Mayflies

About how long does the mayfly hatch last and about how long is it before the walleyes come off that feeding binge and return to actively feeding on baitfish?

haven’t noticed much of one on P4 but it comes in cycles. I think the smaller lakes you fish probably arent much affected? I would think they are about wrapped up in my neck of the woods on P4. got 4 nice 17-19″ eyes today so Pepin seems uneffected by it this year and I have been out weekly. wind has been ripping dang near every time I go so maybe that is keeping them away here?

Possibly? I should have clarified more though (my apologies)…. I’m thinking more up along the border where Rainy and Kab/Nam are at as we are leaving on the 11th for a week up there. Heard the mayflies just started a few days ago up there. And hoping it ends quickly and the fish get back to regular feeding patterns.

I think it’s been going for a while up there. I am hoping they are done with on woman lake by Saturday!

My neighbor will be up in that area starting Saturday as well. Not sure which lake though.

Best of luck and have fun!

thats the most beautiful lake in the state IMO Kab/Nam. you will catch fish I wouldn’t worry too much. its been years fishing both lakes and the scenery is better than anywhere else. the eyes in Kab are golden and the ones in Nam are mostly black even tho both lakes are connected…..pretty neat. good luck and post some pics…….I miss that area and need some motivation to make a trip there this fall or sooner. are you staying at a resort, house or camping on the lake?

I was up in the bwca for 5 days last week and the mayflies had just started hatching the last couple days of the trip. None of the 35 walleyes we filleted had any in their stomachs yet from what we could tell

Great Laker… thanks for the info!

Eyeguy….we are staying at Ash Trail Lodge On the Ash River. We vacationed on Kab 25yrs ago (1995), but have otherwise always gone to Northwest Bay on Rainy Lake. Not this year obviously.

25yrs ago we didn’t know much of what we were doing though. Never were very good at walleye fishing. My how things have remained the same!

It’ll be fun though. I might fish Nam more than Kab. My dad will probably fish Kab more than Nam. But, I will certainly post a report. If cell service is good enough, I might post a daily report. Only 8 more days then we leave!

https://www.fox9.com/news/mayflies-hatch-along-mississippi-river-swarm-cities-of-the-metro-including-hastings-minn

just in time for the holiday weekend! I think I will be focusing on panfish for now anyway with all this heat.

We just got back from our Rainy Lake houseboat trip today. Spent most of our fishing time on Saginaw and Marion bays.
Fishing was extremely tough the last 4 days. We had air temps in the upper 80’s to 90 every day and no wind. Surface water temps pushed up over 80.
To make matters worse the mayflies were hatching everyday.
We tried deep humps (18-26 ft) and found a FEW fish early morning and late evening. I don’t think we caught a fish after 10 AM or before 7 PM. Most of the few we caught were slot fish. Biggest was 25″.
We tried a few weed lines but had no luck.
Tried minnows, leeches and crawlers.
Did catch a couple on slip bobbers on leeches off the back of the houseboat after dark in about 6′-8′ of water.
I hope by the time you get there the hatch is over and temps cool down.
Good luck!

Thanks for the feedback BCNeal! I’ve been watching the forecast closely and, if the weather forecasters are right (50/50 chance lol), it is supposed to cool down into the low 80’s next week (80 – 83 degrees). Still not much of any wind forecasted though which to me, might mean early and late up shallow and deep during the day. If the hatch is still going strong, I might focus away from mud bottom areas and look to the real rocky areas.

I have little to no experience on Kab/Nam, but will give it my best effort.

Vermillion was real bad all week last week

Clouds are forming N Mpls Mississippi right now.

Glad I brought some company.

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so far I haven’t seen any here on the Ash River up on Kab, but we’ll see what the morning brings.

I did donate a pint of blood though while launching boats. 😲

nice beads! those natty seltzers are the bomb! local liquor store has had 12packs on sale for $5.99 for like 5 months now. i will be hitting the evening bite on pool 4 tomorrow after all the rifraff packs up hopefully? sunsets and seltzers…..what dreams are made of!

Weekender wrote:

If the hatch is still going strong, I might focus away from mud bottom areas and look to the real rocky areas.

Weekender:

You might want to cruise those mud areas and look for signs of life… If you find, try a jig as big as needed to get down there with a half or shorter crawler on it and see if they’ll bite. Might just turn your trip around… and it might not, but its still something to try. I’ve always wanted to fish close to a hatch knowing that fish might be there.

Mark

eyeguy507 wrote:

nice beads! those natty seltzers are the bomb! local liquor store has had 12packs on sale for $5.99 for like 5 months now. i will be hitting the evening bite on pool 4 tomorrow after all the rifraff packs up hopefully? sunsets and seltzers…..what dreams are made of!

Bad news good news, bad news the natties were awful, couldn’t even finish one can. Glad you like em, call me a seltzer snob but I’m getting pretty used to my Fulton’s now.

Good news the daughters car broke down so I didn’t have to stay on the river and drink any more of them. But then again I now have to replace a fuel pump.

Come to think of it, that’s bad news bad news

I thought the hatch was over on leech but we notice a few this morning.
Fingers crossed they were just a few that were late to the party

Deuces wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>eyeguy507 wrote:</div>
nice beads! those natty seltzers are the bomb! local liquor store has had 12packs on sale for $5.99 for like 5 months now. i will be hitting the evening bite on pool 4 tomorrow after all the rifraff packs up hopefully? sunsets and seltzers…..what dreams are made of!

Bad news good news, bad news the natties were awful, couldn’t even finish one can. Glad you like em, call me a seltzer snob but I’m getting pretty used to my Fulton’s now.

Good news the daughters car broke down so I didn’t have to stay on the river and drink any more of them. But then again I now have to replace a fuel pump.

Come to think of it, that’s bad news bad news

the catalina lime is not my favorite but the other ones aren’t bad. most beers are too filling for my taste and I can only drink one but these seltzers go down like water.