It's Almost Mid-Summer, How's Fishing?

[skiroule]

As we approach mid-summer, I thought I’d see how you anglers out there are doing and maybe you have some photos of whatever your fish of choice might be.

We’ve been getting out some. No monsters to report but still landing some decent fish. We went out for a couple of hours today, dead calm and it felt like being in a frying pan out there but we managed to put what I consider the perfect Walleye limit (for our area) in the well – four healthy 17 – 17 ¾” fish. Lots of 14’s – 15’s taking the bait so the crop for future years looks good.


Forgot to mention, it was Canada Day so the neighbors down the bay provided me with a flag in honor of the occasion.

 

[snomoman]

Living the dream my friend, living the dream…wish I could get out and fish, fresh cooked walleye, nothing better

 

[skiroule]

Living the dream my friend, living the dream…wish I could get out and fish, fresh cooked walleye, nothing better

Agree! Local guy, who was famous for his fish batter, started selling it commercially. Awesome stuff!

 

[garageguy]

nice eaters!!

 

[ICT Sledder]

Agree! Local guy, who was famous for his fish batter, started selling it commercially. Awesome stuff!

Well come on now. Can't do that without a link or name.

 

[skiroule]

Well come on now. Can't do that without a link or name.

It's called Briggs Best Batter, named after a fellow that developed the batter and originally owned the Wigwam Resort on Lake of the Woods. Not a heavy batter, more of a light coating. I'm sure it's available from other sources but Sheel's sells it here. Briggs Best Batter

 

[skiroule]

It’s been 5 years since our grand daughter has been able to get up to the lake but she managed to make the trip from Texas this summer so we hit the water for a couple of days.

The girl loves to fish and she does amazingly well at managing a 2 oz. bottom bouncer rig over variable terrain and depths while constantly on the move, sometimes in some pretty rough water. When she got her Mojo going, she matched me fish for fish and caught the biggest fish both days. This was just an experience to treasure.

 

[gary_in_neenah]

Good for you, Kelly! They say, "Memories Make Us Rich" and you sir must be a wealthy man! I'm guessing she got her fishing skills from Grampa and her good looks from someone else.

 

[mezz]

Sa-weet! 2 thumbs up! You can't beat that, good time, nice fish! Time well spent.

 

[pclark]

It’s been 5 years since our grand daughter has been able to get up to the lake but she managed to make the trip from Texas this summer so we hit the water for a couple of days.

The girl loves to fish and she does amazingly well at managing a 2 oz. bottom bouncer rig over variable terrain and depths while constantly on the move, sometimes in some pretty rough water. When she got her Mojo going, she matched me fish for fish and caught the biggest fish both days. This was just an experience to treasure.
View attachment 68770

Congratulations Grandpa, looks like you have an awesome granddaughter, funny how life is the way it should be in the Northwoods.

 

[skiroule]

Mezz and pclark, I totally agree with your comments. These are memories made that will last a lifetime.

Gary, you are mostly accurate. I did show her everything I know about fishing but that only took about two minutes. As for the looks angle, I can’t argue. The evidence is right there on Kodachrome. Thankfully, intelligence, or lack thereof, isn’t as visible.

 

[euphoric1]

don't get out as often as I would like,and on inland lakes the wife and I just like flippin bobbers with crawlers or redworms but so far pan fishing has been good, there is a lake by our place that is pretty much accessible only by canoe/kayak or very small boat through a shallow channel, not a single house on the lake...peaceful! We have been catching some whopper bluegill vertical jigging right over edge of canoe right along a submersed weed bed and I mean WHOPPERS. Bringing up boat again this weekend headed again to Crystal lake, we are learning that lake quite well. Still learning my Helix 7, its crazy all the settings, the sonar view is pretty slick too. No matter how good or bad fishing may be, nothing beats being on the water! other than the trail maybe...lol

 

[skiroule]

Excellent! When we used to fish the lakes/rivers further south in the state I loved stumbling onto a batch of Bluegills. Feisty critters and extremely tasty.

 

[skiroule]

Had a friend up fishing this week and we spent a few days chasing Lake of the Woods Walleye.

