Wednesday Pepin Report

[Northfield Angler]

I fished Pepin Wednesday from 5pm.-8pm. Talked to two groups coming off lake from a long day of fishing and no catching. I started on the Wisc. side and worked the entire shoreline hitting six to sixteen feet depths. There is a major lake fly hatch going on. The white bass were breaking water all over. Somehow I did boat a 17inch eye in the first half hour and that would be my last. They were anywhere from a foot off the bottom to three feet below the surface. Thus munching on the larva and flys. This all makes for tough fishing. The water clerity was much improved and no floating logs, sticks, garbage, ect.

[FOOT]

Northfield, I know they aren't Walleyes but the white bass are fun to catch. I take along an old 8 foot fiberglass fly rod that I've outfitted with ceramic guides. Then when I see the white bass surfacing and the Walleye are tight lipped I flip out a dead minnow, no weight, just the hook and minnow.

It's a lot of fun and can partially save a day when the eyes don't have it.

[Rick]

How is the fishing?

[CrappieJohn]

At last word a major league fish-fly hatch was spreading from the top of the lake down. When this is occuring fishing can fall by the wayside big-time. Water temps are now in the seventies in the lake, so dragging cranks or live bait will be in order for the walleye/saugers. Very early or very late in the day wingdam action might provide some activity, the darker the better. For crappies, deep softly currented water will hold some scattered fish and places with deep water(12'+) and shade, such as from numbers of boat docks (harbors), can be hot. Look for pannies, bass and toothies as well in the latter instance.

A long time personal perference of mine for the lake when we get into this time of year has been to concentrate on the deep water of the Minnesota side from Lake City to Lacupolis. Points north also have similar water and the hole off from the Stockholm wing dam can provide decent bait action now.

The one big distraction found on the lake is the numbers of sheephead that will hit on everything and anything. Bait users will likely be plagued with them, but they can reduce that by using leeches. Crawlers and fatheads are sheepie magnets.

When we get into this time of summer, the lake can also seem to go dormant....like it's in the doldrums. Concentrating on currented areas will keep you in cooler water for the walleyes and sauger, but you may find that shifting back into main channel stretches and doing more time in areas of the river itself will produce better. Not neccesarily the lake, but that stretch from Lacupolis to the Alma Dam is always a great summer stretch. The main channel will provide everything just mentioned for waldos and sauger, crappies, bass, and pannies....toothies too. The bonus is that it also is adjecent to the Indian Slough complex, which in addition to the panfish can hold some bruiser waldos too.

The people who I know that fish the lake are saying that the fish are there. You will have to sort through some roughies. Numbers of fish have been weather and daily dependant. Trolled sticks and cranks are getting some fish as does the trolled leech, fathead, and crawler. Bug hatches, water temps, no rain, high skies and time of year seem to slow this water down. In my opinion, the lower lake and river below it will be the best for fishing right now until we see either some input of cooler water from signicant rainfalls or the fall season brings in relief.