What's Working Now...

[buzzsaw]

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is a nice run starting from the north end of Spray. Run the east side weed edge all the way to the south shore. Lots of tricky edges but this is a big fish run. Can also troll the Gap weed edge south of Goose Island

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Part of that is on my milk run on Tonka... I think Mark already knew that though from a post last year where I landed a muskie.

[KTroller]

Mark, Thanks! I did break my maiden for walleyes on Tonka tonight. A healthy 9" 'eye was caught and released - LOL! Seriously, thanks I marked a couple of spots which both turned out to be crappies, but nonetheless accomplished the goal of landing that first elusive Minnetonka 'eye. Didn't see anyone else pull in a single fish so who knows, maybe I was the big winner. Regardless, I appreciate the help. - KT

[fisherman-andy]

The Red Hook craze has caught on to me this whole year. It's worked well for me. I've changed a bunch of my lures, whether it be a rapala, jig, spinner, i've detailed it with a red colored hook. And im catching more fish with it. Then again maybe it's just me...

[TommyJ33]

you fish with more confidence is all.

[fisherman-andy]

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you fish with more confidence is all.

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Im always confident, even on a day I don't catch any fish. It doesn't deter or change my way of thinking, but it does change my presentation.

I think color does play a big part, and for me it has contributed to more fishing fun. Red is HOT!

[DMC5]

According to these guys red is hard to see underwater. http://www.cajunline.com/ Makes sense... I have had great luck on a mepps with a red treble hook.

[Lost]

And yet these guys at Daiichi say red is all about triggering the natural feeding response because "the gills become engorged with blood as they flare to inhale bait. this phenomenon is called Gill Flash". http://www.daiichihooks.com/about/index.html

So who's right?

[Matt Johnson]

I took my parents out fishing today, and what a great day to be on the water!

We targeted sunfish and found them anywhere from 2-13 feet, with 6-13 feet being the key depths.

We used Pearl White Exude Micro Shad on a 1/32oz collarless jighead. My parents were working them below a float in the shallower water, while I fan casted the depth water without a float. Both areas produced fish.

Nothing huge, but a healthy number of 7-8.5 inchers that made for an outstanding fish fry tonite!

A lot of weed growth forming and most of the fish were relating to the thickest patches of weeds. Both inside and on the deep edge.

When the day was said and done, Mom caught the biggest fish

Enjoy the weekend and best of luck to all who make it out on the water!

[AQUAJOE]

Matt your not getting out tomorrow morning?

[Matt Johnson]

I don't think so. A good buddy of mine is leaving for the Peace Corp for 2 years and he's having a going away party tomorrow. I'm also going to take my nephew to our church fair tomorrow too, so it's going to be a day on dry ground for me

I think Sunday looks good though...

[Kab Dreamin]

We had smorgasboard action yesterday on Minnetonka. We started out casting for northerns with some spoons (red & yellow gator spoon and a fire tiger daredevle) and caught 3 right away and had a couple of decent muskies follow them right up to the boat and then stare at us before swimming away.

We moved to a different spot and didn't pick up any notherns so we switched to crappies and did really well casting out an 1/8 oz. chartreuse roadrunner jig on the weed edge in 7-10 fow. The crappies would follow it right up to the surface and take the bait right in front of you where you could watch. Very cool. We also caught a few sunnies on it as well as 3 bass, a northern and, oddly enough, two walleyes, both about 11-12 inches, all on the roadrunner.

The only thing we didn't see yesterday was a smallie.

My son spent most of the day scanning the area underneath the boat with the underwater camera I picked up Friday. He is so engrossed with the camera, I may never get him to fish again.

[Matt Johnson]

Fishing has been good the last couple days.

Look for crappies on the deep weed lines. They were scattered all over those areas in the lakes that I've been on recently. Seems like 7-13 feet is the desired depth depending on the weed line. Small spinner-baits like a Beetle Spin, Tadpole Spin, or Betts Spin all work well.

The sunfish are still holding to their beds in some lakes. We found other pods of sunfish on the weed line as well. Look for the beds in 2-4 feet water to be the most consistent, as I think with the warm weather the really shallow areas are shutting down. All the areas less than 2 feet seem to be barren as of late for bedding sunfish. Small plastics seem to work well for the sunfish, as do smaller spinner-baits.

