South Shore Fishing Report

[Grumpa]

Walleye fishing was very good on the south shore all last week.

Mrs. Grumpa and I were able to fish 4 days this past week (it continued to rain a lot, all week long)…got in about 4 hours of fishing each day.
We totalled 160 walleye over those 4 days.
Around 35 of the fish were in, or above, the new slot. Picked up a couple dozen jumbo perch as well.

Usually had our 4 fish slot limit within 45 minutes of starting each day. Plenty of 18-23” fish that went back all week.
Most of the other anglers we spoke to this past week…including the bait shop owners…said everyone was banging the walleye in good numbers everywhere on the south shore.
We were even able to share a couple of meals of fresh fish with the delightful new owners of Greening Bay Cottages…after getting tired of eating fish ourselves all week.

With water temps rising, various aquatic insect hatches are now in full bloom. Discarded nymph carcasses readily visible on the water. Fish are conditioning again to feed on anything wiggling in the water column.
So we used worms exclusively this past week. But will switch back to minnows again, once the water cools sufficiently by mid September and the insect hatches thin again.
No shads visible, yet, in our area of the south shore…but water temps are close to their optimal hatching range. So a week of solidly warmer temps may bring the shad hatch on relatively soon.

Got stopped on Wednesday by the MNR. They were doing a normal creel survey but did briefly borrow our slot fish for age sampling.

We found most of the fish still close to shore, no more then 5 minutes away…congregated on or around near shore sunken structure bordering deeper water.
Caught most of the fish in 20-32’ depth ranges on worm harnesses.
Time of day was irrelevant.
But heard some anglers were still catching fish much shallower as well.

There’s standing water laying around everywhere, ditches and supply creeks full after all the rain this spring…so beware…the full blown mosquito hatch on the south shore is going to be wicked this year.

[Grumpa]

It didn’t rain every day.

[Grumpa]

Mrs Grumpa, as usual, caught most of the bigger eyes.

[Goshawk]

Excellent report Grumpa. I'm headed to Tama Kwa at the end of the month and am so looking forward to finally targeting some eyes up there. I've only targeted smallies in Callander Bay thus far on previous trips there. Hopefully that kind of bite is still on when I get there.

[Grumpa]

Good luck Goshawk on your stay at Tama Kwa.

Know the camp and Callander Bay area very well.
We stayed at Tama Kwa a few times ourselves, years ago, when our kids were little, before we bought a place in Deep Water bay.
Had some decent success with ‘eyes’ right in Callander Bay…even in July and August when the water there would get a bit warmer then the main lake basin.

I’ll PM you some spots where I recall we use to do ok for walleye in C B proper.

Let us know how you make out on your trip to Tama Kwa.

[Neil]

Well done Mr. and Mrs. Grumpa! Sounds like some fun times!

Hope you have a great trip Goshawk!

Neil

[crappeeeman]

Very nice walleye.

[lund2342]

We did our annual fishing trip this past Wednesday to Sunday. We have a Big Eye trophy that has been taken by a 30+" fish in the past, this year was a 26" fish. Lots of keepers and a fish fry and lots of overs that went back.

[Longshank]

Well done Grumpa and good to hear that all is well with you and the fishery up there

Enjoy the rest of the summer and fall

[Jerkbaiter]

160 walleyes! Holy smokes! I would get tired just from counting them

Great report and great fishing trip!

Thanks for sharing !

[reelinginthebigone]

Great report! I'm envious!