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schweady
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SummerSkin: "Always appreciate the experienced feedback this forum offers. Especially WhiteWolf's comment on variating water temps at north/south ends of the lake. Never even would've considered that..."
Drive around any lake in our area in April/early May with publicly accessible shore on the north side and this is pretty obvious: shoulder to shoulder crappie hunters...
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SummerSkin
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Always appreciate the experienced feedback this forum offers. Especially WhiteWolf's comment on variating water temps at north/south ends of the lake. Never even would've considered that.
We will be on a lake that has no lake trout, however we'll be a half-day's paddle away from a lake that is full of them. We were already considering heading there for a night or two anyway.
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cyclones30
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schweady: "SummerSkin: "Always appreciate the experienced feedback this forum offers. Especially WhiteWolf's comment on variating water temps at north/south ends of the lake. Never even would've considered that..."
Drive around any lake in our area in April/early May with publicly accessible shore on the north side and this is pretty obvious: shoulder to shoulder crappie hunters...
"
It's most obvious (visually) at ice out. South facing shores will melt the fastest and ice access is crap first there. Anywhere that's north facing or has shade will be the last, all else equal.
Same reason there's a certain species of northern evergreen only found in a few small bluff areas in NE IA on steep north-facing slopes only. Only place cool/cold enough year-round for them to make it
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AmarilloJim
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Walleyes might be late spawning stage still in May. SMB probably a little slow.
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PeaceFrog
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My June 13th entry day is looking pretty good at this point. Never know, weather can change on a dime.
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cyclones30
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Since it seems like a lot of fish activity is based on water temps....it just pushes those things back.
It's not like they're like a chicken w/ its head cut off when the "calendar" doesn't match what's happening. You'll be fine....as long as the ice is gone by then :)
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PeaceFrog
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Good question. I think we will be finding out soon enough. Look forward to what others have to say about this.
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Basspro69
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If you have a late May early June trip. There’s many factors. Size of lake, clear or stained water, what species you are targeting. In a nutshell if you are after lakers or stream trout, the colder water the better. They will be up and active. If you’re after walleyes look shallow especially darker bottom bays and moving water in and around those bays. Smallies can be slow to fantastic depending on water temps. Pike can also be slow to fantastic just depends on the lake. I personally love a late ice out.
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WhiteWolf
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Basspro69: "If you have a late May early June trip. There’s many factors. Size of lake, clear or stained water, what species you are targeting. In a nutshell if you are after lakers or stream trout, the colder water the better. They will be up and active. If you’re after walleyes look shallow especially darker bottom bays and moving water in and around those bays. Smallies can be slow to fantastic depending on water temps. Pike can also be slow to fantastic just depends on the lake. I personally love a late ice out."
^^ Excellent advice. I too love a late ice out for all the reasons mentioned above. Also- at the latitude of the BW and most areas North of 40N -- North parts of a body of water ( South facing) will warm faster than South parts (North facing) - unless a cold drainage is coming in. Why- the sun is more S of the zenith (straight up) and thus warms areas quicker facing S (N side)--- this is critical in finding warmest water for Crappies when they spawn.
The further N you go (say into Canada etc) the more pronounced this is because the sun angle is lower in the S part of the sky. Less further S - say FL where it's nearly straight up come June 21st.
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schweady
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Walleye are easier to locate, too, since they are still in shallower post-spawn locations.
Always better wader fishing here for a longer period of time in years with a late ice-out.
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pastorjsackett
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Headed in June 3. I'm a little worried because the only poor year we've had was a late ice year. I guess we'll see.
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IowaGuy
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I have taken a dozen trips to BWCA/Quetico in mid- to late-May. I published an article in the Boundary Waters Journal in Spring 2013 about some of my May solo trips.
IME, late ice out improves lake trout fishing (they are shallower), and makes smallmouth fishing worse (they are deeper and more sluggish).
Pike fishing I haven't noticed a difference - it is good this time of year regardless.
I don't specifically target walleyes so can't speak to that...
I'm heading up last week of May this year to target lake trout and am very excited about the late ice out!
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SummerSkin
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For those of you with more trips under your belt, what's your experience with the effect of a late ice-out (like what is expected this year) on the fishing?
Do the fish tend to follow the same seasonal patterns, just on a delayed schedule? Or does it make them far more erratic?
We have a late may / early June trip planned with fishing being our primary goal. Wondering what we should expect or if we should make any adjustments.
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thegildedgopher
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If targeting lake trout you can probably expect to find them shallower and easier to target with a variety of tactics. They spawn in the fall so that part is not affected.
I will let someone else chime in on other species as I basically only target LK on my bwca trips.
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BearRaid
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We do our trip early June. Lake Vermilion now due to some health issues. I always liked the late ice out years because no mayfly hatch meant better walleye fishing and they are usually up shallower
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