July 29-August 5, 2024

Week #12 of the open water season! July 30-August 5, 2024

Water temps: 73-79

What an amazing week on The Big V!! The fishing was awesome all week for walleyes and smallmouth! The storm and cold front on the 3rd slowed fishing down for one day but it’s back to good again!!

This is one of my favorite times of the year to catch walleyes. Our best bite this week was on two presentations, a jig and minnow or crawler and a lindy with a minnow or crawler. All four combinations produced a bunch of fish! Yes, the exact same thing as last week, we aren’t trying to overcomplicate things right now!!! Simple is better. We even got some really nice numbers of walleye and bass on shallow bobbers!

For jigs I am spot locking on pods or slowly trolling over the areas and fan casting and working them back to the boat. Both techniques have worked pretty close to equal. Fan casting is a great way to cover more water and find some fish you might not be sitting right on top of. We are using jigs ranging in size from 1/8 oz up to 3/8 oz, it’s spot and wind depending.

In our lindy rig spots we are slow trolling them at .4-.6 mph and dragging them through as many fish as we possibly can! As the week progressed, Lindy’s became much more effective than a jig!

At the beginning of the week, Sand humps, points, and flats in 15-20’ all hadfish. By the weekend and after this cooler weather I was finding most fish in 19-25’ farther down the break.  Other areas I have found more isolated pods is on the rock/sand transitions off of structure. Using side image to stay off the structure and cast the edges has been a big help in catching fish, not rocks.

Shallow rocks in 8-12’ have also been holding a lot of bass and walleyes mixed in. Casting a bobber with a crawler or leech has produced fish.

The best tip I can still give you is to get out on the water early and capitalize on those early morning hours. The bite seems to be lasting longer into the day right now with the cooler weather. Days with high sunny skies and no wind be prepared for them to shut down around 9:00. Another tip is to have a bunch of different baits tied on, don’t have all the same jig head or hook color tied on for your lindy rigs. Have options and see what they want on that given day. It’s changing all the time!

I have availability remaining for the rest of the summer! Give me a call or text @ (218) 404-9200 to book your trip today!! Very limited openings the next two weeks!

Tight Lines!

Z