With Water temps in the mid 60s on some bodies of water, fish are starting to be somewhat reliable. Pitching cranks and plastic is still a great option but with a full boat over the last weekend we elected to pull cranks for awhile. We fished a shallow basin roughly 6-8 feet of water with largely the same tactic fellow Staffer Joel Nelson has been highlighting down on Pepin. Craw colored #5 shad raps as well as hot steel were good producers on suffix trailed back about 100 feet on the counter. 20lb floro leaders did a good job on keeping the pike off the line. We found a long tapering shoreline with just a few green weeds sprouting up and we were in business. Between my buddy Chris, Randy, and there two sons we had a couple great days doing this on two different bodies of water. Body of water #1 yielded roughly 60 fish in 6 hours with most being 14-17 inches. Body of water #2 produced 20 fish in about 4 hours with average size being 16-to 19 with a few kicker low 20s in the mix. Two nine year olds had a blast reeling in fish after fish as the Dads and I cleared lines, netted and took off fish and had some laughs. The crankbait bite around here should only get better as the weather warms and a good weedline develops on some lakes.
– Shore bite is still going strong on a few of my haunts as well, hope you can all make a point to get out on the lake – QB
