Q&A Biting Flies, Explaining the Explainable - July 30, 2016 From Ryan Bear; "Q) Hey Jeff, how do you explain the fact that one day the flies that have nothing better to do than bite you are crazy one day and the next day they are completely gone? Does it have something do with the barometric pressure? The first part of the week they were terrible and Friday they vanished." A) Ryan, understand that my answer is based solely on anecdotal evidence. Except for the fact that I’ve been bitten by thousands of them myself, I cannot hold myself out as an expert on the subject of biting flies. That said, I do notice a correlation between biting flies and the weather. Hot, muggy days without wind are always filled with flies and when there’s an approaching storm, they become extremely aggressive. Typically, cooler weather signals a decrease in the intensity of their aggression and that’s what makes them seem to temporarily disappear. A few years ago, hoping to get additional information about which specific species of flies these are and also to learn more about their behavior, I sent photos to the U of M.  Unfortunately, nobody took my request seriously enough to respond and eventually, I settled for knowing what I know, without learning more. Keeping the flies away from your ankles is easier than you think and I’m glad that I can share the trick. Avon Skin So Soft is hands down the best fly repellent there is. I can’t say that I really like using it because it is kind of oily and the aroma is pungent. But, if you want to keep flies off your ankles bad enough, you’ll try it and when you do, you will definitely agree that this stuff does it, this is the best way of all to keep those stinkers off.

I do notice a correlation between biting flies and the weather. Hot, muggy days without wind are always filled with flies and when there’s an approaching storm, they become extremely aggressive. if you want to keep flies off your ankles bad enough, you’ll try it and when you do, you will definitely agree that it is the best way to keep those stinkers off.

Alexandria Ottertail Area, Capt Josh Hagemeister; July 28, 2016 "Wow what a great week of fishing in Minnesota!   With water temperatures warming up to the mid-70s the fish have become more active than ever. We have caught numerous large walleyes in the shallow weed areas of most of the lakes we fish in the North central region of the state. Depth ranges from 8 to 15 feet trolling along the weed line. We have also been catching walleyes on deep sunken islands down to 40 feet using live bait rigs and leeches. With a few musky trips under the belt last week we also boated three fish over 45 inches using skunk colored Bucktails. Another fun pattern to try to catch a large northern pike is to fish the suspended pike using the thermocline over mid lake structure. Depending on the lake this can be anywhere from 18 to 25 feet in depth. We are using large jigs and plastic swim baits and vertically jigging until the fish attack. The average fish we have caught so far have been in the 36 to 39 inch range not a bad pike for North Central Minnesota." Capt Josh, Minnesota Fishing Guide Service 218-732-9919

Photo courtesy Captain Josh; Helping display Walleye caught by an obviously "Happy Camper".

Marcell Area - Edge of the Wilderness, Frontier Sports, Paul Larson July 28, 2016;

"Anglers in the area have been faced with crazy weather patterns and less than cooperative fish for almost three weeks now. Not as many thunder storms have shown up lately but hot temperatures and high humidity has taken their place. Water temperatures now are in the mid to high seventies. This has started to direct and hold fish in their typical summer areas. Walleye can be found off the deep weed lines in water as deep as twenty feet. Bait balls are still present and you’ll frequently mark fish suspended six feet off the bottom enjoying a low effort meal of  young of the year. Live bait such as Leeches and Fathead minnows on a jig and slip bobber combo have been effective especially of the deep edges of humps where the Walleye tend to stack up (at least they do in the lake I frequently fish). Crank baits however seem to be doing a better job. Roaming points, humps and deep weed edges in search of aggressive feeding fish, a crank bait provides the angler a fast moving presentation that can trigger a reaction bite. Lipless rattle baits like the LIVE TARGET Yearling Baitball trolled over deep Coontail weeds at speeds approaching 3 mph. can be very effective and a whole lot of fun! Bass will be Bass and they have been quite reliable so far this summer, smacking top water lures and spinnerbaits as well as wacky worm and drop shot presentations. Crappies are in their summer haunts and have been taking jig and minnow combos and small crankbaits quite aggressively.
The larger predator fish, Pike and Muskies, have been off the feed for some time now. Anglers have been marking both species in water as deep as thirty five feet and these fish for the most part are showing no interest whatsoever in an anglers offerings, be it live bait or lures. When the weather finally settles down these fish will be very hungry and fishing for these two species should be outstanding. The tackle department and bait shop are fully stocked with everything you’ll need for a successful fishing trip so be sure to drop by when you’re in the area. Have a great weekend everyone!""
Frontier Sports features a complete and fully stocked Sporting Goods department and Bait Shop, Gas, Grocery, Deli and Gift Shop. Frontier Sports is an authorized LIVE TARGET and SAVAGE GEAR dealer. Frontier Sports 218-832-3901 or Email .

