Rice Lake Fishing Report 7/14/14
The weather this year seems to be getting a lot of conversation. Summer has been filled with plenty of warm and cold fronts, with several inches of rain mixed in. It's affecting the fish, but it's also making for good fishing on the warm sunny days.
The walleyes this summer seem to be a bit spooky. What I mean by that is if you're finding fish out in deeper water and mark them on your electronics, then go back to fish them they seem to have vanished. The water is cloudier this year so this is odd rather than having a year with little rain and clear water.
What I have done to combat this is to mark fish, go to another spot and mark some more fish, then return to the original area and slide in with a trolling motor to catch them. Many of the walleyes are sitting on hard bottom, and are hanging out on some type of structure. Focus on the areas, or sides of the flat that have access to deeper water. Fish feel comfortable feeding in these areas so they can run to the shallows to eat, then head deep to digest their food.
Night crawlers and leeches are both very effective right now. The bigger fish definitely have their feed bags on, as several fish each week over the 18" mark are being caught.
Many bass have been caught along the weeds in 12-15 feet of water. However, look just outside the weeds and shallow rock structures to look for surfacing bass. If you fish these surfacing bass, make sure not to spook them, and cast just past their surface feeding area, then pull your bait through the strike zone. You should start catching fish right away, if not, move to the next area and find the most aggressive feeding fish.
Good luck fishing and remember, introduce someone new into the outdoors. They will appreciate it for a lifetime.
Jordan Marsh
Marsh Outdoors
715-296-2655
marshoutdoors.com
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Nicky Repka
Visitor Coordinator / Marketing
Rice Lake Tourism
715.234.8888
800.523.6318