lake zumbro

[CrappieJohn]

The fish were around today and if you could get into a school of them the critters would keep a guy busy. All deep water yet except for one dink crappie that came out of four feet.

Sunfish were everywhere and many were nice...9-10 inches. They had no problem downing a stub grub.

The usual purple/chartreuse was the winner today along with some Exude micro-shads in the chartreuse /black on a black head.

You had to find the warm water today to find the fish. While the fish were generally quite deep, they'd come right up to hit a jig at 6 feet.

[CrappieJohn]

Man.....Its been years since I ventured out on the water for opener.

Fishing buddy, Gary, and I hit the Zum at about 6 this morning with high hopes that the crappies found yesterday would still be within reach, but we got another cold front to throw things off the mark again. These things are starting to suck big time.

We hit on several piece of the lake and only had a could bumps until we settled in on the high banks and churned up some sunnie action. Actually we ended up with enough for a meal for Gary.

The first and the last sunfish each came off plastics....a purple/chartreuse JRs StubGrub. Both hit at about five feet over much deeper water. The other seven or so fish came to a white head/chartreuse hair 1/32 jig tipped with a waxie. Most of these birds were about 8 inches with a couple pushing nine.

Not unlike Dan Theim the other evening at the Zum, I got into one of those ring lipped mud chuggers that went about 9 1/2 pounds. Not bad for two pound line though. Good fight for about ten, maybe 12, minutes. Hair jig did the deed.

The crappies were definitely willing to become our guests today. In one spot we had a few pops that were definitely crappie, but they were very tenetive on the hit. We ran the whole gamut as far as plastics goes, too, but those guys were just not going to hit well enough to get hooked.

The water temps were much the same as yesterday. If the wind doesn't get too radical and if the sun can find the water, things might turn around for an afternoon/evening bite.

The sunnies saved the day, but the day was well worth it in the rewards of the company I had.

[FishinFool]

Made the madien voyage in the new boat we got from a relative today. It was the first time my dad or I had been on Lake Zumbro so we didn't really have any idea on where to go. We mostly wanted to make sure that the motor and trolling motor ran fine.

We ended up catching 4 sunnies and a 5 pound carp in 3-4 hours. Two of the sunfish were just a hair under 9 inches.

We put in at Ponderosa and had a sheer pin break when we were near Fisherman's inn. We used the trolling motor for about 30 min. before we got towed back in.

[Bubbadust]

Fishinfool, were you the group of 3 putting the boat in with the driver who had never backed a trailer before??? If so, I have the old, Green Crestliner and talked to you guys for a minute.

I fished Saturday from about 2:30-4:30 with some success. I caught about a dozen sunfish with 3 of them 8"-9" and 1 nice crappie using small chunks of night crawler. Most came within 5' from shore with a couple caught off the bottom in about 12' by the highbanks.

I went back out Sunday from about 11:00 to 3:00 with my stepfather and did OK. We fished Ryan's Bay first and the first fish was a nice smallmouth, we caught several 7"-8" perch, one tiny rockbass, and a couple small sunfish. We went over to the highbanks and caught about 20 sunfish and 1 nice crappie. We kept the crappie and four 8.5"-9.5" sunfish for dinner. The smallmouth, rockbass, and perch were caught on minnows with the sunfish and crappie caught on crawlers.

I almost forgot about the muskie that attacked my nightcrawler 5' off the back of the boat as I was reeling in. Unfortunately, I didn't hook him.

[FishinFool]

Yeah bubba, that was us. I was the one with the Twins hat and black sweatshrit. My dad (mark p) was the guy backing up the trailor.

Looks like you guys had a little better luck than we did. It was nice talking to you and maybe we'll see you again out there.

F.F.

[Bubbadust]

I've only fished from a boat a few times out there, but my stepfather fishes it a lot and showed me "his spots".

I'm at our cabin out there almost every weekend in the summer, so if you see my boat come say hi. The cabin's at the end of Sunset Bay Road if you know where that is (across from and a little downriver from Fisherman's Inn).

I forgot to mention in my last post that I reminded the guy trolling with 2 poles that his dog does not exactly qualify him to use 2 poles in his boat. He pleaded ignorance...

[ikeslayer]

Was out saturday afternoon and the weather was rollercoaster ride SUN rainSUNrain it was really something. We launched the boat and i stuck a rapala in the water and WHAM a small mouth smoked it. I thought that was good sign but nope. That was the last fish we saw that day. I did managed to get bit off by one toothy critter. Anyone got any suggestions on how to keep form getting bit off and still catch fish i am all ears. However it was still great to be out. We couldn't go to far the wife is round as a Silo with our first so we have to be within driving range of the hospital but she was a trooper none the less.

[crappieguy473]

About the only thing you can do is just pray they dont inhale the bait and that you hook them right in the corner of the mouth. A friend of mine caught a 32in northern out there on 4lb test no leader so i know it can be done. The other thing is to use a steel leader but if your fishing panfish thats not the best idea.

[Dan Thiem]

Alex and I found some nice size crappies tonight.

With all this wind we decided to tuck into Ryan's Bay and poke around with some different styles of plastics.

Well the wind was still an issue when using 1/32 oz. jigs, but what we did find was an area that had a nice concentration of fished marked anywhere from 15-20 feet. This area is around 22 feet deep.

