WALLEYE:
With the recent hot weather, fish have moved out to deeper edges in 20-25ft, but the bite has been red hot. Look for main lake rock and humps and focus on areas with bait nearby. Electronics are showing lots of clouds of young of the year perch and white bass, and the walleye are never far behind. Combining bottom bouncers or casting jigging Rapala has effectively caught fish. Trolling speeds for bottom bouncers should be .7-1mph along the edges.
Another tactic to have in your back pocket right now is trolling crankbaits over mud flats in relatively the same depth of 20-25 feet. The key is being ON and OVER mud. Shad profile baits have been the ticket as they closely represent that 2-2.5in size of young of the year forage. To access fish at these depths, it is best to use snap baits or lead core to get crankbaits close to the bottom. Using natural perch colors is always a go-to, but use a fire tiger or brighter perch pattern on cloudy days.
PANFISH:
Lots of bluegill and crappie are being caught off the weed edges, and trolling or using forward-facing sonar is the best way to find them quickly. For trolling, use a very small crankbait at slow speeds and parallel the weeds until you run into fish.
Report from Cory Ewing of Waubay Lake Guide Service
