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I spoke with the guys at Frankie’s Live Bait and Marine this morning, and reports are that despite the hot, steamy weather, the bass fishing on area lakes has been tremendous. Concentrate your efforts near docks and work the weedlines with jig-worms and Texas-rigged worms. Also, folks are picking up fish throwing top-water baits into the lily pads. Please keep in mind that Chisago Lake and South Lindstrom Lake are catch-and-release waters for bass. The special regulations imposed on Chisago Lake seven years ago have apparently paid off big-time, as Chisago Lake continues again this season to be one of Minnesota’s very best bass lakes.

Although the walleyes begin to move to deeper water this time of year, they are by no means impossible to catch. Work the soft-to-hard bottom transition zone in 18 – 24-feet of water pulling live bait rigs, or, suspend a jumbo leech under a slip-bobber. Needle Point on South Center Lake and the area around Nelson’s Island on North Center Lake have given up fish during the evening hours. Pulling leech rigs or night crawlers behind a floating spinner rig are time-tested summer approaches.

If crappies are what you’re after, run down to the A-frame on Chisago Lake and concentrate your efforts in 20-feet of water, where you’ll find the crappies suspended 10-feet off the bottom. Small leeches and minnows used with light flu-flu jigs under slip-bobbers are catching numbers of crappies this time of year.

With the long weekend and July 4th celebrations nearly upon us, I’d like to take this opportunity to remind everybody of the new life jacket law that went into effect May 6, 2005. This law requires a life jacket to be worn by children less than 10 years of age when aboard watercraft in Minnesota when the craft is under way (not tied up at a dock or permanent mooring). There are a few exceptions and exemptions related to this law, so it’s a good idea to consult the MN DNR website for details.

Finally, since we’ve been in the throes of a long stretch of blistering-hot weather, I’d like to finish on a lighter note. Personally, I’d like to see our legislators pass a law making it a gross misdemeanor to ask anybody publicly, “So, is she hot enough for ya?” This law would be enforceable on any day that the mercury is pushed beyond 90-degrees. It is such an inane question that it invariably leaves the person asked to mutter the obvious: “Oh yah, you betcha, she’s plenty hot!” That’s the most common response. Another response, requiring a bit more creativity, might be something like, “It’s so hot, I saw the devil himself buyin’ a Slurpee at the filling station.” Well, this season, I’ve decided to combat this inane, senseless question with this equally ridiculous response: “Actually, no. I prefer it to be quite a bit hotter than it is today. Oh, and if we could swing an 85-degree dew point, you know, to make things really sticky, that’d be an absolutely perfect day in my book.” A comment like that usually puts a fairly quick end to ridiculous public banter.

Dan Brown’s weekly outdoor column is brought to you by Frankies Bait and Marine in Chisago City and St. Croix Outdoors in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin.

Dan Brown is a director at the Chisago Lakes Achievement Center in Chisago City. In addition, Brown is a fly casting instructor and trout fishing guide at Seven Pines Lodge in Lewis, WI. Recently Brown was featured on Ron Schara’s Minnesota Bound and ESPN II’s Backroads with Ron and Raven, as well as KSTP channel 5’s Eyewitness News Morning Show. He is a Taylors Falls resident and can often be found on the area lakes, trout streams and the St. Croix River.

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