Fishing in the rain., Crappie, walleye, no bugs.

Probably not advisable, fishing in the rain with a cold. LOL. Think the cold is almost gone, except for the cough. So it was back to the water for some relaxing fishing, with almost no bugs. Lots of rain and lots of fish in the 6 hours fishing Balsam last night. Not many rock bass caught in the half dozen trips so far this year. Last night the rock bass were everywhere, catching over 30 of them. Only 3 smaller walleye caught and 8 crappie. The walleye were about 14 inches. On Balsam you can keep that size walleye, but why would you. There is no weight to a small walleye, therefore no meat. I would much rather keep 2 or 3 good size crappie around 12 inches, than 2 or 3 small walleye. More weight and meat on a bigger crappie. Anyway, that's it for now until next week. Kept these 2 very fat crappie.

those crappie look good. I couldn't agree more about the walleye, I will only keep if 15".

Nice Jamie…….I am going out in the Kayak tomorrow morning ….out of Waubaushene……first kayak trip this year.

Arnie

Thanks, my old number for walleye was 16 to 19.6 inches. This year I am bumping it up to 17 to 19.6 inches. I would rather throw a few more back this year and wait for them to get bigger. Balsam stays the same, throw back all the smaller walleye and keep 1 or two heavier fish. Crappie has always been and stays at, throwing everything under 11 inches back to grow to monster size crappie. There are of course exceptions for fatally harming a fish. But that only happens once or twice, and rarely a third time, in a season. Good luck if you are on the water this weekend.

Thanks Arnie. You are looking at great weather for tomorrow. Good luck out there, in your rig.

Have you had to switch tactics for walleye yet or are they still hitting crankbaits ??? ROOK

Sorry for not sharing many details so far this year. I would say over 80% of the walleye and crappie I catch, are on these two baits all season. I use 3 St. Croix Panfish rods always at night. 2 of them throwing crankbaits, and 1 for the slip bobber and jig. These 2 baits catch most of the fish almost equally. With one exception, the crankbaits do not catch as many fish on flat water. In general a slow jig under a bobber will catch more fish, on a calm evening/night, with slow water movement. Fishing in the rivers is almost always shallow crankbaits, but still a slower retrieve. I let the flowing water take care of the action on the lure. And much less chance of getting snagged on the rocks if the retrieve is slower.

Also, there is a reason for using only St. Croix Panfish rods for both walleye and crappie etc. Fishing at night in shallow water is all about tempting the fish to attack a slower bait. When the fish attack the bait, I don't want to rip their face off setting the hook. The trick at night is to use a flexible rod. These rods are light and once the hook is set, that fish is on for good. St. Croix make the strongest Panfish rods in the world. My friends use them as well at night. Small fish, medium fish, large fish, monster fish. Walleye, crappie, bass, pike, muskie, etc..... If the fish was caught at night, it was caught on a Panfish rod. Once I set the hook, the fish does not get away until I release it.