Mid summer patterns are in full swing; the water is warm, bugs are hatching, and the fish are tight lipped.
Water temps are getting dangerously high with very warm air temps and little to no wind. 78-85° depending on how deep of water you were in.
Its difficult to get fish to bite when the bugs are hatching so heavily, but we have the solution! The best method during bug hatches are throwing quicker baits. We try to trigger a “reaction” bite. Burning swim baits, stick baits, and top-water baits.
It seemed like in order to get a bite this week, your bait needed to be moving at a pretty good rate. Drop shot and tubes have gotten a few, but really only when you were on a “spot on the spot” location. Top-water has been hands down the best way to put a fish in the boat.
We are finding bass in their mid summer locations, 4-16 feet of water. Regardless of how deep of water you are in, the fish seemed to always be near the surface feeding on bugs. I have no problem throwing a top-water bait in 10 feet of water.
The biggest thing when throwing top-water is having the right wind conditions. The water has to be extremely flat, which is rare on Mille Lacs, but well worth the wait.
Muskie and pike are still showing up on the basin flats. Not a ton of reports with the warm water, but the guys who are out are seeing more action a bit deeper.