Kabetogama – Namakan Fishing Report 7-19-15

A solid week of summer weather, some wind, some rain, but everyday was a boating or fishing day.

Nice!

Walleye action still sporadic, big fish more common than keepers, but action seems to improve.

Folks that are proficient with slip sinker rigs using leeches or crawlers seem to fair the best. Trolling good walleye lures in the 12-18’ range is producing walleye, pike and bass.

Using spinners is a good option, but a plain hook or colored hook sometimes provide more action, as does leech versus crawler same as morning versus evening.

As you readers can tell there is no real consistency again, sporadic.

At the shop, guides tell me they will bite on nothing but leeches and the next guide nothing but crawlers. Your solution, be prepared, have several bait choices, keep the bait fresh, alternate frequently and have several locations in mind.

There’s lots of current and try to fish windblown shorelines to better your success rate. Vary your boat speed till you find what works.

Lots of big fish caught this last week and many jumbo perch, and sauger bite improving.

Pike anglers, fish deep weed edges, troll lures at the proper depth, or toss crank baits up to the weed line or shorelines, it’s a sure bet for pike or bass.

The new Hot Spots maps for Kabetogama and Namakan has many good suggestions and pre-selected spots. This is a valuable guide for experienced anglers as well as newbies to this area.

The depth structures and detail makes pre-selecting where you want to fish, given the wind condition, a good head start when you begin your day.

B-I-N-G-O on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at the Kabetogama Community Center.

A sad footnote this week, Bob Nevalainen of Nev’s Guide Service and his wonderful wife, Gail died last week in a horrible plane crash. The Kabetogama Community was rocked by this tragedy.

Please keep the children, their spouses and grandchildren in your prayers. Thank you and God Bless America.

With Regards,

Crabby Phil & Ellen

Gateway General Kabetogama, MN 56669

(218) 875-2121

www.gatewaygeneral.com

www.kabfishingreport.com

info@gatewaygeneral.com

Kabetogama-Namakan Fishing Report 

A little good news for anglers this week, the bite is picking up some. Between the mayfly hatch and the onset of 80 degree weather, fishing this past week was slow, to say the least.

Anglers reported no problem seeing fish on their locators, usually in the 25’-35’ range, but getting them to bite became a major issue.

Some pike and bass were easily picked up on weed line and rocky shorelines, but this doesn’t satisfy the walleye anglers appetite.

Thursday and Friday of this last week, started hearing anglers report some success using slip sinker rigs with leeches or crawlers.

Small spinners on your rig helped entice some action while some reported using a plain snell with red hook. Either way, either bait your chances of catching some eyes are looking better.

Your best odds for catching some walleyes will be reef edges, windblown rip rap shorelines near deep water and creek or other inlets or outlets found in many bays.

I would favor both sides of the Sugarbush Channel, Nashota Point, Cuculus, Blind Ash Bay, Mud and Daily Bay tributaries and Lost Bay.

The aforementioned have great structure or tributaries that hold bait fish.

Jig and minnow diehards you may have success by navigation marker 38, off Headlight Island and off the Martin Islands.

Looks like a good chance of rain many days this next week, two points to consider, storms with lightning and thunder tends to drive fish deeper, hinting you may resort to jig and minnow or jig and leech.

An abundance of rain - increase inflow and outflow currents, which is a hangout for baitfish where game fish will come for feed.

Come on Up and Check it Out,

Crabby Phil & Ellen Hart

http://www.kabetogama-lake.com/rocky-point.html

 Kab Area Home or Cabin - a minute to the lake!  Reduced to $131,400!

http://www.lake-kabetogama.com/home--land-33.html

Warmer weather-Crappie action  

Remembering those who gave their lives

A steady warm weather pattern was the story for this week. This had water temps warming up fast and the fish getting a little more active. Currently the eater fish still seem to be deep 25-35 feet and bigger fish 10-20 feet.

The weeds have begun to show up in some of the shallow bays and this will have the walleyes in shallow to feed on all the small bait looking for weed cover. This means lots of big walleye and keeper walleye will be moving shallower through the next couple of weeks.

Crappie action will be good the following week or more, as water temps are perfect for the crappie spawn. Big shallow bays are perfect areas to look for these crappies. A little tip I have found to be true, is that the crappie bite will be a lot better on cloudy, rainy days, over bright sunny days. This means that if you know it will be sunny and you want to find crappie, try fishing them early morning or towards evening when the sun isn’t so intense.

Memorial weekend is over and now is the perfect time to make your summer plans to get up to the Ash River area to do some fishing and enjoying the National Park! It looks like temps this coming week will stay warm with a few scattered storms throughout the week. Water levels are almost near normal again.

Always remember that the freedoms we enjoy today were not free but given to us by the ones who gave their lives!

Fun Fishing From,
Dominic Ruis
Northern Limits Guide Service


http://www.ashriverfishing.com

What beautiful weather we are having, doesn’t get much better, mid 70’s most of the week. Forecast for next week low to mid 60’s.

Lack of rainfall has us sitting in a low water situation, it will prove to be a bit inconvenient until nature cooperates, but following last year’s high water most of the docks in the area have been re-built.

On Kabetogama, boat ramps at the VNP Visitor Centers and Woodenfrog State Campground are useable, some resort ramps might be, check them out before launching.

Many docks on Kab can be used for loading and un-loading, but not many harbors can dock boats with the current situation.

Kab on many years had low water openers, before the rule curve and fishing those years was usually above average, so that is encouraging.

Water warming nicely and spawning activity should be over for many species. Smallmouth spawning remains to be seen, and crappie spawning will be close.

Normally live bait is best for opener, this year that will include leeches and crawlers due to warmer water.

Crankbaits may also be very effective in the 15’ range and Northern Pike should be quite active.

I am very excited for opener this year, weather looking good, fishing should be great, of course we are optimistic here.

Water levels can improve rapidly if we start getting some significant rainfall.

See you Very Soon!!

Can’t hardly wait,

(Not so – alias: Crabby) Phil and Ellen Hart