Ballard's - Lake of the Woods, Minnesota

A trophy fish transition…

Hello sportsfans.  And happy post-4th from Ballard’s Resort on Minnesota’s Lake of the Woods.

July?  Already?

Transition?  Frenzied walleyes?

For lack of a better word I’m going to say that the walleye bite over the weekend and earlier last week was a bit on the “wierd” side.

We caught fish.  The weather was tough.  No huge numbers of fish.  But huge fish.

I fished a mid lake mud bite on Saturday that produced minimal numbers in comparison to what we have been seeing.  Most of that I’m blaming on the weather.

A total of only 40-50 walleyes on the day…  Compared to maybe 90-100…  But crazy thing…  About 1/2 of those fish were “slots”.  Big walleyes.  19 1/2 to 28 inch walleyes.  Whatever the case we’ll take it. 

An “off-bite”.  But a big fish “off-bite”.  Does that make sense?

Lighthouse, Morris, Zippel, and Long Point all had or have mud-flat bites going.  Depths vary and I think the fish are in limbo.  Maybe more so due to the huge “fish fly” hatch that we are seeing right now in the main basin.  The walleyes are gorging…

Congrats this week goes out to Andy Larson.  Andy is a first year guide here at Ballard’s Resort…  And he’s doing a fantastic job.  The big news?  On Sunday the Fourth, with his crew of six fisherman, Andy’s boat popped (6) trophy walleyes that all went over 28 inches.  That’s one heck of a day!  And a huge way to celebrate the Fourth.

The latest?  Transition?  The scoop?  Mums the word?  We are starting to see some fish show up on the tops of those ever glorious rock reefs. 

It’s July.  It’s go time.

Set the hook!