Hot. Yes it was hot and so was the fishing in Canoe Country. Eric Peterson, Jason VanErt, Wade Klingsporn and I began our trip Thursday, May 25 and we returned Monday, May 29. Our plan of attack was to cast jigs and plastics for smallies and walleyes in 2-18 feet of water with about 80% of our fishing time. We'd also troll for some lakers while moving from spot to spot and do a bit of giant pike casting. We found the smallies everywhere, some were deep in 12-14 feet and some were just starting to bed on the bank. The walleyes were a bit slower to respond to our presentations and we did manage to boat quite a few including Wade catching two fish in the 28 plus inch category. Areas where rock met sand produced the bigger walleyes. Here are a couple 25.5's to check out http://www.fishfever.com/node/128. Walleye were boated in water ranging from 5 to 22 feet. The lake trout action was not as good as usual for late May and we expected them to be slow because of the hot weather. We did manage to boat 5 lakers while trolling from spot to spot using shad style cranks that run about 10-12 feet deep and Wade surprisingly caught a laker in 4 feet of water while pitching jigs to a main lake reef for walleyes. Because of the warmth big pike were almost absent. We did get a couple while jigging for walleyes and smallies but those fish were not targeted at the time of the bite. Take a look at the video of Eric's big pike http://www.fishfever.com/node/127. This fish was his first fish of the trip. Nice start!
As the weekend wore on and the temps and wind began to rise the smallie fishing just got better. Almost any cast could boat a smallie. The walleyes proceeded to slow and the smaller pike got more active. Our time on the water was slowed a bit by some passing thunderheads and the heat kept us from fishing 14 hours a day but all in all the trip was good. Total numbers of fish caught was high but we did not boat any 22-inch smallies or 30-inch eyes. I've never portaged my gear in 90-degree weather during May. I kept thinking to myself that last year it was in the 50's and if I thought it was 50 I'd feel much better about carrying my gear and it worked well for me. I knew when I got to the other side I'd have a nice swim. The water was still cold for swimming but it sure felt great to cool off.
I'd expect the walleye bite in canoe country to get better in the next few weeks and if I was going to target walleye I'd fish the first break and fingers attaching to wind blown points with 7.5-inch plastic worms and 5-inch grubs from 6 to 18 feet. If I was targeting smallies I'd look for them to start moving towards the first break. By the time we get to mid-June smallies will be on the reefs big time. Smallies will whack jigs or cranks. You'll need to pull deep cranks to catch a laker. Big pike will be tough but the snake variety will be chomping. It's always a good time to fish in canoe country and I look forward to my next trip.
Pete
Submitted by Pete on Wed, 05/31/2006 - 1:59pm.
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