FishRapper Archived Fishing Reports Section |
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September 30, 2014 - Winnibigoshish Fall Walleye Bite Heats Up!"Better late than never! Walleyes have apparently forgotten whatever it was that kept them dragging their feet early this fall. The Walleye (and Pike) fishing on the big lake has become really reliable, albeit subject to daily weather patterns. |
(9/30) On Lake Winnibigoshish, Joe Thompson, Four Seasons Resort says; "This past weekend, we had the nicest weather of all time for the last week in September! One long time guest said we had fall fishing with August weather.
Northern fishing continues to be awesome! Trolling spoons has been the most productive Many fish in the 4-6# range. Tom Christianson from Belmond, Ia caught and released a 38.5" northern on a suick.
Perch fishing has also been very good. Sugar Lake, Sugar Bay, and River Bar all produced limits of nice perch.
Walleyes continue to be elusive. The north shore of the lake is producing some walleyes. Most of the fish are in the slot, but there are a few keepers mixed in. Dick Conner, Dick Johnson, and I caught a dozen fish with half of them keepers last Sunday.
There was a bonus crappie bite in Third River this past week. Alot of fish in the 12-15" range.
All in all, it was a great week to be at the Four Seasons! We will be here this week with more guests taking advantage of the great fishing. Thanks to all who made it a great season and see you next year. Some weeks are filling up already for 2015. Don't miss out next year. The walleye slot is probably going to change for next year. The proposal is going from the current slot of 17-26" to 18-23" with a six fish limit and one over. This will allow many more fish to be kept in the future. Look forward to seeing you all next year." >> Four Seasons Resort .
(9/30) From The Iron Range, Greg Clusiau wrote; "I thought maybe a large northern but after watching the battle for a minute or so switched my thinking to it possibly being a big walleye.
I was right. My first glimpse of the telltale “white tip” of the tail fin revealed a very fat, large walleye. I missed it with the net on the first try but not on the next. Steve had done it again, beating his night before 28” walleye with a 30” ten pound fish. This was turning out to be quite a ..." >> Read Greg Clusiau's Full Report .
Fishing Report September 29, 2014 - Crappie, Walleye say; "Welcome Back To Minnesota!"
You Know what they say about Minnesota; "If you don't like the weather, just wait a few hours".
And over the years, how many times have you heard me say; "We need a little more wind, a little less sunshine, a bigger thingamajig or a smaller whatchamacallit"? I'm trying to remember myself, straining my fingers as I use my abacus to calculate the exact number of times.
Keeping track of the times that I’ve said; "Now that was just right, nearly perfect"; that’s an easier calculation.
Sometimes things just work out that way though and Sunday was “almost perfect”. For I and my crew, the timing couldn't have worked out much better, even if we'd planned it, even though I really didn't plan it at all.
When we met at the bait shop and talked about options for our fishing day, my crew told me that they'd be open to fishing for "anything that bites". I mentioned a few choices and described what we've been doing for the past couple of weeks. I never even thought about going where we went until I looked around and said;
"s..t, I pulled my camera out of the truck and left it sitting smack dab in the middle of ... I need to take a little detour". They were very understanding and followed as I took a short drive to retrieve it. Now that we were out of position to head where I thought we were going, I decided to just keep moving in the new direction and visit the Crappie hole first.
When we arrived at the landing, it was just like summer; calm, sunny and warm. The ramp and driveway were soaking wet from the boat trailers going in and out, parking spots were nearly all used up and Duck hunters leaving the lake provided the only evidence that it was actually supposed to be fall.
Surface temperatures had risen to 65 degrees, there were boats everywhere I looked and there wasn't even a ripple on the water. My first thought ... "What did I get myself into this time?" Luckily, the Crappies had made a move that played into my hand.
Most of the fish had moved away from well-known shoreline structures and suspended over open water in the middle of the lake. That is both good and bad, because on one hand, these suspended fish become flighty and hard to stay on top of. But on the other hand, they are doing anglers a favor by moving around because it gives everybody a chance to find schools workable fish. This means that you don't just have to win the race to the best spot; instead you have some time to cruise methodically and search for fish.
I think that it took about 4 moves, maybe 5, but by creeping around the lake and watching my Humminbird, I was able to find plenty of fish. Most of them only allowed us a few minutes of action per stop, but those few minutes were always good ones. There was one school of fish, larger than the others and more willing to sit still, that provided the most giggles.
Except for one stray Walleye and a couple of small Pike, the fish were almost all suspended over deep water. Many of these Crappies were suspended at about 20 feet, over depths of 30 to 35 feet of water.
When we were on them, they bit and using 1/8 ounce jigs tipped with Crappie minnows was all we needed to do. It's tricky sometimes to figure out where to place your jig to produce the most strikes. But generally, holding your bait 1 to 2 feet above the fish is the best.
To help figure out where to place their lures, I try to teach my customers to count rod lengths. If your fishing rod is 7 feet long and you strip out 3 lengths of fishing line, then you have a great reference point to work from. Fine tuning the presentation can be accomplished by slowly lifting or dropping your bait, making frequent pauses to allow the fish time to make its move.
