A major cold front moved through the area last week, creating havoc on the system. Water temps dropped from 76 degrees on July 1, down to 66 degrees on July 3. Clarity of the water remains partially stained. Due to boat traffic and seasonal changes, there is a ton of floating vegetation in the water, especially south of Wendt’s. Walleye fishing came to a stretching halt as the temperatures plummeted. Heavy holiday weekend recreational boat traffic also played a role in the slow down.
The good news is the perch have started to become aggressive, especially on the south east shore. Red worms or a tiny piece of night crawler on a still presentation worked the best. The Third Reef and Mudgin’s (I hope this is spelled right) had the best action. Many of these perch have excellent size.
There also has been a reef bite on the Third Reef for walleyes. These walleyes are running a tad smaller than the mud fish and have been active first thing in the morning and at sunset. Day time Reef eyes have been a tough find anywhere on the system this week. Leeches outperformed crawlers quite handily this week under slip bobbers. Long Point, Abrahams, the Outer Bar, Stevens reef were all noted as slow.
Trolling continues to be solid on the north end of the lake. The eyes remain deep and running the baits deep in the water column is critical to success. In many cases, larger size cranks in the #7 size are working best. At this time of year it can be advantageous to up-size your presentation. The forage base has grown larger as the summer has progressed, and so should your presentation to mimic the forage. On the south end, there have been some strong reports of walleyes tucked into weed pockets on the west shore in 7-11 feet of water. Running cranks high over the top of the weed beds can be very productive, if you are willing to put up with a lot of fouled lures with debris.