We also found some walleyes on the weed line. Right now the weeds are crucial for a variety of species. Some will be holding right up tight and in the weeds, while others will cruise the edges. Jigs and leeches are working well, and once again, the small spinner-baits took a couple walleye today too...

[Lost]

Thanks for the info guys! Lookin' forward to getting out there and catching fish as soon as my project is done. Now, about that weedline. How does one find it without electronics?

[Matt Johnson]

Joe,

Right now you can find the weed line relatively easy because it can be seen from the boat. Look for the deep side of a weed line where the weeds go from thick to scarce. Right now the weeds are showing up in full force and you'll be able to distiguish where the direct weed line is.

It's actually a simple piece of structure that goes unnoticed right now for panfish, but it's an obvious one if you're looking for crappies.

Sunfish will be there too, but I've found the larger ones elsewhere, and usually somewhere inside the weeds in open pockets or along the inside weed line...

[Lost]

Thanks Matt! My boat should be finished and ready for its first water test by this weekend so I'm excited to go catch them little 11 inchers!

[BoxMN]

Bass were right up against the shoreline last night, on a clear lake. Caught them on Senkos. Tried the weedline earlier with worms and wormjigs and senkos, and got little to nothing. Once the sun started going down, they started hitting real shallow, shallower than last Saturday.

Got a long crappie out over 15 feet of water, but weren't going for them. I saw a bunch and bet we could have cleaned up. Right at about 8:30 pm.

Forgot the spinnerbaits, but bet they might have worked for us, as the weeds are just starting to get near the surface.

Good luck,

[Captain B.R.K]

I fished with bklimek yesterday down in the SW part of the Metro. We started on Minnewashta (spelling ?!??!) around 3:00pm and fished until 9:00pm. Pretty tough bite as we only managed 1 lousy bass.

What we did: We started fishing the deep milfoil edge with t-rigs, jig worms and rattle traps. Then we switched over to the inside edge of milfoil and pockets with t-rigs and jig n pigs. We then went to the docks and finished up throwing buzzbaits.

I know that lake has some good size bass in it, but man...only 1 bass for the whole evening!

[hartner62]

Hey if your out on the west side again try going a little farther down the road to Victoria and try Steiger. It's a pretty small lake but the bass are nice. In the last two days I had a 4.5 and 5.25 lb. Fishing right in front of the pier with suckers. Let them sit on the bottom and they will come

[rangerforme]

B.R.K

I was out on Minnewashta last weekend, i can usually clean up on them this time year on the deep weedines, i fished from 6am till 11am and got 5 stinking bass, no big ones, not sure what the deal is out there this year. My boss's friend says he is smoking the big bass out there right now with big chubs, but i hate to cheat.

[Matt Johnson]

I took my parents out today in search of whatever wanted to bite

The panfish and pike are relating to deeper weed lines, anywhere from about 5-10 feet. We also found a few pannies holding to the deep side of the lilypads.

Bass were in the thick slop along the shorelines, as well as out on the deeper weed lines in about 8-14 feet.

Panfish fell victim to Exude Twister Tails or Micro Shad on a 1/32oz jighead.

Pike came on spinner-baits and the bass came on Exude Comidas or Wide Ribbon Tails with a pegged bullet.

A beautiful day to be on the water! Happy 4th of July everyone!

[Matt Johnson]

We found the crappies today in 14-20 feet off the deep breaks leading out of the shallow weeds. Look for the deepest breaks you can find that are adjacent to a distinct weed line and pitch a jig or small spinner-bait up along the edge and let it swing back to the boat with a slow, steady retrieve.

My dad and I worked the LB Lure Tadpole spin today for crappies using that technique and it worked out pretty well. The temps pushed those fish out deeper, and the spinner-bait allowed us to cover a lot of water.

Gills were still holding tight to the lilypads and didn't they didn't want to venture too far out from the weeds. We pitched Exude Micro Shads up against the lilypads and managed to land a few gills. A float above the jig will also work well...

