Rob Manthei
10-04-2012, 06:07 AM
Sorry for the delay, but things have been very busy as usual and a mini vacation was in the mix too.
Water temps rose a bit with the horrible sun/flat conditions. Yesterday the temps were close to 60 on the lakes that I fished. That will all change today/tonight. It's typical of the first weekend of October. This weekend is either 80 or 40...bet your life on it.
We need the cold and wind to get the final mixing of the lakes over and done with. From what I've seen this week, it looks like a lot of mid sized lakes are in turnover or just starting. This DOESN'T mean fish stop eating, just their location(s) are messed up for a while. The largest lakes are clear looking, but water temps really don't tell me that the lakes flipped, although some locations of walleyes make it seem like T.O. has happened.
MUSKIES:
I've been finding these guys from shallow weeds to deep rock edges...very typical of pre-turn to T.O. time. Muskies are starting to eat suckers on quick set rigs...remember no J hooks or gut hooks this year :). Large spinnerbaits, medium sized bucktails, and Suicks have been getting their attention in the shallow weeds. These type of baits allow for easy retrieval thru the thick stuff.
The deeper structures and edges find me throwing Mag and Pounder Dawgs, DDD's, and Depthraiders.
The next couple of days will be real interesting. I am running our St. Germain Tournament for the weekend, and with the no live bait use, it'll be interesting how well the guys do.
WALLEYES:
The bite has been really good for me. Deep sandgrass, deep mud, and even weed edges(evening), are all holding fish. Catches of 20 to 40 fish have been common. Plain 1/8 to 3/8 jigs and redtails have been the hot bait. I've seen fish from 18' to 44' of water. This is the time of year that your electronics become your friend. Look for fish before you waste hours sitting on a spot saying "guess they aren't biting here"....sonars don't lie....find walleyes this time of year and they'll bite..there will be some very good bites happening on area lakes coming up, however it's all muskies for me and clients until Nov 15th....nice
Good Luck!
Water temps rose a bit with the horrible sun/flat conditions. Yesterday the temps were close to 60 on the lakes that I fished. That will all change today/tonight. It's typical of the first weekend of October. This weekend is either 80 or 40...bet your life on it.
We need the cold and wind to get the final mixing of the lakes over and done with. From what I've seen this week, it looks like a lot of mid sized lakes are in turnover or just starting. This DOESN'T mean fish stop eating, just their location(s) are messed up for a while. The largest lakes are clear looking, but water temps really don't tell me that the lakes flipped, although some locations of walleyes make it seem like T.O. has happened.
MUSKIES:
I've been finding these guys from shallow weeds to deep rock edges...very typical of pre-turn to T.O. time. Muskies are starting to eat suckers on quick set rigs...remember no J hooks or gut hooks this year :). Large spinnerbaits, medium sized bucktails, and Suicks have been getting their attention in the shallow weeds. These type of baits allow for easy retrieval thru the thick stuff.
The deeper structures and edges find me throwing Mag and Pounder Dawgs, DDD's, and Depthraiders.
The next couple of days will be real interesting. I am running our St. Germain Tournament for the weekend, and with the no live bait use, it'll be interesting how well the guys do.
WALLEYES:
The bite has been really good for me. Deep sandgrass, deep mud, and even weed edges(evening), are all holding fish. Catches of 20 to 40 fish have been common. Plain 1/8 to 3/8 jigs and redtails have been the hot bait. I've seen fish from 18' to 44' of water. This is the time of year that your electronics become your friend. Look for fish before you waste hours sitting on a spot saying "guess they aren't biting here"....sonars don't lie....find walleyes this time of year and they'll bite..there will be some very good bites happening on area lakes coming up, however it's all muskies for me and clients until Nov 15th....nice
Good Luck!