Stave Island and outer Malletts Bay
Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2018 8:50 pm
Decided to try for Lakers today for something different. Hit Malletts Bay launch around 5:30 and managed to beat the pleasure boats out. The Bass guys were already out there so the place was to myself. Well...almost, got hit up by the Champlain Basin guy telling me to be sure to drain my motor and pull the boat plug (New law that’s not in the books) every time I come off the water to prevent the spread of Zebra Mussels and avasive plants. I always do my best to prevent both but got a little annoyed with him busting my balls while millions of gallons of raw sewage gets dumped into the lake every year and no one bats an eye, but I digress.
Set up west/north west of stave in 70-90 feet of water and tried dragging the bottom. I hate dragging my downrigger ball in fear of losing it so I run a Walleye rig instead. I run my cannon ball about 10 feet above the bottom and run 30’ of line off the release with the Walleye rig attached.
The water temp was 42 degrees and I could see “sharks” on the screen on the bottom but they wanted nothing I had.
Around 8:30 I decided to try the inside of the bike path in Malletts Bay. Once I went through the cut I realize the water temperature was 64° in the shallow areas. Since this was too warm for lake trout I went out into the bay and fished in 80 feet of water. I set up the same rig I was using earlier and found the water temperature to be around 52 at the bottom. As I was trolling I noticed a few fish surfacing and chasing minnows. I figured they must be salmon so I grabbed a crazy Ivan sausage gravy milkshake and slid it down as a cheater. Five minutes later I hooked up a nice 20 inch 3 pound salmon. I stayed in this area for another 30 minutes but the winds picked up. The winds were coming out of the East so I figured I would fish on the west side of the Fill to stay out of it. I trolled on that side for another hour but the water temperature was 64. I went out to the drop off and fished around 25-30 feet and found the temp I was looking for but the winds also found me. North around 15 with 2-3 footers. Battled with that until noon and I had had enough. Fished 6 hours with one release and one fish. Beautiful day but not the day I was looking for.
Set up west/north west of stave in 70-90 feet of water and tried dragging the bottom. I hate dragging my downrigger ball in fear of losing it so I run a Walleye rig instead. I run my cannon ball about 10 feet above the bottom and run 30’ of line off the release with the Walleye rig attached.
Around 8:30 I decided to try the inside of the bike path in Malletts Bay. Once I went through the cut I realize the water temperature was 64° in the shallow areas. Since this was too warm for lake trout I went out into the bay and fished in 80 feet of water. I set up the same rig I was using earlier and found the water temperature to be around 52 at the bottom. As I was trolling I noticed a few fish surfacing and chasing minnows. I figured they must be salmon so I grabbed a crazy Ivan sausage gravy milkshake and slid it down as a cheater. Five minutes later I hooked up a nice 20 inch 3 pound salmon. I stayed in this area for another 30 minutes but the winds picked up. The winds were coming out of the East so I figured I would fish on the west side of the Fill to stay out of it. I trolled on that side for another hour but the water temperature was 64. I went out to the drop off and fished around 25-30 feet and found the temp I was looking for but the winds also found me. North around 15 with 2-3 footers. Battled with that until noon and I had had enough. Fished 6 hours with one release and one fish. Beautiful day but not the day I was looking for.
