The fishing has been pretty good on East Silent Lake! Make sure to check out this fishing report before you go out this weekend!
The surface temp on most of our area lakes is in the low to mid – 50’s and the walleye bite is taking off in most of the lakes. I have been catching a good number of 16 – 19 inch fish on several lakes and finding most of the active fish in 6-11 feet of water. I have been utilizing a 1/16th ounce jig tipped with a shiner minnow and ripping the jig while moving from 1.0 to 1.5 mph. I try to get the jig and minnow combination as far away from the boat as possible. I like to use 8 pound fluorocarbon line for this type of fishing. Try different jigging patterns until you can determine which pattern is the most productive. For rigging use either an 1/8th or ¼ ounce slip sinker above an adjustable snell that is about 30 inches long – by utilizing the adjustable style rig you can easily vary the length of your snell depending on the mood of the fish. Sometimes the length will be over 4 feet long even when fishing in the 6 – 11 feet of water. For rigging you will need to slow down to the .5 – 1.0 mph range. Keep an open bail on your spinning reel and drop the line from your finger as soon as you feel a bite – allowing the fish time to “eat” the bait before tightening up and setting the hook. Remember to match your hook size to your bait size – I am using either a #2 or #4 for the shiners at this time. We also have a good crappie and sunfish bite occurring on many of the area lakes. Crappies are being caught on tube jigs, tinsel jigs and a plain hook in some cases. Look for new emerging weeds or cabbage as a good starting point for both crappies and sunnies.
Phil Jensen, PT’s Guide Service, ptsguideservice.com
Otter Tail Lakes Country Tourism Association (http://ottertaillakescountry.com/)
