Ahh, Open water is here and it's been an exciting few weeks since the Ice left the lakes. I made it out a handful of times an found the fish to be suprisingly cooperative. The first outing of the year I didn't know what to expect. The fish weren't exactly jumping in the boat but the bite was steady once we located the groups and noticed what they were relating to. The Crappies were tucked in tight to emerging weeds and they were only interested in subtle presentations. Berkley Gulp 2.5" Minnows and 2" Power Minnows worked best this time out. We used floats like Thill ST1-2 Stealth floats and a 1/32 oz jighead.

The next time out was a few days later and the water had warmed a bit. The fish were in the thicker weed patches or right on the edges. Again I fished Powerbaits like 2" Minnows or Tubes. Once I got dialed in to the fish it was an absolute "Hammer-a-thon"! These fish were going nuts and everyone around that were using live bait were simply watching the show. These baits give you the control to fish slow or aggressive. This day was one where I could do no wrong.

Spring is a fun and exciting time to get on the water but it's also a time where practicing Selective Harvest and/or Catch in Release is critical.

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

Hey there Corey, fancy meeting you here!

You too Tom! It's nice to have the big 3 back together again.

How's the bite been for you?

Later,

Corey Bechtold

The What's Working Now thread! I knew Corey would start this sooner or later

Good thing it's somebody who actually fishes too.

I'll try and keep it up to speed. I'm excited to help you around here.

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

I made it out this Memorial weekend with Cole, my Dad and good friend Mickey. We target Crappies for a while and had to contend with a lot of wind. It was brutal trying to hold position with the boat because the wind was so strong that an anchor was not be an option. Although the wind blew the fishing didn't. In fact it was some of the fastest action I've seen in a while. The Crappies were in thick and the water temps seemed to be right where they needed to be. Mid 60's. It was apparent that the fish were guarding beds so we made sure to released the fish so they could do their job. The males were very dark and aggressive. Every once in a while the wind would back off and one could see the fish. They would cruise in and inhale our baits. The females weren't far off the drop and they were full of eggs.

Berkley Power Tubes worked best but upsizing to Power Minnows got some larger fish. I did well with the 2.5" Gulp Minnows as well. We fished the baits shallow under floats mainly but I fan casted the Power Minnows and Gulp Minnows on a 1/48oz jighead and did well too. It was kind of difficult holding the boat with the motor and trying to fish, take pictures and release fish.

A fun couple hours on the water and I'm sure things are going to really take off on some lakes around home too.

I'll try and get some photo's up later.

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

The wind has been my big issue of late. What with the holiday boat traffic on the Zumbro, three of us opted to fish the breakwater at Lake City Sunday to try for a mixed bag of waldo/saugdog and crappies but we got nixed doing that because of the wind. Even a 1/2 ounce jig was being towed by the wind loop in the line! We went down river from there and tried several backwater areas for pannies but the river is still moving a lot of water thru these areas and current was an issue. BITING BUGS were an issue. Even our bassing spot had too much current.

This morning the wind is viscious again here in Rochester and fishing would be folly. The Zumbro had temps that had the crappies poised to begin the fanning of nests and I imagine that got underway this weekend. This cold front is pretty clear here with a low of 39 this morning. With those temps and the wind mixing the water, I'm sure the crappies have retreated again....at least they won't go far.

I may go to the lake tomorrow if the front moves off and the wind settles a little. I'd like to see where the spawn is at....I might take a rest from fishing for ten days or so if I find them on beds.

Here are a few shots of some spawning male Crappies Cole caught and released.

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

I hit up the lake again this morning in the rain and things were much different from yesterday. On the negative side.

Not near so many shallow fish today in most areas. I'm not sure if the weather or boating activity has moved them off the shorelines, but only one area had any activity from hitting fish. The hens I checked yesterday still had spawn in about 50% of them. The water temp was down from yesterday's 61 too.

