7/7 – 7/11 Report

Headed up for the first camping/fishing trip of this year at Peterson Point. We have been going up since 1997 and never tire of the place!
Got to our campsite about 11:30 Saturday and it was a scorcher, got setup and spent the rest of the afternoon in the water.
Fished smallies and pike along the shorelines near camp that night and picked up a few of each on flicker shads.
Sunday morning brought a big batch of thunderstorms thru 11. Luckily the worst passed just south of us, but the lightening show was impressive.
Headed down to west Namakan about 1 and had a good bite in @21′. In 90 minutes we landed 10 fish on both crawlers and leeches on lindy rigs. Kept 5 between 14-16.5 for a fishfry, and released a 19.25 and 20. As we headed back we hit some shorelines for firewood, and came into a small one on Namakan island. Just as we hit shore, my wife looked up and there was a doe not 10 feet from us. She just sat there looking at us, until she saw the dog and then hightailed it.
Monday and Tuesday were both warm, hauled my son all the way up to Kettle Falls on the tube on Monday afternoon. Fished different areas on Namakan both days and found the same pattern to hold, 20-24 foot of water and both crawlers and leeches worked for fish. Water temps were as warm as 79 in the bays, and were about 73 on Namakan open water.
No big fish this trip, but lots of 14-17″ fish. One surprise was the amount of ripe blueberries already. Tons around our camp, had fresh blueberry pancakes on monday morning which were awesome. Also found quite a few raspberries too.
Can’t wait to head back up again in two weeks, staying on the Wolf Packs which is one of our favorites.

Thanks for the report xplorer!

Great report! Leaving on the 21st for a week up there in God’s Country!

IceNEyes1986 wrote:

Great report! Leaving on the 21st for a week up there in God’s Country!

We’ll be back the 25th for 5 days, might see you and “Grubson” out on Nam after we get up there! Should be some good fishing for you guys! We will be all over west Nam next trip, camping on the Wolf Packs.

Heading up to Frontier on the ash river July 10th. Most everything I read on here says lindy rigs or live bait. I fish crankbaits, jigs and jigging raps quite a bit, I don’t like to slow down i guess. Do those not produce as well in this area or arent they fished as much? Also, I’d like to put in some time on cool water pike. Should I focus on Namakan? I have tons of questions on eliminating water! Thanks for any info on which lake and which section to focus on that time of year!

Yes you can catch fish on cranks, jigs, or jigging raps. Be cautious with your jigging raps though. There is lots of wood and rocks to donate them to down there.
The fish should mostly be hanging around deep points and reefs at that time of year (20-30fow). That is also where you’ll have your best chance at a large pike. There are also some shallow fish (walleyes) along weedlines in some of the bays that are worth looking into if it’s cloudy or windy.
In my opinion either lake can produce a great bite in july. You’re just going to need to cover water with your electronics and find fish. Don’t fish until you’re on fish and you’ll do fine.

If you have any more specific questions, feel free to send me a PM.