It didn't take that long for everyone to figure out the system and the fish were more cooperative than I counted on. By 11:30, we were looking for a new fishing project.
It was time to try and bag some Walleyes but looking at the glassy water and sunny sky, I mentioned that we were going to have our work cut out for us now. But I had an idea and we decided to take a short trip to see if the Walleye hole might give up a few for us.
Arriving at the Walleye hole was like producing a scene from a movie. As if it had been scripted just for us, the sky turned Grey, the wind began to blow and before we were done with our first drift, there were whitecaps on the lake. This, our first pass along the weed edges would turn out to be the best one of the day, producing 6 "keeper size" fish for the live well. From then on, there was intermittent action throughout the afternoon.
We caught all of our fish along the weed edges in 10 to 12 feet of water. We were using 1/8 ounce Lindy Jigs tipped with 3-4 inch Rainbows and today, the fish seemed to show a preference for the Pink/Yellow Chartreuse two tones. The Pike liked those too and we were snipped off several times as we worked the Walleyes.
The action wasn't frantic, but it was steady and luckily, most of the fish that we caught were within the "keeper size" range. In fact, I think that we only caught 1 or 2 "slot fish" on this trip. That left my crew of 3 with a bag of 14 Walleyes, not a limit, but a strong showing for an afternoon's work.
By days end, the air temperature had fallen from the 70's into the 50's. The North winds transformed the glass calm July looking water into the more familiar sudsy Steel Grey of fall. After all of that, I can only say; "Welcome to Minnesota, have a nice day!"
(9/29) From Lake of the Woods, Mike Kinsela, Border View Lodge; "We have had a great week with lots fish caught and an abundance of sunshine. We had temperatures most the week in the upper 70’s. It did not seem like fall except for the leaves hitting the ground.
We spent most the week fishing the northwest point and up around little oak. We were anchored and jigging in ranges of 20 to 28 feet of water.
Winter is filling in quickly so make sure to get your reservations booked!
Although we just finished up a great week with beautiful weather, this upcoming forecast proves fall is here. Chances of rain predicted for almost every day with temperatures ranging from 55-65 degrees." - 1-800-776-3474 Border View Lodge .
Fishing Report September 28, 2014 - Content Walleyes On Leech Lake
On Saturday, Leech Lake Walleye fishing fell into the category of "frustrating" for me. Anybody who really knows me won't need much imagination to figure out what was going on inside my head. I was thinking; "If my friends John and Pat wanted to watch somebody catch fish, they could turn on the TV. I Know that these fish will bite, but how am I gonna teach them to KNOW too?"
Leech Lake is fickle, she's proud of it; and she's taught her Walleyes well. Knowing how the fish will react to the weather, a gorgeous, sunny day is the last thing that most fishermen want to see as they head out of the harbor.
A nice breeze helps though and so does knowing where the fish are located. So in other words, it wasn't the ideal fishing day, but there were offsetting conditions that created just enough opportunity to make some fish catchable, but not enough to make it easy; enter my frustration.
Saturday was one of those "worst case scenario days" a day where my fishing rod gets bent, but the others don't at least not often enough. If I had been out fishing by myself, it would have been a great day, but I wasn't, I had customers with me and I wanted to treat them to the action. Somehow I couldn't work fast enough (or smart enough) to get the mojo going for everybody at the same time.
Luckily, there were still some highlights and some good laughs too. Oh and of course we nailed the solutions to some of the world's trickiest geopolitical issues too.
I remember John mentioning that he'd be interested to see how I was gonna write this one up. Well, there are certain times when all ya' gotta' do is say what happened.
My greatest accomplishment in life will be the day that I figure out how to transfer the "magic touch" to someone else who needs it. How to convince them that when I KNOW we're going to win the battle, they will KNOW too. That will be fun, it will be a good day and I'll write about it when it happens ... :)!!
OH, I almost forgot to mention ... Surface temperatures on Leech Lake were holding steady at 64 degrees and didn’t vary much throughout the day. The breeze came and went, sometimes producing a chop, sometimes barely a ripple.
There were lots of fish located on the big breakline in 10 to 12 feet of water; most of the ones that struck were Northern Pike.
Perch were just as fickle as the Walleyes were and whenever we caught one, an attempt to hover and catch more seldom produced more than a strike or two. Perch fishermen were working the dickens out of the Northwest corner of Portage Bay and I avoided both the crowd and sorting through the little fish to get some keepers.
On the drive home I was comparing notes with a friend who was fishing in Sucker Bay. His report was similar to mine in that they found fish, but also had trouble getting them to bite. His observation was that the fish were too content; the stable weather and easy feeding have allowed them to become lazy.
He did manage to turn the heads of a few Walleyes by trolling crankbaits at 2 to 2-1/2 MPH and that gave them enough fish for a fish fry.
