Bass Week:
The sun came out, the wind settled down, and the bass invaded the shallows in force. Our Texas group was worried when they saw the super warm temps from the late May reports, but the next cold fronts slowed things down enough so they hit the peak. We did have some other groups focused on walleyes, but pretty much every group spent some time bass fishing this week. It was that good.
For the week, we caught and released 99 bass over 19 in., including 7 – 20s. Volume was excellent with the average guide sheet reporting 50 – 60 bass over 16 in. per day. Many tactics and presentations worked. The top water is always the most fun, but it was limited this week. Most bass were caught with tubes or Ned rigs. Specifically, we like coffee tubes, Lil Generals, and Zman finesse TRDs. One of the trends that was repeated often is that we consistently found larger bass one level deeper than the 16s and 17s. There is a consistent timing for the progression of the bass bite between the different regions that we fish on Lac Seul. Some areas are past their peak, but most of them will hit the pinnacle this week.
The walleyes were less consistent. We found some on main lake summer sand and rock in 20 – 30 ft., found a few more in transition zones in 12 – 16 ft., then we caught some walleyes at the base of emerging weedbeds in 6 – 10 ft. of water. In general, the first wave of fish to move into the shallow weed beds were eaters and slot fish. If the weather gets warm and flat, then the next wave to move shallow will hold bigger walleyes. The best guide strategy was to consistently try it all throughout the day until you found a pattern that worked. We had some success pulling plastics at speed this week, but most of the walleyes were caught on jigs (1/8 to ¼) with live minnows.
For the week, we caught and released 48 walleyes over 27 in., including 4 – 28s, 4 – 29s, and 2 – 30s. Guide sheets averaged 40 walleyes over 18 in. per boat per day.
The pike fishing was a little bit more hit and miss this past week. The cabbage weeds are most of the way up on the main lake and the pike are just beginning to concentrate in them. The guide’s strategy was to cover water, and spoons are the most effective presentation for bigger pike at this time of year. For the week, we caught and released 9 walleyes over 37 in., including 4 – 38s, 1 – 39, and 1 – 40.
As a lodge owner and fishing guide, I am not supposed to have favorite guests. I look forward to fishing with Davis Hartley and his dad Kendal every year. We mainly target bass, but we usually start the day fishing for walleyes for shorelunch. We found a hot bite for eaters and Davis caught the first 3 for the lunch box. His next fish nearly doubled the rod over and when it hit the net, I was in shock. Davis Hartley caught a 30 in. walleye. That photo and memory will put a smile on my face for years to come.
