Santa Cruz Lake

San Juan River: Trout fishing through the Quality Waters was good using foam wing emergers, fluff baetis, zebra midges, San Juan worms, egg patterns and small bead-head pheasant tails. There were some strong midge hatches in the early afternoon hours. Fishing through the bait waters was fair to good using salmon eggs, copper John Barrs and San Juan worms.

Santa Cruz Lake: This water has closed to boating and will remain closed until mid-July of 2015. The only fishing access will be from the overlook, which will remain open. The Bureau of Land Management will be renovating the north lake campground, boat launch, picnic area and main access road. We had no reports from anglers this week.

Ice Fishing

A few of the smaller and shallow Northwoods lakes have developed a thin layer of ice cover, but the majority of lakes were still open. The deep snow across most of the north has nearly all boat landings inaccessible and, for all practical purposes, the open-water fishing season has come to an abrupt end. Single-digit low temperatures are in the forecast for the next few days and will likely result in many lakes becoming completely iced over but early season ice will be thin and dangerous and any thoughts of early ice fishing should be put on hold for a few weeks yet.
Anglers fishing Lake Michigan harbors and piers have been dwindling but those out have been catching a few brown and rainbow trout and a few are still being caught on tributaries, but flows are low and the run is winding down. Walleye and sauger continue to be caught on Lake Wisconsin and the Wisconsin River below the dam in Prairie du Sac

Cedar Creek Lake fishing

Cedar Creek Lake. The lake level is at 5.25' low and the water temps are in the low to mid 70's. The water clarity is a little more stained due to the recent rainfall but still looks pretty good.
Catfish are starting to get more active in the shallow waters of the north end of the lake. Try drifting with fresh shad or shrimp in 6 to 15' of water or anchor on points on the windy side of the lake to find active fish. You can start drifting the mid to south lake areas in 10 to 30' of water as well since the water is cooling down, the bite will turn on very soon. Remember, bigger bait equals bigger fish.
Largemouth should be targeted by running and gunning the many boat docks on the lake, the trick is finding the ones with water on them. It doesn't take much water especially on the upper end of the lake where the water is more stained. Try shallow cranks, jigs and spinners and keep moving until you get bit then stop, slow down and fish a while.
Hybrids and sandies are scattered from 10' to 24' you just have to use your graph and keep fishing. Slabs are good as well as trolling and throwing swimbaits and hopping them off bottom and letting them fall back will catch more hybrids when you find them. Be sure to check all humps and points when you are scouting. The night time bite would be booming but there just aren't many dock lights in deep enough water to be productive though there are a few. Swimbaits, crankbaits and various styles and colors of grubs and jigs are good here.
The crappie are feeding decent around brushpiles in 10 to 20' of water as well as around the bridges and deep rocks. You will also find fish on a few select deep boat docks and some on standing timber in water deeper than 10'. Jigs and minnows will both work.

Potomac fishing report

Water remains in the 70-degree range and giant mats of dead grass are creating navigation and fishing issues! NBC Ch. 4 meteorologist "Weather Kim" Martucci says, “Clouds all week with highs in the low to mid 70s and a cool 60 degrees in the morning. A chance of rain on Friday.”
Morning high tides are a good time to try topwater baits. Buzz baits on GAMMA Torque braid along with a popper like Lucky Craft G-Splash and walkers like Lucky Craft Gunfish. Also go to hollow frogs like the Mann’s Super Frog, white or black on 60-pound braid. But it's also time to rip lipless crankbaits like the small LV-100 or slightly larger LVR D-7. Raise the rod to keep these rattle baits over the grass. It's time to cover water! Use these again as the tide falls on outer grass edges. White or shad patterns along with chartreuse. If the water is stained, try red patterns.
At lower tides, Mann's Baby 1-Minus along grass edges or in spots with scattered Coontail in front of hydrilla edges. To probe deeper, a Mann's Baby X crankbait will work when snapped out of grass. Use 12-pound test GAMMA Edge fluorocarbon around grass!