I agree about the fish becoming lazy; this pattern rears its head every fall. A cold snap rattles the system and forces fish out of their comfy hiding spots. They bite well for a few days and then just when you think you have them pinned down, the weather turns nice and ... ZZZ
The last thing that I want to do is wish away these beautiful days, so I’m not gonna complain. There’s nothing wrong with the fishing that 5 months of winter won’t cure, fast! So when the good opportunities come along, I’ll take advantage of them. Until then, I’ll be doing my best.
Press Release September 28, 2014: Fish Ed Television To Debut October 4 on Fox Sports North .
Fort Smith, Ark. -- Computer-savvy northern anglers are familiar with Fish Ed, Lindy Legendary Tackle’s educational program focusing on the productive waters of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and the Dakotas. Hosted by former guide and tournament angler Jon Thelen, this 7- to 8-minute Internet program has been praised for breaking down the techniques that catch the region’s plentiful walleyes, crappies, perch and more in a manner that everyone can understand and take to their local waters.
Starting Oct. 4, anglers can catch the extended version, Fish Ed Television, on Fox Sports North. The TV version is built on the same premise as the Internet show, to help anglers of any skill level catch more fish. Not only does Thelen show anglers exactly how to maximize techniques and tactics, but because the show is shot on public waters throughout the Midwest, viewers also get read full story >> Fish Ed Television Debut .
Fishing Report September 27, 2014 - Leech Lake Perch, Good Sport For The Patient
On Friday, the Perch action on Leech Lake was good, or at least it was "good enough for us guys". Before you get too pumped up and start loading your gear to head over there, this report comes with a warning label.
You are definitely gonna have to sort through a bunch of little ones in order to get your "keepers". If you're willing to do that, you're going to come home with some good ones.
Just out of the river at Federal Dam, the surface temperature on Leech Lake was 64 degrees on Friday. Since I hadn't been on Leech Lake since the most recent cold snap, I don't know how much of a rebound this represents. But I do know that this was the warmest water that I've fished in for about two weeks.
In the morning, the Sun was bright, the skies were blue and there was just barely enough breeze to push my Alaskan along at a drift of .4 MPH. The slow drift was good for searching, but there wasn't really enough chop to get the fish "fired up".
Our approach was very similar to any shallow water Perch fishing trip. We poked around in the shallow water weeds at depths of 5 to 8 feet, stopping any time we caught a keeper. That approach was working, we were catching the occasional 10 inch fish. But there were hundreds of small Perch in the area and it was difficult to fish without getting their attention.
Within a half hour, I knew that if we kept fishing with minnows, we were going to be driven crazy by the small Perch. But still, knowing that there were good ones to be had, I wasn't ready to give up. Besides that, after 3 days of fishing, we already had a lot of fish and really didn't need to catch any Walleye, Pike of Crappie. That is, if they wanted eating fish to take home, it would have to be "Perch or bust".
Luckily, experimenting with plastic baits paid off. It was simple trial and error that led me to an artificial tail that worked well. But I really should have thought of it sooner, because after trying a variety of colors and shapes, I remember saying; "I'm going to try something that will appeal to their sense of Cannibalism".
When I said that, the comment was tongue in cheek; but it turned out to be a serious solution to our dilemma. Using a 1/8 ounce Yellow/Orange Lindy Jig, tipped with a 2 inch Perch pattern split tail turned out to be the perfect combination. All of those thousands of small Perch are apparently the primary forage for the larger inhabitants of those weeds. The small Perch pattern tails turned out to be very attractive to the larger fish.
The Perch pattern baits allowed us to keep fishing without having to constantly dip into the minnow bucket. I'm convinced that it was this change that allowed us to hang in there long enough to get the results we were looking for. Otherwise, I'd have been driven crazy by the rapid depletion of our supply of live bait.
If you'd only seen our bucket full of jumbos at the finish line, then you'd have gotten the impression that we had a great morning. But there were times that all 3 of us were ready to give up on the Perch. We stuck with it though and by around 2:00 pm we had 30 keepers in the live well; most ranging in size from 10 to 11 inches, with a smattering of hefty 13 inchers.
During mid-afternoon the wind began to blow and the lake became covered with whitecaps.
Just for fun, we switched back to Walleye fishing along the shoreline breaks in 9 to 11 feet of water. Jigging with live minnows and 1/8 ounce jigs, we CPR'd a handful of Walleyes including Kyle’s largest one to date a hefty 26 inch Walleye. There were a couple of Pike too and we added another half dozen Perch to the larder, bringing our total to 36, very close to their bag limit.
The jury may still be out with regard to the reliability of the bite on Leech. But stay tuned because our experience on Friday was good enough to get me interested. So if there's a wind in our forecast, I'll be heading back over there to put in a solid effort for Walleyes, maybe today, maybe later, but soon.
(9/27) From The Grand Rapids Area - On Friday, the Perch action on Leech Lake was good, or at least it was "good enough for us guys". Before you get too pumped up and start loading your gear to head over there, this report comes with a warning label.
You are definitely gonna have to sort through a bunch of little ones in order to get your "keepers". If you're willing to do that, you're going to come home with some good ones.
