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Water temperatures on area lakes continue their climb towards 80.0 degrees F, vegetation is dying off, algae blooms are becoming more prevalent and recreational boat traffic is increasing. Time to put down the walleye gear until fall, right? 100% wrong! July and August, at least in this part of the state, are traditionally some of the better months for chasing after the state fish.

Speed and Noise!

Trolling crankbaits is a great search tactic but is very speed-dependent during other times of the year. However, in the summer, during periods of elevated water temperatures, try trolling with a twist; speed-trolling. From spring to date, the walleyes have been fed very well by their food source and subsequently aren't as eager to latch on to a slower presentation which commonly is coupled with live bait. Next time you're out on the water, try trolling crankbaits at 3.0+ mph in an area where you know there are fish. #4 Salmo Hornets work great in this application. Another solid search tactic this time of year is bottom bouncers and crawler harnesses or stick/minnow-style crank baits. Trolling speed is dependent on weight of bottom bouncer but regardless of what combination you choose, ground can be covered. Generally speaking, you need ~1.2+ mph to get effective "spin" on a crawler harness but if you choose to trail a crankbait behind a bottom bouncer, you can go faster and/or slower. In both cases, the above presentations have been called "search tactics". Be assured, though, that if you make initial contact while looking and fish continue to respond, don't go away from what's working. In addition to trolling, another rock solid tactic for warm water walleyes is pitching Rat-L-Traps or other "noise makers" to the what is now weed stubble. Remember where you caught 'eyes in the weeds ~1 - 4 weeks ago? Go right back to those locations and rattle 'em in!

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Also bass fishing tactics seems to get them in the boat quite well in the past week grin

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I just got off the phone with riverrat56. Let's just say speed trolling for walleyes is effective right now. Talk about being "johnny-on-the-spot" with the tip for this month, eh?

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I saw a boat throwing a wake last night and catching walleyes hand over fist.

Walleyes have no trouble swimming 5mph, in fact they can go much faster. Cranking up the speed leads to more reaction bites especially with the dirty water as the fish have very little time to react.

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we trolling faster then normal and been getting a lot of fish we wernt getting back trolling

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Can't wait to work 'em over tomorrow and Sunday. It's going to be a blast.

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My wife and daughter sure are good at picking which days to go fishing. We should be on the water by 5:00 pm at the latest and my wife is going to experience speed trolling first hand. She's more excited than my 4-year old daughter is. Ha!

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It's shaping up to be a nice evening, I'll be taking a little nap once I get off work (too much 4th of July party for this guy last night) but then I'll be hitting the lake in search of some July Eyes!

