Where are the fish biting?

Sagonto Resort on Lake Saganaga had some very successful anglers on June 14 -15. Dr. Kirk Clark and his wife Holly from Columbus, Indiana came to Sag for bass fishing, but had better luck with other species. Left: On Friday, Holly Clark was very surprised to catch a 24-inch lake trout while casting a top water lure for bass. Guide Marco Manzo III said the trout was an exceptional specimen without a mar on the skin. Above: On Saturday, Kirk Clark caught and released a 40-inch northern. Kirk was also using a top water lure, casting for small mouth bass.

Here’s Hardware Hank’s fish report, courtesy of Jon: It would seem that fish are still shallow, especially in the mornings and close to sundown. Most everyone I’ve talked to is still in the four- to eightfoot range or even less in some cases. People are throwing lures up near shore on the rocks and the walleyes are taking it right away.

Lichen, Homer, Gunflint, Poplar – all are giving up fish in pretty good numbers. The lakes are starting to heat up a little and so I’m going through a lot of leeches, but minnows are still the better choice if the lake temperature is down.

There’s some really good brookie fishing for those of you who want to battle the bugs along some of the streams up here. When the bugs are bad and the lilacs are blooming, it’s time to get out there with a spinner or a hook and a crawler or a fly. I don’t give up brookie streams because we treasure our spots and have usually worked our buns off just trying to reach the magic beaver pond or a beautiful run where the brookies are surprisingly large and extremely colorful. Now’s the time to go and get them.

 

Smallies are doing pretty well in Hungry Jack, Devil Track, Homer, Poplar and anywhere else bass are likely to be. They’re fishing in depths between eight and 15 feet on average.

Northerns were smoking using sucker minnows. Some were caught as shallow as three feet. Lake trout were probably hot as well but I did not receive any information on lakers this week.

One last mention for Lake Superior. Plenty of people are heading out and catching lake trout and a few salmon as well. Most everyone went 150 feet or more from my understanding.