Hi folks Well August is virtually out of here and we have a new month to look forward to.  Personally, I want to see some cooler temperatures and less wind.  If we can get the water temps to begin to drop and get back to a minnow bite, life should be pretty good.  Crawlers are still the ticket when it comes to chasing walleyes and weeds are the type of structure you still want to concentrate on.  Fish are not chasing bait right now, so keep your retrieves VERY slow and back off 15 to 20 seconds once a hit is detected.  Slip bobbers can also be effective when fishing thick weeds.  Area flowages have been producing fish and while they’re not just jumping on the line yet, the bite is beginning to pick up.  Smaller waters are still a challenge and a lot of algae bloom is taking place, so pick and choose your battles carefully on these types of waters.   

BASS continue to put on a good bite – both largemouth and smallmouth have been hitting pretty well.  Largemouth in particular.  Just about anything will work on these fish and we are finding both species in mid to deep weeds.  Smallmouth will hang in the timber and on the rocks more than the largemouth.   MUSKY fishing has been pretty decent throughout the year.  While there’s no particular lake you can point to as being extremely hot, many nice-sized fish have been boated in the area this year.  My experiences on the water and talking to other fishermen is action-sized fish seem to be on the down side.  The fish that are being caught and seen are in that low to upper 40-inch bracket and beyond.  I’m finding my best luck still taking place on smaller, mid-sized lures.  I’m really just starting to catch some fish on 9” Suicks and mantas.  Surface lures did slow down over the past couple of weeks mainly due to a 20 degree drop in surface temps, but this past weekend is seeing a dramatic increase in those temps as we’re pushing 80 again.   

Good luck fishing.  Jeff Winters   www.jeffsguideservice.com  

Hi folks!

Well fishing’s been up and down, much like the weather we’ve been seeing here this summer.  When it comes to walleye fishing, success is most often dictated by what type of front we’re getting hit with.  Summer cold fronts have been devastating and have made walleye fishing extremely tough when they hit.  The warmer temps and winds that come out of the south to the west have all been fairly good.  When looking for walleyes, these fish are still hanging around weeds, more than any other structure.  Very small weed patches have the ability to hold a lot of fish.  Yesterday, we sat in one little weed patch about 10 feet wide and 30 yards long, and we caught fish all afternoon.  Jigs tipped with crawlers have still been working the best although I have seen and heard of some leeches and even minnows producing. Water temps are hovering around 76.5 degrees on many of the area lakes. 

Bass activity has been very strong this summer.  We’ve been catching a lot of nice largemouth in weeds ranging from 8 to 13 feet while fishing walleyes.  Smallmouth also seem to be liking to hang around weed patches this summer.  Many of my best smallmouth spots have been on small patches of coontail in about 8 to 9 ft. of water.  Now I’ve been catching both of these types of fish using jigs and minnows, but I would imagine if you used a crank bait or plastic in these same areas, they would readily work. 

MUSKIE fishing has been muskie fishing …. I have not encountered any lake that I would say is blistering hot.  It seems to be the point in time with what kind of front might be moving in that triggers small blow-ups.  There have been some big fish boated around the area this year, and lately more of the action-sized fish have been showing up.  There seems to be a fairly good bite window right at the crack of dawn on top water lures especially, and a much bigger bit window takes place in the evening hours.  Fish have been more attracted to small to medium-sized bucktails and minnow lures than almost anything else in the box.  I have not been able to drum up a ton of action on my trusty Suick or my large glide baits – but this will change, I’m sure.  Just because they’re not looking at them hot and heavy right at the moment, doesn’t mean they won’t.  You can’t overlook anything.

Good luck fishing.  Jeff Winters    www.jeffsguideservice.com 

Hi folks,

Well the season continues forward.  The past couple of weeks has been some tough fishing.  While we’re still catching fish, it’s not always the target species that comes out on top.  With the up-and-down weather, the bite has gone up and down, and at times you just have to go with what the lake’s willing to give you.  WALLEYE fishing has been slow and steady.  These fish are not jumping in the boat at this point in time, and you have to work all day, being very deliberate and patient in your approach.  Jigs tipped with crawlers have been working the best and if you’re on a lake that’s infested with panfish, you can try leeches.  Walleyes are still weed-related and do not seem to be around anything that does not have some weed near it.  This bite should improve as time goes on.  If you go out looking for these fish, concentrate your efforts in 12 to 15 ft. weed edges.   MUSKY fishing has been very good lately.  Many big fish are being boated throughout the

 BASS fishing, especially largemouth, has been very good.  These fish have been patrolling weedbeds and eating just about anything they can.  A wide variety of live bait and lures has proven effective on these fish.  Jigs tipped with either minnows or crawlers has been working along with a variety of plastics and spinner baits.  Smallmouth bass have also started to come out and play with the warm water temps.  These are my favorite fish and we’ve been finding them around timber and rock bottom structure.  Crawlers, leeches and plastic crawdad-type lures have been working very well this past week. Good luck fishing.  Jeff Winters