FluffChucker

Hey KY, I haven't been out much lately due to the aforementioned nasty weather. It's been one brutal stretch of weatherr we've had lately. I'm actually just getting ready to head down to a deep, clear lake right now. I'll be fishing a large lake fairly close to Rice Lake next week and probably this weekend as well. But like others have mentioned, this recent stretch of weather has these fish all sorts of confused right now. You might end up having perfect timing to hit the spawn though. We'll start seeing some fish sweeping some beds next week I believe, if not this weekend.

OP - Just to give you a heads up on our current water temp situation up here. I was out Friday and found water temps on the clear water lake I fished to be between 53-55* depending on the area of the lake I was on. Most fish are right where you'd expect to find pre-spawn fish at this point. And they're hungry! I had a severe case of bass thumb by the end of the day. Had a buddy out on a more stained body of water today who reported having water temps between 60-63*. Hopefully this helps you out a bit for your trip. Feel free to message me if you want another update before you come up.

The temps are fluctuating quite a bit right now. Water temps were ranging from mid 40's on the clearer lakes to upper 40's to low 50's on the darker lakes. Our weather has been quite the rollercoaster for the past two weeks and so our water temps have dropped off a bit. 70* last Monday, and snowing and 35* on Tuesday. We're supposed to see high temps in the upper 50's through mid 60's with lows only in the low 40's for the next 7-10 days, so I'm hopeful that the water temps will normalize a bit. Our bass opener is on Saturday and I have plans to fish both dark and clear water lakes over the weekend. I should be able to give you a better idea of temps going forward as my time on the water is about to increase exponentially. If you PM me a few days prior to your trip up I can give you more specific information.

Or Pepin? Planning on getting down there in the next two weeks if I can. The boat's ready to go now though.

It's struggling pretty bad right now. I've got it up, but it's stuttering a lot.

Give Cascade Lake & Creek a try. Plenty of carp, bass and panfish to keep a guy busy for hours. Just keep your eyes open for Wild Parsnip that lines the banks of the creek. Another option, while not in the city of Rochester, would be to drive 40 minutes over the Mississippi River and fish some of those areas. Places around the dams and spillways, many backwaters, and places like Prairie Island in Winona are all very popular shore fishing areas. Also, Rochester is a real trout-friendly area. That's as shore fishing friendly as it gets. Head down to Trout Run or Whitewater state park for an afternoon of fun fishing, preferably when the water temps are a bit lower (and the fish are a little more eager). Bring a mepps spinner or a floating rap, and go to town. It's also a good opportunity to pick up fly fishing, if you ever get the desire. Those trout creeks are a GREAT way to cool down on a warm afternoon, and this time of year you won't need expensive waders. Just a pair of pants and some old sneakers and start hiking. I spent thousands of hours on the creeks of SW WI and SE MN (more on the SE MN side) and can tell you that some of my most memorable days of fishing ever, came on some of those small streams. Here's a link to the trout maps that the DNR has online. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fishing/trout_streams/south_mn_maps.html Remember to pay attention to where the angling easements are, or ask permission if your not sure. In Minnesota I can tell you that I was never once turned away by a landowner if I first asked permission to fish their property. Landowners always seemed genuinely shocked and pleased that someone respected their property enough to take a few minutes to say hello and ask permission. Sometimes you'll even get a few tips as to where some of the better 'holes' are on the creek, or where their bulls are so you know where NOT to go.

This is a timely post. Just two weeks ago I had a mouse or chipmunk get into my boat, and proceed to elude me and my traps for 3 days. Thinking it had probably just got out of the boat, I loaded up and headed down for league fishing night. As I'm sitting in line waiting to launch my boat, I noticed that my plastic screw in drain plug is completely missing. Knowing that a replacement will be impossible to find at 6pm in the north woods, we pack the gear back up and leave with our tail between our legs. The whole time I'm completely confused by how the plug was missing. It was always supposed to stay attached. Sure enough, I get home to find it laying on my garage floor, chewed up. I then looked into the plug hole itself where the threads are, and see that those too have been completely chewed out. Since then, I've declared war on all small rodents and set about 6 traps in my garage just in case one of those little buggers thinks about pulling a fast one on me again. I'm still fairly bitter about that little pest for causing me a night of fishing. He may have won the battle, but I will win the war. No mercy. I attached a picture of the plug I'm talking about just because my description ability sucks.

I'd probably try a small topwater fished up and acrossed the stream, worked back slow w/ a small jerk,pause, jerk jerk pause type action. It's the same thing us fly fisherman will do with small poppers. In my experience, the longer the pause the better. I've been known to let the lure/fly drift without moving it for 5-10 seconds. The other thing that may work well would be a simple hair jig. You're on the east coast too, which if I remember correctly has a Cicada hatch that's supposed to happen this year. I know next to nothing about those insects, but if you're seeing them hatch right now, the chances are high that you would slaughter smallies on a matching lure. And I know there are at least a few companies out there making Cicada topwater lures. But I'm with Further North as far as the recommendation for a fly rod. Most people say I'm crazy, but I would put a fly rod up against live bait or artificials any day of the week on a small stream. Fly fishing offers you some different sink rates/movement and styles that you just can't duplicate with conventional tackle.