Just out of the river at Federal Dam, the surface temperature on Leech Lake was 64 degrees on Friday. Since I hadn't been on Leech Lake since the most recent cold snap, I don't know how much of a rebound this represents. But I do know that this was the ... read >> Fishing Report September 27, 2014
Questions about the "Fall Turnover" start popping up every year at this time. Yesterday, I promised that I would get to some of them this morning and since I always keep my promises, here we go.
Fishing Report September 26, 2014 - Fishing The Fall Turnover - Catching up on reader questions.
Before I get started, I want to say HEY!
... And give a shout out to some friends that I haven't met yet.
Team "Jerk Lips" from Central Illinois are staying at Birch Villa Resort on Cass Lake and on Thursday, they crossed paths with Cub Reporter, Staff #004.
He delivered their message to me via text; it was very complimentary and gave me a reason to smile all evening long.
Thank You Boys! I'll be looking forward to meeting "Team Jerk Lips" one of these days. Have a great fishing trip!
(9/26) Jim Jurvelin wrote; "In yesterdays (9/24) fishing report, you noted that the bite on Winnibigoshish will last until the surface temperature reaches 55 degrees. Is it at that temp that the lake turns over?
I just looked through some of my fishing logs primarily for Leech Lake and some of my best fishing was when the surface temp was in the high 40 degree range. Does Winnie turn over and Leech does not?" - Jim Jurvelin
(9/26) On a related Note, Dave Clyne wrote; "Hi Jeff. We were fishing Sand Lake last Friday and it looked like the lake was beginning to turn over. That seems quite a bit early this year?
Water temp was 59 in most of the lake. Do you know if the lake is turning over, and approximately how long it may take for a lake like Sand to turn over? Also, what are your thoughts on fishing a lake during and after turn over?" - Thanks in advance, Dave
A) I think that I can fit the complete answers to both of these questions into just a couple of books. In the meantime, here's the quick start version.
Dave, coincidentally, I was on Sand Lake the day after you were, so I was able to observe the appearance of the water that lead to your question.
At 59 degrees, the surface water is not yet cold enough to force the turnover. So the answer is no that was not the fall turnover, not yet.
Plankton, AKA an Algae Bloom was what caused the small Green particles that you saw suspended in the lake water.
Depending on the bottom content of a lake, as the turnover mixes up the water column, it can force decayed material to float up from the bottom. When that happens, the water becomes filled with much larger, rather unpleasant looking brown balls of debris.
It will not take any imagination to recognize this, when you see it, you will know what what it is.
A) Jim, the turnover does not occur at the same time on every lake, nor does it occur on every lake.
When you mentioned 40 degree water temperatures in the comparison between Winnie and Leech Lake, you told me something. You are a diehard fisherman! Not many folks know what it takes to force the surface temperature into that range.
That leads me to this; the effects of the turnover are short term, often disrupting the fishing for only a few days. Once the event passes and the fish settle back into predictable patterns, fishing action becomes more reliable again.
I only used the number 55 degrees because for me, that's an easy number to remember AND IT IS USUALLY A SIGNAL that the turnover is about to occur. The actual temperature that forces the turnover is typically a few degrees cooler than that.
Last year, I wrote about the fall turnover more than once and I dug up some of the stories. These articles will help you pin down more details, but in the event that your questions are not completely answered, let me know so that I can expand on it even more.
Answering a similar question on October
6, 2013, I wrote; "For me, the time to sound the Red Alert is at the moment when the Walleye fishing gets so good that you can't believe it. The day that you can't seem to do anything wrong and the fish are biting everywhere. Somehow, those fish just have a sixth sense, they Just Know! The turnover is about to ..." Learn More >> Fishing The Fall Turnover .
A couple of weeks later, I cronicled the progression from the pre-turnover peak to the post turnover crash.
In 2013, October 15, 16 and 17 were the dates that the transition occured on the lakes I was fishing at the time and you can read about that by clicking >> Fishing Report October 17, 2013
This year, it could happen later or earlier, we'll find out really soon. In fact, the best way for you to see it first hand is to join me!
There will be one more "Insider News" announcement about open fishing dates coming out
early next week. If you want to see what's available, just take 30 seconds and sign up.
Fishing Report September 25, 2014 - Lake Winnie Walleye "Fat Fish Syndrome"
Sometimes I wonder; "Why didn't I think of that sooner?"
We've been talking about Winnie's fat bellied Walleyes all summer long. Every time we catch one of them, somebody says something like; "look at the belly on this one". Still, somehow I've failed to mention this in these reports. Well, better late than never, I hope.
Want to know how I select some of the Walleye lakes that I'm going to fish; the ones where I think there's gonna be a "hot bite"? Watch for skinny fish. That's right, when there's not enough food to go around, fish bite like they are never gonna see food again.
Conversely, when I see a lake that's producing healthy looking, fat fish, then I know I'm going to have my work cut out for me. I know that I'll need to be more persistent, more precise and more creative.
This subject, along with a few questions about the fall turnover are at the top of my list and I promise that
I'll get to them tomorrow morning. But for today, we've got an early start planned and I am up against the clock.
