butternut opener

[teenfisher]

i'll be fishing butternut this opening weekend. i know there was an early thaw so the walleyes should be in their late spring pattern i'm assuming. I know this tends to be the early weed growth but on butternut there's not a lot of submerged weeds so i'm wondering what areas i should target. thanks, Keith

[Flambeau Riverman]

can't help you with the eye's could you please let us know water temps
and how the weeds are coming in will be up 1st week of june on ski patrol
and it's the wife's favorite lake.
Thank You.

[Joe Brezinski]

Teenfisher,
The water temps are in the low to mid 50's. Stay shallow. 3ft to 6 ft. Use 1/16 to 1/8 oz jigs tipped with small minnows or use #4 bait hooks with slip bobbers. Muskies are still extremely shallow. Saw a dandy last nite. The weed growth is starting to develope and the cabbage starting to bud. Use a little piece of gulp ahead of the minnow if you can't get bit. With the high winds the water is a little cloudy stay with orange or chartruese color jigs and hooks.
Good Luck Fishing
Joe

[teenfisher]

thanks for the advise joe. i will try to make sure to report back after the fishing. and yes flambeau riverman, i will get the water temps for you and weed growth status.

[Flambeau Riverman]

Thanks teenfisher looking forward to your report.
I have to admit I'm a little jealous still a month before
we get to wet a line. Have a good trip and Good Luck fishing.

[teenfisher]

well, i went out. had to rent a boat from northern pines because my boat is broken at the moment. conditions were tough considering the trolling motor did not work and there was no fishfinder. to make matters worse there was 30mph winds. tried fishing windswept shorelines but the wind was just so furious that fishing was near impossible for us as we didn't have the suited equipment for the conditions. tried fishing bays that were out of the wind somewhat only to find last years weeds. the spots that did have good weeds were in the danger zone of the wind. we stopped the fishing at around 2pm like most on the water as the wind was just getting worse. talked to some others who had either caught nothing like us or had caught a couple some walleyes and northerns as well.

[Flambeau Riverman]

teenfisher,
sorry to here your trip didn't go well. (broken boat been there)
on all the sites i go on they said that for the northern wisconsin opener
that the winds were brutal everywhere.
usually when i see white caps and winds 30mph i tend to avoid
butternut there's not much shelter other than the island.
didn't know northern pines (miss bob) still rented boats me and the wife
usually eat lunch there we just pull up to the dock and tie up the boat
i think thats another reason its here favorite lake and that most of the
musky's she's caught inculding her PB have came from butternut.
we still have 31 more day's till are first trip.
hope your next trip is better good luck.

[teenfisher]

yea me too. i'll be back up north in a month but don't know if i'll be on butternut. water temps were in mid 50's i'm pretty sure by the way but i don't know because we didn't have a fish finder. just going off other reports... yea northern pines is great, just wouldn't rent a boat from them again but i won't need to hopefully haha. ever since the husband left, northern pines has been slipping because the lady has to run that place by herself. hopefully she gets through the tough times so i can continue to have great times on butternut.

[Flambeau Riverman]

teenfisher,
if you ever come across a maroon MonArk pro 1650sc out on the water
thats us stop bye and say hello I always like to talk fishing.
we mostly fish the upper PF flowage butternut and the tff.
were going to give pixley a shot this year and some other lakes
I've heard some good things about.
we pull out of addison il. and it's a 6 hour trip for us so the wife
won't do weekends or i'd be up there alot more and we still have
till may 29th for the muskie opener in northern wisconsin.
counting down the days till are 1st trip.

[teenfisher]

yea, that would be awesome. i'm in a white bayliner which is very easy to spot out from the other fishing boats. i fish butternut, tff, and cranberry lake just south of phillips (great for lg bass). i live in vernon hills in illinois which is also a 6 hour drive so its not like i'm up north every other weekend. i'll be up again fishing the 6 and 7th of june but i don't for sure. i'm pumped for coming up to fish as i feel i did not get a fair chance last weekend.

[Joe Brezinski]

Teenfisher,

I read you message about your problems with the boat rental at northern pines resort. First, I will say that they are one of my sponsors but that will not influence how I respond. The resort has excellent accomidations for famalies and corporate retreats. The entire resort was rebuilt. The owner has a employee responsibile for boat maintenance and others responsible for the grounds. I spoke with Patty (owner) last nite and discussed your disappointment with the boat rental.I completely understand. Patty asked me to contact you so she can compensate you for your troubles. Please call her at 715-762-3001. If you recieve a boat which is not operating correctly please TELL the owner because in order for them to provide excellent service they need to hear from customers whether its good or bad. I hope this will help you out.
Take care
Joe

[Flambeau Riverman]

teenfisher,

we will be on vacation the 4th thru the 12th of june so maybe will run across
each other out there. if you really like fishing Lg. bass you should give
Blockhouse a try its about 7 miles east of park falls off of 182 it's loaded with
Lg bass the only issue you might have is usually by july it gets very weedy
sometimes it looks like you could walk from one side to the other but normaly
the middle of the lake is not to bad and you can find spots to run between
the weeds just make sure you bring weedless lures livebait also works well it's also a very good northern lake yea there's plenty of hammerhandels
but there some really big one's in there to

[teenfisher]

ok joe, i understand. i will call her when i have some spare time. they did give me 25 dollars off because we didn't use it as long as hoped. riverman... yea maybe we could run in to each other and talk fishing spots and such. do you plan on fishing tff or butternut when you come up?

