The weed bite has started!

Hi Folks – The weed bite has started on the walleye front. We have seen spectacular fishing this past week and I see no reason for things to slow down in the near future. Water temps have ranged from 68 to 77 degrees and it was a very quick warm-up. This had little to no effect on the walleye activity. We have been catching lots of nice walleyes in new green weed growth. These fish are empty and chomping on anything that looks good. We have been catching fish all day long and on everything we have thrown – jigs & minnow combos, minnow lures and plastics; the only things I have not tried was leeches & crawlers. I would imagine these would work also. We have been averaging 30 to 40 walleyes a day, so now’s the time.

Northerns have also been going nuts. These toothy critters are hanging in the weeds right along with the walleyes. This is a good time to snare into a nice Pike. We have been getting some nice 25 to 31 inchers. Everything is working, so pick your poison when it comes to fishing for them. Spinner baits have been fun lately. Again, concentrate on new green weed, but old brown cabbage will also work.
Crappies have been also providing area anglers with very good action. These fish are on the beds and fishing has been very good this past week. This spawn bite should last a little while yet. Minnows are a staple, but little cubbies and tubes have proven effective.
Largemouth Bass have been cruisin’ the shallows as they have their spawn just around the corner. The lakes I’ve been fishing don’t seem to have them on beds yet and from the size of the bellies on these fish, I would say they are full of spawn. We’ve been playing around with them and have caught fish on just about everything but topwater.
Attachment 22065Attachment 22066Muskies seemed to have been on a feeding rampage this past week. Mainly small fish were hitting. Skies up to 40” were what we were seeing as we fished walleye and bass. We boated seven in two days. Fish were being found in weeds and again we caught them on just about every bass lure in the box.
Well that’s all for now ----
Jeff Winters