Find the weeds and you will find the fish. Right now, we are seeing a mixture of fish at different stages
of the spawning cycle. It seems if you can find the weeds you will find the fish. What will bite? Well,
that is a different story because this past weekend no one knew what species you were going to reel in.
Standing cabbage was our go to for the weekend.
Saturday the crappies were out in 10-14 feet of water in the morning in the cabbage sliding into shallower 6-8 feet of water as the morning went. Pitching jigs with a minnow were the preferred method but we did get some using slip bobbers for them as well. The key with the slip bobber was if you didn’t get a bite in 30 seconds move it 2-5 feet and let it sit for a few seconds and keep the process going till you were back to the boat.
Walleyes were found on the edges of breaks and in saddles roaming the weed lines. A simple jig and
minnow was the go to, but make sure you bring extra jigs with you because the small pike
were very active. We had some of our best bites in 12-16 feet of water depending on structure.
With the relatively calm conditions we were experiencing we were seeing that the fish were severely
boat shy even if we were drifting and if we got within 15 feet of them, they would drop to bottom or go
around us. Long casts away from the boat were key to producing fish.
A small 1/16 oz ball jig tipped with a fat head brought in five different species and it made it fun because you didn’t know what was going to be your next bite. We had the privilege of releasing six walleyes ranging from 24.25 up to 28.5 inches plus numerous crappies and bass.
Cody Hill Guide Service
Detroit Lakes, MN
218-443-3813
www.chillguideservice.com