1. NE: Nebraska Walleye Trail winners.

> The Shut Up and Fish tournament was held June 13-14. The winners were Ben Garver and Brody Sikes [pictured] with a 2-day weight of 45.16 lbs. They also had big fish, a 9.94. Finishing in 2ne were Marcus Brown and Scott Sundstrum, and in 3rd place were Ev Tarrell and John Miller.

> Great week of fishing. Anchoring and jigging or drifting with spinners most common method. A good shallow bite this week in 8-10′ as well as good numbers sliding out deeper. Limits of walleyes and saugers filled daily with plenty of trophies and photo-worthy fish in the mix.

> Some anglers still heading north, fishing the reefs of Stony, Knight Island and the West Bar in 22-27′ jigging or 8-12′ drifting. Anglers that stayed near Pine Island heading west towards Zippel Bay fished 23-27′. Long Point and Twin Islands held fish in 17-18′ drifting or 31-32′ jigging.

> Shallower depths produced a number of big pike this week as well. Hot colors gold, pink, white and chartreuse.

> On the Rainy River, anglers jigging in deep pockets for walleye 18-20′. Evenings best for walleye. Daytime hours producing numbers of smallmouth and northern pike along shorelines and weedbeds. Hot colors pink, neon, gold.

> Up at the NW Angle, walleyes and saugers filling limits with a few pike. Trolling with spinner harnesses tipped with crawlers or leeches the best method. Try 18-24′ near Norman, Little Oak and Crow Duck Islands or Fort St. Charles Reef. Some fish off Island points near mud flats. On the Ontario side, try Monument Bay. Walleyes on rocks eating crawfish or in mud eating hatches.

9. ND: Devils Lake getting shore facilities.

> …$361,728 from the ND Industrial Commission through the Outdoor Heritage Fund Grant Program for fishing access improvements for elderly and physically impaired anglers. The funds will go towards installation of access ramps and stairs to fishing piers while enhancing existing facilities and creating new fishing access points.

> If we run perpendicular to the break, Side Imaging reveals several different populations of fish relating to the break. First, consider the fish in the yellow circles. These are clearly fish that are riding high in the water column, given the fact that the primary sonar returns are so well separated from the corresponding dark sonar shadows.

> These fish are crappies, suspended high in the water column. When we pulled 1/32-oz jigs tipped with soft-plastics at 0.8 mph over these areas, we caught only crappies. At that speed, my jigs were running 3-4 feet down, and only getting into the crappie zone.

> …the fish in the red circle. Again, we have a collection of bright white sonar returns, but no discernible sonar shadows which means these fish were belly to the bottom. I couldn’t sample these fish until I slowed way down. At a 0.1-0.3 mph drift, I could get those same 1/32-oz jigs down to the bottom, and I no longer caught crappies — all I caught were perch, and monsters at that.