WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
August 9, 2007

The fish made their move to the shoreline over the last couple of weeks on Winnie and many of the surrounding lakes and with that comes a variety of options for presentations including the crankbait fishing. We have seen many of the shoreline weeds and rocks fill with Walleyes on Winnie and those crankbaits of many styles are catching the fish very similar to last year. We have been running the #4 Salmo hornets again this year and finding good numbers again.

With the Walleyes finding that 6-12 foot of water on the shoreline, we have had a number of days where the Salmo #4 and #5 hornets work best. The most consistent color combinations have been the hot perch and the blue dace so far. When we are finding the fish in the 6-8 feet of water we are trolling the #4 Hornets with 40 to 55 feet of line. The speed that has been most productive so far is the 2.3 mark as the fish seem to really like the bait moving. Try to change the speeds up from time to time by simply making turns with your boat, this will allow the inside bait to slow and the outside bait to speed up, once you find a pattern to which bait is getting hit more often one can either continue to take turns with which way your turning or bump up or slow down that speed. When turning the boat, shoot for a turn around a 45 degree angle which will increase the bait on the outside by .2 to .4 MPH and this angle of turn will slow the inside bait approximately the same.

A few days when the water has been calm, we have found many of the fish sliding out into that 10-12 foot range and this is where we have put the deeper diving #5 Salmo hornet on. Here we have found the most productive line length to be at the 65 to 75 foot mark. Again using the 2.3 MPH mark as the starting speed, it seems that the deeper fish are liking the bait at or near that 2.0 MPH mark with 1.8 being productive at times. So if you are interested in getting into that crankbait bite, now would be a great time to head to Winnie and pull those baits. If you're planning on trolling crankbait keep in mind the details mentioned above to help with your success and a big advantage is the line counter reels and trolling rods used. Last week I was in Ben's Bait getting bait and saw that Ben's had all the reel and rod combinations set-up ready to go for under $100.00. This is a perfect set-up that will get you heading into the right direction with catching those crankbait Walleyes.

If you're not willing to try the crankbaits, the jig and minnow and lindy rigs are also producing fish. We did find that it seemed to be a bite that changed throughout the day while jigging and rigging, with each hour proving to show a different bait of choice. There are a number of options on many of the lakes right now, but the common theme is most of the fish have moved shallow again making them easier at times to find and catch.

How about Pokegama? What a year it has been and the August and September fullmoon cycles are still to come. The night bite has shown a few inconsistencies over the last week as the moon makes it cycle into the new moon phase, but we have found that many of the Walleyes are holding out in the mid-lake basin during daylight and we are pulling the Little Rippers and the Salmo minnows in the silver or white color combination with more consistency. What we are doing here is finding the schools of smelt near the surface, which seems to be in the deepest part of the lake, typically in 40-70 plus foot of water, and running the above baits which only dive down about five feet with 160 foot of line out. We again are trolling the baits from 2.3 to 2.7 MPH. Look for the days where the water is very calm to be very productive as one can keep a close eye on the water and watching for the jumping smelt. Once you find those smelt jumping out of the water for their lives, get those shallow water crankbaits out and troll them through that area and hang on, the Walleyes have been very aggressive and willing to eat those crankbaits often.

Finally the Crappie fishing has hit full speed on Pokegama and the action seems again to be best from 5 p.m. until dark. Here, one needs to find the deepest cabbage with 30-plus feet of water next to that cabbage. The Crappies are holding near the weeds and on the edge and one can throw nearly any type of crappie combination at them and get a fish on nearly every cast.

So with so many options available right now, no better time then now to get out and have some fun while enjoying the later part of summer.

See you on the water,

Sean Colter
member of NMGL
seancolter@seancolter.com