I found some females that had already gotten the job done on some vertical wood in moderately deep water. They hit at mid-column in 17 feet of water. These were quite large fish too.

I am trying to convince myself that we have yet to see the better part of the spawn-bite, but a part of me is saying we've already seen it.

I spent all day on the water guiding for bull gills. We hoped to find them on their beds so at least we could touch a few darker fish just to get a glimpse at one, but found most of our fish out slightly deeper. Water temps were 61-63 and we worked depths from 3-10 feet of water. A lot of these fish were staging for the spawn. A lot of fat females still full of eggs.

We pitched Mister Twister Micro Shads and Mister Minos, and Berkley Power Tubes and Minnows. The Micro Shad took the cake on these fish. The larger presentations didn't quite fit the bill on the all the spots.

We caught fish up to 15oz. A lot of smaller crappies mixed in too and we lost a complete giant boatside

Here's a few pictures of some of the fish...







The weather tossed a few twists but we managed. A little sun might have sparked the shallow movement. Temps are getting warmer

Great job Matty! Were you fishing under a float or just fan casting?

The beast that you missed boatside, was it a Bluegill or Crappie?

Later,

Corey Bechtold

We were fishing both under a float and fan casting. Some of the areas demanded that we used a float because of the structure, but if we could get away with pitching then that would be the desired technique.

And the beast I lost boatside was a crappie

The other day I had a chance to do some fishing. I fished with a buddy of mine who wanted to chase Walleyes go start. After 2 hours withoug a bite I talked him into targeting some Pannies. We started searching a sropoff with deep water nearby but didn't find any. We then slid down the shoreline where we found a lot of fish stacked under a long dock and boat lift. There was a good mix of fish using this dock and we caught a lot of Crappies, Sunfish and Largemouth Bass on White Berkley Power Tubes.

After beating up on this one dock we ventured out to search for suspended Crappies. There were only a few small pockets of fish so we headed to a weedline near a good sized point. There was another mix of fish in this spot and my friend caught one of his beloved Walleye's. It was only a 15"er but he was satasfied. Again we moved and tried another spot. This turned out to be the right move because we were catching Crappies on every cast! They weren't hogs but fun either way. Along with the insane Crappies there were some Bluegills, LM Bass and Perch. All the fish we caught in this area came while fan casting and working the baits along the bottom. The key baits were 2" Glow/Chart Power Minnows and 2" Power Grubs in Milky Salt and Pepper color. The key size jigs for us were 1/32 and 1/48oz.

I can't wait to try some other baits and lakes to see what "Works".

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

This weekend I made ot out fishing and had a great time. Saturday I went out and braved the wind with Cole and we had a blast catching a ton of Bluegills. The size was respectable with a lot of fish pushing 8". It didn't matter where we looked because it seemed that there were fish everywhere. We used a handful of different baits with Gulp Waxies being the most consistent. We threaded one on the shank of the hook and stuck one more through the thick end leaving it dangle. This way if a fish got the lose hanging one there would still be the other one on the hook. Berkley Power Tubes and 2" Grubs also took a lot of fish. Cole even managed a few nice sized Largemouth Bass. The biggest one he caught was a fat 17"er. There were also a few Rock Bass that couldn't resist our offerings. They put up a nice battle on light line too.

Today I hit another lake with a friend of mine and again we had to compete with the wind. We were in search of Crappies and did pretty well along the deep weedlines. Finding straggling fingers that jettied out fron the standard weedlines seemed to produce the most consistent bites. Some of the best baits were 2" Power Tubes, Gulp Waxies, Bobby Garland Baby Shads and Slab Slayers or Stub Grubs. I didn't try the Power Tubes today because the other presentations were working fine. Size wasn't all that great but the average was just about 9" with a few touching 11".

As soon as I get some motivation I'll try and get a few pictures up.

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

Good report Corey! Sounds like you're on the some nice fish buddy!