Petenwell in 2 weeks!

Headed down for a week worth of fishing and family fun in 2 weeks! We are staying at the county park w/ family and planning on fishing walleyes in the mornings and evenings and then taking the kids out after some panfish midday. I grew up fishing Castle Rock so I’m excited to get back close to my childhood (20 yrs ago) fishing grounds.

Any tips for walleyes? Planning on doing some jigging and probably pullin lead. Anybody have luck with spinners and crawlers? How about slip bobbers? My favorite way to evening fish for eyes!! I know its not a typical spring/summer so a point in the direction of depths, techniques, and possibly areas to target would be greatly appreciated!

As for the panfish I think I can get on some. But what kind of structure do they hang around out there if they are staging pre-spawn? I’m getting excited typing this and can’t wait to get there!

The trolling bite should be prime in two weeks. We were out in the big waves Sunday and caught easily 60 eyes, most were shorts, but there were some slots and keepers mixed in. Water temps were 67, and if they move up into the mid 70’s or higher, I’d expect a lot of the eyes to start suspending over the 30′ deep water. 5-10′ down is a good starting point when the fish suspend over that deep water with 8-10 being the most common.

You can always find some eyes trolling channel edges also. You can catch fish pulling harnesses, but you will catch so many catfish that you get sick of them if you put a crawler out there.

The trolling bite should continue to improve. Don’t be afraid to run your baits too high, I rarely go back more than 25-35′ behind planer boards. You can get away with running shad raps #5’s back to 50-65′ depending upon the depth. Don’t get too deep or you will be losing baits faster than you tie them on. I have pulled harnesses, but like what’s been stated you’ll attract alot of junk fish. The dirty water doesn’t seem to be a good presentation for harnesses, I have had luck down near the dam where I know there are less snags etc. good luck, and cover water once you find them just keep working that area. Don’t be afraid to get up into that 10-13′ depths either as some days those are where my best bites come from. Consider Castle Rock as well, the past two summers it has been better for keepers than Petenwell…. Good Luck!

What colors should I be thinking about. I have firetiger, chrome orange, chrome blue, perch, and purpledesent. At least that’s what I use on the Croix. I would assume water clarity is about the same. When you guys say they will be suspended over 30 ft I assume I just need to find where the bait is hangin out and go for it? As I see the southern basin is pretty much all that depth. I’m newer to this whole trolling thing but leaning towards it as there is a ton of water to cover out there. Do they relate to mid lake structures at all? Any places better than others to start?

From the county park, head due west to 30′. Blue/Chrome should be your first bait out. Hot n Tots are good as the summer gets hot, but raps and flicker shads produce well too.

Sunday it was blue chrome smash shads and blue chrome #5 flickers that did the most damage for us. Your best success will either be suspended fish like that, or trolling channel edges. Run the outside board with a #5 flicker or smash shad or shad rap about 25′ back on the shore side, run the inside board around 45′ back.

Run a long line with a #5 flicker about 80′ back, then on the channel side, basically repeat except put a deeper diving crank on the middle board to get down 10-12′ to see if there are fish deeper. Keep the outside board up high to tell you if they’re suspending, then I’d run a flat line on that side about 8′ down again.

Sometimes in the summer over there, natural colors work well too, perch is good, and even baby Walleye.

Great conversation, keep talking. Me personally, I’ve done well in early spring, but summer has been not as productive as it should be. I’ve all ready learned very much good info in these last posts. Thanks again for the info.

Thanks for the info. Usually don’t do much trolling but did a little last year when I was on the Pete ( no boards ) but I did have some success. I’ll be back up 20th- the 7th, planning on allot of jig fishing and casting ripp’n raps. Any suggestions on these methods would be appreciated. I’m more a ice angler and don’t get enough time in the boat to really hone my skills in the boat, I guess thats why I jig fish. LOL Mike

I don’t know if I’m spelling it right, but Al Linder uses a method called “moping” . It’s for mid-summer, suspended mid day walleyes. Look for the deepest basin on your body of water and look for suspended fish. Jigging rod is rigged with jig and plastic resembling forage fish. Anchor or position boat and verticle jig. Dead stick or very little action on bait. It’s very similar to mid- winter suspended walleye fishing. I will be trying for first time myself this sun/Mon on Castle Rock.

Paul- How did you do on Pete?

Caught a few eyes over 20, lots of shorts, plenty of white bass, and a few keeper crappies trolling. Switched over to dragging jigs and crawlers on the 3rd day and ended up with some walleyes for dinner plus some to bring home for a couple fish frys. Caught a total of 17 that were 15.5″-19.5″. And a really fat 24″ and few just over 20 also. All the fish came off one spot, a steeper break that was a quarter mile long or so. 6-9 ft as the sun was coming out, and then out to 13-15 ft as the morning went on. All in all a fun trip on a new body of water!