Fishing Report 5-4-2022

April 29, 2022

The lakes in our area are starting to be ice free and make it look a little more like spring and after talking to a bunch of people they are thinking we will ice free first week in May. Regional fisheries hatcheries are in the process of milking walleyes and will for the next week. This means we will be post spawn for fishing opener with the possibility that some will still be spawning on opening morning. This opener is looking like a “perfect” storm for fishing up shallow because almost everything might be swimming next to each other up in the shallows and it might make early season crappie very interesting because you don’t know what will bite.

Last weekend I went down to Mankato to test out my boat and break in my motor. While playing with the electronics I was graphing weeds 1.5-2 feet tall already. Mixed in with the weeds we graphed a ton of fish hiding out. Since a lot of our lakes are still locked up, I expect fish to be in any green weeds and I also expect there to be a mixture of species hiding in these weeds. With the lack of open water our lakes are going to be starving for oxygen since we haven’t had the normal spring wave action to re oxygenate the lakes and any green weeds will have higher dissolved oxygen levels that fish will be craving.

Favorite early season crappie lures are a small bobber with a small hair jig and a small minnow hooked through the mouth targeting standing weeds from 2-7 feet of water depending on air temps and wind. If colder or windier target the outside edge of the weeds in that 5-12 feet depth range. Casting small jigs with a soft plastic and weaving them through the weeds is a great way to cover lots of water and find pods of fish. Having a bobber set up is a good One-Two punch by finding them using the jig casting but then switching to the bobber rig to help entice the non-aggressive fish to bite.

Since we are very delayed with the spawn of most fish species it will be extremely critical for us as sportsmen to practice selective harvest. The fish will most likely be in large schools and if you find them should produce lots of fish for entertainment and table fare, but it is important to practice selective harvest to help protect the populations of our lakes.

Stay safe and tight lines!