Cass Lake Horseshoe Resort July 27, 2016 - Clark Heitmann

"Improving conditions credited to the arrival of warm weather are encouraging for folks who love fishing on Cass Lake. “We now have an Algae bloom in the water and fish are returning to their traditional spots” says Clark Heitmann at Horseshoe Resort.
“It's been pretty slow during the daytime over the past few weeks, so my guests have done more playing than fishing. Serious fishermen have targeted Walleye during the night though and their fishing has been fantastic.
The best action comes in 5 to 8 feet of water using Shad Raps and Reef Runners. Some nights the bite starts as early as 8:00 PM and other nights it's as late as 1:00 AM, but it always starts.”
During the daytime, Walleye are in 17 to 22 feet of water, located on the drop offs. Cloudy conditions are still preferred, but a breeze will help on a sunny day.
Lindy Rigs tipped with leeches are reliable, night crawlers and big minnows like Redtails will produce fish too.
The big Perch are scattered and a little tough to find but if you are persistent you can limit out in a week's time.
My guests are picking up Crappie in the early mornings and in the evenings as the sun goes down and Bluegills are active around the weed beds using wax worms or small leeches.
Northern Pike are starting to get more active, most are caught by soaking large sucker minnows under a big bobber and a few have been caught casting spoons”. Clark Heitmann - Horseshoe Resort on Cass Lake.

Bowstring Lake, Geiger's Trails End Resort July 26, 2016

"Bowstring Lake has provided lots of action for our guests during recent weeks, but everyone agrees that the pattern is that there’s no pattern. From one day to the next, fish shift location, making Tuesday’s hotspot, Wednesdays “old news”.
Folks who are doing the best are moving frequently, mixing up their presentations and learning a mail run of good spots to visit.
Over the weekend, one of the local guides was fishing the lake and found Walleye, Perch and Crappie in a weedbed that lies in 5 feet of water. The same fisherman found Walleye, Crappie and Perch on a rock pile in the 12 to 14 foot range. After that, Walleye and Perch were located on mid-lake structure in 22 feet of water. “There were some fish everywhere, but not a giant school of fish anywhere”, said the veteran guide.
Most of the anglers on the lake are using Little Joe spinners tipped with night crawlers or minnows. But there are still some folks fishing with jig and minnow combinations and still others are successful with Lindy Rigs and live bait.
The water remains remarkable clear for mid-summer, so for now, the mixed up patterns will probably persist. But with surface temperatures heading into the high 70 degree range, there’s a good chance that algae blooms will increase and that will encourage fish to move into more traditional summertime patterns.
We feel confident that you’ll catch plenty of fish for a meal, especially if you’re prepared to do some exploring. Stop in at the lodge and we’ll help you zero in on some good fishing areas." - Bill & Erin Charlton, Trails End Reosrt .

