Brian H and Greg K: Banks Lake - 8/2
Brian and I braved the heat and made a day trip to Banks Lake. We fished from 7 AM to 3 PM. We probably caught 30 walleyes, but only 2 fish were keepers. Most of the short fish were between 12 and 14 inches. The keepers were between 20 and 21 inches. They were beautiful, thick fish that pulled hard. There was a pleasant north wind between 5 and 10 mph in the morning, but the calm winds in the afternoon made the upper 90s feel really hot. Thunderstorms blew us off the lake by 3 PM. Luckily we were close to the boat launch. Banks Lake can get ugly very quickly.
More Info: Brian and I launched at the city boat launch at the south end of Banks Lake. We fished the humps within 2 miles of the dam the entire day. We caught fish using a variety of techniques. We pulling deep diving crank baits in 15 to 25 feet of water with limited success (6 fish). I got one fish on a blade bait before the storm hit. I also got one walleye on a three way rig with a floating Rapala. The majority of our walleyes (including the 2 bigger fish) were caught pulling smile blades behind bottom bouncers. Gold and silver smile blades produced well.
The highest concentration of fish were between 15 feet and 30 feet of water. In the afternoon we found a large weed bed-flat that had wind blowing into it during the morning. The most active fish were on the weed edge in 15 to 20 feet, but some of our bites came as deep as 30 feet along the first drop in the vicinity of the weeds.
Brian convinced me to release this fat "brown walleye". He claims that they don't taste as good as the green ones.