Lake Mendota
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Lake Mendota Fishing Reports
Stay up to date with the latest fishing reports from Lake Mendota. Reports are submitted by local anglers, fishing guides, and our team of fishing experts.
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Omnia Community MemberBronze AmbassadorSpecies
Northern PikeTechniqueHard JerkbaitsSeasonSpring (Spawn)StructureSubmerged VegetationJerking over long grass flats in about a foot of water caught a decent 32 pike
- Species
Largemouth BassTechniqueTexas Rigs (Pitch/Flip)SeasonSpring (Post-Spawn)StructureDocks52-1/4" for top 3 of 7 fish caught in 3 hours on the recommended products.
HernanBronze AmbassadorSpecies
Smallmouth BassTechniqueTexas Rigs (Worming)SeasonSpring (Post-Spawn)StructureSubmerged VegetationFished a kayak tournament on Saturday. Started off with a green pumpkin white laminate zako swimbait rigged texposed. I was dragging that on the bottom and hooked up with my first bass. I was fishing that close to the edge of the weedline. After that I had success fishing in deeper water (12-15 feet) for smallies. I was using a texas rigged green pumpkin Max Scent General. I will be publishing a you tube video of this in the coming days.
- SpeciesLargemouth BassTechniqueNeko RigsSeasonSpring (Post-Spawn)StructureSubmerged Vegetation
Took 1st out of 47 in a local kayak tournament. With overcast skies and calm conditions, there was a hot topwater bite on inside weed edges at dawn on bluegill imitations fished slow. Topwater died down by mid morning and both largemouth and smallmouth were found near the outside weed edges in 12-15’. Fish were preferring more finesse presentations. Getting a jig worm stuck in the thicker grass clumps and popping it out produced the best bites.
SpeciesSmallmouth BassTechniqueSoft Body Swimbaits (Small/Medium)SeasonSpring (Post-Spawn)StructureSubmerged VegetationSpent 2 full days out on Mendota. Threw a lot of baits but a small swimbait got the most bites. I switched it up between the keitech, stealth invader and spark shad throughout the weekend. Found rocky points or deep weed lines in 10-15 FOW and slow rolled the swimbait along it. Was targeting LMB and SMB but I caught 50+ fish in two days including walleye, pike, rock bass, white bass, and crappie.
- SpeciesLargemouth BassTechniqueTexas Rigs (Pitch/Flip)SeasonSpring (Post-Spawn)StructureDocks
I managed to catch 15 to 20 largemouth and smallmouth off of various docks in 1-3 feet of water. There was no rhyme or reason to which docks fish were holding on, but once you found the dock, there were fish on the immediate surrounding docks as well. My biggest five fish measured 88 inches 
- SpeciesLargemouth BassTechniqueFootball JigsSeasonSummerStructureSubmerged Vegetation
The key was finding pockets in the weeds and flipping a jig in and letting it sit 5 or more seconds. No shakes no hops. This technique placed my 34th out of 111.
- SpeciesLargemouth BassTechniqueWacky RigsSeasonSpring (Post-Spawn)StructureSubmerged Vegetation
Fished the Badger State Midsummer Open (kayak tournament). Caught a bag of decent fish by flipping a weightless wacky around weed edges. They wanted it dead sticked. If you hopped it around, they ignored it.