I can tell you this right now, as of today, water temperatures in the 59 to 62 degree range remain well above the levels required to produce the fall turn over. So if you're fishing this weekend, I doubt that you need to be concerned about that at all. Plan your trip with confidence and "Fish Good"!
Fishing Report September 24, 2014 - "I've Got A Thing For Winnie Walleyes!
You Know the old saying; "If you can't say something good, then don't ..."
Well, if you live by those words, you will actually get a chance to see how they manifest themselves. In fact, to me, it's miraculous how well it actually works and I wish that I'd thought of it A LOT sooner!
There's a corollary to the rule though, a trap that some folks fall into and it goes like this; "The less one knows, the more firmly one believes".
That is the tricky little phrase that causes too many folks to open their traps and start talking without first learning their subjects. The subject in this particular case, Lake Winnibigoshish and its lovely crop of gorgeous, eating size Walleyes; the fish that had supposedly vanished from the lake, just happen to be on the prowl, providing great fishing action right now.
Yes, that's right; all of the "gloom and doom" guys who proclaimed the disappearance of Winnie's 15 to 17 inch eater size Walleyes had apparently gotten a little bit ahead of themselves. They (the fish) are still in there and they are on the move right now.
I gave the subject a lot of ink this summer and tried my best to convince some of these folks that the fish were still in there, but that wasn't an easy task.
Now it's really tempting for me to just keep quiet and simply spend the next week or two out there catching these fish along with the ... read full report >> Lake Winnie Fall Walleye Migration.
Fishing Report September 23, 2014 - "Fun With Dick & Paul, minus Paul + Bass = A Good Way To Wrap Up!
This time of the season is hard, that's because when I see the clock clicking down on some of the special fishing patterns that don't come along very often for me, I Know that there's a long, cold winter ahead.
From now until freeze-up, I know that each time I fish might be my last chance of this season to do whatever special thing it is that we're doing on that day.
Like Monday when I and Dick Williams paid a visit to one of Grand Rapids better Largemouth Bass fishing lakes. It's one of my favorites and for me; the memories of fishing on this lake go really deep.
As usual, she didn't let me down, but this time she was a little bit particular about how she wanted us to fish.
I found the Largemouth Bass, they were hungry and they were definitely catchable, but they were in a tricky pattern to pin down. They were on flats in 9 to 11 feet of water that contained patches of dark, almost black weeds. These heavy patches of weeds were holding most of the fish, but there weren't many spots on the lake that contained them.
I only know these weeds by sight, not by their proper name. But looking at a ton of photos on the web, Id say that Northern Water Milfoil is the closest match I can find. The problem is that I see that a lot around here and when I find it, it usually covers a lot more territory. These patches were smaller, covering 50 yards or less at each spot.
No matter what they were called, the heavy weeds were definitely the preferred location for most of the Bass on this lake today. If I tried any other type of cover, we could scrounge up one, maybe two fish. But whenever I found a patch of these dark weeds, the fish were there in good numbers.
We were fishing with YUM Dingers rigged in a variety of ways, but the absolute best presentation was with the 4/0 hook rigged weedless in the tail (skinny end) and half of a 16 penny nail in the nose (the fat end).
The nailed worms are really easy to work through the heavy weeds. Cast them into the thickets, finesse the worm through the veggies until you feel it settle in a clearing and then let it sit still. The Bass will find it and when they do, they really smack it.
There was just enough chop on the water to make getting good pictures of these weeds too difficult on Monday. But I promise to make a return visit soon and get some good images to share with you.
So that’s the whole deal; we spent a nice warm afternoon in a beautiful place, on a beautiful day and for 2014, fun with Dick & Paul, minus Paul is a wrap.
Press Release September 24, 2014: Fish Ed Television To Debut Oct. 4 on Fox Sports North .
Fort Smith, Ark. -- Computer-savvy northern anglers are familiar with Fish Ed, Lindy Legendary Tackle’s educational program focusing on the productive waters of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and the Dakotas. Hosted by former guide and tournament angler Jon Thelen, this 7- to 8-minute Internet program has been praised for breaking down the techniques that catch the region’s plentiful walleyes, crappies, perch and more in a manner that everyone can understand and take to their local waters.
Starting Oct. 4, anglers can catch the extended version, Fish Ed Television, on Fox Sports North. The TV version is built on the same premise as the Internet show, to help anglers of any skill level catch more fish. Not only does Thelen show anglers exactly how to maximize techniques and tactics, but because the show is shot on public waters throughout the Midwest, viewers also get hot tips on locations and tactics for the very same lakes and rivers they call home.
Fish Ed TV will run 26 weeks from Oct. 4 to March 28, starting with five open-water shows followed by eight weeks of ice-fishing programs, then returns to open water for the following 13 weeks.
“We burnt the tires off the truck traveling across the Midwest for the past 10 months filming Fish Ed Television,” Thelen said. “We’re excited to be able to share our travels and fishing adventures with our fellow anglers.”