Fishing Report July 24, 2016 - Dodging the Dodgeable !! For everybody who got nailed by the storms on Saturday, especially those of you who wound up with damage to property; I'm really sorry. I know what it's like and I feel the pain you're going through to get back up and running. But after 20 days of pouring gasoline into a generator to keep the lights on, I can honestly say that I'm happy that this particular storm gave us a break and slid by to the south. Fishing will continue to improve because of it, and after a FEW days of relatively stable weather, I can already notice that it's been easier to pattern and catch fish than it was during our 3 week stretch of turbulent weather. The added water has served to keep surface temperatures low. At 65 degrees, it seems like Walleye should be feeding well; I think that they are. But, the cool water temps are also forestalling some of the typical summer patterns that would force fish to school up in more confined areas. So what I’ve noticed that there are small schools of fish everywhere and the temptation to sit tight in any one area is unlikely to be productive. Entertainment comes in many forms, even in a fishing boat. So for me, it's been difficult to gauge how much easier because my recent fishing trips have been anything but "hard core" fishing days. That means that if we come back to the dock with 10 or 12 Walleyes, a handful of Pike and a meal of good Perch, we've done pretty well. It also means that I've tried to avoid over-complicating things by introducing casual anglers to intricate presentations that require lots of focus on the presentation. Instead, we've been trolling the weed edges with Little Joe spinners and when a fish strikes, we reel it in. In case you’re wondering what I mean by the term “casual angler”, picture a fisherman who chooses not to put any bait on his spinner because; “it’s too much work”. I have to admit, even without tipping his lure with any live bait, he still caught some fish and even if it took a while, one of them was even a Walleye. At least I know now that if I ever show up at the lake without bait, I can still gather enough fish for a meal. Okay, so now that we have a new week starting, I’ll spend more of my time paying attention to little details like which presentations the fish like best. I may even ponder some new and interesting lakes in which to pursue them.

Q&A Walleye Fishing Best Practices; Releasing the Releasable? July 22, 2016 Kurt Grobe wrote; “Jeff, I was just on a Walleye website and had a disagreement with another fisherman. Every study I've EVER seen says that the fish that should be RELEASED are between 19-23 inches. He says ALL fish over 22 should be RELEASED. Everything I have read says above 23 the eggs are no good. Am I misinformed? A) Kurt, this is one of those arguments that nobody ever really “wins”. There's some room for interpretation about which Walleyes should be, or should not be released. That’s because the eco system of every lake is slightly different and food, size distribution of Walleyes and the lakes ability to naturally reproduce Walleye all have to be taken into account.

The trick for Walleye managers is to work out the right balance between harvest and reproduction for each lake. For anglers, getting on the same page is vital.

Adding to the debate is the fact that there are several reasons for releasing Walleye after they’re caught. In my home area, chief among them is to help allow a lake to naturally replenish itself.  
So assuming that we were comparing lakes in Northern Minnesota and that all of the lakes we compare do have the ability to produce Walleyes naturally, without human intervention; then the statistics that you’ve cited you’re are pretty close.
Like most other living species, adult females at the younger end of their reproductive cycles are likely to be the most productive. That doesn’t mean that the eggs of older fish are not viable, many of the larger fish would go on to reproduce plenty more offspring if they were released too.
The trick is to work out the right balance between harvest and reproduction for each lake.
At the moment, there’s a trend developing in Walleye management circles. The belief is that releasing ALL of the larger Walleye may actually be counterproductive and that a lake could theoretically become over supplied with large fish; the term they use is “stacking”.
The theory is that a lake can only support so many pounds of fish and that it doesn’t matter what size they are. Too many large fish would reduce the lakes ability to produce good supplies of smaller, eating size fish for anglers to consume.
For simplicity, I’m making up a number just as an example.
Let’s say that a 100 acre lake could support 100 pounds of healthy Walleye. According to the principal, the lake wouldn’t care if there were 100 1 pound fish, or if there were 10 ten pound fish, its ability to support them would remain unchanged. Of course, you could plug in your own example and the math would work out roughly the same; 50 two pound fish, 25 four pounders and so on.
Getting back to your original question about which size fish should be released. In most cases, it would serve the lake best to release female fish at the younger end of their reproductive cycle. In my area, Lake Winnibigoshish was recently reviewed and the current protected slot size for Walleye requires releasing fish between 18 and 23 inches, but allows for the possession of 1 Walleye over 23 inches; this seems to be a pretty well thought out regualtion.
Assuming that an angler actually has the best interest of their lake at heart, and plans to use the best practices for catch and release of female Walleye; then this "Winnie Walleye Model" wouldn't be a bad fit. My own experiences suggest that if I voluntarily apply the same regulation to every lake I fish, then I am serving most of them really well.
I would love to see this become an ongoing discussion and I’d love to broaden the scope of it too. But let's agree mot to call it an argument, how about using the term debate instead?
As anglers, we all have an interest in learning more about the best ways to ensure good fishing in the future. The problem is that we are getting so good at it that left to our own devices; we can easily overharvest even the most productive Walleye waters.
Getting us all on the same page won’t be easy, but it is, in fact the only choice we have.

