North End Report 5/21 - 5/27

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JR
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North End Report 5/21 - 5/27

Post by JR » Tue May 31, 2016 10:10 am

Well, I would like to tell everyone that we hammered them this past week, but even as a fisherman I can't lie that much. Although the weather was amazing the fish just didn't really cooperate. The water was so calm and the sun was shining so much you could actually see the fish, so we knew they were there, but just not in the mood to bite really well. Here is what we found:

Pike: The pike bite was very slow and only on a couple rare instances over the week did they start biting. They looked healthy but we caught a lot of small ones and I think the biggest was 23". Please keep in mind that we only cast lures and did not use live bait for them, so people may have had better luck than us. We found them in all of the usual bays, generally in the middle and not very close to shore or out in the deep sections.

Crappie: We targeted them at our usual handful of "hotspots" as well as covered a lot of territory looking for them. We did not have much luck, though. Our fishing partners came in with about 8 of them one day, with some of the biggest ones I've seen in years, but this was about the highlight. We had one day that we had 20 keepers, all 9-10 inches, but other than that, it was just a few per day. I am not sure what to think, as hardly any of the fish had eggs in them, and the ones that did had a very small amount. None of the fish had sperm sacs in them. I would have thought that they had already spawned, but according to the guys at camp, they hadn't before we got there. Maybe they are spawning late and weren't in the shallows yet?
Small tube jigs under bobbers were the top way to get them for us with small lures coming in second. They were scattered and we would pick up a large one casting while we were moving around, drop anchor to work the area, and then move on when no more were caught. I am hoping they are just late and people start picking them up this weekend.

Panfish: Sunfish were the majority of our bites, but most were small. They were ferocious and everywhere so it made it entertaining, but not good for the freezer. We found pockets of bluegill and perch, but keepers in those were also few and far between.

Bowfin: My son caught a couple with 1 being really nice. We don't eat them, but they are fun to catch. We could see them in the water, but were tough to get to bite.

Bass: Once again, we were not targeting them, but no matter what you fish for, you will catch them. They were healthy and abundant and I agree that this year should be a good one for bass fishermen.

I'm sorry it's not a better report, but after many years of fishing this lake, I felt like a rookie out there last week. It was just tough fishing for us. If I had it to do over again, I probably would have spent more time working the deep center of the lake (of course on the North end that's only about 6-8 feet.)

The water level was low and I banged up the new prop, but not much different water level than other years and if people are careful, they should be fine.

Thanks again to Bob and Ann at Camp Carol for everything and we look forward to trying again next year.

Good luck, everyone.

492VS
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Re: North End Report 5/21 - 5/27

Post by 492VS » Tue May 31, 2016 3:33 pm

Some of the toughest conditions are bright sunlight and no wind. Skunked me and left me wondering wtf many times. Water clarity is the clearest I've ever seen it in 25 years. Thanks for the report.

mojo
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Re: North End Report 5/21 - 5/27

Post by mojo » Tue May 31, 2016 4:10 pm

JR - thank you for a great and "honest" fishing report. Blake Lake can be like this more times than not. Enjoy the rest of the summer and watch out for submerged rocks.

spence
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Re: North End Report 5/21 - 5/27

Post by spence » Tue May 31, 2016 8:17 pm

I could not believe the water temperature was 76 degrees already. I'm sure that didn't help with the "bite". Thanks for the report. Spence

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