Fox Sports North covers all of Minnesota and Wisconsin, as well as portions of North and South Dakota and Iowa. The program debuts Saturday morning Oct. 4 at 10:30 a.m., then changes to Saturday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. (lunchtime) on Jan. 3.
“There is no doubt that we have some of the best fishing in the world right here in the Midwest,” said Thelen. “With Fish Ed Television we bring the viewer right into the boat or on the ice with us to show them exactly how and where we’re catching fish day-in and day-out.”
(9/24) Gus' Place Resort, Ball Club Lake; "Ball club Lake has been giving up some really nice fish the last two weeks.
Walleyes deep @ 30 feet on crawlers and spinners, Perch 8-12 feet on minnows and bobbers, Crappies in 15 feet near the bottom on twister tails tipped with a bit of crawler or minnow and what Ball Club Lake is best known for; large, fat Northerns are moving out of deep water and feeding hard.
Fishermen are coming in with limits of 5 to 7 pound Northerns on a regular basis, sometimes caught just right in front of the resort on the drop off.
It is a great time to fish multi-species before it starts to get really cold.
Our guests are fishing Walleye and Crappie early and late in the day and Perch and Northerns through mid-day. On the days we are not fighting the wind the fishing is great right now." - Gus Sheker, Gus' Place Resort .
(9/23) From The Iron Range, Greg Clusiau wrote; "I thought maybe a large northern but after watching the battle for a minute or so switched my thinking to it possibly being a big walleye.
I was right. My first glimpse of the telltale “white tip” of the tail fin revealed a very fat, large walleye. I missed it with the net on the first try but not on the next. Steve had done it again, beating his night before 28” walleye with a 30” ten pound fish. This was turning out to be quite a ..." >> Read Greg Clusiau's Full Report .
Fishing Report September 22, 2014 - "Current Fishing" News ...
... Is easy to come by on the river, at least it is when there's water and luckily, there was water in it on Sunday.
I'm trying to remember the last time that there was good enough water flow during the fall on the Mississippi River to entice me into a float. No matter how much water there's been during spring/summer, the past few seasons have featured unusually low water conditions during autumn.
But for day 4 of fun with Dick and Paul minus Paul, it was a beautiful day, there was plenty of water and luckily, there were even enough fish to keep it interesting.
Depending on which stretch of river we were floating, the current flow on the mighty Mississippi was running between .6 and 1.2 MPH. Controlling the boat was very easy and most of the time I could comfortably back troll using the MinnKota.
Water temperature was 59+ degrees and the water is very clear! In fact, we could easily see our lures in 10 feet of water and except for the clumps of dislodged Eelgrass we occasionally saw floating on the surface, I can say that the water is as clean as I've ever seen it.
The clear water made fishing a little tricky, but not impossible. It reminded Dick of Trout fishing in Tennessee because we had to be sneaky to catch the wary fish. Throughout the day, we'd find fish in small groups and typically, we'd catch one or two when the element of surprise was on our side. Except for one hole that was deeper than the rest, it was rare to find locations where we could fish for more than a few minutes.
For us, the best areas to find active Walleye were on the flats, at the upper edges of holes on corners and bends in the river. Most often, the Walleye would be holding just at the edge of a break from shallow water into the deeper holes.
These holes were filled with small Perch too. I wish that they'd been larger because they were really aggressive. The problem was that in spite of having nearly constant Perch attacks, we never saw a keeper in the whole bunch. I guess it's like going on a picnic, if you want to be out there, you're gonna have to put up with a few pests.
Northern Pike were holding in small slack water areas along the cut banks where the current flowed quickly past. I didn't spend too much time pursuing the Pike because they were "In One of Their Moods"! Every time one of them struck, it cost us a jig and I quickly learned that if we wanted to catch Walleyes, I'd need to steer clear of the Pikey looking structures.
Walleyes ranged in size from 17 to 24 inches, but before you start loading the boat, remember that it's not like finding a hot bite on one of the Walleye factory lakes. This isn't a deal where you're going to catch 50 fish. But, if you're patient (I AM) and if you're determined (I AM) then you will catch a beautiful fish.
Most folks who know the river already know this, but in case you've never fished it. The real reward comes in the form of enjoying the serenity of the water and surroundings. Believe me, a beautiful day, measured by any standard can easily become an incredibly beautiful day by a float on the river! Luckily, the water was right, the timing was right and there were enough fish to keep it interesting. I'd say that it's been worth the wait!
(9/22) From Cass Lake, Cub Reporter, Staff #004 checked in with this; "It was a great day to be Steve Parker of Alexandria, MN.
While attempting to guide his girlfriend
Mary Weirauch to her first Musky, Steve wound up landing two of them himself. Within an hour, he boated a 49 inch and a 50 inch
fish."
For many, either of these two would be the fish of a lifetime. But for Steve and Mary, the pair of monsters came in less time than it takes to watch a boring re-run on TV. I guess that it pays to get outside occasionally!!
