Hey everyone , I’m going to be fishing Basswood the week of the 4th of July. What will be your best guess concerning water temps, bugs, did they spawn early or late, etc.? Just looking for some feedback.

Thanks, Mark

I just came off Basswood on Sunday. The small mouth bite was SUPER slow and they still were not on their beds. We caught a couple but nothing like should be happening this time of year. talked with several people that all had similar experiences. Cold water temps has them moving slow. Not sure what the upcoming weeks has to offer for weather or what stage they might be in by then, but I thought you might like to hear a recent report. We where up in the paddle only area fishing points flats, reefs and the falls. We had a much easier time finding the walleyes than the small mouth which is rare for us.

Hmmm, so if I am going up a week from now, sounds like they may be spawning?

There's a 100% chance there will be skeeters. Black flies should be gone. The ankle biter (stable fly) flies should be out that time of the year. You might run into some horse and deer flies. No idea about the rest of the stuff, all depends on the weather over the next several weeks.

find areas with the right temps and you will find the bass. Huge water temp difference from the big lake to the back of the bays. The next couple weeks should be great fishing.

Just back from Lac La Croix. Water was warming and SM are moving shallow ready to go on bed.

Fishing was slow last week but things really picked up starting on Monday 6/17.

CardinalNation: "Just back from Lac La Croix. Water was warming and SM are moving shallow ready to go on bed.


Fishing was slow last week but things really picked up starting on Monday 6/17.
"

do you know a water temp ?

Just returned (6/21/19) from Basswood and the smallmouth fishing was fabulous. The weather had a lot to do with it since it was stable throughout with no strong fronts moving through the entire week. We averaged over 50 fish per person per day. We found that there was quite a bit of variation in terms of what point in the spawn the bass were at in various parts of the lake. In some bays they were clearly post-spawn as a lot of fish were beat up, but others bays they were still on the beds, and others seemed pre-spawn. Somehow we caught fish in all of them. Looks to me that things are running about 1-2 weeks later than normal. For the 4th I'd expect the fish to start feeding in real earnest and make for good fishing as long as the weather cooperates. In terms of bugs the skeeters were bad in camp but not on the water. I only had to DEET up twice during the week. Surprisingly the ankle biters weren't out yet either. I fully expected them on the hot sunny days but they never materialized. I'm guessing by the 4th, however they'll be out in full force.