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The walleye bite remains very strong in the area. Spinners and night crawlers, trolling crank baits and casting Rat-L-Traps are all taking fish in both the quality and quantity categories.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • JerkinLips
      41.6°F in Stuntz Bay Thursday morning.  Left my boat in the water to hopefully fish more before the lake freezes.  Caught four 9-11" walleyes in 2½ hours before I gave up due to the strong west wind.  Water level has not gone up more than a couple of inches at the most.  May be a good winter to jack my boathouse out of the water on the deep end.
    • Troy Smutka
      The calendar migrators from the Dakotas have been passing through central MN in trickles the past few weeks, and the recent cooler weather has some Canada ducks starting to show up. We have been harvesting mallards, pintails, gadwalls, wigeon, shovelers, greenwing teal, canvasbacks, redheads, bluebills, and ringnecks in decent numbers.
    • SkunkedAgain
      It doesn't look like the lake level has gone up at all. I was up a week ago and struggled to get my boat in and out of the public landing on the west end of Head O Lakes. I used my paddle to push the boat further out to deeper water. I could hear the hull moving over the sandy/muddy bottom near the launch.
    • JerkinLips
      Pretty tough.  Was catching about 2 walleyes per hour and the biggest was only 13".  Back up Thursday so I hope I have better success.
    • smurfy
      the kid and I always check our stands prior.......i'll go back to check the conditions of said stands before he gets there to see what we need. while i'm at it if i can i shoot at grouse with shells that appear to not have bb,s in them!!!!🙄
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the South Shore...  With unseasonably warm weather, there are still some anglers hitting the water and most have been rewarded.  Limits of walleyes and saugers being caught, and the forecast looking ahead is favorable. The best bite on the south end of LOW has been in 22-28 feet of water. Water temperatures are dropping and as the temps cool further, the bite has been excellent.     Vertical jigging with frozen emerald shiners has been the program for most anglers.  Bring plenty of bait, as you’ll need to sort through some smaller fish and short biters.  Plenty of eater fish to be had, just have to do a bit of sorting.  Anglers are also reporting very good numbers of jumbo perch and occasional pike mixed in with the walleyes.     For those fishing structure, if you slide up on top of a rock pile, don't be surprised to catch a big smallmouth bass, there are plenty around.   This week’s hot colors have been gold, gold/glow white, gold/chartreuse, gold/orange, and gold/glow white/pink.     One tip, a stinger hook on your jig will catch you more fish if you start missing too many fish. On the Rainy River...  Bait dealers are reporting good numbers of shiners in the river this past week.  Interesting, each night is different.  Some areas have the small shiners called pinheads.  Other areas have the larger minnows.     The river is producing some nice walleyes in various spots from Four Mile Bay to Wheeler's Point, to Baudette all the way to Birchdale.  There are 42 miles of navigable Rainy River from the mouth to Birchdale with plenty of public boat ramps along the way.     Walleyes are being caught in various depths, but 15-25 feet of water has been good.   Jigging with live or frozen emerald shiners has been highly effective. Some anglers are also trolling crankbaits to cover more ground and find fish. Both methods are producing solid results. Sturgeon fishing has been strong.  The catch-and-release sturgeon fishing is open into the spring when it changes to the "keep season" on April 24th. Up at the NW Angle...  Fall fishing continues to be excellent. Points, neck-down areas with current, shoreline breaks, and transition zones from rock to mud are all productive locations for walleye right now.   It is traditionally a mixed bag up around the many islands in this part of the lake and this fall is no different.  In addition to walleyes, pike, jumbo perch, and crappies are in the mix.  A jig and minnow has been the most effective presentation. Good muskie fishing is the norm during the fall of the year and area reports have been good.  In addition to casting, trolling shorelines, points and neckdown areas has been effective.  Muskies are often targeting schooling tullibees this time of year. The weather forecast for the next couple of weeks is conducive for fall fishing.  If you don't deer hunt, or if you have harvested your deer, consider some bonus walleye action before the ice forms.  The bite continues to be excellent.    
    • leech~~
    • gimruis
      I'm not one to leave that to chance the day I need it.  I always check on my stands prior to the season.  Just like I always shoot my rifle before the season and I always run my outboard motor before fishing opener.  Too many things to go wrong without confirming it ahead of time.   I guess it could have been beavers but the house itself didn't appear nearly big enough along one ditch.  It was about the size of chair.  I've seen beavers houses many times before and they appear much bigger than that.
    • leech~~
      Good thing you made a check run.  That would have really suked walking into opening day.  Why do you think muskrats and not beavers?  
    • gimruis
      Well I checked on stands over the weekend.  Kind of a disaster.   All the ditches are plum full and twice as wide becauase muskrats have clogged an area.  I spent an hour unclogging it and the water is slowly moving again, but our bridges and planks were underwater.  The back portion of the land where the best stand is was inaccessible.  Hopefully that changes by Saturday.  I have a feeling the muskrats are just going to clog it back up again.   Tons of standing corn still too.  They've started on it, but being so wet now with more rain coming, whatever's there will remain there for the foreseeable future.   All the grassland is completely flattened like a pancake due to 3-4 inches of heavy wet snow.  That eliminates about 75% of the pheasant habitat in this spot.  Total buzz kill.  And this specific spot was one of my better producers last season because the grass was intact and lush through December last year.
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