The walleye bite has slowed a bit up here in Door County, Wisconsin but we are still getting out and finding a decent amount in that trophy-caliber size.
Big fish are being caught by the Peshtigo and Oconto rivers. Most of these fish are being caught on swim jigs, hair jigs or Rapala Rippin Raps in size six or seven. On the tougher, calmer days slow your presentation down and work it close to the bottom. Remember a lot of these Door County walleyes eat gobies and feed near or on the bottom, so work those baits there.
As the walleyes begin to spread out trolling is going to be a more effective method so that is something to keep in mind.
With the walleye bit slowing down, the smallmouth bass bite is really starting to heat up. We are finding a lot of smallmouth bass in the three, four and five pound range with a few giants being caught in that six pound plus range.
We have found that the afternoon night has been better than the morning bite, but fish can be caught throughout the day.
Some of the presentations that have been working the best are tubes, hair jigs, and jerk baits. Working them slow and giving them long pauses is triggering most of our bites.
Watch the wind direction and be on the look out for that warmer water. If you can find that you will find the smallmouths.
On the lake side of Door County anglers have been catching good numbers of brown trout. Those fish are mainly being caught with trolling presentations. It is still a little bit early for the salmon but those should get going soon. Similar to the smallmouths those brown trout are relating to that warmer water so watching your wind direction is key.