[Flambeau Riverman]

teenfisher'
will be out on butternut and the tff a few of those day's
it all depends on the weather and wind.
if the fishing not going so good after a few hours will pick up and head to a different body of water i was hopeing with the early ice out for some warmer
weather this june we froze are butts off the last 2 year's. going to try some
other lakes that are 15ft or less with warmer water and good weeds.
of course as i'm writing this it's snowing in northern wisconsin with 4" by saturday be happy your not up there this weekend i am.

[Flambeau Riverman]

Won't be on butternut till after June 6th just found out about the WMT event.
YIKES been out there a couple of times when there pre-fishing.
NOT FUN!!!!!

[teenfisher]

yea i won't be fishing butternut either. i'll for sure be on the turtle hopefully either the 6th or 7th trying to catch some bass pannies or walleyes, whatever is biting. i'll probably be on the south end but i don't know. when do you plan on fishin the flowage?

[Flambeau Riverman]

will be out there a couple of days when were on vacation it all depends
on the weather were up for 9 days so we have some wiggle room.
I'm not sure if were going to put in at springstead or sportsmans landing we
probably won't venture to far from either landing with the water being 3 feet below pool my lower unit gets scared. Talked to my cousin last night who's up for the musky opener they put in at sportsmans landing and it took them an hour to make the run down to rat lake so i'm not sure if will hit the southern part of the tff

[Flambeau Riverman]

teenfisher,

we usually will finish up every day on the North fork the flowage above
park falls from 5:00pm till dark. I'll be keeping an eye out for a white bayliner
on whatever water were out on. the forecast for next week shows alot of rain which is usually are luck still with all this warm weather the water temps
should be good and i expect some good weed growth.
do you by chance know of any bar/restaurant that has Versus around park falls when we pull in on june 4th the Blackhawks game that nite is on Versus
and the place we eat/drink at dosen't carry Versus i already called them and asked and if i can't find the game on local radio i'm going to freak out.

[Timbrr]

teenfisher,

we usually will finish up every day on the North fork the flowage above
park falls from 5:00pm till dark. I'll be keeping an eye out for a white bayliner
on whatever water were out on. the forecast for next week shows alot of rain which is usually are luck still with all this warm weather the water temps
should be good and i expect some good weed growth.
do you by chance know of any bar/restaurant that has Versus around park falls when we pull in on june 4th the Blackhawks game that nite is on Versus
and the place we eat/drink at dosen't carry Versus i already called them and asked and if i can't find the game on local radio i'm going to freak out.

Hey Riverman, I'm pretty sure that Northern Pines on Butternut Lake has Versus, so don't freak out just yet! I happen to live up on this stretch of water, so maybe I'll see ya out there. GO HAWKS! -Joe

[Flambeau Riverman]

Thanks Timbrr
If it's raining will be there early if not will try to be there to catch the 3rd period we haven't been up since last sept. The wife really wants to wet a lure. Are any local radio stations carrying the game?
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Timbrr]

I've tried to tune in to AM radio in the past, but couldn't get any reception for the game. (my wife told me to try and climb a tree for better reception...ha-ha) I think that she just wanted me outta the house!!:D

[Flambeau Riverman]

Looks like I'll have to beg the wife and try and get there as early as possible
( I'll pay later) I'll be the guy in the Blackhawks jersey.
Thanks again Timbrr

[teenfisher]

hey flambeau riverman, sorry i did't get to go up there because my dad had a kidney stone. how did you do? i know there was constant rain and the mayfly hatch going on. did you atleast get to see the blackhawks win the stanley cup?

[Flambeau Riverman]

hey teenfisher,
sorry to your dad (ouch)
There's a four letter word for this trip RAIN it was constant and never ending.
we only had 2 day's of sunshine and one of them the wind was steady 30mph
and gusting to 40mph. we've never fished less in a 9 day trip less than 25
total hours on the water one day we put the boat in and pulled it out 4 times
never being on the water 30 minutes before it would start pouring again.
Tuesday the 8th was the worst local radio said they had 2 inches that day
we never saw the water it rained constant from when we got up till we went to bed.
It must have been 5+ inches of rain when we were up so the water was high
everywhere we went. the water temps were from 74 to 71 when we first got up and were down to 64 to 61 when we left. there was good weed growth
everywhere. all we ended up catching were a few northern some smallies
all caught on musky baits and some largemouth bobber fishing with minnows.
we thru everything in the box fished the TFF butternut north fork south fork
and a couple of other lakes and never saw a musky the northern and smallies
were caught on the north fork and the large mouth were caught on blockhouse at least we only have 5 weeks till are 2 week trip.

[Flambeau Riverman]

teenfisher
we did get to see the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go Hawks.