Northwoods Fishing Report: Early May
Wahooo, fishing season has finally arrived! The gamefish season officially opened a few days ago and the season started off with pretty good reports.
Walleye fishing on the larger deep clear lakes was decent for the opening weekend. Most of the Walleyes seemed to be staged on deep edges, and off the edges as they were staging there after the spawn. Most likely in the next few days they will move shallower and begin to feed pretty heavy as they recoup from the spawn.
Most of the Walleyes caught near the edges and and out off of the edges were hitting crankbaits such as Rapala 10's and 12's, a jig and a minnow casting or trolling. My brother, John, caught a pretty decent size walleye out off of the edge in 18' of water on a #5 Shad Rap. With warmer weather on the horizon, water temps will warm up and fishing should be outstanding.
Again, with warmer water temps and as the walleye recover from the spawn they will move shallow. Fishing early and late in the day, walleyes will most likely be relatively shallow and move a touch deeper during the day and even out a bit further if it is bright and sunny. A large Dace minnow or Blacktail chub work great jigging or on the edges. Walleye seem to prefer a larger chub style minnow on the deep clear lakes. If one can find Redtail chubs they are always good but they are very hard to find. With the late spring the Live Bait trappers have had a hard time trapping any.
The Rainbow Flowage and Willow Flowage were very productive opening weekend for many species. Walleyes, Crappies, and Northern Pike were all hitting really well. One of our guides, Fred Palermo, had an outstanding weekend. Fred and his clients had their limit of Walleyes by 9:30am opening morning. They then switched to Crappies and had great success there too.
Fred was locating Marble Eyes and Pike in 6'-8' of water on the Rainbow. They were using a variety of presentations such as slip bobbers with a jig and minnow, Kalins Tickle Tail, and casting a jig and a Dace Minnow or XL Fathead. During the Bight sunshine part of the day fish slid out just a touch to 10'-12' range on the Rainbow and the Willow Flowage. Fred, his client and friends were also twitching and ripping Rapala Husky Jerks 10's and 12's.
Good reports of Crappies were caught in the 3'-4' foot range on the Flowages on Crappie Minnows, Waxies, Crappie Scrubs and Fatheads.
Fishing for the opening weekend was very good and should continue to be better. The deeper clear water lakes should start producing well as we get more into post spawn and warmer water temps.
That's it for now, please stop by or give us a holler if you need any fishing information. Many of our staff members guide and have a great deal of fishing knowledge locally and have a good idea on fish locations throughout the fishing range. We are always happy to assist and be of service to you.(If You Don't Know, Ask A Pro)
Kind Regards and Good Fishing,Jim Stewart