Weekly Fishing Report: June 26 - July 2

[Justin Gaudry]

Weather played a part in making the week a little interesting again. Some wind made it tough to get out and fish desired areas for both walleyes and muskies, but those that got out into the wind and were able to hold the boat were rewarded with some good action.

Walleyes hit well at times in the mornings and other times in the evenings. It seemed at times if the bite was good during the day, then it would be slower at night and vice versa. Reefs, shoreline and points were the key structures. Depth didn't seem to matter as much as long as you were working breaklines on the reefs and transition areas (gravel to sand, mud to sand, mud to gravel, etc.) If you were fishing that type of bottom, you were finding fish anywhere from 15-30 feet of water. Jigs and minnows easliy out produced everything else this week with one boat alone boating multiple 25 and 26 inches and each angler out of the 3 got 27, 29.5 and 30 inch fish respectively. The nice fish were all release in Rory's boat and Rory takes over the lead for the largest release walleye with his personal best 30 inch fish. Congrats, my friend.

Muskies were active this week on the rocks, in the weeds and combinations of those structures as well. Blades were the better action producing presentation, but action was had on topwaters and spinner baits as well. Orange/black was the hot colour for a couple of days in a couple of boats. One group of 4 anglers with 2 boats landed 20 and lost another 22 in 3.5 days of fishing. See Jerry Sondag's trip report on the June thread for more details. Several big fish were spotted and some nice mid 40s class fish landed so the muskie week was pretty good overall. Warmer temps in the forecast and some stable weather will really turn them on. Hopefully the thunderboomer overnight saturday night/sunday morning will not scatter things too much.

Northern action was good as well. Many nice fish caught on various lures, mostly out of the weeds.

I expect more of the same for all 3 species as the week comes. There does appear to be a stable weather pattern, which does nothing but make the bite better and better.

Not many people targeting smallies, but a few nice onces caught this week as well, mostly on rubble/boulder shorelines.

We have a full camp again this week and have 5 or 6 boats targeting muskies only all week so should get a good idea of what is happening on the water with those toothy critters.

I was able to get out for a few hours Monday June 28 in the late afternoon and evening and founjd a few fish in the weeds. Three muskies followed the new black/bronze D8 Twist bucktail I was throwing and one of them jumped on it on the second figure 8 at boatisde. My first muskie of the year measured 41 inches and came from some cabbage. I also landed a nice 37" pike out of some cabbage. That fish also hit a D8 Twist made by Dick Moore that had chart blade with a chart/black flashabou skirt. We're the only place selling these bucktails to the public so check them out when you get here. The big 8 inch grub seems to really get their attention.

Enjoy your week on the water. I hope to get out a couple of times myself!