North End Fishing Report 5/17-24

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JR
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North End Fishing Report 5/17-24

Post by JR » Tue May 27, 2014 3:35 pm

Basically to sum it up, this was probably the best week of fishing we have had in close to a decade. The bite, size of fish and weather all added up to an unforgettable week. Below are the species we targeted and how we did. Please keep in mind this is for the North (Shallow) end of the lake and may be very different than the South. We did not fish there.

PIKE: This was a main species we were going after and I couldn't have been happier. We caught pike all day, every day. Even the sizes were up from previous years. I had up to and including 2 at 30 inches which is my new record for the lake. We didn't even bother with chubs, (most guys were telling us they were getting dogfish on them anyway) and just stuck with lures. They did prefer smaller lures to the big ones and were liking the natural colors more than anything. They were also further out from shore than I expected with the high water levels and we found them closer to the middle of the bay than the shore.

Bass: We, of course, did not target bass. It is almost impossible to target pike and not pick them up occasionally, though. When the season opens, the people targeting them are in for a treat. They were fat, healthy, and plentiful.

Walleye: Although we didn't really target them, we sometimes pick them up. We go no Walleye and a few of the guys that did target them struck out as well.

Crappie: During the week, we found the large crappie to be further out from shore in deeper water. We did not really find schools of them and mostly picked them up throwing smaller pike lures. When we tried to target them after catching the occasional one, we didn't have much luck. By next week or the week after, though, I'm guessing that they will be moved into the shallows in schools. We did catch some really nice ones up to 14".

Panfish: The Sunfish were schooled up on shore but we needed to weed through many little ones to get to the big ones. They were far more common than the bluegill which we only got a few of. We did get a few nice perch, but they were generally picked up in deeper water with the small pike lures again, just like the crappie. Only far fewer. There were a couple real nice 13-14 inchers though. It's nice to see them in the lake again.


I hope this helps and good luck to all of you. I hope the good fishing continues for the rest of you.

MrBluegill
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Re: North End Fishing Report 5/17-24

Post by MrBluegill » Wed May 28, 2014 7:35 am

JR....Great report. My nephew & I were there Sat-Sun. Same for us on the sunfish. We did get some nice gills but they're not quite in yet. Sun. we tried exclusively for crappie. Found a spot and caught alot of 8-8 1/2" fish. Heck of a year class coming up. We did manage to get 22 keepers, a half dozen of which were jumbos. We had great luck with a small jig tipped with a Berkley Gulp 1" minnow.

JR
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Re: North End Fishing Report 5/17-24

Post by JR » Wed May 28, 2014 9:39 am

Thanks for the tip. I'll have to try it next time. I had my best luck when searching for them by casting a small rattle trap on my ultralight pole. I was able to drift guided by my trolling motor, cover area, and when I got a bite it was almost always a keeper. I think if I find a school my way, I'll anchor and try yours next time. I didn't have a lot of luck with just the small tube jig on the bobber or even tipped with fat heads, maybe the gulp minnow would have helped. I would have liked to use emerald shiners, but didn't have them.

MrBluegill
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Re: North End Fishing Report 5/17-24

Post by MrBluegill » Wed May 28, 2014 6:50 pm

I use a Caty #8 Football jig, which most people use for ice fishing. Chapman's has them in several colors. Thread the 1" minnow on, attach a float, jig it in & if they're there, down it goes!!

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