(9/22) From Lake of the Woods, Mike Kinsela, Border View Lodge; "The leaves are changing! And this week’s forecast looks great with highs in the 70’s and lows in the 50’s with sunshine predicted most days.
We have spent most of this past week off of Pine Island or towards Zippel Bay. Anchored and jigging has been the best technique. We have been ranging depths from 20 to 30 feet. There was a lot of wind last week so we are hoping to be done with it for awhile.
Don’t forget to get your winter fishing trip booked! We are filling in fast so make those plans soon." - 1-800-776-3474 Border View Lodge .
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September 22, 2014 - Lake Winnibigoshish Fall Fishing Action"Reports from around Lake Winnie are getting better all of the time. Walleye are on the move along the North shore and with water temperatures dipping below 60 degrees, we're expecting to see a fresh run of fish moving into Cutfoot Sioux any day. |
Fishing Report September 21, 2014 - Fishing Reports From The Deer River Area
(9/21) Permanent Live Bait Aerator For The Boat - From Tom Crosby; "Jeff didn't you write about putting a live bait system in your alaskan at one time. Is that in the archived articles?"
A)Yes Tom I did, The Lund Alaskans have an ideal layout for setting up your own live bait system. The one that I described allows you to keep your entire bait supply healthy all day long using fresh well water without exposure to any lake water.
I AM on my 9th (or is it 10th?) Alaskan now and I've been using this system since day one. I can only imagine how many thousands of dollars this has saved me in live bait expenses over these years. Besides that, when it comes to preventing the spread of AIS from one lake to another, I have peace of mind KNOWING that I always do my best.
Note: At the time I wrote the original article, it was legal for you to keep the water in your boat. These days you'll have to remove the water from your boat during transportation. Place the minnows in a second tank of fresh water kept in your truck and you’ll be good to go.
Here's a link to the original article and when I get a chance, I'll update the details about the legal aspects of the system. Read Article >> Keeping Your Live Bait Alive .
OH and by the way, there are links to lots more fishing articles, fishing videos and favorite fishing lakes too. Just click >> Fishing Articles Updates and Archives .
Fishing Report September 20, 2014 - Trout Lake Walleyes AWOL, Bass Save The Day
When we arrived at Coleraine's Trout Lake, near Grand Rapids, day 2 of Fun With Dick and Paul, minus Paul, appeared to be a no-brainer.
Grey skies and wind driven rain showers would encourage the lakes fickle Walleyes to move around and bite, at least a little bit; that's what I thought anyway. But in spite of seeing plenty of them on my Humminbird, they were too tight lipped for me.
Surface temperatures ranged from 60 to 61 degrees, the water looked clear and there was little evidence of any weeds dying. In fact, the ones that we found were really green and
healthy. Although the weeds weren't inhabited by Walleyes, they were holding some nice ... read >> Grand Rapids Fishing Report .
(9/20) From The Grand Rapids Area - When we arrived at Coleraine's Trout Lake, near Grand Rapids, day 2 of Fun With Dick and Paul, minus Paul, appeared to be a no-brainer.
Grey skies and wind driven rain showers would encourage the lakes fickle Walleyes to move around and bite, at least a little bit; that's what I thought anyway. But in spite of seeing plenty of them on my Humminbird, they were too tight lipped for me.
Surface temperatures ranged from 60 to 61 degrees, the water looked clear and there was little evidence of any weeds dying. In fact, the ones that we found were really green and
healthy. Although the weeds weren't inhabited by Walleyes, they were holding some nice ... read >> Grand Rapids Fishing Report .
Fishing Report September 19, 2014 - Remember that famous Neil Whatshisname song? "Stuck On The Rocks, Aint No Big Suprise, Happens A Lot When You're Fishing ...
... Walleyes and if you're lucky enough to be on the right lake, Smallmouth Bass too!
Kicking off the "Fun with Dick and Paul" 2014 fall tour on Thursday; it seemed like something was missing. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was until I noticed how quiet it was. Wait a minute, there wasn't anyone sitting in the middle of the boat I thought.
Oh no, the Peanut gallery was empty because our good friend Paul Kautza was called away on business.
Hmm ... I'll be missing all of those familiar sounds; no kibitzing, no robust baritone laugh and no purring of the drag on his reel as the line slipped between the eyelets of his little bitty noodle rod. Oh, and by the way, no fresh box of Arturo Fuente's either.
So this fall it's gonna be "Fun with Dick and Paul, Minus Paul", we will just have to make do.
And that's what we did yesterday; we made do by catching a mixed bag of Walleye and Smallmouth Bass.
As we launched the boat, Surface temperatures in the landing bay were 59 degrees. They were slightly warmer on the main lake, tickling either side of 60 degrees. The sky was Gray and there were moderate sized whitecaps, maybe 1 footers.
Walleyes responded to the cooler water and turbulent conditions during the morning, most of them moving onto shallow rock bars and rocky points in 8 to 12 feet of water.
Because of the wind, we needed the 1/8 ounce jigs to get our minnows into the strike zone and the fish liked it that way. The tradeoff though, was that we got snagged in the rocks a lot. I actually thought about switching to slip bobbers to solve the problem, but I hadn't yet replaced my anchor rope, broken during an emergency tree removal. So instead, we made do, going back to retrieve snagged lures as needed.
