5/31/24 Report

[gb1234]

It was my first time fishing the islands. We headed north out of Mazurik until we hit 30' or so. If you haven't seen Mazurik, it is awesome! Bathrooms with sinks, cleaning station that is all lit up even at 4:30am when no one is around. Nice docks and ramps and parking. I hope it's free because I didn't see anywhere to pay.

Anyway, we marked a few fish there between Kelly's and S. Bass so we put down our lines and trolled north. We were the first ones on the water this morning. Had all 6 lines in before 5am. Could barely see our planer boards. I was excited to get that early start for once. I figured walleye would be jumping onto our lines in the twilight. Not so much.

There were solid marks on the screen, suspended like they were hungry. But they were far and few between, especially compared to what we marked a week ago over by B can. We really didn't know where to go in this area. As the dawn began to break, some other boats came. The charters all passed by us, going to Middle Island, but we just kept trolling where we started. We were trolling north, though. Eventually, a few boats started fishing around us, figuring we must be there for a reason. No, not really. Sorry, guys!

After a couple hours, we eventually reached the heard of 35 boats up around the Canadian border. We marked fish up there more frequently but they weren't biting. We had 4 bandits out, and two crawler harnesses. 1 oz weights on the harnesses but bandits unassisted. Tried depths of 70 to 120 back. Tried every color combination, adding more chrome as the sun got higher in the sky. We tried speeds between 1.7 and 2.4. Over the course of the morning we graphed hundreds of solid, suspended fish but they weren't hungry. I'm sure everyone else limited out by 9am but not us. We called it a day in mid afternoon with only 4 keepers.

[badboards]

Sounds like you was doing everything right. I was thinking about coming up tomorrow and fishing Monday and Tuesday. That's the exact area I would fish. Kinda strange.

[itsbob]

Sounds like you fished in a good area.You certainly put in a long day for only 4 fish.The cold front didn't help the bite either.You said you fished bandits and harnesses.Either they weren't working or they were at the wrong depth
You should have tried spoons too or a different crank.When you went out by middle island,that water is deeper.Like 40 fow.You could have tried a weight on your cranks at that depth.Add a 2oz weight to crank should get you arround
8ft deeper.Varying the speed is good but also try some S turns or even taking boat out of gear to stall boards.Keep changing things up.Depth is most critical then speed and then color.

[gb1234]

Thanks, Bob. As a newbie, I need all the help I can get. I have no spoons and my only weights are bottom bouncers. Can you recommend exactly what I should buy and how to rig it?

[itsbob]

Michigan stinger spoons are popular.Get an assortment of colors.I usually will start with green,white or purple with a copper back.As for adding the weight to cranks any 2oz sinker will work.Attach to a release like the ones you have on your inline boards or even a rubber band.Put out crank 50 ft then put on 2 oz sinker then another 40-100 ft of line then attach to board.That should get you around 8ft deeper than the total amount of line out Good luck

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Major major mayfly hatch on S Bass tonight. I fished usually highly productive areas for this time of year hard today and only ended up with 3. Pretty sure they have lockjaw after nights piling up on flies. Have to figure the warmer temps have the bugs out earlier than normal. Good luck to all but I don’t think it’s anything gb1234 did with his spread… may be some active pods of fish around but what I saw matches his description.

[badboards]

I'm trying to remember how far east you can go to avoid the mayfly hatch or does the whole lake get it in the same numbers. Would it be safe to say Huron would be okay tomorrow.

[gb1234]

So how long does the mayfly hatch last?

[itsbob]

The major mayfly hatch usually occurs in mid June.But mayfly come out of mud.One place they don't come out is rocky bottom.So try fishing those areas.

[badboards]

Thanks Bob. I just pulled into East harbor. Gonna try East of Kelly's towards Huron Monday and Tuesday. Wanted to run to Geneva but couldn't get an answer if the walleye have moved that far east yet. I'll report back tomorrow.