Cranking up some Lake Pepin fun: 6-27-06

After a couple of dismal outings last week, I was itching to get back to Pool 4 to match wits with our finny adversaries. I am pleased to say that the previously slow bite has reversed itself, as my partner Tim and I were able to enjoy several hours of steady action pulling cranks on the lower end of Lake Pepin. We played the wind, fished shallow, and found plenty of willing biters. Read on to get some hints that will hopefully help you put some fish in the boat during the upcoming long holiday weekend.

With only a few hours of after-work time to spend, Tim and I focused our efforts on two general areas within a short boat ride of Pepin, WI. Our first spot had wind paralleling the shore. We made downwind trolling passes, gradually working our way from 17 up to 8 fow, with speeds between 2.4 and 3 mph (GPS). All of our early fish came on an inside board, which was the first hint that our bites today would come from shallow fish. So, we put the leadcore away and focused our efforts on these shallow fish. Both of the saugers in the first picture (18-19”) came from this area, both on the shallowest line we had running.

After this spot became quiet, we ran a few miles to a second area that had wind pouring directly into the shore. Here, we focused on depths between 8 and 12 fow, with most of our bites coming on the shallow end of that range. Minutes after getting our lines back in the water, this 18” eye buried the tattle-tale flag on our outside Off-Shore tackle board. This area yielded eyes, saugers, sheepies, and two zebra-mussel encrusted clams as the sun set in the west. Those clams buried the flags on our boards as well, but didn’t fight worth a darn!

This last picture gives you an idea about the baits that were working well for us yesterday. Nothing subtle about these color schemes. I was glad that we were able to get bit on a variety of patterns, which kept me from worrying about losing my one copy of the “hot bait”. That metallic gold SR5 got devastated by a 4-5 lb sheepie about a minute after it hit the water…I thought that was our kicker fish for sure until it hit the net. BAAAAAAAAA! We ran all of these baits to just tick the bottom occasionally, and enjoyed good success all evening, from the first pass at 5:00 until we left around 9:30. The water clarity on the lower end of the lake is excellent, and the action is consistent, so get out and enjoy some trolling on Lake Pepin over the holiday weekend!