Annandale-Buffalo-Hutchinson fishing reports

[LMITOUT]

Fishing must have been so good yesterday that everyone took today off. HA! Sure not many boats out there for the second day of the season......That must be saying something about yesterday.

I didn't bother going on the opener and went today instead. Zip, zilch, nada. The only thing I caught was a hammer handle and frostbite. I was the second one to the landing and the second to last to leave, so apparently the others were having zero luck as well.

[eyepatrol]

One keeper right when we had to leave for the day. 9' of water, jig & minnow. Sure wish we could have stayed to work it more. By far, the worst opening weekend in every aspect of my life.

[canman]

I wish we could separate mothers day and opening of fishing. Always a conflict at my place which results in once less day of fishing...I'm sure like many others.

[bapperpimp]

We picked up 3 nice eyes a a couple of northern in about 5 hours of fishing. Jig and a minnow and lindy with a leeach worked best. I think we did better than some and worse than others.

We only fished on Saturday due to the same conflict Canman mentioned.

[LMITOUT]

I took the day off today and scratched out three walleye and a smallmouth. Not really any pattern...just ripping jigs with plastics. Did get one a little deeper on a floating jig/crawler but couldn't connect with any more with that presentation. The others and the bass came in less than 7 FOW. Nice day to be out!

[Faner50]

Wacked them pretty well but only after dark. Not much during late afternoon saturday. Then the sun went down. Back trolled small lazy ike, black & white with small chunk of nite-crawler on the middle hook. End trebble changed out with trebbles we painted with GLOW paint. My partner boated 4 eyes while I got 3. 8-12 feet and only after dark. Cooked up nicely on that Mothers Day grill.

GLTA

Faner

[Bottle Fish]

Although the fish are biting on Stahls I can tell you first hand that they are dinks. A lot of people will keep any and all fish that bite I guess though. I didn't hear any great reports from Stella or Washington but a few did get some eyes. There must be fish biting by the channel on Washington, there are always boats sitting there.

[slipbobbin]

one nice northern and a decent walleye

[LMITOUT]

Same result as last Monday....three walleye and a smallmouth, but one of the walleye was 4.5# that hit a jointed crank which made the day. The other two came on floaters w/crawlers but were 12-13". As always, all are still swimming for another day. This upcoming week with warmer temps coming should ignite the bite (knock on wood). Surface temps are still hovering around 60 degrees when the sun is out.

[Faner50]

LMITOUT...I am interested in your plastics presentation. I am thinking of trying jigs tipped with Gulp minnows. Maybe its just a sucker move on my part but I saw Lindner using the same presentation and catching fish (He was probably on Red Lake where they hit most anything LOL) Just wondering about your plastics

Faner

[ozzie]

went to Pelican and tried some spots for panfish...ended up catching alot of crappies and some sunnies.....biggest crappies was a female 12" with belly full of eggs and we caught 3 sunnies that were all 9" or a hair bigger....good times!!!

[LMITOUT]

Gulp minnows would be good to try since you already have them. I've been mixing it up using 3" jigging grubs or twister tails along with Gulp Alive minnows. Thread the grub onto the hook and make sure it's level and straight. I generally make sure the tail hangs downward on a jigging grub or twister tail.

What I've been experimenting with is rip-jigging or snap jigging, which is nothing more than tying on a 1/4oz jig and tipping it with a plastic bait, then casting it out behind the boat a ways and trolling along while "ripping" or pumping the rod. When you let the rod fall back to put some slack into the line the jig will fall and then when you pump the rod forward it'll pull back up in a saw-tooth like pattern along the bottom.

Essentially all you're doing is nothing more than trolling a jig while putting some motion into the bait. The fast-slow-fast speed of the bait along with the falling and rising action can really get the fish interested and they really pop it when they take after it. The size of the plastic can help the jig from falling too fast and gives it a flutter when it drops too. Speed, jig weight, and feet of line out all determine how deep you want to run. Since I'm using a 1/4oz jig I adjust my speed and line length accordingly to occasionally tap the bottom when I put slack into the line, but for the most part I try to stay off the bottom.

