Fish Talk

[Steve Herbeck]

Com'on You Guys!!
Some Of You Must Be Getting The Itch Or Have Been Out Sticking Some Walleyes,panfish,trout,muskies Where They're Legal,etc.
Lets Hear Some Stories And Or Some Hot Bites/ Tips You Figured Out Or Any Advise You Need For Upcoming Trips.

So Far Trout/pike,bass Are Legal In Most Nw Ontario Waters Till May 15 For Walleyes And June 19 For Muskies.
Freom Reports You'll Find Trout Cruising Shorelines And Points As Well As Around 10-20' Over Deep Water And Hungry,
Pike Are Done Spawning But Will Be Around Creek Mouths With Spawning Suckers,downed Timber/beaver Houses,middle Of Bigger Spawning Bays With A Few Crusing/laying In Shallow On Deeper Colder Trout Type Lakes,
Bass Will Still Be On Humps Much Like Fall Patterns And Very Catchable,soon As Water Warms Up A Bit More They Will Make A Move In Shallow Quickly.

This Warm Spring Will Get Weeds Going Quicker Than Past Few Springs,water Temps Rising Will Start The Shallow Water Food Chain And Late May /june Fishing Should Be Very Predictable With Walleyes Well Past Spawn And Recouped With The Feed Bag On And I Predict We Will have An Awesome Big Fish Musky Season,these Conditions Are What Bodes Well For Northern Big Water Lakes For A Peak Bite.
Talk To Ya Soon!!!

[Cranman]

Steve...the Cran clan is pumped and excited...we have 5 weeks until our June 5th trip. As you know, we target the big pike. Last year was a little tough given the weed growth was really late and even the back lakes had only small patches. We still caught and released at least 500 pike in the week but our big fish were down. We only had a handful of 40+. I remember 4 years ago(i believe) when it was a very hot spring. Man, we caught so many big fish and the weeds were already thick. Question: do you think the big pike will still be shallow in the weeds come June 5th or will they be so far ahead of schedule due to the warm weather that the trophies will be headed for deeper water - reefs, humps etc? We live in southern ontario and our April has been more like June weather...every golf course opened at least 2-3 weeks early. Also, should we be bringing larger pike baits? Normally we are throwing average size minnow and spinner baits given the baitfish are smaller but given the warmth do we need to adapt? What do you think Herbie?

[Steve Herbeck]

No, My Opinion Is That This Season There Should Be More Bigger Fish Shallow As Warmer Water,weed Growth,etc Gets The Food Chain Going And Should Bring Past Post Spawn Fish Back In.
Opt. Water Temps,cover = Fish
Last Season With The Late Spring,dark Colder Weather Resulting In Colder Water Temps Most Bait Fish Were Off The Breaks Deeper And Thats Were The Majority Predators Will Be. Heck We Were Catching Walleyes 24-30' In May/early June!! Unreal For That Time Of The Season And Most Bigger Pike Were Caught Accidently Fishing For Them.
As Far As Bait Sizes Remember Musky Season Is Closed So We Can't Go To Big Without A Potential Hassel Even Though You Would Water Release Any Accidently Hooked While Pike Fishing,they Could Say Intentinally Fishing Musky.

[john r]

here in Ohio we have no closed season for muskie....so a few weeks ago was casting for some spring fish....kept everything small....showgirls, leos, spinnerbaits, tubes....had little success...but was fishing amongst shad in the shallows...so said what the heck and put on a cowgirl with xmas tree colors..fourth cast caught this 43" pregnant muskie...she wanted a bigger bait...http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k180/johnr_49/Fishing/IMG_1133-1.jpg....Herbie...thought the interview on muskie first a nice reflection on everything you have built...

[Steve Herbeck]

John,
Nice Fish,chunky Girl!!
Goes To Show You Can't Predetermine What They Want,what Was Supposed To Work Wasn't So You Made A Change That Worked. Good Job.
I Always Have Said If What Is Supposed To Work Isn't Don't Necesarily Make Minor Changes Sometime The Opposite Or Major Adjustments Are Needed.
Take Care And See Ya This Fall!! Slap A Pic On Andy Myers Lodge Face Book Page For Those That Check It Out.
Steve

[Scotty Jags]

Hey John, nice fish... Makes me want to start pluggin for the big girls again. Well i've been out bass fishing a few times in the past couple weeks here on Eagle, fished a big open water hump did really well the first time catching 10 in about an hour. All very big... 16-20"ers. The two times after only about 5 each time. And the last was a week ago never caught a fish so that tells me they have started moving to shallower water to get ready for their spawn. It is pretty early.

It has been very warm here surface temps already around 50 degrees weeds starting to grow. This walleye opener is going to be fantastic, fish will be starting to congregate on humps and bars. Should make it exciting for some big eyes. Can't wait... Been Helping a friend out and saw two real nice muskies swimming around his dock one around 50" and the other around 45". Sure gives you the itch.

Take care,

Scott

[familyguy]

I will be up in late June. I will mainly be targeting Musky, but love smallmouth fishing too. Any advice on lure options and colors so I can stock up. My previous trips to LOTW, I had a hard time keeping the small northerns off and also got bit off quite a bit. Is this a problem up there also? Anything will help, being a first timer at AML.

Thanks
Mike

[Steve Herbeck]

anytime you're fishing bass obviously with no leader or you wouldn't catch much and you got pike around it could be a problem you just need to deal with,what can help if it is a continual problem and you're using expensive baits you'd just as soon not lose you can double uni knot a 6-8" floro leader to the end of your mainline to your lure of 12-17# test,that along with back reeling when you're fighting the pike/musky instead of using the drag will dramatically reduce the number of cutoffs and shouldn't hurt your fishing success. tie a loop/rapala knot to your baits so they will work better and go liter in leader # with baits that are more sensitive to weight like top waters,with jigs,spinnerbaits,minnowbiats,flukes etc you should be ok with heavier. you'll have to retie after most every pike cause it will fray a bit but you'll save most baits and boat some pike too.
when bass fishing and they are in shallow pre spawn or spawn one tip is if yu are in fact encountering alot of small pike there probably isn't many bass a round if there was they would have driven the small pike away they are that aggressive in protecting their spawning areas. by the time you are coming though they will be well past spawn and both species could/will be in the same areas together if the forage is there.

[DanR]

Com'on You Guys!!
Some Of You Must Be Getting The Itch
Dude, yeah...I'm with ya man. The itch gets worse every year. If I start talking about my trip now, I'll get too fired up and I seriously will be in a straight jacket and/or bouncing off the walls by June or so. I gotta wait til August.

I'm trying to temper my excitement. As you know, I'll be there pounding the water for two weeks at the end of August man!

One of these days I will be up there all season...thats how bad I got the itch and love the lake...

-Dan

[Bill Hedden]

So, the opener is a week away and nobody has anything to post!!? We are all being very boring.

From the sound of it, early season conditions at the lake are different than even old timers have ever seen. What effect do people think that is going to have on the year? The fish will spawn early and move off the beds, but will that be the end of it? or will this be a unique year in many ways? It seems like such unusual conditions might have complex consequences.

Bill

[Steve Herbeck]

what info i go i just posted,not much open other than trout and bass on eagle and those plus pike on other lakes ,i haven't heard anyone doing alot of fishing other than for trout which have been biting good in shallow yet.
other than those who have been used to fishing opener for years and fishing certain areas having to move to spots that would be typically be a bit later patterns i don't think it will change anything other than better weed growth this year and fish not so much in transition movements for as long going into the pre summer peak .