As Mondays continue to fly by my fishing reports/blogs are doing their best to keep up. Last week was another good one, but it didn’t start that way. Lately it seems mother nature doesn’t want to make anything easy for us, constantly scheduling downpours and soaking rains on days I don’t want them. Last week we had to have our Monday night hot dog roast in the lodge to avoid sitting our behinds on damp picnic tables. We normally fire roast hot dogs and enjoy a fresh pot of chili with a back drop of sparkling blue water, last week everyone had to enjoy looking at me instead.
Weather did dampen some spirits for a couple of days, that’s almost to be expected anymore, if you stay for a week there will likely be a day or 2 that the lake doesn’t want you to participate in finding its treasures and when I say treasures, I don’t mean the tape measures, drills and wrenches I’ve dropped into the harbor over the years, I mean the green and gold variety of Sander vitreus.
Pictured below from L to R: Mike Ashker from White Cloud, MI – Kathy and Stan Roux from St. Louis, MO, I’ll let you guess who caught the “big” one – Justin and Jonah Rogers from Des Moines, IA holding a couple 28 inch keepers and Dylan Ashker from Grand Rapids, Mi with a smile worthy slot fish.
Lake temps are just about the overtake the 70 degree mark in many places, it’s a little early in the season to be seeing these numbers, usually it’s around the first week of July we break into the 70’s, I would say we’re a little ahead of schedule, but not much.
The Walleye bite is still primarily on live bait, most anglers have jumped on board with Lindy rig snells with or without spinners, tipped with leeches and crawlers, the former being the more formidable of the two. Area’s on the southern shore of the main body and into the South East have been good, many of these spots are small and may only hold a few fish, stay mobile, watch your electronics and don’t stay on any given spot too long, you may have to hit multiple rock piles before you find fish that are willing to cooperate.
With water temps rising long line trolling will soon be the go-to method of boating some dinner, grab your favorite shad rap or flicker shad and head out to Submarine Island and Annex reef and troll till your heart’s content. The new Northern Pike slot limit has thrown a small cog into the Leech Lake machine, you’re going to need to do a little more sorting than in the past, but finding quality eater fish is still quite easy and hey, you can keep 10 now.
Featured image up top is the men of the Rogers family from Fort Dodge and Des Moines, Iowa, 4 generation’s enjoying Big Rock, one enjoyed his first year and the others are on year 29!
We’re just starting to dip our toes into the prime summer season here at Big Rock and the Walker area, we have a couple of cabins available that I would love to have you stay in. Come swim in our 84 degree outdoor pool or simmer till well done in our hot tub and then enjoy all of the recent improvements, I know you’ll love it!
Thanks for reading
Come see us at Big Rock Resort
(800)827-7106
Ray
