cass lake 2020 Cass Lake Fishing Reports

[Barbara]

I hope to catch a few wallys while there. I will stock up on all the rapala's you mentioned. I know there will be quite a few of us and since I am the only one to fish on a regular basis (almost everyday)it will be up to me to furnish the lures. Although, there aren't any walleye in the ponds and lakes I fish in Illinois. I catch large mouth bass, bluegill, crappie, and catfish. It's nice -- I fish on a private property and they keep it stocked. They tell me to take whatever I catch so not to over populate. We eat fish all year, but nothing better than walleye. I will save you a few wallys. Do you think they bite better in the morning or evening?

Barb

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Barbara,

One year I went to a spot that we had never fished and within 90 minutes we had caught so many keeper walleyes that we had to count the live wells and we actually had 13 so we had to throw one back.

Last year we were out with my brother in law and conditions were so bad on Cass and the walleye bite was so bad that we went into Pike Bay which we did and caught some large mouth bass and pike.

We have gone out in the morning and evening and both work good but are different. We even went out with my daughter and daughter in law .

I hope this answers all your quesitons.

Let me know if you need anything else answered. Have a great trip!

Windy

[Barbara]

Windy,

Thanks again for all the info. I hope I am not draining too much info from you, but I appreciate all your help.

However, on all my poles, I need to know what type of line to use. It's been a couple of years since I put new line on, and I think it's time again. Can't be too careful, don't want the big one to get away. I use a mixture of lines. My son likes the braid and I just use the monofilament, Stren I think. What poundage do I use? Is 10 # too much?

I need to get a GPS before we go. Any brand you prefer? How about trolling motors? My brother has all of that, but since he isn't coming, I need to get some of this stuff. I still have the gps coords from the other guide, and we have used them. I"d like to know some of your special spots. If you're willing to share, let me know. I can also give you my coords, if you like.

Thanks,

Barb

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Barbara,

I like my eTrex, cheap and does the job. Find them on sale for $89-99. I like Power Pro and Fireline and I never use mono but that is just me. I am always either trolling or pulling a bottom bouncer which is trolling too with more weight. I like the sensativity those lines give, you feel everything. My spots are not really secret, just a matter of where fish are biting. I like O'Neils Point, Deadmans Bar and the Knutson D amn.

Windy

[Barbara]

Windy,

any personal hints(spots) you would like to share? Do you ever fish for crappie or bluegill? Where are they on Cass? I did try Buck last year. I hope we catch a boat load of fish, any species. Barb

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Barbara,

Our family goes the last week of July and the first week of August and that has never been the "prime time" for perch and walleye and we always manage to do ok. We have taken home limits in multi species for the past several years. I guess if you were looking for the best times there you would be there in April or Oct/Nov but then the weather is so bad it is not really a vacation. My father in law started this trip 22 years ago and chose it for the overall vacation experience. We have had blistering hot trips and had one trip a year ago where we actually turned on the heater in the cabin for the first time ever! We like the summer for the pool, golf and water sports as well as the fishing. We also like the casino action too! LOL

I would not worry too much about the time of the year. Just ask before you go and we might make some recommendations, which might include going out at night rather than the day and trolling vs bottom bouncing.

Windy

[megaslam]

Any new reports? Sounds like perch are doing well. Anyone have luck with the eyes?

[Barbara]

Hey Windy,

Well here it is already Mothers Day. Only a month to go before we go fishing. I think we are ready to go. This weekend is the opener and I am anxious to hear how it went, how the weather was, etc.. I hope they will post here. The only trolling motors I can find is Minn Kota. Where do I get e-trex? or is that a minn Kota? My brother usually takes care of all of this, but he's not coming this year, so I am on my own.

[soldoncass]

I'm not Windy, but I can answer a couple of those.....Walleye/ Northern opener is the 15th, missed Mothers Day this year.You won't see any reports til next Monday probably, but this is as good of place as any to find them.

An E-trex is a GPS made by Garmin. It's small, without mapping capabilities, you can MARK spots with it, but not FIND THEM on it.

[Barbara]

Hi! Thanks for the info. I appreciate it.In our group of 10-14 I am really only the avid fisherperson. In Illinois, I go fishing almost everyday. My husband and friends only fish at Cass. That is why all my questions. We will have fish finders and depth finders on the 18' lund we rent so maybe all i need is something to mark where we are and where we are going. Do you have any favorite spots to fish? And, would you like to share some of them? Any info anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated. Do you suggest a trolling motor? I don't have one, and I hope I can fish at night without one, but I am too new to Cass and fishing like that. I look forward to any info you can give. And I will be reading avidly on Monday and beyond. We will be coming up the 12th of June. Hope it's good fishing. Take care

[cluelessfisherman]

Been fishing Cass off & on sice opener - been doing well 8-11 feet on weed edges for eyes & nice perch - all still biting on shiners. Nothing big, but good eaters.

Just got off the lake again tonight & appears the mayfly hatch is in full swing! Time to switch to cranks & rigs soon!

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Clueless, would you say the lake is ahead of schedule or behind this year? Will there be or has there been any mayflies yet? We come up the last week of July and the first week of August and was just wondering how the temps and water levels have been.

