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Posts: 4266
| Hi guys, Taylor and I came up yesterday in the mid-80 degree temperatures. After leaving Milwaukee at 3 AM and trying to pack for a multi-species adventure, we were both too tired and too hot to even think about fishing. So we did the necessary shopping, unpacking, locating stuff......ect, we watched poor Steve work his butt off to get everybody checked in and boats launched. We have a 2 week stay, so we relaxed and napped and didn't even put the boat into the lake until this afternoon.
Weeds are up and healthy. Ducklings are everywhere. Water temps are mid to upper 60's in some areas and are hitting the 70 degree mark in some areas that we visited. We raised a few smallish fish. Caught some small smallies and some jumbo perch tossing small cranks. Guys at the resort are catching all kinds of panfish and walleyes and pike. I think that we timed this vacation just right for a change, keeping in mind that this is a multi-species trip for my daughter and I. Ironically the first thing that she wanted to fish for was muskies. We hit a few areas with rock/weed combo, and I was real happy with the condition of the cabbage.
I'll keep you up to date on what happens up here. With such long days, I'll be keeping a close eye on the Solunar Tables and make sure that we are slinging for muskies during those hours.
Ta-Ta from Spring Bay,
Beaver and Taylor |
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Posts: 32885
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Keep track of the crappies and gills, Beav, Sue is very interested in catching a few of these when we get there! |
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Posts: 86
| Beaver,
Thanks for the report! My brother, nephew and I will be at Spring Bay on the 4th. Mainly chasing muskie but looking forward to wrestlin' a few smallies and eye's. This is our first trip to the Big V and the anticipation is killing us. Good luck and keep us posted.
Justin |
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Posts: 697
Location: Minnetonka | Thanks Beaver. Good luck on V-town, whatever you're fishing for... and do keep us posted on water temps if you are able. |
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Posts: 4266
| The weather is beautiful. So much so that it is detrimental to the muskie fishing. Bright, cloudless, flat calm day after day is pushing the temps into the 70's, but the muskies are very leary to show themselves. We have been dining on fresh bluegills every day. All we have to do is motor around in shallow bays until we find signs of males building nests, and back off and throw small twister tails on 1/32 oz jig heads. We put 15 in the well every day, all of them 8-9". Just enough for Taylor and I to make short work of for supper or lunch or lupper. The bright skies are pushing the smallies deeper, with very small fish inhabiting the shallows and better fish off the first breaks down in 6-9 feet of water. I've heard that smallies will spawn down to 6 feet if need be, and I think that this will be one of those years.
I haven't heard of any muskies being caught. I have only moved small fish in weedy bays or where rocks and weeds meet. I've been using spinnerbaits and Taylor has been throwing top waters. She'll move fish in shady areas, but once they hit the sun they give up the chase. I imagine that night fishing might be an option, but not for this old dog.
Today we are going to hit the deeper areas of reefs with cranks and gliders.
This is the warmest June that I can recall. One guy who has been here since May said that just last week he was wearing jackets with a couple of layers beneath. It's been in the 80's every day, and the extended forecast is for near 90 tomorrow and continuing in the 80's for the rest of my stay. If I can hit on a good pattern, it should stay consistent for the rest of my stay. Heading deeper on the reefs to try my luck, then it'll be bluegills for supper again.
The Polish Tomatoes
Beaver and Taylor |
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Posts: 4266
| Water temps are sky high. Temps in open water is generally 72-74. In bays they are topping off at 76 and greater!
The panfish that were spawning early in the week are gone. I don't know what is going on with the smallies. I caught 4 under docks yesterday, and the smallest was 18". They were full of eggs and their guts were hard as rocks. The deeper water must be a lot cooler. All the bigger fish were dark, indicating to me that they just came out of deep water. Other guys are telling me that they are catching large mouths in weedy bays that haven't spawned yet. No reports of consistent walleye action or muskies being caught.
The only muskie action that we've had has all come from the same 200 yard weedy flat. We've tried many different lures, but las night and this morning we moved 4 big fish.....one four footer and others in the mid forties........all on gliders off the weed edge. The only fish in the weeds are snake pike.
This weather has me and the fish screwed up. I've never seen weather this warm in June for as long as I can recall.
Will continue hitting the areas where I've seen fish, and will look for more. Could use a change in the weather to trigger some action I think, but I'm never going to complain about the weather being too nice.
Beav |
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Posts: 4266
| Big changes have come. Temps have dropped 2-30 degrees and the wind is kicking out of the NNW at 25-35 making any big water tough to navigate if not impossible. Have to stay close to the resort again and try to find some fish in some protected areas. Crap weather is supposed to last another day or two, so we'll have to make the best of a bad situation. I'm glad that we had last week to bask in the sunshine.
Beav |
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Posts: 20213
Location: oswego, il | Dang Beav, if I had known you were up there i would have stopped and said Hi. Just got back from a week at Life of Riley, probably drove past Spring bay 4 times. Like you said though, conditions were tough with bright skies. I look like I spent a week in florida, not minnesota. Norwegian bay was very clear so we did like you and caught a ton of bluegills and rock bass. Even caught a 10" pumkinseed, nver seen one that big before. Seemed like if you found sand, you found the big ones rocks or weeds the small ones. Crappies were nice if you found them, mostly in the afternoon and evening. We did not do much for musky fishing and did not even encounter that many pike or too many nice bass. We caught more pike fishing with panfish beetle spins than we did with other lures. Temps for us were 72 to 79 on friday afternoon. Lost one day of fishing when I had to take the front deck off my boat to replace a seat base.
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Posts: 4266
| Well, it's back to reality. 3 unfishable days because of 25-35 mph winds out of the WNW making it impossible to cross any big water. Taylor and I were fishing down in some bays in the narrows on Sat. when the wind shifted and increased to a steady 30+. We had a white knuckle drive home with a few breaking over the bow.
I fished around here for 2 hours today and found some very nice bass still active even though the water temps in the bays have gone from 76-78 to 66-68. Guys that are here for a week are out pounding it. No talk on the dock or by the fire pit about any muskies. Some walleyes are being caught by guys with big-azz boats.
Weather is supposed to change and wind is supposed to shift. Don't know what is going on with the muskies or pike. I might just go scouting and short-line troll on the way.
Todd, sorry we missed you. I'm sure that you and the boys had just as much fun as Taylor and I did. I didn't mind not muskie fishing one bit. Bluegills and bass are great fun for a father and his kid. Best Fathers Day ever, sitting in the sun and sharing laughs and catching bluegills with my daughter and eating them for supper.
I hope that I have muskie-related things to report about during the remainder of our vacation. Taylor's already looking forward to the muskiefirst outing and so am I.
Beaver and Taylor
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Posts: 4266
| Well, this is the end of it. We're heading for home early on the 3rd to miss the traffic.
Water temps continue to drop. NNW winds continue to blow. Weed growth is phenominal. Muskie activity is null. Boated some nice pike fishing for skis, so maybe things are going to get back to normal, more or less. Every nice fish that I've had follow was following a glider, if that's any help. All of the pike came on gliders on the outside edge of cabbage.
If you're coming up, good luck.
Beav and Taylor |
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Posts: 336
Location: Wheeling, IL. | Hey Beav
Sounds like a tough time. Just saving themselves for August.
See you up there on the 22nd! |
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Posts: 4080
Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | Beaver,
Are you still at Spring Bay ? I'll be up monday, or Tues....... any new reports???
Jerome |
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