Thought I’d post these next two photos, not because the fish are especially big but because of the different coloration. One is the typical greenish/light gold Walleye we get in this area while the other is a beautiful bright gold/black color. Not sure why the difference as they were caught close together, both in terms of time and location.




When most people think about Lake of the Woods, they typically don’t think Bass but the fact is, the lake is a tremendous Bass fishery, particularly on the Canadian side. A resort owner that has Bass guys come up told me that they will put 100 Bass in the boat in a day.

I tend to believe him, my friend landed four porkers this size one day and we probably pulled in another dozen or so smaller ones and we’re not even remotely targeting them.


Sometimes there’s an additional guest for the fish scrap feast. The Pelicans will push the seagulls around but they don’t mess with Mr. Eagle.

 

[pclark]

Had a friend up fishing this week and we spent a few days chasing Lake of the Woods Walleye.

Thought I’d post these next two photos, not because the fish are especially big but because of the different coloration. One is the typical greenish/light gold Walleye we get in this area while the other is a beautiful bright gold/black color. Not sure why the difference as they were caught close together, both in terms of time and location.
View attachment 68924

View attachment 68925

When most people think about Lake of the Woods, they typically don’t think Bass but the fact is, the lake is a tremendous Bass fishery, particularly on the Canadian side. A resort owner that has Bass guys come up told me that they will put 100 Bass in the boat in a day.

I tend to believe him, my friend landed four porkers this size one day and we probably pulled in another dozen or so smaller ones and we’re not even remotely targeting them.
View attachment 68928

Sometimes there’s an additional guest for the fish scrap feast. The Pelicans will push the seagulls around but they don’t mess with Mr. Eagle.
View attachment 68929

Nice healthy looking fish Skiroule, the 2nd one almost looks like a walleye from over here in Northern Wisconsin.

 

[skiroule]

Nice healthy looking fish Skiroule, the 2nd one almost looks like a walleye from over here in Northern Wisconsin.

Yeah, it's unusual for our region. Wish there were more, very cool color combination.

 

[euphoric1]

Yeah, it's unusual for our region. Wish there were more, very cool color combination.

Nice fish!! love the shot with eagle and pelicans!! this weekend was a bust for us, could find them on graph but could not get anything to bite, wind was strong moon was bright over night, water temp wasn't crazy warm, not sure what the issue was but a bad day fishing on the water still better than a good day on land! except.... got in a little muck by launch, didn't have enough trim, water dribbling out tell tale hole, hoping fitting plugged just put new water pump in spring...uuuuugh. over heat alarm never went off so fingers crossed don't have to pull apart again. Nice pics skiroule!

 

[skiroule]

Hopefully your motor issue is minor. Like you said, maybe just a plugged fitting. Always wonder how long my impeller will last but it doesn't see a lot of sediment or sand so might last quite a while.
When my friend was up we had a strange first day out as well. We found fish but they would just hit it and be gone, with or without the minnow. They were interested but just not enough to really commit to the bait. Guess we probably should have been jigging. Moon was just past full but still really bright. Coincidence? Maybe.

Next day and following day, totally different. They were agressive and hungry. I'm sure I'll never figure them out.

 

[pclark]

Nice fish!! love the shot with eagle and pelicans!! this weekend was a bust for us, could find them on graph but could not get anything to bite, wind was strong moon was bright over night, water temp wasn't crazy warm, not sure what the issue was but a bad day fishing on the water still better than a good day on land! except.... got in a little muck by launch, didn't have enough trim, water dribbling out tell tale hole, hoping fitting plugged just put new water pump in spring...uuuuugh. over heat alarm never went off so fingers crossed don't have to pull apart again. Nice pics skiroule!

You should be able to flush your motor if it has a fitting?

 

[euphoric1]

You should be able to flush your motor if it has a fitting?

I am hoping so as the hose that goes to the tell tale fitting at least twice the size of the hole in the fitting itself and as I stated the motor never over heated and I do know the alarm does work as this spring when I fired up the muffs had slid off and wasn't paying attention until the alarm went off, and motor was pumping fine up until that point as its the first thing I check in the launch upon start up, pretty sure its just a matter of flushing, not a big deal to change pump but just put new one in LOL