
It was great to see the walleye back this past week. Sure, they arrived to their early season feeding grounds in the shallows and channels a little later than usual this year, and were biting lighter, and often for a short period, right at dark. “You had to work for ’em,” the Snowman put it.
There is no doubt this season we are about two weeks behind the normal walleye patterns. Trolling the small body baits in shallow water hasn’t got the walleye like we would expect for the first week of June. The action was best on light jigs with worm or leeches on slip bobbers and most of the walleye were caught late. It makes sense that the light-shy walleye only move into the shallows to feed once the sun is low enough, so you want to be there at dusk or dawn to take advantage of the small window of action. As in after sunset, at dark, after sensible people go home, in the thick of the blackflies and mosquitoes. So, if you are the type of angler who can handle those conditions, there are fish to be had…most nights, in the right spot, with the right presentation, and a lot of patience!
The last few days here have given us some hot weather and the water temperature is finally creeping up to the low 60’s. Lake trout and whitefish, both cold water species, are still being caught near the surface while trolling for walleye. Bass are on their nests and have been hitting anything that swims by them. While folks aren’t targeting these bass (the season is still closed on them) some dandy smallies in the 18 to 20 inch range have been caught and released.
This week we are anticipating a fantastic week of fishing as water temps in the bays hit the magic 66 degrees and the weather forecast is looking pretty stable. Hopefully, I’ll have lots of positive reports in my next post.
-Dave