Anyone getting excited yet to wet a line? I know I am! I can always talk fishin............

As per the 2nd week of June it occurred to me (of course it did) that there are often several patterns going on at the same time. The chunk rock windblown shorelines and points are the accepted norm but there are some other very intriguing prospects as well.

I like flats early in the summer. But not just any flat mind you. I like flats with a mix of habitat. Some chunky, bouldery rock......some sand and some soft bottom. This soft bottom will harbor weed growth. Cabbage weed is the preferred weed and I like it sporadic. A clump of weeds here, a rock pile there, another clump of weeds.

These flats might compromise a fairly large area such as a bay basin. No real "structure" per se. No nice drop off, no rocky point or reef. And it might be shallower than you would first think to hold lots of eyes as well, often being only 10 or 15 ft deep. The cabbage weeds hold the fish. They provide shade, security and food.

There are lots of options as far as lures go. One should remember however that you should be fishin weeds and that means problems with treble hooks. For that reason I like single hooked lures such as swimbaits. Hang them and give them a bit of a rip and out they come. There is one lure I am quite partial to in this situation and that's a weight forward spinner.
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In the Q you will have to replace the standard crawler with a plastic of some sort and I like a curly tail worm like a culprit for this job. It comes through the weeds fairly well. Count it down until you find the depth that just lets you tick the tops of the weeds. The only drawback is you are apt to pick up some snot rocket northerns like this as well. Avoid a leader if after the eyes. You will catch a good portion of the northerns due to the design on the spinner anyway. You may also omit a swivel with this lure as well. Very effective.

Another good choice is a chatterbait. Good vibration and excellent versatility it goes through the weeds even better than the spinner. I always have a few on hand when I want something like a jig but with more pop. Try some out.
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This is no place for light line. 8lb is light and I prefer 10. There are some surprisingly big fish on this pattern early in the summer and if they drag you through the weeds..........well .

Looks like.

I just love these questions.  Like the 2nd week of June can be any different than the 4th week of May or the 3rd week of June or the 1st week of July or the 3rd week of October.  

Seriously.  I'm no professional but if you cant find fish in Quetico any time of the year you're taking too many scenery pictures.  Put the camera down and cast a bait.  Retrieve your line.  Repeat as often as necessary.

Maybe 3/4 the battle.  Just a few personal stats:

240+ plus nights in Quetico since 1990

0 dinners that were not fish

0 days w/o catching a fish

2005 - first time I used electronics

>10 pictures 

Trolling a crank bait is a 100% guarantee (at any depth at any time of the year)

If ONE thing has made all the difference between 1 fish or 100 fish it has been learning to jig fish.  (This took me a year or two however)

YMMV

mastertangler wrote on Apr 17^th, 2011 at 3:04am: