A buddy and I spent 3 1/2 days fishing on Banks Lake from 5/28 through 6/1. This is only my third time on Banks, so I am still learning where to find the walleyes. For us, the fishing was hit and miss, but we managed to catch some quality walleye when we could find them. The largest was a 23" fish that weighed 3lb 13oz. This fish was caught in 24ft on a mud/rock flat when a SW wind was between 10-15 mph on our first evening. We caught several walleyes in this depth as a weak cold frontal passage. Night crawlers near the bottom behind a green spinner worked the best.

We really struggled to catch fish on our second day under clear skies and light winds. The fish that were on the flats the day before were small and scarse. We changed tactics on day 3 moving to the weed beds in the bays at a depth between 9-12 feet. From mid afternoon through sunset, we landed 5 perch, numerous walleyes and a 12" crappie using small jigs under slip bobbers along the weed edges. Many of the walleye were too small to keep, but we landed 4 keepers including 3 over 18". During this time, clouds, rain showers and low light may have helped to bring the fish into the shallow water to feed. We tried the same pattern along the weed beds the next morning, but there were only a couple small stragglers remaining in the wed beds that were too small to keep.

Fishermen with more knowledge of Banks did much better than us. I don't think that many limits were caught over the weekend, but the skilled fishermen were catching fish. Many claimed that walleye in the 3-5lb range were taken, but the average fish was much smaller than over the Memorial Day weekend. We were about a week late and missed the really good fishing.

Surface water temp: 63-66 degrees. Fishing was the best in low light conditions, especially in the evenings or when it was cloudy. A breeze also improved the bite on the flats.

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