Fishing Report Jeff Sundin, July 21, 2016 - Adjusting To The Adjustable? Options for Walleye purists have narrowed as stormy weather and muggy conditions persist in North Central Minnesota. With surface temperatures now ranging between 70 and 75 degrees, Panfish and Bass provide a lot more entertainment and for me, the mixed bag, weedline bite would be more than enough to satisfy my inner angler for the rest of the summer. Unfortunately, my fishing customers prefer Walleye over action and so the best way to describe my recent fishing trips is to say that some days are better than others. Under the right circumstances Walleye fishing has been fairly good.

If you have a suggestion for a fantastic weather app, especially one that features an easy to use satellite view, I’d appreciate hearing about it, shoot me an email.

On Sunday, strong winds and overcast skies helped contribute limits of Walleyes to the bags of fishermen during the 2016 “Daikin Fisharoo” on Lake Winnie. The next morning, fishing on the same spot, calm seas and sunny skies made catching a Walleye all but impossible.
When the daytime weather won’t cooperate, Walleye fishermen are improving their odds by waiting until sunset to begin fishing. Even that isn’t the perfect strategy, but for many, it is working much better than the daytime bite.
After the storms that rumbled last night, this could be another one of those days. The forecast of hot and sunny weather doesn’t look great, but the forecasts have been so inaccurate lately that I don’t have any idea if we’ll get a lucky break or not.
That reminds me; one of my fishing customers recommended a weather app this spring so I tried it. Honestly, it is a beautiful app, it’s easy to use and it has fantastic features. The only problem is that it is ALWAYS WRONG!
If you have a suggestion for a fantastic weather app, especially one that features an easy to use satellite view, I’d appreciate hearing about it, shoot me an email.

Marcell Area - Edge of the Wilderness, Frontier Sports, Paul Larson July 15, 2016; "It seems that anglers in the Edge of the Wilderness area have been held hostage the last several days by what else…the weather. Thunder storms have made their appearance almost daily for the past week. It seems these crazy weather patterns almost always happen on my days off. It’s getting so commonplace that folks are calling the store to get my days off so they can plan when not to go fishing. For several days before last weekend, the Walleye bite was very good. Water temperatures in the low seventies and mild winds presented anglers with a golden opportunity to take home some fish. Reports of good numbers of Walleye being caught in a relatively short time were common right on through Saturday afternoon. Trolling spinners with a night crawler and a bottom bouncer did the trick. Then on Saturday night a typical early July thunder storm rolled in and once again everything shut down. So far this week fishing has been fair but the weather patterns for the coming weekend look promising. Bass fishing has slowed down a bit. Frog time has arrived and the big bass have been have been crushing LIVE TARGET frogs and the new Sunfish in between thunder storms.

Photo courtesy Frontier Sports: Reina showing of her prize catch, a huge Crappie.

Panfish have been a little slow and even Northern Pike have been a little reluctant to chase the big crank baits and swim baits commonly used this time of year. The Musky bite has been off and on, nothing unusual there. The tackle department and bait shop are fully stocked with everything you’ll need for a successful fishing trip so be sure to drop by when you’re in the area. Have a great weekend everyone!"
Frontier Sports features a complete and fully stocked Sporting Goods department and Bait Shop, Gas, Grocery, Deli and Gift Shop. Frontier Sports is an authorized LIVE TARGET and SAVAGE GEAR dealer. Frontier Sports 218-832-3901 or Email .

