On Thursday my friend and I drove 40 minutes from Minocqua to fish for the day.
Fished the morning from 7am-2pm in the far north end between the falls and four mile creek area. Figured all of the creek inlets and coves could offer biggie smalls a warm water sanctuary since main lake temperatures were still overall very cold when we began the morning at 53 degrees (jumped up to 56 by the time we left here).
Action was slow in the north end, with very few fish in the coves other than a little guy and a 32" musky, but anywhere we found deeper shoreline rocks I was able to lock into some fish.
It was an all jerkbait bite for me with Rapala Xraps size 8 in yellow/orange. I ended up with only 5 fish during the morning but three of them were bigger than 3 pounds each so I was a happy camper.
Following a quick lunch break back at the car, we pulled out and drove down Popkos West to work the Fisherman's Landing area. I was in contact with Blue (Bill) throughout the morning hours and told him I'd be coming around sometime after 2pm. As soon as we got in, Bill was a mere 200 yards away in his extremely noticeable blue Ranger (wicked nice boat color BTW). We conversed and engaged discussion for a good 20 minutes before fishing resumed for us again. Nice to finally meet you Bill! We will cross paths again soon.
In this area of the lake, temperatures finally jumped up to 58 degrees by the time our day of fishing ended at 7pm, but the action was still terribly slow. We worked around several different islands and points, as well as the Baraboo and Sweeny basins. Only 5 fish were caught, all smaller ones in the 14 inch range on jerkbaits and crankbaits.
Throughout the day, the magic depth range seemed to be 5 to 10 feet. We even found some fish still relating to mid-lake bars and off-shore points that dropped down into the deep channels which I thought was sort of odd given the season but it was all dictated by the colder water.
On an end note, water levels were by far the highest I've fished the flowage to date. I thought last spring 2010 was pretty high to begin with but comparing certain water markers I often pay attention to (boulders and the lack of stumps anywhere) it was pretty clear it was higher than what I'm even used to.
For the last two months I've had my memorial weekend trip all planned out (thurs thru tues) along with some video work but in the last week and a half I've had two different cancellations from friends, so the coming weekend is all in limbo. Kind of heartbreaking because I know for a fact how good the fishing will be. Otherwise there's still a 50% chance I will be back, but only for a shorter trip with my dad. Otherwise June 5th weekend is a good bet as is the entire week of June 12 thru 19.
Good stuff!!! I was out for my first crack at the prespawners yesterday and found the same thing as you regarding the XRap pattern, though I was using clown. Without a second person in my boat, I wasn't able to check out the swimming jig/plastic jerkbait presentations as I got it going right off the bat. This is my second year utilizing the overlapping areas tween the smallies and the 'eyes and am looking forward to the rest of this spring. I was a mid-sized clear lake near Minocqua, got blown off by the first set of storms and then finally pulled out near 6 p.m. I didn't look closely at water temps, just hit some areas on the lake that I suspected would provide action from both. Unfortunately the storms pulled me off before the dusk 'eye bite.
Thanks Mark. Spring smallies are truly a magical period.
On Saturday I had a killer day on a 1,000 acre lake in the rain. LOADS of fish in the 14-17" range creaming the x-rap, all were males except for two females that were just developing their eggs. Water temps shot up to 56-58 and that had something to do with it. Probably finished with 30+ from 11am-3pm while my friend who was using the same thing only caught 5. Must be the way I fish them....
Started my quest for the big prespawn smallies!!! I managed several on Sunday while the storms were hammerin' away up here, nothing bigger than 15"-16"... Last night prefishing for a neighbor trip tonite, I managed to put the hammer to two 18", pushing 4# females.
What type of twitching cadence are you finding to be most productive???
I seem to vary it week by week and according to the activity of fish.
But on a normal day I make long casts with several erratic jerks while retrieving the slack, and then 1 to 3 second pauses every 5 to 10 seconds while in the retrieve.
I fish those XRap 8's with 8lb copolymer line on a 7ft. medium extra fast action spinning rod.
In mega cold fronts I tend to slow everything down: Long casts, slower jerks, and longer pauses.
About 80% of the time they will hit on the pause. Catches them spring through fall.
May 19th Smallie report & photos
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