Try fishing a hula grub in that situation. You can cover more water with them than a drop shot, and at least for me, they're absolutely deadly

Get yourself a jaw spreader for a few bucks. It'll be money well spent, as you'll likely encounter a lot of pike. After that just check out youtube on how to properly hold a pike or musky. There are hundreds of videos showing the proper way to hold them so neither you or the pike get hurt. Keep your fingers out of the way of their mouth, and you'll be fine. Do your best to release the bigger ones as unharmed as you can, and maybe try taking a small one home from the grill if you like eating fish. They're tasty! Pike, in healthy numbers, really do benefit the eco-system even if they do steal a lure or two from you once in a while.

The spawn in here on most lakes now. It's at the beginning stages and not every fish is up on beds, but yesterday I saw quite a few and more and more will make their way in over the next week. With the exception of the storms, at least the temps look to remain fairly steady up here.

Based on my outing yesterday, I currently have no idea what they're doing right now. All I managed to get was about a dozen 13-15" males in the shallows. Surface water temps up to 60* yesterday though on a crystal clear, deep lake. I imagine those temps will be at least 65* by Sunday and we'll start seeing some fish bedding down. I cruised one large spawning flat for about an hour yesterday and didn't see much in the way of fish or beds. Going to try another lake of similar makeup (clear and deep) tonight to see if I find different results.

Assuming you've got a vise then the next things I'd get are as follows for a few basic patterns. Foam "popper" for bluegills 2mm craft foam (I'd get white so you can color it later w/ sharpies) Small or medium chenille (or use dubbing w/ some flash to it) Small to medium sized rubber legs 6/0 or 70 Denier thread A few basic trout flies: Ingredients will tie a Wooly Bugger and a Pheasant Tail Nymph Pheasant Tail: Thread: 6/0 or 70 denier is a good starting point. Either white or black (white thread can be colored up w/ marker) Pheasant tail feathers Copper Wire (small or brassie sized) Peacock Herl Wooly Bugger 6/0 or 70 denier thread Black saddle hackle (Whitings is the best, if you can find it) Medium Black Chenille Black Marabou Copper wire (use the same wire that you get for the pheasant tails) Flashabou or Krystal Flash in whatever color you'd like. Hooks: For the Wooly Bugger I'd find a 3xl size 6 or 8 streamer hook and the appropriate sized bead for that hook For the Pheasant tail, I'd start with a size 12 nymph hook and work your way down to the smaller sizes once you start getting better at tying. If you can't find a decent price on hooks and beads at your local store, give Allen Fly Fishing a try. They've got a really great selection of hooks and beads. Done a lot of business with them over the years. No affiliation other than I really just like their company. Great customer service if you needed it. You could also add some black or brown Goose Biots to your ingredients list and then have what you'd need to tie a Copper john as well. They're not much different from the Pheasant tail besides the tail material and the thorax being made from wire.

Thumbs up for good mapping software. There are a few lakes in my area that without good mapping software aboard, you could very likely hit a stump or shallow rock bar. You wouldn't believe the number of boaters I see stranded after busting their props or lower units on things like those. Most of those mistakes could have been avoided had they ponied up the $100-125 for good mapping software. That to me is worth the price right there. Couple that with being able to see contours and potential fishing spots, and it's a pretty good bang for you buck. If you still aren't sure you want to spend the money, save this link to you computer. http://webapp.navionics.com/?lang=en You can also download their phone app for around $15. I use it for ice fishing, and will say that it is the best $15 I've ever spent for that sport.

Definitely not spawning right now. The cold temps have sort of lingered, with the exception of the last few days (last Friday we reached almost 90*!). Water temps this weekend on the clear, deep lakes that I fished ranged anywhere from 48* (in the early a.m. to 58* in the bays. Fish were found all over. I had most of my luck on the steeper breaks in the mornings, and was able to fish some shallow flats in the afternoons when I found pockets of fish cruising around. Temps on the darker lakes will be at least a few degrees warmer. I'd venture a guess to say they are probably in the mid to upper 50's. Perhaps 60*+ in some of the shallower bays. This weeks forecast calls for rain, and colder conditions so I wouldn't expect to see much improvement this week. In fact, tomorrow our high is only 54*, and Friday is 50*, Sat 55* and Sunday 55* before the warming trend starts again next week with highs in the 60' through the early part of the week. We've still got lows dipping into the 30's a fair number of nights this week which hurts more than anything.