Week #7: June 22-29, 2026
Week #7 6/22-6/29
Water temps: 63-66
This week was much better than last! It’s not “great” but we it was very good! I still haven’t seen much for mayfly hatches on the east end. I heard reports of a few large hatches on the west and central parts of the lake. Hopefully there won’t be much of a hatch this year!
This week our main focus was deep structure. Submerged rock piles and humps in the main lake is where we found all of our fish. 15-25’ of water seemed to be the best range for finding schools of fish. If you can find humps with flat areas those small sections are where the big pods are.
We used a lot of different techniques this week to catch fish this week as well! We caught them on lindy rigs one day, bobbers another day, and small jigs on other days! Like I have been saying, have tons of presentations tied on and ready to go as you never know what it’s going to take to catch them!
Our lindy rig set up is about as basic as it comes. 1/4 or 3/8 oz egg sinker with a 4’ mono leader to a #4 hook, tip it with a leech, crawler or minnow and you should see good results! Dragging a lindy just off the structure produced nearly all of our fish one day last week. .3-.5 mph was the best speed for us. If you want to go faster don’t be afraid to size up to a 1/2 oz weight to stay on bottom.
Bobbers produced some fish in the low light hours but the bite seems to be dying off for me. Guys are still using them all day and having good results but it’s just not the case for us. It’s never a bad option to have ready and waiting if the fish are being finicky to more aggressive presentations!
Small jigs are always a great go to late June and all of July! Rigged with a crawler, leech, or minnow you can’t go wrong. Slowly working them over the rock has produced alot of bites for us this week!
The biggest key from this week was being able to go back to pods of fish after they didn’t bite the first time. It was not uncommon to go without a bite for 15-20 minutes then catch 3 or 4 fish in the matter of 5 minutes. But, there’s also a fine line with staying on fish too long and not moving. Use your best judgement, you can always stop back on those fish later.
Only a few select dates left in July for walleyes! The late July and early August bite can be some of the best action of the season! Remaining July dates below and I will post August dates in a couple more week!
July availability:
15 AM
16 AM
23
24 AM
26
28 AM
29 PM
30 PM
31 AM
Muskies are starting to show up the deeper rock structure as well. They are also being caught in open water and wind blown areas where there are big things of bugs and bait! Plenty of night time Muskie trips still available this summer and into fall!
One more week of trips to finish off the busiest start to a guide season I’ve ever had. I’ve shared the boat with some awesome people and it’s been a blast! I can’t wait to see what the rest of the season holds! A week long of fishing for smallmouth only next week to see if we can’t break some PBs!
Call or text anytime (218) 404-9200 or book directly online at fishingwithz.com!
As always, tight lines!
Z
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