WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
August 23, 2007

Hope everyone has enjoyed the Summer, but with this report, I hate to say we are starting to head into the Fall picture. But, it is late August and the fish are showing the Fall signs that so many of us can't wait for each year. The aggressive shallow water activity starts the Fall frenzy that typically lasts until ice up. The Salmo Hornet bite is working and I look forward to the fun-filled days from here on out. I do have a couple of days open due to some tournament changes for September. If you're interested, I have the 2nd, 22nd and 23rd open. Please give me a call or email if one of these dates might interest you. These will likely be trips to Winnie as the bite is shaping up very nicely.

The leaves are now in change, the mid-40 temps at nights and the flocking of the black birds show the signs that we are entering many outdoor enthusiasts favorite time of the year, Fall. With the Fall-like conditions as of late, a numbers of things get many of us excited, like the full moon of cycles of the Fall for the big Walleyes, the Walleyes pushing to the shoreline eating those #4 Salmo Hornets along with the jig and minnow bite, and the stand preparation for the upcoming deer season.

Before getting to the fishing report, I must tell you about a new product that L&M Supply is selling for those deer stands. If you're looking for the perfect material to help cover your stand and movements, look no further as L&M has a camouflage board made of plastic, called plastiflage. The board is strong, waterproof, windproof and designed to work in nearly all applications for all types of deer stands. If your tired of being spotted, or cold during that deer season, check the plastiflage board out, you won't be disappointed.

So with the Walleyes on many lakes holding in that shallow water, we have seen many of the fish turn back to the jig and crankbaits again this year. As for the crankbaits, again we have found that the Salmo #4 hornet to be a very productive bait. As for the hot colors of the hornet, we are seeing the hot perch, red-tail shiner and the blue dace to be the preferred choice most days. We have found that the speeds are ranging from 1.8 to 2.4 MPH with most days finding the 2.0 MPH to be most consistent. Line lengths have also varied from day to day but the range holds true to last season. We have found 40-70 feet of line depending on water depth. The depth of water has ranged from 6-10 feet with most of the better action coming from 7-8 feet of water. Look for the crankbait bite to hold strong from now until that water temp drop below the 50 degree mark.

If you're looking to jig the Walleyes up, this presentation is working very good right now on many of the local lakes including Winnie. Again finding the fish is key but most of the fish are hanging just on the outer edge of the weeds in that 8-10 feet of water, with some coming deeper and shallower pending on the weather and depth of the weeds. Many of the typical Fall areas on Winnie are holding good numbers of fish and we are seeing an abundance of those 13 1/2 to 14 inch fish. Here, don't be afraid of getting a medium to large minnow and putting them on an 1/8 to 1/4 oz. jig and make the jigging motion fairly aggressive. The fish are starting to put the Fall feeding frenzy into place, and one can typically fish with a much more aggressive approach to find more numbers of fish throughout the day.

So with Fall pounding on the door and so many of the Fall opportunities starting to happen, look for the fishing to continue to improve and look shallow. Have a fun time out there as the fishing in the area is as good as it gets again this season.

See you on the water,

Sean Colter
member of NMGL
seancolter@seancolter.com