We just fished as though we were walleye fishing, controlling the drift speed with the electric. Just keep slight contact with the bottom and slowly lift up.

They would hit it hard! Sometimes, if I wasn't ready, I would feel it hit and miss it. But if left down there they would hit it again. Some of these crappies literaly inhaled the whole jig. One of those crappies was a very dark color. I took a picture of these fish and will try to post after the film gets developed.

We also found a few big gills along the shoreline on the left of Ryan's Bay. Everything all went back!

[dust58]

what types of plastics do you guys usually use? Just different colored tube jigs? Usually I tip my stuff with a minnow but I think I'm gonna try to depend less on livebait.

You guys ever snagged any walleyes on the Zumbro just asking cause a buddy was out there yesterday and said he got one.

[CrappieJohn]

Can't say for positive, but I'll bet that Dan had some sort of paddletail on a jig. I use paddletails almost exclusively now....either the Culprit or the JRs StubGrub. Both are excellent baits.

Tipping a plastic with a minnow as is comparable to wrapping a kite in toilet paper....it gets rid of all the action of the plastic that gets the fish in the first place. If you ever feel the need to add some meat, nothing more than a waxie is needed. Even a waxie will throw a wrench in the action of a plastic.

As for the waldo....the dnr got some in there years ago on a fluke. They were even showing up in test nets for a couple seasons. Since the lake is not one to offer anywhere to promote natural reproduction, they are not intentionally stocked there and any fish caught within the last 5 years would be one that somebody dumped in there illegally or was a very old remnant of that original mix-up. I would not get any hopes up.

[Dan Thiem]

Dust,

The only jig and plastic that worked last night was a black 1/32 oz. jig head with a black body and a chartreuse tail. Culprit Paddle Tail.

I found the bite and so I decided to see if any other colors would work. Nothing. They wouldn't touch anything but black and chartruse.

[Down to Earth]

Dan,

How was it last night? Did you get any water temps at all? My parents are in town from Wisconsin and if the rain holds out today we'll be out there this evening and then again tomorrow morning. Did you find them deep or shallow? Thanks.

Andy

[Dan Thiem]

Hi Andy,

These fish were suspended around 15 to 20 feet. We were in about 22 f.o.w.

[CrappieJohn]

I just came from the lake. The fish are definitely deep, but will rise up to around seven feet to hit...I couldn't get them any higher up.

I found some warmer water at eight feet mid way thru the high banks and that was where I got the crappies....didn't necessarily need wood.

I caught them on the purple/chartreuse stub grub with a black head and a few came to a white hair jig in 1/32. I tried a variety of toys today, but those two took the fish. I had a couple hits on Exude MicroShads, but they did not hook up and I think they were dink sunfish.

I had not trouble getting into 60-65 fish before the rain hit and then the crappies sort of shut down. Nice sunfish keep me entertained until I felt water running off body parts I had forgotten about....leaky, cheap raingear today. I knew I should have taken the Tech2O's.

Andy, the water temps are generally in the mid 50's. Some places warmer than others. Today the warmest was where the wind was blowing into shore and that is where the action was.

[CrappieJohn]

They are still there!

I fished this morning until 10. The water temps are slooooowly inching up now with the surface at 7 right at 54 degrees and the water at eight feet setting at 56 in just about all areas I fished.

The Stub Grub was a hot one today again with the hair right on its heels. Purple/chartreuse was the best color with blue/chartreuse doing good too. White on white for the small hair jigs seemed to work the best but even yellow on white did ok. I located some really deep fish and even tried a waxie filled jigging spoon, but I think a carp favored this get up and I only had it in the water a short while before this got broke off. Whatever hit it was big.

As mentioned, the fish are still in deep water. The shallowest I fished today was 13 feet, but virtually all of my luck came out of 19+. Yesterday I had to get deep to get the fish to rise to the bait, today I had the float set at about three feet and the fish really nailed it.

With a little more heat, they will start to move.

I did have the pleasure of meeting DownToEarth and his parents there this morning! He was taking them on a fishing tour of the lake and they were getting fish when I stopped on my way off the water.

[ikeslayer]

Hey CT just wondering what kind of boat you are in. Always good to know i will stop in say hi if i know what ou are floating in. I am in a blue and white crestliner so you can do the same. Good to know you are putting your time in CT. ike

[CrappieJohn]

Hey Ike....14 foot jon/20 hp Johnson. Bowmount. Send me an email sometime early next week!

[CrappieJohn]

Today was not like yesterday.....period. I got on the water early in anticipation of a good bite, but was not happy to find all the trash and field debris floating around. The water had come up about 8 inches and was still on the climb when I trailered up the boat after an hour and a half.

Places that were treasures yesterday didn't even show fish today....not even while using a flasher! The dirty water had some better temps but that didn't do the fishing any good at all. Neither did the east wind and this new front. Talk about a turn around. Even waxies on ice jigs could not get a sunnie.

I finally did find one point with deep water that had some small crappies willing to hit, but these fish were the smallest crappies I have seen on this lake in years....4-6 inches. Their size did not keep them off the stub grub.

Comparing today with Weds and Thurs is a real disappointment. I'd really like to know what is up with the weather. And what the heck ever happened to Global Warming? I'd settle for a little right around home and the rest of the globe can do whatever.