Lots of action currently happening on the lake. Most of the slush has settled and while there are a few pockets left around the lake most of them have frozen. Still use caution, if it looks wet its most likely wet! Based on the weather today, its possible there may be some more slush form. Most of the slush pockets that are still soft are located near the crossing or north of the crossing. There are pickups traveling on the lake in most spots, however there is lots of snow so make sure you use caution and take a shovel. Wheeled machines can get around, but tracks are still the preferred method of travel. Sundstrom’s landing is open and plowed out. If you see Parker around the lake make sure to say thanks! I do want to mention parking, please to do not park in front of the approach, it was plowed to allow access to the lake, not plowed for parking. Keep the road clear and accessible so others can get on the lake. The Hungry Pelican at the crossing also has a road going south from the bar as well. I am not sure how far south it goes, but it allows access to the lake from the crossing area.

Now for the all important fishing report!

Perch fishing remains about the same. They are willing to bite on just about anything. I have preferred a minnow head because with walleyes cruising through you are more likely to catch those as well. Spikes and wax worms on a tungsten tear drop also work well for perch. 17-22 feet of water seems to be where they are still hanging. Don’t be afraid to move away from the crowds if you are able.

Walleyes are being caught and they are a nice eating size. 16″-20″ fish are pretty common. Seems they are holding to the flats and maintain the typical walleye feeding activity of last half hour. Although you can catch them throughout the day along the channel cruising through. Along with the silver bass, they are plentiful and when a school comes cruising through they are very eager to bite. They make decent table fare in the winter months, make sure to clean the mud veins out and the darker colored flesh, the remaining fish is pure white and tasty.

Some people are fishing crappies but finding larger keeper size fish has been tough. Seems most 8″ or smaller fish are present.

Another busy weekend on the lake, seems lots of people taking advantage of the nice weather before the storm. The below pictures are from Sibley and Ashtabula crossing on Saturday.

Fishing was a little bit slower over the weekend but I would still classify it as good. Lots of people catching perch and smaller walleyes. Small jigs, rattle baits, tipped with a minnow head or a wax worm all worked.

I was asked about water clarity and you are able to use a camera. There is some staining in the water but visibility is close to 4-6 foot. Plenty of range to use a camera in my opinion.

Now given the weather we are currently having lots of things are going to change in the next 3 days. Currently we are sitting around the 12-14″ mark of snow. Slush is probably going to be a factor with the heavy wet snow we got on Tuesday night. I will try to get out weather permitting and run the lake tomorrow and see how things are looking. Hopefully the landings will be open by the weekend and allow unrestricted access for everyone.

It was also brought to my attention that there is a large ice heave at the Eggerts landing boat launch. Making access difficult, I will post an update when I know more after the storm.

Tight lines this week.

Everyone’s favorite day of the week! This weekend was a good one on the lake. Saturday brought light winds and frigid temps, Sunday brought warmer temperatures with some wicked winds. Both days offered good fishing on the lake.

Most of the lake is right about the 9″ of ice mark. Some spots have a little less and some have a little more, that is pretty typical for this time of the year. Lots of people out and about on the lake fishing as well. Most of the lake is snow covered with roughly 2″ of snow and if you ask me that is a perfect amount. We still have lots of cold weather coming up for this week and I wont be surprised to see a few extra inches of ice for next weekend. Water is still a little on the stained side, but clear enough cameras will work.

Perch are very willing to bite right now. They were also easy to find cruising the flats looking for an easy meal. Most of the perch caught are what I consider “sorters”. If you sort through them you will end up with enough for a meal. Water depth did not really seem to matter, anything from about 8-22 foot of water seemed to have fish cruising through. Wax worms worked well, minnow heads, and whole minnows all caught fish. White or perch color seemed to be a preferred paint scheme. I also caught perch on a larger chubby darter. I did not use any types of plastics, but based on the way they were feeding I am sure they will work. I would also add all the perch caught were puking up minnows.

One thing to note, I had lots of marks on the vexilar at one point, but no bites. Being curious as to why that was I decided to drop a camera down to see what was happening. It ended up being bull heads and small walleyes around the 4-5″ mark. I moved off of that location, and was thankful i had my camera along to save me the trouble. Just another tool in the arsenal that can save lots of time.

Walleyes were rather active this weekend as well. Minnow heads or hard minnow baits like chubby darters, ripping raps seemed to do best. While they were not super active they were willing to bite 16-18 foot of water seemed to hold the most cruising walleyes. I also found it helpful to use a larger “noise making” bait to get their attention and then hook them on a smaller flashy spoon with a minnow. Something like a rattling flyer, or tingler spoon.

