July 2nd, 2024
***Fishing Report***
Walleye - As water levels start to drop, the walleye bite has picked up on many area lakes. Current areas have become the hot spot to find active walleyes on many Ely area lakes right now. Anglers have been fishing these areas with a jig tipped with a minnow, leech or crawler. Clearly not all walleyes are doing the same thing in any one lakes, so anglers have also been finding some walleyes out on sunken islands and points with a slip bobber and leech, lindy rigs and crankbaits. 14-20 feet of water has been the key depth for everyone and gold, black/orange and pink/white remain top colors.
Smallmouth - Smallmouth anglers continue to enjoy excellent bass fishing right now. Smallies have slipped down a little bite to 10ft of water, but anglers continue to catch them with topwater bait, chatterbaits, and in-line spinners. Rocky shorelines, downed trees and large points have been areas to focus on.
Pike - Large trophy pike are starting to return to the shallows as cabin owners are reportedly seeing them under their docks and anglers are catching them in the shallows. Large sucker minnows fished under a bobber, large crankbaits and large spoons have all been catching these big pike. Shallow bays with healthy weed growth have been the areas to fish for these pike.
Panfish - Panfish have been very active this last week. Anglers have been catching quality gills around pencil reeds and coontail beds. Small jigs tipped with a piece of an angleworm and fished under a bobber. Crappies have been mixed in with the gills, but they prefer cabbage beds to swim in. Crappie's bite seems to hit its peak during the last hours of daylight. Jig/twister and crappie minnow have been very effective on crappies.
Stream Trout - Mayfly hatches have rainbow trout slurping them off the surface during the evening hours. Fly fisherman have been having good luck catching rainbow with large hex fly patterns, floated on the surface. Other anglers have been trolling cowbells with small crankbaits, half a crawlers and flashy spoons trolled behind them and have been having good luck. Both anglers have simply been fishing out over deep water.