[markkstanley]

I fished a midlake hump and got into some nice slabs biggest was 13". Used the JB tadpole spin but I switched out their grub for an Exude twister. Also caught a bunch of the green carp and donated two Tadpoles to something with very sharp teeth. Those Tadpole spins will catch anything that swims.

[Matt Johnson]

This warm weather has pushed the pannies out deeper, at least the crappies and the larger gills. You can still find smaller fish in the shallower areas, but the consistent larger fish are holding out deeper where the water is cooler.

Midlake humps have also been producing crappies and gills. Humps anywhere from 20 feet of water to 5 feet of water. If targeting shallower humps, look for some sort of weed growth, as those areas will be better due to the comfort zone and shade. Find where the weeds begin to thin and pitch jigs in those areas. Seems to be best in that 6-10 foot mark.

Shallow lilypads are still holding a lot of gills, but the size is lacking. A lot of the better size fish in those areas have moved further into the lilypads in spots that are non-fishable. Best bet is working the edges and staying as close to the lilypads as possible.

A variety of presentations have been working. Exude Micro Shads and Berkley Power Minnows, Exude Twister Tails, Berkley Power Tubes, Culprit Paddle Tails, JR's Stub Grubs, just to name a few.

JB Lures Tadpole Spins are also taking a few fish, especially along the weed edges.

We should see a slight decrease in temps, so fishing should pick up a little within the next few days...

[HugoBox]

Poe's Giant Jackpots really has really triggered a lot of action for muskies in this heat. This weekend produced 37", 39", and 40" in two mornings. Had about 7-8 other hits and 1 follow.

Shallow areas where the weed edges are pronounced seemed to be best. No trophies yet but some nice fish.

[a_cad1]

Went out muskie fishing this morning at 6 with my roommate. We had 2 follows with a pacemaker and a bucktail. One was at least 45" other was a smaller one. Another guy we talked to had a 2 follows with a top water and a bucktail. He told use he just couldnt get them to bite, not even with the figure eight.

We fished the west side of Spirit Island and then the west side of Bracketts point. We fished the weed edges. Hopefuly next time is better.

[Swimmer]

Hate to be the barer of bad news, but check out the end of the "Too Hot!?" post. This heat seems to compound the lactic acid buildup and ability to recover for the Musky.

[a_cad1]

Each type of fish has its own level threshold of lactic acid buildup. To help preventlactic acid you have to reel in the fish faster and not take your time.

Brandon

[Matt Johnson]

I made it out this morning for a few hours with a friend of mine who was in town for the weekend. We found most of our aggressive fish holding to the docks. The deeper fish were schooled up but were smaller. All our fish over 2.5 came off docks while skipping a Rootbeer/Green, Copper Flake Exude Comida on a 2/0 Finesse Wide Gap hook...

The wind picked up around 8am, but up until then we landed a few fish on buzzbaits working the edges of the lilypads. My friend sure got a kick out of that!

We tried cranks out deeper in hopes of picking up a few fish on the sunken humps, but only pike were found. All the deeper bass came of weed lines...

[fishingaddict]

I have been on tonka the last several days pounding the docks but with no avail. I have tried senko(straight and wacky), jigworm, jigpig, french fries etc.

What few fish I have caught have been in clear water. I am taking some friends out Wed. who never have fished for bass before. Any suggestions should I stick to clear water or head for dirty water.

Also I am finding few sunnies shallow(I track the sunnies to find the bass) i.e. no sunnies no bass

Not looking for specific spots just general help. In past I have always done well on docks this time of year.

thanks the addict

[Matt Johnson]

I've done well on the docks with the most shade, spots with large pontoons and canopies. Depth hasn't played a huge roll in those areas. Or else I like docks with nearby deep water with weed growth around them. If you can find a set of docks on the backside of a point that leads to deep water then you're in business.

We've also done well on shallow shoreline areas with scattered lilypads. Bass have been using those scarce lilypads as cover and are ambushing baitfish and pannies. Pitch a Comida up along those lilypads and shake it along the bottom.

However, the nearest docks coming out of deep water are what I'd key on right now if targeting docks...