Missouri River

Missouri River Report:Lake Oahe:With ice breaking up along shorelines, ice fishing is on hold for the most part. There are a few spots where extremely cautious ice fishing is possible, though for the most part anglers are putting gear up until weather conditions stabilize.Lake Sharp: The main channel is open water down to Ft. George and while the fish are showing up on screens around bridges, and sandbars, they are not responding to normal presentations at present, a very fluid situation that could change quickly depending upon water discharge or barometer change.Lake Francis Case:The channel in Chamberlain area is open. The boat ramp at south end of Big Bend is open though difficult to access because of low water. Anglers have been catching a few walleye below the dam. Ice fishing has ceased at present.

Tustin on Lake Poygan.

The landings are starting to firm back up. County had about two inches of solid ice again. As long as no one tries to go off for a few days, it should set up nicely. The lake has really firmed up but is still very slick and quite clear ... a little snow would be wonderful!
Fishing continues to be excellent except for today which was a little tough with the high pressure and cold front. The fish were very sluggish for the most part with only a few aggressive fish coming off the bottom. Best baits have been small gold or silver spoons with or without spikes. The new hammered slender spoons or hammered pimples have been my two choices. Let the baits free-fall to the bottom past the fish and slowly jig it up past them almost like a bluegill jigging motion and look for the bite

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.