Today's Feature Fishing Report: July 17, 2026 Sundin: "Exciting Warm Water Mixed Bag Action"

"Yesterday, on day 3 of the Arbogast family fishing extravaganza, my plan was to expand on yesterday’s (Fishing Report July 16, 2026) theme about finding the locations where insect larvae are maturing to help zero in on feeding predators. To do that, I revisited the spot where some of the family fished last Tuesday.

The lake, a moderately large, shallow water system features numerous weed beds, lots of semi-soft marl bottom areas, and a moderately strong algae bloom. Under a combination of cloudy and smoke-filled skies, surface waters were slightly cooler than they were on Tuesday. Now hovering at the 80-degree mark, the temperature had declined about 2 degrees. There was a light breeze, just enough to form light waves on the surface, not a walleye chop, but better than calm water.

The darker skies, along with the darkened water gave fish a sense of security. Compared to Tuesday, when fish were holding tight to the vegetation, Thursday’s fish were roaming near, but not in the weeds.

The accompanying photo of my side imaging graph reveals the view of scattered patches of weeds. The yellow circles show fish that were laying between the cabbage patches. Note that there were singles and doubles, but no “schools” or large pods of fish. That bit of information helps me, and hopefully you, to determine which presentation(s) will be most likely to work.

You see me write a lot about trolling with spinners, and the locations of these fish reveal why. Moving at a quick pace, 1.1 to 1.3 MPH we can cover a lot of territory and pick off fish 1 by 1 as we pass through the gaps and pockets between the weed patches. It’s likely that we could catch many of the same fish using slip-floats, or jigs with live bait. But our productivity might suffer because it takes much longer to encounter each fish. Other fast-moving lures like crankbaits or jigging raps are susceptible to gathering weeds, which also reduces productivity.

Family member Steve Arbogast, on our ride home Thursday afternoon said, “I’m amazed how easily those spinners go through the weeds without getting fouled up. In the past, we’ve fished on Winnie using jigs and it seems like we’re always getting snagged and hung up.”

Arbogast’s observation explains another reason why I, along with many other area fishing guides, love spinners. This is a very customer friendly presentation, almost anyone who can hold a fishing rod can catch a fish using them. That said, there are days when the fish dictate how we present our lures to them and on Thursday, I was actually hoping for a chance to use one of the alternatives.

My hope was that perch, if I could find them, would be concentrated in one area and that we could fish for them using jigs with minnows or night crawlers. I had envisioned discovering a small patch of marl where the bloodworms that I mentioned yesterday would have attracted a “school” of jumbos. As you can see, we did find some nice perch but they, like all of the other fish were scattered throughout the weed patches.

The problem, if you want to call it that, was that insect larvae was so widely distributed that the fish had no reason to concentrate in any one place.

The good part about that was that we caught some fish at almost every stop. Later, in the fish cleaning station, I noted that every single fish we harvested showed signs that they’d been feeding on insect larvae. I didn’t see any sign that any of the walleyes, pike or perch had eaten even a single minnow, crawfish or small gamefish. So, the takeaway for you, I hope, is that even when there are bug hatches going on, fish can still be caught.

I had hoped to explore another bug hatch scenario today. My plan was to take the Arbogast’s to fish on a lake that’s more heavily populated with panfish and bass. Sadly, the smoke, combined with the forecast of another hot weather day influenced the family to cancel out on day #4 of their fishing trip. I’m sad that Bill, the patriarch of the family, never got to fish for a single minute of the trip. He spent so much time making sure everyone else had fun, that he missed out on the action entirely. Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to fix that sometime in the future, and if we do, I’ll be sure to tell you all about it.

Today, now that I’m available, I’ll use the time to work out some of the bugs I’ve experienced with my electronics.

Without stepping too high up on a soap box, I’ll just say that I’m very disappointed in how poor the performance of some very expensive gear has been for me. As you may already know, I don’t rely on “sponsors” to provide me with fishing gear. Like you, I just shop for the best prices I can find on the gear that I need. Spending thousands of dollars on stuff that doesn’t work and I can’t even use is not an effective business plan. If you’re protective of your money, take my advice and be very wary, doing a lot of research before spending it. More on that, if necessary, at a later time.

Because I’ll have a day off the water today, this good be a good time to ask questions, or share reports about your most recent fishing trip. I’ll be checking for messages a little more often than usual. If you’re headed out this weekend, be safe, but have fun and Good Luck!" — Jeff Sundin, Call-Text 218-245-9858 • Email • Facebook • X • Subscribe Insider Newsletter

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