LAKE MINNETONKA, Minn. - Any year that you can spend a hot weekend on the lake by the end of May, you should consider yourself lucky.
On Lake Minnetonka this year, fishing guide Larry Hanson has been very fortunate.
His clients on Memorial Day caught 43 bass in four hours.
All week he says it's just been nuts.
"It's the most fantastic fishing I've had. Ever. Numbers. Size. Everything," Hanson said.
And he thanks the weather for that.
"Remember 21 or 22 days ago, there still was ice," he said.
A late ice-out was followed three weeks later by record May heat that created unusually high surface water temperature.
Hanson's boat reads 79 degrees, while he says by Memorial Day the water usually reads 60 or so.
The fish are spawning right now -- laying eggs in shallow water. And their normal hiding spots haven't grown yet.
"The sun came out and heated up everything, but the weeds haven't caught up," he said.
The lack of weeds, high water temps and timing of the spawning period has made this fishing guide very happy.
"I've never seen anything like this. Being here my whole life, I've never seen this," Hanson said.
So if you're heading out for bass and crappies, or in the evening for walleyes, Hanson says you might have better luck now than ever before.
Hanson's tips: fish the shallow water. Bass are biting in 2-6 feet. And if you're going walleye fishing he recommends as late at 9 p.m.
Up on Lake Mille Lacs, the guides said the walleyes are biting in the morning.