May 9th report

[Rob Manthei]

Opening weekend was nice on Saturday, very,very wet on Sunday. Of course, Monday was beautiful. The bite was as expected. Many fish using shallow cribs, shoreline wood, and especially weeds. Bait Rigs Slow Poke Weedmasters jigs and redtails or tuffies (large fatheads) were the ticket. I also got into some aggressive fish using 4" Berkley Hollowbellies rip jigging thru the weeds.

Saturday was definitely a morning bite and things seems to slow off during the middle of the day. My customers and I managed around 30 total walleyes and probably 10 pike and a mix of SMB's and LMB's. Saturday evening a good friend and I went out for "fun" and got a meal of eaters. The bite actually died for us by 8 pm....kinda weird prior to "prime time".

Sunday's soaker was the wierdest bite I've ever seen. Got a few pike and SMB's in the morning, along with some crappies. When the middle of the day down pour came thru, we put around 20 fish in the boat(walleyes, bass, pike) during that 1 to 1.5 hour downpour and east wind. I've had some great days during a light rain(both musky and walleye), but as far as a out right down pour, I've never seen it to be good, only right after the rain stops...anyway, with the fish biting, it was a lot easier to tollerate the rain.

Monday was an awesome day....cloudy in the morning turning to a warm, sunny day later...the walleyes were on fire and my customers and I ended the day with 14 fish over 15" for the freezer. We practiced selected harvest and for 4 people to keep 14 fish over 3 different lakes, the resource isn't getting hurt.

This brings me to another subject, once again the masses are out slaughtering the crappies day after day....what the hell do these people do with all this fish??? I get sick of cleaning 15 crappies much less 25 day after day....also the amount of 24" plus walleyes that get kept from locals also makes me sick, these are our spawners and the need to be released to keep the future of the lake.

I will keep things updated, and by the way, last night's town board meeting seemed to show where most people stand on the landing fee, which was good. With a little more public concern, I believe this issue will go to rest.

Good Luck!

[Pete Stoltman]

Rob, Thanks for speaking on behalf of the St. Germain area guides at the meeting regarding Big St. launch fees. Your comments were well reasoned and thoughtful. With tough issues like this it's sometimes difficult to keep things professional and not make personal attacks. I think you clearly stated how we feel. Thanks very much. I agree that while the issue may not be entirely dead the people of the business community made a very direct impact on our opposition to the launch fee proposal.

[JimL]

I am glad someone brought attention to the fact that locals also keep fish that would be better released. As an out of town vacationer that practices strict catch and release it gets tiring to always see the vacationers that support the local economy getting blamed for keeping fish.

[Mark Benson]

I am glad someone brought attention to the fact that locals also keep fish that would be better released. As an out of town vacationer that practices strict catch and release it gets tiring to always see the vacationers that support the local economy getting blamed for keeping fish.

JimL:

The unfortunate part is that selective harvest/CPR is a tough one to get going. I will echo your comments in that it is locals and even though they are not local, a large portion of the downstate populace that drives and hour or two and does the same... In general the group of people that care about trying to keep fish populations and their size structure up are small in number.

It seems like the fishing is never as "good as it used to be" even though our bass, musky and most panfish populations are doing very well or in some cases better than ever!!!

It always seems to come back to the Natives spearing issues... And while I don't condone it in its totality, its not the only problem that is at cause for our walleye population decline. Other issues along with spearing are improved electronics, less stocking monies from the WDNR, larger populations of fish that depredate on the fry/fingerlings released, etc.

Many other things weigh in such as the "I paid lots of money and I'm getting everything I can back" or "The Natives can so I will too" or...

Well folks, two wrongs don't make a right and if we care to have fish populations & decent size structure survive, we all need to be practicing selective harvest. My .02 cent for now. Good luck fishing, enjoy the entire day, relax, enjoy the Northwoods and be safe while you are visiting!!!

Mark

[vegas492]

I was Rob's customer on Monday of the opener. I hired Rob to show me a new lake or two around our cabin in Conover. His report is no exaggeration to our success in the boat. I had a blast, my father had a blast and my wife had a good time as well. Not only did we learn some new water, we also learned a new technique which was greatly appreciated.

Rob, if you check this thread, I want you to know that my wife and I went back to some of that water and did quite well. We even got into a mess of larger fish that were a blast to catch (and release). Thanks a ton for showing me the lake(s) and making our experience very enjoyable.