From my experience, walleye fishing has been good since we got over 7 inches of rain last week and the lake came up 8 feet. Walleye have moved into the shallower water (10-15 feet deep). Remember, when water comes up rapidly as a result of what we just had with the rain, fish like walleye, bass and crappie will find new cover or structure in their depth comfort zone. One thing has changed for me, and that is the walleye have been far more responsive to the minnow/jig than to night crawler/jig or crawler harnesses. This shows me that the cooling water temperatures (around 60 degrees) cause the fish to feed more because of the onset of winter. You remember in the summer there were a lot of bugs available, but now that the bug thing is about over, walleye focus more of their attention on shad and the shad’s open water habitat. Main lake points are the most consistent. Since a lot of the fish we catch are in more shallow water, I slow troll with my trolling motor, or catch a gust of wind and float, providing the wind blows in the right direction. An outboard motor will scare the fish, as well as your buddy Junior slamming boat compartment doors. We catch a lot of little fish…about 13 inches. However, on most trips, we are able to get a limit of 20-24 inchers. You have to work hard.

Crappie: as with walleye, crappie have moved to different locations because of the rising water. Good crappie beds two weeks ago at 20 feet are now at 27 feet, and the crappie may abandon the old crappie beds for the newer ones at their preferred depth zone. Minnows have been the best, but crappie jigs have also produced fish.

Largemouth bass: even though the water is high, weather has stabilized to a degree after the cold front. With the 5 opportunities I have had to go bass fishing within the last ten days we have caught nice bass (3-4 pounds) in around 6 feet of water by either flipping crawdad colored jigs in the brush or by using plastic worms. These fish have moved up into shallower water for 2 reasons: the lake has risen dramatically up to 8 feet, and you have the fall pattern. Now that the weather has stabilized, slow rolled spinner baits, or deep diving crank baits in the backs of coves will also produce fish. Secondary lake points and main lake points on the wind facing shore will cause fish to congregate providing the wind has been blowing in that direction for 3 or 4 days. It takes that long to blow the microorganisms like algae, and little teeny weeny bugs into those locations. If the wind just started blowing in a certain direction, this does not apply. The microorganisms are blown into an area; therefore the shad follow their food source; this combination equals bass. In high water conditions, you have flooded cover like trees and bushes and flooded structure like rock outcroppings and boulders. As a result, bass, like walleye and crappie, have more places to live, therefore they are more spread out. The bottom line is you need to move a lot. Most of your bass under these conditions will be in or near the brush whether that brush is in 3 feet of water or 20 feet of water. Here’s a fact of science that your crank bait manufacturers don’t want you to know: when the bass are in the brush, a jig or a plastic worm are the only things that will put it in their face and leave it there under these conditions. If you don’t know how to fish with the jig or the plastic worm, this is something you need to accomplish. At this time of the year, this is how to catch bigger bass.

There are many recreational opportunities including camping, hiking, horseback riding, and some of the good hunting and fishing.  Walleye and Bass are the most popular species for anglers.

• Crappie
• Largemouth Bass
• Walleye