Long, Fish Hook, and 5,6 & 8 Crow Wing reports

[blindluck]

Just did 2 and 1/2 weeks fishing up there (June 11th to June 30) and thought I would let you all know how I did.

Pike: Great
Walleye: shucks
Bass: Awesome
Crappie: fair

Long lake is a very tough lake to fish, but it turned out to be such an amazing bass lake. Very slow for northerns and walleyes this time out, but got plenty of great largemouth and a few crappie. Black and white colors worked the best for me. AM and PM fishing of course. Too many rock bass in that lake though. Watch out!

Fish hook was fun. We pretty much just drifted with rigs and jigs and grabbed some northerns and just a couple of walleyes (don't worry, all were returned so that you may catch them too). Only time during the trip my dad and I both had a pike on the line.

5th Crow Wing was the best fishing we had. Got a some decent walleye there, and my dad grabbed the biggest fish of the trip which was a 28" pike. Mostly drifted across the island with jigs and minnows. A shad rap I had worked really well there one day. Got me a couple of pikes, an eye, and even a crappie with it. Although my rapala was very natural looking, my dad's work with chartreuse jigs really payed off. We know how to fish this lake though from years past and it payed off for us.

6th and 8th Crow Wing we struck out. Although I have fished 5 and 6 more than any other lakes in my life, I have just never done anything on 6. My dad got a walleye there during the openere, but that was it this year. I just don't know how to fish that lake. We made the mistake of fishing 8th just once during the day. It is a very clear lake and should be fished in the am and pm. Got some bites, but just couldn't hook anything on 8. Any helpful hints on these lakes would be much appreciated.

My final analysis is that it was still cold and slow fishing up there, but I did catch more pike and largemouth than I ever have before in my entire life. I didn't have any of those days where you catch 30 fish and it just seems like that they are jumping in your boat. We put in some long hours (10 at the most, average about 4 to 6 hours fishing a day)and had a great time. It seemed like my dad was jigging with a minnow the whole time while I used some rigs, jigs, and that crank I mentioned earlier. Mostly drifted or anchored in a windblown bay.

Best of luck to everyone.
Mike G

[gilby]

Thanks for the encourageing report on 5th crow wing, I"ll be there in one week from today. Can't wait.