Fishing Report - Archives

March - May, 2010

Fishing report 5/25/10

Well, it finally got warm and so did the Namekagon. Yesterday's water temperature North of Seeley exceeded 80 degrees and only cooled off overnight to 70. Trout fishing will be tough from here on out. Bass fishing has been very good and the conditions are mid-summer conditions. The bass are responding to poppers and streamers. Musky opener is this weekend and fishing should be terrific. See you out there...

Fishing report 5/18/10

We finally got some rain last week, so the rivers have a bit more water than they have had. However, May has been chilly and we even had some snow, which we didn't have in either March or April. Overnight temps have been chilly as well, so the unstable weather has taken a bit of a toll on the fishing--a lot of hit or miss days. The sulphurs have started hatching and the caddis have been hatching for the past couple of weeks, so there is dry fly fishing to be had. The crazy May weather has caused the bass fishing to suffer a bit. They start to spawn, then back off when the water cools, then start again etc. We're looking at 10 days of stable, warm weather, so the fishing will likely pick up dramatically in the short term.

Fishing report 4/12/10

The Hendrickson hatch has arrived on the Namekagon. A few bugs were spotted last week, but the past weekend the hatch was in full swing. Remarkably, the stonefly hatch is still going after more than a month. Yesterday there were lots of bugs and few rising fish, but the action was good with soft-hackles swinging down and across. Frank Pratt informed us last week that the pike and walleye spawn was complete and the muskies are in mid-spawn last week. Crappies and bluegills are moving toward the beds as are the smallmouth. Those spring events are a month to 6 weeks early. Unless we have a dramatic weather relapse, the May fishing should be terrific. See you on the river...

Fishing report 4/2/10

A couple of interesting days on the Namekagon. I fished for a few hours on Wednesday 3/31 and 4/1. The days were carbon copies of each other...mid 70's and water temps of 58-62. Wednesday found the stoneflies thick and all over the water and many, many fish were rising to them. All the fish were caught on dries (parachute Adams) and the fish were from 9-19". Great outing. Thursday the stoneflies were again all over the water and hardly any fish up to them. Caught a few on dries just fishing the water to no particular fish. Best action came on a streamer swung down and across. The fly of choice was an olive meatwhistle. I saw no Hendricksons, but they can't be far off with the water temps reaching into the 60's. Good reports from the fishermen on the Brule, but because of the warm Spring, the best fishing may be over around April 15. Many reports of the fish caught being spawned out females. Weather should be fine, so get out and wet a line...Larry

Fishing report 3/6/10

Well, the season is on!! The catch and release opener found conditions near perfect. It was 47 degrees and sunny. Water temps were 38-42, depending on the area fished. The black stoneflies made an appearance mid afternoon and a couple of rising fish were spotted. Fishing was generally pretty slow, but we were fishing, nonetheless. Lots of open water from Hayward up to north of Seeley. The water is low and very clear and plenty of snow in the woods and on the banks. Hopefully we'll get a nice, slow melt and keep some water in the river for a while.