Ice fishing is here, with that being said I will always err on the side of caution.

NO ICE IS SAFE ICE!

There is ice on the lake and I cannot stress enough that no ice is safe ice! The lake should be considered foot traffic only at this point. With the warm temperatures on the lake this weekend the ice was very soft, realistically about the most ice I came across was 4-5″ and that was not good clear ice. Take a spud with you and make sure to use it when moving around, a couple inches of good ice can quickly turn to an inch of bad ice. The upside with the warm temperatures is there is very minimal snow cover on the lake and the cold blast we are going to receive midweek should allow us to make some good solid ice in the future.

I did not spend much time fishing this weekend but did manage some “sorter” sized perch and a few small walleyes on a couple quick ice checks. The fish i did come across seemed willing to bite. A small spoon with a minnow head was my bait of choice. Looking forward to the weekend already as the forecast looks good for making a few more inches of ice and allowing for some better ice conditions to explore some more.

Happy to Report that the lake is frozen! Putting us that much closer to the 2022/2023 Ice Fishing Season! The lake froze over Saturday night. I have not had time to check and get an ice report but I am guessing we are making some good ice with the cold we are having. A few brave individuals have been fishing not far off the shoreline near the crossing. Stay tuned for future updates!

Well that is the end of fall fishing for me! Boat is put away for the winter and what a fantastic month of October on the lake! Fishing in T-shirts almost to the end. Looking forward to First ICE on the lake and we will be back with weekly updates. Based on the weather coming up I am anticipating first safe ice will be roughly mid December and we will be out fishing. Thanks for all the support and following along this summer!

Fall perch are biting! If stocking your freezer with good eating fish is what you are after now is a great time to get after it.

The perch have moved into shallower water and are very eager to bite. Fish seem to have a good size class this year. You will have to sort through some fish though, not all of them are good sized keepers.

The walleye bite has been improving as well. A jig and a minnow is a good bet. Jigging raps on the edge of the river channel has also been very productive.

Fall fishing is upon us! Water temperatures are on the way back down and fishing is really starting to heat up. Water temp is below 65 degrees and that means the fish are starting to move into fall patterns. Walleyes have been very productive lately with a jig and larger minnows. Small mouth have been on fire lately as well. Tube jigs, jigs and minnows, jigging raps, large plastics along the shore all have been producing many trophy quality fish. Perch have started to move into shallower areas again and seems like there are a lot of quality fish being caught. One thing i have noticed this week is guys are still fishing mid summer locations and techniques, don’t be afraid to change it up and try something different.

The small mouth are beginning to school up again and you can find them relating to structure next to deep water. Breaks, points and deep channel edges are all places to find them. If you’re able to get on top of a school try a Ripping Rap or similar body bait and hang on tight. Don’t be afraid to get them with a jig and a minnow either. These are the days of 50+ fish in an afternoon and the weather looks like it is going to provide plenty of days to get out and fish.

Perch are biting on both worms and minnows, all though most days lately I would say the minnows are out catching worms. A classic crappie rig or panfish spreader is a simple and easy way to catch perch. They work great from fishing piers of off the side of a boat.

Perch fishing is starting to pickup from shore. These cooler nights have taken a few degrees of the lake and fish are moving into traditional fall patterns. I always say that starting labor day weekend perch fishing starts to heat up. Lake traffic was basically non existent over the weekend, there was very few boats out and about across the lake. All the shore fishing piers are producing a decent amount of keeper perch around the 10-11″ range. You will have to sort through some smaller fish but its very easy to get a nice mess of fish. Some walleyes have been caught in the early mornings and late afternoon from shore as well. Boats are traveling all around the lake, some guys are pulling spinners, others are pulling cranks. They are having mixed success across the board. The jigging rap bite near the bridges seems to be pretty slow as well. Labor day weekend will mark the last busy weekend on the lake. Weather is looking favorable this weekend so plan accordingly and make sure to fish those early mornings and late afternoons, when the lake is less busy. I was asked about fishing muskies on the lake and there has not been much talk of them on the lake. The tail race at Baldhill Dam has had a very strong muskie bite on topwater baits. There are even some very nice pike being caught on top water baits as well. May be worth the trip if you’re looking to catch a different type of fish.

Not fishing related, but something to check out if you are in the area after a morning of fishing. The Dazey Sodbusters Stampede is on Sunday September 4th.