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Fished it on Thursday with a goose egg being posted. Water temp was 54-56 degrees. Marked some fish here and there but lockjaw was the event of the day........

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Knucklehead,

When were you fishing and what techniques did you try out there? I was pretty darn successful out there Friday evening. You can read my post titled "Another 'Eye Report" for further details.

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Otter,

We fished from 1-5pm on Thursday. We using spinners/crawler/leeches and pitched jigs into the shallows. Fished rock pile, grassy island, millers point all the way to the narrows and further up the beach side on the south side of the trailer point. marked alot of fish just not takers on anythting we presented. The only we did not do is pull some cranks around. Fished mostly water from 10-15' but hit the deepest end at 25' and all the way into the shallows. just wasn't our day. Friday we hit the river and found a good bite on pepin.......I will be back!!

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KNUCKLEHEAD, I TALKED TO SEVERAL GUYS THAT FISHED BEHIND GRASSY ISLAND ABOUT 5' DEEP NEAR THE OUTLET AND HAD GOOD SUCCESS WITH RAPALAS AND FATHEADS ON JIGHEADS. THE FISH HAVE BEEN COMING INTO THE SHALLOWS AOBUR AN HOUR BEFORE SUNDOWN AND BITING 'TIL ABOUT AND HOUR AFTER. GOOD LUCK.

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Well, I'm going to head to Madison on either Saturday or Sunday this weekend. This will be the first time I will have ever fished this lake. Should I be weary of any dangerous spots while boating? What's the launch like...decent shape, deep with ample parking space? And one last thing....any hints as to depth and presentations to start out with? Not asking for any spots as part of the joys of fishing is discovering/locating spots for oneself. Just asking for a little assistance on if the fish prefer one presentation over another right now and what depth they've been hanging around. I'll be getting my lake map out tomorrow to study a bit as I have zero familiarity with this lake.

I've been fishing north of Hutch this year so far and everything around there seems to be pretty dead. So, I'm going to "expand my horizons" and go south.

Thanks for any assistance!

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basscatcher,

The only real dangerous spot for boating is "the narrows" which you can't miss. The trouble area is also marked with buoys, so don't sweat it.

Whichever landing you choose, you should be happy with. Nothing fancy but suffice.

As far as what the bite will be doing, you can check my post from earlier this week titled "another 'eye report". Beyond my report, I would continue to look shallow (i.e. 6' or less) and pitch cranks or jigs and minnows or jigs and plastic. The fish should be relating to shorelines that have ample cover or solid sand bottoms. With the warmer temps, the fish should be a bit more aggressive than they have been, so the presentation could possibly be sped up a little bit.

Good luck out there!

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TO

Thanks much for the info. I'm really looking forward to getting down there and giving it a go. It's been a long time since I've tried fishing a new lake. Too long in fact. I've always hit the same lakes over and over, year after year and typically end up with the same results....few fish (with the exception of opening weekend on one lake for the past two years...but this year it's been dead).

Hopefully I'll see some other FM'ers out there. If anyone's curious as to what my boat might look like, I had a post a while ago titled "mind if I ask". Say hi if ya see me and I'll keep my eye out for ya too!

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No problem basscatcher. Hopefully the information I passed on will help you out. I will not be fishing around here this weekend but rather a little to the west. So, you'll have to let me and the rest of "the gang" know how you do. Good luck and hopefully the weather cooperates!

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Team Otter, what size and types of cranks are you using shallow? Im thinking of hitting Madison or German this weekend, and I'm looking to try out the shallow bite with jigs as well as some other techniques.

What about a split shot rig up shallow, long lining it?

Sorry, one more question, what type of bottom structures are you looking at this time of year? I would think any type of rock or gravel would be good but maybe im way off?

Thanks for the help,

RR56

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riverrat56,

You don't have to apologize about the questions. I'm more than happy to answer.

I pretty much stick to #5 or #7 shallow runnin' shad raps. If I'm fishing in 5' or less, it's definitely the #5 and anything deeper than 5', I usually experiment with both #5 and #7. I also occassionally use Rat 'L' Traps but I hold off on using those only in heavily stained water.

I haven't messed around a lot with split shot rigs up shallow but it could be deadly. I can tell you that I have had good luck later in the year casting a spinner and crawler rig with no weight and just dragging this presentation over the weeds.

Bottom structure this time of year, in my opinion, is key. I like to look for shallow flats close to deep water that consist of mud, gravel, sand, rock or all of the above. Some weed growth never hurts either. Additionally, you always want to focus your attention onto the windy side of the lake. I realize there are fish to be caught out of the wind, but you're chances are improved exponentially when fishing in the wind.

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Basscatcher,

Another spot to whatch out for is the cow bar. Though it is marked, there are rocks all around it. I agree with Otter. Out there shallow will be the ticket for the eyes. The weeds are pretty thick up shallow so if you find a spot where the the weeds get a little sparse or below the surface in > 8' of water give it a go.

Bagley.

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Good luck this weekend. The water temp on Madison as of yesterday was an averange of 62 degrees and the shallows are nearing 70. As long as the weather holds mid to high 60's during the day today through Friday, shallow fishing for 'eyes or crappie should be hot.

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Hey Big D... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAN! Take some time off and get on the lake! Take care and N Joy the Hunt././Jimbo

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I fished Madison the morning of the 23rd from about 6AM to 11AM. I was catching walleye's like sunfish from about 7:15 until 10:30. The problem was they all were smaller than 12 inches. I probably boated 15 or so in that time and lost at least that many. I also caught 1 12inch Crappie and an 11 inch Perch along with a few sheepshead. I was in 30 to 35 feet of water with a leadhead and minnow. It was a lot of fun, just nothing big enough to eat. I did lose 2 fish that were larger but I did not get to see them before they got off so I can't tell you if they were the walleyegators or not. For what it's worth that's my report.

~piker

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When fishing Madison this time of year you will do quite well with catching lot's of numbers of walleye shallow. However, every year about this time or when the water temps reach the level as mentioned in a previous post the big gals come out to play. This is a deep bite and it can take place in a couple different places throughout the lake. These are the fish I will be targeting this weekend. I sure hope this weather will stabilize some but it doesn't look like it will. Good fishing to all over the long weekend.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
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    • LakeofthewoodsMN
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    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
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