Current Zum report

With the water still a no wake and fully a foot and a half above summer pool, the crappies still are eating. This morning we found water between 59 and 62 degrees and basically every crappie we got came from the areas with the warmest water temps. None were taken on typical shallow shoreline type of spawning water, but two of those we caught were very large, over 12″, jet black, males that hit like they were just taking the jig off of and away from the nest site. The floats went off to the side real fast without really going down. Females were still carrying spawn that felt sort of firm in the bellies but two of the biggest females [13″ fish] showed signs of having already being spawned out. This sort of supports my thoughts that the larger fish use slightly deeper water to spawn earlier than the usual run-of-the-mill crappies in the lake. Every one of the better fish came from at least four or five feet of water near typical spawning sites. At normal pool this same water would be in the 3 foot deep range and safe from dropping the high water to the normal levels….the nests would be protected.

Shade was a huge factor today as well. Any sunken wood in five feet or so of water that held shade, held fish as long as 61-62 degree water was present. Purple/chartreuse tailed paddletails on 1/32 heads under a small float did the trick. We caught one crappie under 11″….a 7″er that hit while the jig was snagged. Everything today came from the shaded, slightly deeper water. It takes a while to navigate the lake at no-wake speeds but the fish will reward you.

I brought home a handful for supper, all else got returned. Doesn’t take many fillets from fish of this size to make a big meal. The fish are there and willing for those who are willing to get past some conventional fishing strategies.

Thanks for a report Tom! I was out on Wednesday but only to test my new boat. That water looked like chocolate milk. Lots of debris throughout the lake. I almost wet a line but didn’t have enough time. Do you usually float fish or cast out there.
My kiddo pulled a 14″ slab out of there last summer so they are in there. I believe it was a white crappie as silver as it was. Never new those were in there.

Many of the female fish right now are about as silver as a White Crappies and White are in there, just not to the extent that Black Crappies are. I also think there is some hybridizing between the two too.

You are right about junk in the water. It wasn’t super bad today though. I can’t believe how many cattail clumps we found washed into different areas of shoreline.

Right now Crappies are staging to move onto general, traditional spawning areas. Many of these areas are in some super shallow water laced with rocks and sticks. Fishing a loose line and jig would be an exercise in tying on new jigs so I use a small [#2 Thill Mini Stealth, not of the new clip on variety] float when using 1/32 head and plastics under 2″. Occasionally I’ll fish a 1/24 head and/or a larger plastic and will have a #3 Mini Stealth float on. Crappies in slightly deeper spawning water need to have a jig swum right over their eyeballs and the floats make doing so much, much easier. After these fish have spawned and headed to main lake deep water the floats come off. I’ll note here that just prior to crappies making the transition back into their winter waters they’ll be on the feed bag right up in those spawning depth waters again….think heavily in terms of sunken shoreline wood. Fun fishing in October.

The male fish I kept for the table had under-developed testes yet. The hen fish I kept all had firm spawn. We’re almost there but not quite….for the general masses of fish. Still, we had four fish, 2 of each sex, that were either spraying when handled or that had sore looking vents. Both sexes of these big fish had tails that were radically frayed and worn to the point of being bloody, but again, all of these big fish came from deeper water adjacent to where the general spawning activity will be found. A quick check of the water temp at six feet where the largest fish were caught showed water temp at 64 degrees while the surface temp right above that point showed 61. The 64 degree water was found in about a 50 foot long stretch.

I’d better mention to that the annual pain in the butt out there, cottonwood lint and birch catkins, are both in good supply on the water. Two of the most frustrating pieces of crap in the angler’s world.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

I’d better mention to that the annual pain in the butt out there, cottonwood lint and birch catkins, are both in good supply on the water. Two of the most frustrating pieces of crap in the angler’s world.

Just hate those two things!

I’m going to try and catch a few Bass and Crappies this weekend on Zumbro.
I have never been there before with my boat so it will be new to me.
I want to chase crappies but I am taking my nephew and he has really gotten into Bass.
I believe there may still be a no wake so I will probably spend most of my time using trolling motor and moving along the shore.
I will post back on if we found any.

I took the FW out yesterday morning from 6 to 11. First time I’ve been out in almost a year.
We caught 2 big craps and 2 small ones. Slow. Had to find spots not clogged with junk floating.
Talked to 2 other boats that hadn’t boated a fish.
Sure was nice out there. Hope it’s not another year before I get on the water again!