Last week was tough fishing

[bfisherman11]

Well my group had a tough week fishing last week (7/18-24). Caught no walleyes. I tried about everything. Trolling with minnows/spinners from 10-24ft very slow to crawler and lindy rig. First couple days the wind made boat control tough. A couple folks caught a few on the back sides of islands. I assume they were using lindy rigs and maybe leeches. We did ok on northern and smallmouth when we took a break to cast the weeds.

Going back up on Aug 8. Maybe things will pick up. The resort owner said it has been a tough slow year.

We had some bad weather move through. One day what I would describe as a micro burst of wind came through and knocked trees down at our resort. Heck, one fell on our deck busting up the railing.

Anyhow, just love the lake, wish the fishing had been better. Anyone else fish up there lately?

I don't think the eyes are on the reefs yet. If they were I think folks would be catching some...

 

Bill

[SledNeck]

No walleyes for a week? Didn't think that was possible.

 

 

First off lets look at what you are using.

 

I use a leader that is atleast 4 feet long. Doesn't matter if its a spinner or a hook with beads.

I use almost exclusively chartreuse spinners. Always use one with a crawler.

Leach rigs I use red hook, red bead and glow bead.

 I use 1.5 oz bottom bouncer no matter the wind or speed. (cabelas, natural color)

Have all baits in use when you first start fishing.

 

 

Now tactics.

 

Early and Late are the best times on kab to catch walleyes trolling.

First off. Motor, Motor, Motor, Motor.   Motor around until you find fish. I never fish a spot unless I see fish on down image.

Fish the wind. Always fish on the windy side of structure. No matter how tough it is, that's where the fish will be on kab..

I generally troll faster just because spinners spin better and I feel fish strike harder. So .8 to 1mph.

Lots of people don't do this but in the middle of hot calmish days I throw cranks and jerks at rock piles. Catch all species including walleyes this way.

Of you are not catching fish in a spot MOVE. Don't be afraid to keep moving till you find fish. Sometimes Ill fish 30 spots in a day.

 

Its a crapshoot where the fish will be on what day at what depth.

 

 

Kabetogama is what it is now. They've had poor year classes year after year now. The best classes are all big fish now. 4 years ago and back Kab was stellar. Now its a mere shadow of what it once was. I don't know why year classes are turning out poor now but I wish it would get better. Don't know if increased stocking would help.

[h8go4s]

 

Kabetogama is what it is now. They've had poor year classes year after year now. The best classes are all big fish now. 4 years ago and back Kab was stellar. Now its a mere shadow of what it once was. I don't know why year classes are turning out poor now but I wish it would get better. Don't know if increased stocking would help.

The 17" to 28" slot doesn't help. All those big walleyes cannibalize the small walleyes. The size structure of the population gets all out of whack and for some reason the fisheries guys don't recognize it. It's part of the problem at Mille Lacs also. My opinion only, I haven't the time or resources to research it, so maybe I'm all wrong.

[SledNeck]

Rainy on the other hand is absolutely stellar. Strong year classes year after year.

[h8go4s]

Rainy on the other hand is absolutely stellar. Strong year classes year after year.

Yup. Same slot limit, much larger lake (10 x the surface area of Kab, including Canadian water) and less fishing pressure (again, my opinion).

[SledNeck]

I wonder what they believe the actual fishing pressure is doing to the fish population in kab. I never thought of kab as pressured. Take for instance Vermilion which probably has more boats fishing on it in one day than kab does in a month. Maybe a change in stocking or regulations is needed to bring the lake back.

[bfisherman11]

Thanks Sled, I will be back up there on 8/8. Not a lot of difference in what I did and what you do. Maybe I fished too slow and spent too much time at one spot. I did not try leeches but I do use red hooks on my crawler rigs. I used a chartreuse/orange striped spinner.

 

Bill 

[Xplorer]

Actually Kab hasnt been stocked with eyes since 2010.  They used to put in @2 million fry each year.  

Not sure why Kab has had so many poor spawns in a row.  DNR says the last strong year class was 2006, and here's a quote from last years assessment:

"Strong year-classes of Walleye are not occurring as frequently as they once were in Lake Kabetogama. While at this time we are unsure of the cause, high juvenile mortality appears to be affecting Walleye recruitment and therefore production of strong year classes. Examining mortality of juvenile (age-1 to age-3) Walleye showed that mortality has significantly increased in recent years."

Not a biologist, but that does not sound good for the future of the fishery long-term.

 

[SledNeck]

Wonder why they stopped stocking? Maybe they thought the slot limit was going to work? And no, It doesn't sound good for the future.

[fishkab]

Kab over the years has not been stocked.  It is all natural reproduction.   The stocked fish from a couple of years ago were all dyed with some sort of chemical that the biologists could put under a light to check for survival rates.  Fisheries does an extensive seining operation, checking for recruitment of young of the year walleyes,  the idea of the dyed fish was to help check on the mortality problem.  I am not sure they know what the problem is.  Lots of good recruitment years but the mortality thing is the problem.  I hope they can figure it out so those strong years classes can rebound.

Fishkab

 

[crappieflop1212]

I was up there last week and did okay corking and cranking. Did much better off points than reefs. I wouldn't say we caught fire, but did well enough. I wonder if the birds have anything to do with the mortality? Something similar to what leech went through? 

[enduro67]

I too was there the week of July 18 thru 25.  We mainly fished Namakan and my wife and I did ok but others in our group had a very slow week.

