By Cody Hill

CHILL Report

Sometimes we need to slow down and smell the fish slime from time-to-time. 

This past weekend I didn’t have clients and it allowed me to do something that I only get to do once a year and that is to take my nephew fishing. If you know me, I enjoy taking kids or people who don’t get to fish that often out fishing.  It brings joy to me seeing for example my uncle who hasn’t fished in years getting excited landing a fish or seeing my nephew kind of do that teenage boy smile but too cool to smile with a big walleye in his hands. Fishing is supposed to be fun and if we as anglers don’t introduce a person or kid into fishing who will?

The past two weeks have been extremely hot both temperature and fishing!  I’m seeing a lot of people saying that fish have quit biting and I’m seeing the opposite. I’m also seeing what might work right now might not be working in an hour. Most surprisingly I have been shocked on those clear days how many fish we caught that were using the boat for shade. Saturday for example we caught four small mouth directly next to the boat and in less than 12 feet of water.

I’ve been running two presentations the past two weeks, and both have been producing quality fish and have resulted in a few fish fries also. Slip bobber with a leech or a half of night crawler has been working extremely well on mid lake structure. I’m having luck targeting roaming fish between weed lines approximately halfway down the water column. It is allowing me to stay away from the bluegills near bottom and getting the active fish to impulsively attack the bait.  

On the deep weed line, I am having best luck staying about four feet off bottom fishing the outside edges of the weeds especially on underwater points. If you aren’t having any luck don’t be afraid to pop the lure or bring it towards you 5-10 feet at a time, the falling action has done wonders enticing reactionary bites.

The second presentation is a new to me presentation called drop shotting. This presentation has worked better for me in deeper structure where fish are roaming but staying near bottom. I’ve had better luck with leeches drop shotting unless I’m targeting bluegills then crawlers worked best. It didn’t take long for my nephew who hadn’t ever used the presentation before to be pulling in the walleyes using this presentation. I don’t claim to be an expert at this presentation, but I can stress one thing and that is slowly reel in the rig because a lot of my bites were on long pauses or when I put the rod down to net someone’s fish.

Mid lake structure like sunken islands or points with deep water have held most of my fish. Drop shotting has been allowing me to fish standing weeds where fish are hiding from the sun and ambushing bait fish. Bites have been very aggressive, but you need to slowly cover water to entice that fish to bite but when they bite there isn’t a doubt you just got ate. This presentation has worked great for panfish, bass, and my walleyes.

July is almost over and August will be knocking on our door step which means the fall bite is right around the corner. The fall bite is one of my favorite times of the year to chase big fish. If you are interested in booking a trip contact Cody today to book a trip that will make memories that will last a lifetime.

Visit Chill Guide Service at www.chillguideservice.com or call (218) 443-3813.