Fishing Report Jeff Sundin, July 13, 2016 - Rock The Boat, Don't Rock The Boat ... That song entered my mind more than a few times this week as super gusty winds have stirred the surface water's to a froth. Luckily, I have a good boat and this week, it's paying for itself in triplicate! Despite Mother Nature's best effort to muddy the waters, we've managed to get on (and off) of the lakes without incident and except for the day that we spent riding out the freak windstorm on Winnibigoshish, fishing has been good enough to lift our spirits and help fend off what could have been some dismal days. On Tuesday, I decided to take some good advice and head north, as far north as I could. The idea was to get away from the epicenter of the stormy weather that rocked my home territory on Monday evening. The idea paid off and although I hadn’t fished this small lake recently, we managed to assemble a modest bag of keeper Walleyes while boating a dozen CPR fish and a bunch of Bass along the way. The fish we found were in typical summer locations, mid-lake bars that topped off in the 14 to 20 foot range. The fish were scattered, small schools of fish inhabited almost every spot, but it was rare to catch more than 3 or 4 fish at any single location. With 70 degree surface temperatures, the fish were tolerant of faster drift speeds and even when the Humminbird indicated speeds in excess of 1.0 MPH, the fish struck our Lindy Rigs aggressively. We used ½ ounce No Snagg Sinkers, 6 foot leaders and #6 hooks to present both leeches and night crawlers. The fish showed little preference for one bait over another, but my supply of worms was better than leeches, so by mid-afternoon, we were all using night crawlers.

Lake Winnie and Cutfoot Sioux resort owners considred the freak windstorm that ripped through the Deer River area on Monday to be one of the worst ever seen. During that storm, I lost this navy blue raincoat. It's a Bass Pro Shop Goretex coat and here's the deal; you can keep the coat, but I'd like my keys and my favorite yellow fishing towel back.

The key water depth was 15 feet, but we caught fish as deep as 22 feet. Generally, if I could mark them on the graph, we could entice them to strike.
Due to the weather, traffic on the lakes has been extremely light and that means that I'm not getting many reports from friends. This is going to change a lot in the next few days as the Daiken Fisharoo rolls into to town this Sunday. There will be 10 guides, maybe more taking their crews all over the Itasca area and reports will be plentiful next week.
Also, mark your calendar for this Saturday. Ray's Marine is hosting a Lund Boat Mercury Outboard ride and test event at the Tioga Beach on Lake Pokegama from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM.
Stop by and get a test ride in all of the top rigs from Lund and Mercury, including my boat, the Lund 208 Pro V GL Tiller. Yes, I'll be there to give you a free ride in my boat, the one that got me back to the landing safely during the windstorm that many say was the worst they've ever seen on Lake Winnie!
That reminds me, during that storm, I lost my navy blue raincoat. It's a Bass Pro Shop Goretex coat and here's the deal; you can keep the coat, but I'd like my keys and my favorite yellow fishing towel back. So if you find it, keep the coat and email me about the keys; I will owe you one!!
By the way, if you've tried to reach me by phone; sorry, I've had my hands full lately. I KNOW that it's gonna calm down one of these days; then I can catch a ... !!

Fishing Report Jeff Sundin, July 11, 2016 - Catching Up On The Catchable! Running on impulse power, but running; beats the heck out of not running at all. Life is beginning to "normalize" as we enter day 6 without electricity since last Tuesday, when a whopper storm knocked down a dozen of my trees and ripped out my power lines. Fishing, believe it or not, has generally been good; albeit scrambled between daily episodes of changing weather patterns. By this time tomorrow, I'll be catching up on what's happening for me, but first, here are updates about what my friends have been doing on the water this week.

Walleyes were cooperative on Bowstring Lake this Saturday. Alma Landson and Susan Bolos paired up, relaxed and bagged their litmits using Little Joe Spinners tipped with Fatheads.

Fishing Report Jeff Sundin, July 4, 2016 - Happy Indepencence Day !! For anybody who knows me, you'll probably recall that you don't usually get much of a fishing report over the 4th of July weekend. That's because I use this holiday, the birth date of my lovely, gracious and intelligent daughter as an excuse for a little bit of time off. Don't worry though, I do have an Upper Red Lake Report in the can for Tuesday and we may even wind up with a fishing report today; if we actually decide to put the boat in the water and fish. No matter what fireworks the Independence Day holiday brings you, I hope that they are as warm, sweet and loving as these 24 Independence days have brought me!! Happy Birthday Annalee!!