Lots of overs but I think we had 10 keepers for the week.  Enough for fish fry and took home a few.   But we throw back anything under 14" and we had alot of nice fat 13.5"ers.  With the wind we did better pulling lindy rigs or bottom bouncers on the edge of reefs and rock points.   The few days with low wind we were able to catch them on jig and leach. If my wife could get the hooks set better with a Lindy Rig we would have probably caught double....she does much better with a jig.  I tell her to let the fish take it but she just can't help herself.

The odd thing we found was the bite really turned on about noon and was still going when we quit around 2 or 3 depending on group meal time.   So others in our group that quit early totally missed it.  Morning bite was really slow and evenings were so so.

I played around alot with Lowrance Structure map and it really helps to break down a reef.  Also marked alot of fish off the breaks with schools of baitfish.  So the fish are there, just have tot be there when they are feeding where you can catch them.

 

 

[pondjumper12]

I just got back Saturday the 8th, I caught some fish on kab with plain lindy rig and gold hook with minnows in 20 to 35 ft. Went to the Chinese reef and caught a keeper but also caught 2 pike and left,  it seems you have to look for fish that are eating rather than seeing fish. I couldn't get a bite on leech or crawler but didn't try them after I caught them on minnows,  I'm still learning how to fish that lake with grandpa being gone and not paying too close of attention to details when I was young but I did catch fish on every spot but not very many, I fished namakan once at saw narrows on the south side in that pocket and caught 3 -12 inchers in 41 ft of water.

[walleyedane]

Hello Everybody,

It's time for lead core and cranks.  I live on Kab from May to Oct and I know this lake.  This time of year it's anybody's guess but during the day I troll cranks in deep water with lead core and in the evening find my anchor on top of the reefs with a bobber and a leech or a crawler.  This works for me. And I usually catch over 20+ in a day this way and I usually fish alone. Namakin is always good on top of the rock pile reefs.  Smaller fish but you can get your keepers of 14+ inchers for a fry if you stick to it.  You will catch a lot of smaller ones but the action is pretty steady on any rock pile out there.  Northerns and bass are always an easy catch on the weeds or rubble rocks to pass the time.  In the evenings be in 17-20 feet of water and just bobber fish on any pile out in the lake. You may catch a jumbo perch also.  BONUS FISH! Good luck.

[Brendo]

Hello Fellow Anglers,

I think I've read everything on Kabet at least 3 times over the past few months - just counting down the days till i get there. Honestly, this has been one of the greatest resources I've ever used when venturing to a new spot.  Everyone is incredibly generous with their advice and knowledge. So, thank you.

I will FINALLY be making my way to kabet for the first time next week.  The most redundant thing I've read is finding the reefs. Here in lies my reason for messaging.  I will not have a depth/fish finder of any kind. Does anyone have a map with these areas circled or something?  Hope this isn't a weird request.  I plan on investing in a TOPO Map.  Would the map solve my problem?

Ill also be camping within the Indian Narrows on one of the islands - TWENTY THREE.  Where might I have better luck, going east or west?

Many Thanks Gents,

[h8go4s]

Brendo, you should start your own topic instead of hijacking this one. I will say that you face a challenge fishing without a sonar. Make sure you have a good map and a compass. The Fisher map is good and the Fishing Hot Spots Kabetogama map has fishing spots marked. Both should be available at the local bait shops and resorts, as well as online.  

http://www.fishermaps.com/product-category/v-series/

http://www.lake-maps.com/printed/states/minnesota/maplist.htm

I'm not sure where you plan to camp. Do you have a campsite reserved? Blind Indian Narrows is on Namakan, if that's what you meant. What does "TWENTY THREE" mean?

 

 

[SledNeck]

Id be scared to fish any new lake without a GPS. I can't even tell you how many people I see out there running over rocks and such. 

[SledNeck]

Well, we fished kab for a week and loaded  up on big fish and surprisingly keepers. West side out produced east side. Lots of bugs in the water along with bloom. trolled over a lot of inactive fish but we saw tons. Saw more fish on sand and mud than rock, not holding tight to structure necessarily like normal. Morning was the best by far. Was using 5 an 6 foot leaders. One guy was using leech one was crawler and they worked the same. Tried minnows one day and they worked about the same.

[Xplorer]

Hello Fellow Anglers,

I think I've read everything on Kabet at least 3 times over the past few months - just counting down the days till i get there. Honestly, this has been one of the greatest resources I've ever used when venturing to a new spot.  Everyone is incredibly generous with their advice and knowledge. So, thank you.

I will FINALLY be making my way to kabet for the first time next week.  The most redundant thing I've read is finding the reefs. Here in lies my reason for messaging.  I will not have a depth/fish finder of any kind. Does anyone have a map with these areas circled or something?  Hope this isn't a weird request.  I plan on investing in a TOPO Map.  Would the map solve my problem?

Ill also be camping within the Indian Narrows on one of the islands - TWENTY THREE.  Where might I have better luck, going east or west?

Many Thanks Gents,

Brendo,

At the very least go on the MNDNR website and print off the depth contour maps they have, then enlarge them so you have a set of the area.  This will help you with finding some of the reefs in that area.

Do you know how to navigate the buoy system there?  From Ash River landing you are going downstream to your campsite (daymarker 23) so the green need to be on your right and the red need to be on your left. It is downstream all the way to Kettle Falls.  If you go east on Namakan you will be going upstream (from the west end of Namakan island up to Crane lake)

What days are you on Daymarker 23 site?  My group is there this thursday to sunday.  I will be going east to fish, reefs on Namakan.  

 

Nice fish Sled!!  Looking for some of those later this week! 

Edited August 17, 2015 by Xplorer