August 8, 2010 Fishing Report


Hi folks

Well fishing’s been up and down, much like the weather we’ve been seeing here this summer. When it comes to walleye fishing, success is most often dictated by what type of front we’re getting hit with. Summer cold fronts have been devastating and have made walleye fishing extremely tough when they hit. The warmer temps and winds that come out of the south to the west have all been fairly good. When looking for walleyes, these fish are still hanging around weeds, more than any other structure. Very small weed patches have the ability to hold a lot of fish. Yesterday, we sat in one little weed patch about 10 feet wide and 30 yards long, and we caught fish all afternoon. Jigs tipped with crawlers have still been working the best although I have seen and heard of some leeches and even minnows producing. Water temps are hovering around 76.5 degrees on many of the area lakes.

Bass activity has been very strong this summer. We’ve been catching a lot of nice largemouth in weeds ranging from 8 to 13 feet while fishing walleyes. Smallmouth also seem to be liking to hang around weed patches this summer. Many of my best smallmouth spots have been on small patches of coontail in about 8 to 9 ft. of water. Now I’ve been catching both of these types of fish using jigs and minnows, but I would imagine if you used a crank bait or plastic in these same areas, they would readily work.

MUSKIE fishing has been muskie fishing …. I have not encountered any lake that I would say is blistering hot. It seems to be the point in time with what kind of front might be moving in that triggers small blow-ups. There have been some big fish boated around the area this year, and lately more of the action-sized fish have been showing up. There seems to be a fairly good bite window right at the crack of dawn on top water lures especially, and a much bigger bit window takes place in the evening hours. Fish have been more attracted to small to medium-sized bucktails and minnow lures than almost anything else in the box. I have not been able to drum up a ton of action on my trusty Suick or my large glide baits – but this will change, I’m sure. Just because they’re not looking at them hot and heavy right at the moment, doesn’t mean they won’t. You can’t overlook anything.

Good luck fishing. Jeff Winters