September 6th, 2023

***Fishing Report***

Walleye - With the recent heat wave, the growing minnow bite cooled off quickly. Savvy anglers who adapted to the heat wave, switched to crawlers and fished them on a spinner rig. These anglers had no issue catching walleyes over the weekend. Anglers found them still out of sunken islands, in 15-25 feet of water. Now with the cool snap and return to normal fall temperatures, anglers should expect the fall, big minnow bite to come back strong. 

Smallmouth - Big smallies continue to transition out to sunken islands and feed heavily as they prepare for winter. Anglers looking to catch the biggest smallies of the year should be fishing with big minnows on a lindy rig. Humps that top out in 10-25 feet of water, with deeper water very close by are going to be the best ones to fish. Large jerk minnows and paddle tails, fished in the same area, has also been very effective.

Panfish - With the heat wave, crappies we’re very active on popular area crappie lakes. Anglers targeting crappies found active crappies working cabbage beds, downed trees and lily pads. Beetle spins, jig/twister and crappie minnows under a bobber have all been very effective on crappies. 

Stream trout - Stream trout were a popular choice this last weekend, but results seemed to be mixed. Anglers fishing from a boat trolled small crankbaits, behind cowbells with mixed success. Anglers fishing from shore mainly fished with a slip bobber, with a crawler suspended between 10-15 feet down. Again, their success was mixed.