Rip/snap jigging has been around for a while but I've only been trying it for the last year or so. I've found some areas where it seems to work well and is relatively weedless which is always a plus. It's a lot easier to troll a jig through the weeds than a crankbait unless you just want to stay on top with a shallow running crank which doesn't always produce as well as probing further into the weedbed with a jig. Although the goal is to typically fish right alongside a weed line, it's inevitable that a crank will hook up on a stray weed and more time is spent cleaning fouled cranks than in the water. This is just another way to work the weeds but has it's place and time as does any presentation. It's a hands-on method that may get tiring or repetitive but it can work well at times and is a fun way to hook up with fish.

Hope this helps! Good Luck.

[mascad]

If you are shore fishing,the North landing on Collinwood is the place to be. Either that or with the rest of the world at Jennie.

[OutFishin']

Are the crappie still holding in the downed timber on Pelican?

[walleyeslayr]

Fished Sunday on Belle for a couple hours late afternoon. Fished lindy's in 7-13' of water. Tried both leeches and crawlers- 3 guys, 1 pike.

Moved to Jenny and trolled cranks on western part of the lake from 7:00 'til dark. Lots of boats and shore fisherman. Only saw 1 pike caught by a shore fisherman. The weeds are still a long way from being a deterrent to fishing.

Good luck.

[nk45]

Fished Washington last night for a couple hours. Tried pulling Lindy's w/ crawlers and slip bobbers...neither worked. Talked to a guy at the landing and he said he did "ok" when the wind was blowing...too bad I got there as the wind was calming down. Did catch one nice large mouth which was quickly released.

[bassinhole89]

Hi all. I was just wondering if anyone has had any good luck on belle for walleye?

[LMITOUT]

Welcome to Fishing Minnesota!

I haven't been on Belle yet this year, but I know some that have and they didn't do well.

[Jon P.]

Two of us were out on Wolf last Saturday AM and got nothing, Erie we caught a few little bass and Saturday night on Swan was a bust.

[Stradic]

Kinda slow yet but might pick up this week for me.

[walleyeking19]

How did everyone do for Bass opener? My group was able to get 5 bass today in about 2 or 3 hours. They didn't seem too interested in most of our tackle we tried though.

[Huntin&Fishin]

How did everyone do for Bass opener? My group was able to get 5 bass today in about 2 or 3 hours. They didn't seem too interested in most of our tackle we tried though.

nothing to special today. They sure were finicky and spooky.

[bassinhole89]

All i heard is slow all over also. Anybody do any bassin on Washington over the weekend?

[crappie carpet]

I did ok yesterday morning (eastern Wright county)...nothing from 6 am til 9 am...then they got more active. Pretty much fished plastics...got 8 on a green gulp worm, 4" sinking minnow, and two on a rattle trap. I only felt one bass "hit" my worm, otherwise, as I brought my line in, they were just lightly grabbing on, overall theme? Light Bite.

[thorcory]

I tried several lakes in west wright county and nothin,,,but then I went and fished sugar lake and hammered them with weedless frogs over the weeds. cast it and let it sit.. then jig and stop again, and repeat.

[Troy Smutka]

Caught several walleyes, a couple northern, a few largemouth, and a smallmouth on Washington this weekend. Caught all of the fish long-line trolling minnowbaits (see article on home page) on a couple of 4 to 7 foot shoreline flats. Also got some trolling minnowbaits along some newly developing weeds (milfoil and cabbage). All four species of fish were caught in the same spots on the same presentation. Water temp. was in the mid-60's. This technique should work for the next couple of weeks yet. Good luck--see you on the lake.

[LMITOUT]

Went out today in the relentless wind and managed two 18" walleyes and a smaller one. One trolling, one casting, and one on a live bait rig. It was tough going fighting the wind which never seemed to give up all day long. Tomorrow looks like another blow and possible rain day with a cold front rolling in again so I guess that's it for the weekend.

[joe6559]

fished washington last week with several small cigars and a few keepers(lb rig w/leech).

have anyone fished swan (north of silver lake)for walleyes? methods?

[carverfshrmn]

I Have been getting a few on minnows, slip bobber set up, most are small, but some also some fine keepers too.

[jigginjim]

Walleyes on Buffalo have been warm and cold. Not what you would really call a hot bite. The crappies are biting very well, found the better size fish in 8-12ft.