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The heat of summer has arrived at last; and this week, it is only going to get hotter. The forecast for the Ely area is calling for daytime temperatures in the 80’s with nighttime lows in the high 50’s to low 60’s and very little rain. With surface water temperatures already in the low to mid 70’s and the fish already moving deeper, expect to find your quarry diving deeper yet in the coming days.
Walleye and perch have moved off the shallow flats and points to deeper water. If you have the technology on your boat, look for large schools of baitfish; both walleye and perch are going to be chasing those schools of baitfish. Try trolling deep diving Shad Raps, Reef Runners or Berkly Flicker Shads, doing your best to get them down to 15-20 feet. Alternatively, jig a ¼ to 3/8th ounce, brightly colored jig tipped with a large leech bounced directly off the bottom in 15-25 feet of water. For another easy, deadly tactic, take that same jig and tip it with a large Rapala Crush or Keitech soft plastic and use the countdown method to hit your target depth and a slow retrieve. The closer you get to your boat, the lower your rod tip should be to keep the paddle-tail soft plastic swimming as flat as possible.
If bass are your preferred target, you’ll find the larger, small and large mouth bass have moved a little deeper. The small guys are still hanging in with weedy, very shallow areas. Work anywhere you find cover, docks, main lake breaks / drops, boulders, sunken islands. Some fishermen are reporting great luck on top water crankbaits while others are getting slamming hits on buzz baits and Whacky Worm rigs fished deep, 10-15 feet. For an easy, solid approach, throw a large shiner of sucker minnow under a slip bobber fished suspended just off a drop from shallow weedy bays to the main lake.
Northern pike are, as is their norm, hunting the shallow, weedy bays and river mouths. Throw anything shiny or loud, buzz-baits, top-water crankbaits or flashy spoons, (you can never go wrong with good, ole’ fashion red and white Dare Devil). For a laid back, lazy day approach, cast out a large sucker minnow, dead or alive, under a large slip bobber.
Crappies and larger bluegills are no exception to the deeper is better rule. You’ll find big slabs hanging out in 10-15 feet of water, preferably with a good amount of heavy weed cover. Crappie minnows, or night crawlers on a small, brightly colored jig, Fuzzy grub, or Beetle Spin are a great tactic to try on your favorite crappie hole.
If you’re wanting troll for lake trout, get yourself rigged with some lead-core line and large, deep diving Salmos and Rapala’s. You will want to get that lure down to at least 50 feet of water. For a slower approach, jigging large, flashy spoons, (gold, copper or silver tipped with the head of a frozen smelt), or large tube jigs are effective tactics for deep holding lake trout.
