part of the gam plan.

The fish caught so far have been pretty typical for the start of the season. I've been fishing some main-lake spots, but the action has primarily come from the bays from fish in the 40-46" range. The big girls are still out to see. We've done surprisingly well on topwaters, which is fun. The Lee Lures Fishstick, my favorite walk-the-dog topwater, has been the top producer so far. Geez, it would be great if topwaters were the top producer all year.

If I had the ability to control the weather I'd turn the heat up a few notches, but I don't. So, we'll keep grinding it out, fishing as hard and as smart as possible, and scratching out the fish. Bring on the heat...