Water Temp 74-78 degrees surface temps
Lake Minnetonka, Chisago Chain of Lakes, West Metro
We’ve been mostly targeting bass and walleyes. EVERYTHING is relating to the weeds right now. The rock bite is hit or miss, so it seems like the safe bet is to focus on the weed bite. Inside turns, weed points, humps, saddles… honestly, it’s a lot of obvious spots that anglers just overlook that are producing the best lately. Depths seem to be either 8-13 feet of water, or 16-20 feet of water. The difference between the two comes down to the water clarity and where the weed line sits, as every lake can be a little different, and in the case of Lake Minnetonka, every bay can even be a little different!
For the bass, we seem to be using a lot of spinning rods… meaning ned rigs, jig worms, drop-shots, small swimbaits… definitely not “power fishing” as much as we would like. Seems to hold true for a lot of the tournament anglers doing well in this area as well—there are a lot of spinning rod setups on the casting decks of their boats! Although the flipping/punching bite can be good in lakes where you have weeds matted up on the surface in mid-depth ranges… say 5-8 feet of water. That canopy has been a popular spot for some larger bass lately, so don’t be afraid to flip around a heavy jig or punching bait as well.
For the walleye, the weeds continue to produce. Main lake points, humps and abrupt inside turns on the weed lines are doing well. And they are IN THE WEEDS! A lot of anglers are fishing too far out from the thick stuff and catching a lot more pike, as the walleyes are up in it… so if you’re not snagging weeds from time-to-time then you’re not making the right casts. This is a daytime pattern as well, so at lowlight/dark periods you might find a different pattern (I’m mostly targeting fish during daytime with clients). Heavy ned rigs (1/6 and 1/5 ounce even) and perch/crawfish imitating colors for plastics… these fish seem to definitely be feeding down! We’ve also caught a fair amount of walleyes on hair jigs and even small swimbaits.
Matt Johnson
Ice Team Manager – www.iceteam.com
Clam Pro Staff Director – www.clamoutdoors.com
Blackfish Pro Staff Director – www.blackfishgear.com
All-Terrain Tackle Pro Staff Director – www.allterraintackle.com
Office: 763-231-4126
Cell: 612-385-3379
Email: mjohnson@clamcorp.com
