Third Reef
The third reef has been slower this week, with an abundant amount of sheephead active on and near the reef. Perch fishing has picked up some north of the reef, but is still hit and miss.
Southern Mud
Trolling on the flats was steady over the week. Walleyes ranging in the 13-18” range were common. Purple or blue colored shad baits are still hot, with bubblegum, being a close second. Natural colored shad raps have been slower. Crawler harness working well also, with no specific color or style working best. Most fisherman reporting fish caught, but limits did not come easy as the previous week. 40-50 feet behind boards seemed to work best with the artificial baits.
Mouth of the FDL River
Still some perching going on here with dead sticks and slip bobbers. The area was red hot last week, but the cold front has slowed the area considerably.
Abraham’s Reef
We did very well on this reef over the weekend. Fish tended to be on the north side of the reef. Dead sticks were slow for walleyes with crawlers, but did produce some perch. Horizontal jigging (slow retrieve or drift and twitch) worked best using a small jig head with a spinner attached. Yellow was the hottest color followed by orange. If you’re going to try this method, you’ll have to wade through the sheephead. Most walleyes were decent sized in the 15-19” range.
Fisherman’s road
Perch fishing continue to be steady. The hot area is about 3 miles due west of the launch. Pan fish jigs, slips with crawlers, and dead sticks seem to be the ticket. The perch seem to prefer a very still presentation and are tight to the bottom. There continues to be heavy boat traffic on all key points in the area.
