Hi folks,Well we had a good week of fishing but the weather was awful – just when we thought it couldn’t get worse – it was sure a physical beating those first two weeks.  The upside was a great walleye bite.  We boated good numbers of decent-sized fish every day.  Seven to eight foot weeds have still been key to finding fish.  The same applies to wood.  We’re finding fish in the wood in that 7-8’ mark, and the heavier the snags, the larger the concentration of fish you’ll find.   Jig-and-minnow combinations are still working well, although fish are beginning to switch to larger bait.  We’ve been using a lot more redtails and black chubs as of late.  Leeches will still provide anglers with good action and we’ve caught a couple of fish while playing around with crawlers, although that bite is not quite ready yet.  CRAPPIES have pretty much remained in a holding pattern.  I haven’t had too many reports of fish moving into their beds, and my personal experiences with catching crappies have been in those 7 to 8’ weeds that are located adjacent to their spawning areas.  Some warm weather will probably trigger a pretty good crappie bite.  NORTHERN PIKE have also put on a pretty good bite.  We are finding those in weeds ranging from 5 to 8 ft.  Jig-and-minnow combinations are working pretty good as these fish are not quite ready to chase any fast moving lure. 

We finally had a nice warm day on Saturday and without wind.  The downside was the fish went into shock.  It was the toughest day of fishing so far this year.  We had a hard time mustering walleyes – we only caught a few, but we did catch a bunch of northern. So the day, while being extremely enjoyable, wasn’t overly productive.  Now this weather pattern looks like it will continue for a few days more at least.  Water temperatures are going to warm back up rapidly – they gained a lot of ground today.  Look for fish to resume their very strong weed bite and if temps start busting the 60’s, be sure to try a crawler or two along the way – they will change to meat fast.  Bug hatches are beginning already, but not mayflies.

Good luck fishing.  Jeff Winters   www.jeffsguideservice.com