A Taste of Summer

The common mayfly has
emerged at Central

The summer furnace finally decided to ignite here at Big Hook Wilderness Camps.  July has begun with a beautiful week, especially after a damp and cool June.  Thus far in July we have had temperatures over 75 degrees and ample amounts of sunshine.  Future forecasts are predicting plenty of pleasant days to come.

With the sunshine has come plenty of other influences from Mother Nature.  The mayfly of course, is the main concern for most fisherman.  Yes the hatch is occurring as we speak; however the mayfly have been few and far between.  After filleting several walleye today, very few stomachs had any food within, which means they are still hungry and feeding.  Chances are we could experience an extremely mild hatch this year.  Another note to be made is, after a wet June the mosquito's and black flies have been rather...feisty, unfortunately.  Continued warm and dry weather will diminish their annoyance.

The ample sunshine has caused an explosion in weed bed growth.  Empty mudflats have suddenly turned into lush habitat for aquatic species.  The water temperature has rapidly sprung from 60 degrees to 70 in shallower bays.  The warmer water has
triggered plenty of feeding from both walleye
and northern.

A south lake trophy walleye 

The walleye have sunk a tad deeper in the water column and the majority have migrated away from the rapids.  Most fish are holding in 6-10 ft around rocky reefs and are grouped on the edges of weeds.  Jigs are still my favorite lure to toss for schools of walleye.  1/4 oz with a white twister was hot today at Central Lake.  The winds have been howling out of the west for three days now so the east shorlines and mud flats are holding lots and lots of fish at the moment.  Trolling Shad Raps along the edges of weeds will catch plenty of walleye but will also boat a considerable amount of pike.  Having a flourocarbon leader or mono leader will help with the bite offs.

After several days of sunshine, the pike really turned on today.  Pike were smashing anything that was moving near a weed bed.  Smaller baits still were more effective than larger.  3/4 spoons or 4 inch shallow diving cranks were getting the most action.   Central boasted two fish in the 40 inch range the past couple days.  Both were boated and released on smaller lures, one being a jig and the other a small black cyclops.  The top water bite has begun to get exciting and will only get better as the summer progresses.  Pack a couple "walk the dog" baits for an evening extravaganza.

A dandy Central Lake walleye from the
Bauer group. 

Good luck on the water everyone! And keep on sending those pictures.
-Nathan
www,bighookcamps.com