[PikeBayCommanche]

Water temps are up. 66 on Monday. Day bite was hit and miss. Night bite is in full swing.

Water level is normal right now also. Only 1 gate open on the dam.

[cluelessfisherman]

The mayflies are in full swing as of last night - we found 67.5 degree water yesterday. Things are definately ahead of schedule, fish are frantically trying to keep up with warm water in their spawning efforts, but afraid some are completely confused or just aren't going to have a successful spawn - caught perch milking in the boat & a northern dropping eggs this last week!

[Ripped]

Do mayflies affect the fishing? I heard the walleye load up on them and then don't bite for about a week. Any truth to that?

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

More like a month sometimes, Ripped! They can really shut down the fishing when they hit. That's why I was trying to get a time line on them for my trip.

[Chris Haley]

The hatch has been going on for a week and a half now. I think it is prolonged due to the cooling water temps. I have not seen a drop in the fishing though, due to the hatch. This could be due to the fact that with the cooling water temps, we are not seeing a massive hatch all at once. Just a few here and there.

[genegodawa]

Well, it was really bad weather, but our group

got 180 Rockies after all.

And 120 Gills.

And 90 Perch.

And a doz:

Walters (I lost a real nice one at boatside)

N Pike (released about 8 pike)

LMB (released about a dozen also)

Plus 4 straggler Crappie

and a loner Bullhead too (it was fat).

But we had to hunt and search and stay at it. Only two days of sunshine (only used sunscreen once) and we had to fish in rain 4 diff half days to do it (which was miserable, but they were biting). Waves were nowhere near normal for Cass which was nice.

Any live bait did it in Allen's, D-i-c-k's, and Pike Bay.

Water levels were good.

And surprisingly, with the early Mayfly hatch we did not see them until Th/Fri.....with hardly any skeeters bothering us.

Another good week on Cass/Kitchi/Pike Bay -- we'll be back!

Only 52 more weeks to go.

[Ripped]

Same report here for June 5th-11. Bad weather. Very wet and cloudy. Water temps dropped from 66 at the beginning of the week to 61 at the end. Weed growth is way ahead of normal. All fish were relating to the weeds. Walleye were in 9-13 foot of water along the weed edges. Managed a limit of 15-19" walleye for four persons. Caught many 9.5-10.5" perch. Pan fishing was good in Allens Bay. Looking forward to next year when the weather might cooperate a little better for the Mrs. and my young boy!

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

I would not mind seeing the perch activity pick up, has been a bit weak the last few years. Seems like all you get are the 7-8 inch bait stealers! LOL

Your reports about the weather are the exact reason we wait until end of July for our trip. Our family trip trys to balance good fishing time vs good weather for the women and children to be able to swim and lay by the pool. We know we are not there at prime fishing time but we always manage to find something while we are up there on the water.

Good reports guys!

[Borch]

I don't know Windy. The coldest, wetest trip we've ever had up on Cass was the third week of July. Man that week sucked! I think we saw the sun for a total of 5 hours that week. But that was like 17 years ago. I'm sure they've all been good since then.

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

I think I remember that year, Borch. There was one year of us coming up in the last 22 that we actually had to turn on the heater in the cabin, at the end of JULY! Go figure. Most years the weather is warm to very warm, a few have been miserable in the high 90's. We go up for two weeks so we usually get at least one or two huge fronts that move in with way high winds, lightning show at night and huge downpours that send all the guys without automatic bilge pumps running out to their boats at 3 am! LOL

On the average though I would say 75-85 is about avg for that time of the year up there.

[genegodawa]

Shoot Windy, we used to get 85+ in May 35 yrs ago....skinny dippin' then...but that hot weather keeps us away in summer...glad you get 'em when you're there.

Best of luck on your trip this summer.

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Geno,

It is good to have a local friend on the lake, makes the first week much easier when you don't have to hunt the whole lake to start finding those walters! I am getting some pretty good reports that the fishing is good this year, hope that continues for the next few weeks!

Windy

[CouncilBluffs]

My family and I will be comeing up to Cass on the 10th of July. Any word on what is happening would be big help. Thanks

[Joefish]

We will be up at Cass the first week of August with the family. We used to go up there in the early 90's and are going to start making it a trip again. We always did fairly well then. Actually we are going to travel a few of the different lakes on the chain for a good variety. Windy where do you folks stay at? We will be at Sah-Kah-tay where we always have stayed before.

[Borch]

Walleye fishing during the daylight hours has been tough for us other than early morning and evening. After dark trolling crankbaits has been productive with nice eater fish being caught but no big fish so far. Cranks with white, silver or chrome sides have been best with the moon shining. If it's under the clouds then crawfish or perch has been producing.

The panfish bite has been good with fish either in the shallows or on the first break around cabbage bed when you can fine them.

[mr marbles]

Any updated fishing reports lately ,would be great and appreciated1 if anybody been up there, im coming up this weekend , good fishin!

[WalleyeChamp]

Borch. What's the most recent? ANyone still getting some eyes at night on the bars?

[Borch]

I haven't been out since last Thursdayt night. But they were still hitting then. Had a tough time keeping hooks in them though. A lot of fish coming unbuttoned.