Hayward | St. Louis River, Wisconsin Fishing Report

I promised my wife that our house would get stained this summer.  Not sure what I was thinking…  In any event, most of the past two weeks has been devoted to power washing, stripping, and staining our home.  I’m happy to announce that the project is complete!  Fortunately, I was able to steal a few hours on the water in between trips up and down the ladder.  My good friend Shawn Lund and I hit the St. Louis River on Thursday evening.  The walleye bite had slowed considerably, but there were still fish to be had.  We found walleyes up to 21″ in 6′ of water trolling crankbaits.  Size of the bait and speed was definitely a factor.  Once we got dialed in, we had pretty consistent action with a lot of fish popping off half way back to the boat.  Frustrating…  Water temps were locked in at 71 degrees, and we had to fish considerably faster with larger baits than previous outings to trigger bites.

On Sunday afternoon, after the project was complete, Morgan and I celebrated by catching smallmouth and walleyes in the afternoon on an inland lake.  The walleyes were small, and the smallies ran up to 18″.    Everything was caught on slip bobbers baited with leeches or crawlers along weed lines in 9′ of water.  Water temps hit 74 degrees on a warm afternoon with little to no wind.  The bite was a bit slow, but it was great to be on the water after a long couple of weeks.  I’ll be returning to my regular schedule tomorrow, and reports will follow.

Although I’d much rather have been on the water over the past two weeks, remember fellas…  Happy Wife, Happy Life!