Lake Erie

Lake Erie: Surface water temperatures dropped to the 60s which contributes to a more consistent perch bite. Some nice fish were caught straight out from Fermi and just south of Stony Point in 26 feet. Perch are starting to move into shallower waters and can be found about a mile and a half straight out from Toledo Beach as well as the E-Buoy. Both large and smallmouth bass were moving in and were caught near Bolles Harbor and the Dumping Grounds. Many are still waiting for the walleye to return to Michigan waters in good numbers.

Hauser: Rainbow fishing

Hauser: Rainbow fishing is very good in the Causeway and around Lakeside while trolling cowbells or dark-colored wooly buggers. Shore anglers are catching rainbows at the Causeway Bridge and Riverside on Powerbait or jigs with a worm. Many small walleye are being caught at the Causeway Bridge on jigs at night and at Riverside while trolling bottom bouncers tipped with a worm.
Holter: Rainbow fishing is good throughout the reservoir while trolling cowbells or perch-colored crankbaits. A few rainbows are being caught from shore while using worms or marshmallows. The walleye and perch bite has slowed down with some walleye being caught off the clay bluffs and perch moving into deeper water. Perch are being caught in 15 to 25 feet of water around the Oxbow and Split Rock.

Hydrilla edges fishing

Hydrilla edges are well defined at low tides with scattered grass out deeper, targets at low tide. Beds dropping into 6 feet or deeper are targets at any tide as there is only sparse grass off the thick edge. But with shallower hydrilla beds, fish remain under thick vegetation at high tides!
You'll need cloud cover for afternoon low tides using topwaters like Lucky Craft G-Splash 65 in shad patterns. Also try small Gunfish walked slowly across scattered grass in front of harder hydrilla edges. With sunny skies, go deeper through grass with swim jigs, chatterbaits and Mann's Baby 1-Minus. The most reliable bites at low water come in areas without thick grass. Drop shot and shaky head are best. For drop shot, try 20-pound test GAMMA Torque braid with 10-pound test Edge fluorocarbon leader. Start with a 1/8-ounce weight. Use a 1/8-ounce jig head for the shaky head. Start with a small green pumpkin 4.5-inch worms. Soak in Jack's Juice. For shaky heads use 8- pound test GAMMA Copoly.
At higher water, look for grass beds falling off into deeper water. Cast to edges and feel through grass to submerged thinner edges.

Norris fishing

Full pool is 1,020 feet. Lake level is just over 1,013 feet, down a couple of inches from last week. Water temperatures are near 81 degrees over most of the lake and the water is clear. Recent tournaments are taking less than 10 pounds to win. Smallmouth Bass: Improving. The bite did improve over the past week apparently thanks to the full moon Sunday night. Fish are being found late in the afternoon in shallow water with frogs, Zara Spooks and buzz baits over top of rock ledges and logs. The Lost Creek area has been productive. After dark, hair or rubber jigs in ¼ ounce with pork or Zoom chunks have been the most consistent producers. Carolina and Texas rigs and Colorado blade spinner baits are producing a few fish. 45 degree sloping banks fished down to 30 feet deep are good locations to try. Largemouth Bass: Fair. At night, Texas-rigged 10 inch worms are producing numerous fish in submerged wood. Shallow sloping banks and points with rock and wood in the shade are holding fish. Spooks, Pop-R's, buzz baits, Texas-rigs and jigs are finding fish. Crappie: Fair. Fish are 15-20 feet deep. Brush piles, bridge pilings and creek channels are holding fish especially on cloudy days. Tuffy minnows, mini-tube jigs, Trout Magnets, small crank-baits and Slider Grubs are catching fish. Striped Bass: Fair. Early morning catches have improved. Fish are 15-25 feet deep mid-channel and most are being caught on umbrella rigs or planer boards.