North End Fishing Report 5/20 - 5/26

[JR]

We had a great week this year. Although we didn't get the large sizes in Pike like everyone else is saying, we did catch pretty good numbers. No matter the weather we saw over the week, the fish seemed to prefer our lures to be small and worked relatively slow. We caught many of our bigger fish while casting our ultra lite and micro lite poles looking for panfish and crappy.

We had most of our luck away from shore a little bit. We did pick up some by the edge, but mostly between 20 and 50 yards from shore with a lot picked up in the middle of the coves and bays. We found the fish to be more scattered than other years and were able to find fish almost anywhere. All we did was look for weeds, but leaving enough room to cast over them.

This year should be incredible for the bass fishing. We fished for pike and caught bass, fished for crappie, and caught bass, even panfish were mixed with them. I envy the bass fisherman at Black Lake this year, it should be amazing.

All Bass were released quickly and gently, all pike were released this year, and we only kept a handful of Crappie and Bluegill for the freezer.

Biggest Pike 25 inches. (caught with tiny lure fishing for Panfish)
Biggest Bass 18 1/2 inches.
Biggest Crappie 14 inches (caught with a big lure fishing for Pike)
Gar Pike 37 1/2 inches. (Actually hit on a lure)

If I had to give advice for people coming in the near future, it would be to buy a good ultra lite pole with a good reel and good 6 pound test line. That was small enough to work small lures slowly, yet could handle the vast majority of the fish we caught. I would cast small lures and cover area. The bow mounted trolling motor allowing us to drift and work around bays made a big difference.

Due to the wind, we didn't get a lot of chance to use live bait, but we were having as much or better luck than our counterparts who used it all the time.

I hope this helps and good luck to everyone, it really was another great year and our reservations are already in for next year.

[sekotsjds]

Thanks for the great report!

[wildchild]

Thanks for the report, and I hope you are right about the bass!

[Tbone]

Love to hear the reports this time of year. Will be up soon and can't wait. Thanks