By around noon, the seas calmed and the Sun burned away the clouds. Smallmouth Bass acted like they had been lying in wait for the good news and as the day warmed, they showed up in good numbers up on the rocky points too.
I AM SURE that we could have easily caught the Bass on a variety of artificial lures. But with Walleyes present, the 1/8 ounce Lindy Jig tipped with 3-4 inch Rainbow Chubs was as much fine tuning as I needed to do.
In spite of the fact that we caught a lot of "eater size" Walleyes, this clear water lake did not cough up any of it's trophy size fish. That leads me to an interesting side note, one that appears to support the theory that I've mentioned in reference to Winnibigoshish several times this summer.
The closer the weather comes to producing ideal fishing conditions, the more likely it becomes that we'll catch smaller, eating size fish.
It appears that the larger, more aggressive fish are the only ones that continue to strike at all on the "Bluebird Days". We only get slot-fish, because the smaller ones, the mass movements of eater fish only occur during heavy wind or at twilight.
So for today, a forecast calling for strong winds and rain has me wondering. Maybe this is the perfect day to head further East? I wonder if those Walleyes on that other clear water lake will do something silly, maybe the Bass too, maybe even those illusive Crappies. I promise that you'll be the first to know! Watch for the report tomorrow; Fun with Dick and Paul, minus Paul, day 2. 
... :)!!
Fishing Report September 18, 2014 - Disappearing Act? Or ...
... Maybe it's just a simple game of "Hide and go Seek"?
On Wednesday, I and "Mr.C" followed in our own footsteps by fishing together on yet another Beautiful Day.
In years past, most sightings of "Mr.C" include the image of his hood on the Red, "little kid going to kindergarten jacket" pulled up tight around his face to keep the wind and rain out. Apparently that doesn't happen anymore and these days, "Mr.C" seems to show up only for calm, sunny days.
Luckily, the effects of falling water temperatures and shorter days have helped convince some Walleyes that they can go still ahead and eat, even when conditions are not completely perfect. As usual, I had to learn something first and then make some adjustments before we could catch them. Here's a great example of a trap that you can avoid on your next fishing trip.
I admit it, I do the same thing that you do. I almost always try returning to the same fishing spots where we had "Good Luck" on a previous adventure. That's what I did yesterday; I headed for the same points that held fish on Tuesday. Yes, You Know what came next; "Well Mr.C, they were here yesterday; I guess we'll just have to figure out where they went".
Luckily, we didn't move too far or too fast, because these fish had only moved about 100 yards down the shoreline. Instead of staying on the tips of the points, they were tucked into the inside corners along the same weed edges.
The fishing was not fast and furious, but it was steady and there was never a time that I lost confidence about either finding more to catch or catching them.
Surface water was 59.6 degrees when we started the day and 60.6 degrees when we wrapped it up. At this point, an ideal scenario would include some warmer overnight temperatures to help forestall any more sudden drops in temperature. Just in case they keep falling though, it would be a good idea to plan on getting out there soon. I think that the next 3 weeks will be some of the best fishing of the entire 2014 season.
I know how fast 3 weeks will fly by, so take my advice and don't dilly dally, plan another trip before its too late!
(9/18) From Steve Sykes; "Hi Jeff, thanks for the press you gave me in your fishing report on September 15 . The boat is an Impact that I purchased last year, it’s been a great boat and I love fishing out of it.
The crappie fishing was the best I have seen in a long time. The word seems to be out, I don’t recall ever seeing so many boats out fishing for them. Even on Monday the lake was full.
Is it like that every year? How does the lake handle that much pressure?
The crappies did start to slow down in the “crappie hole” , I think they were just tired of getting fished so hard.
I found a hole (in a different area) that was between 25 and 28 feet deep and we caught a ton of crappies there and no one bothered us. We did a lot of catching and releasing them, what a blast.
The walleye fishing was pretty slow for us, we caught about 12 fish all in the slot. We graphed a ton of fish in front of Pigeon River on Winnie between 12 to 14 feet and managed to get a few of them to bite, they were all in the slot." Thanks for all your tips. - Steve Sykes
A)Thank You Steve, you answered part of your own question already. It is typical for Panfish on both Cutfoot and Little Cutfoot to receive a lot of fishing pressure in the fall. During the past couple of years though, a combination of factors have added even more pressure than usual.
The most obvious one is that the population of Crappies has really been strong. In 2013, there were thousands of fish in the 9-11 inch range and this year, the remaining population has achieved sizes ranging from 11 to 13 inches. That presents a very attractive opportunity and most folks, including me, have a hard time passing it up.
Here's the point that you already touched on when you said: "Walleye fishing was slow".
On a fishing trip, most folks, including me, want to find some fish to catch. There's a certain group of anglers who are targeting Walleyes (or some other species) and if they discover unfavorable conditions for catching them, turn to an alternative.
Fishing conditions on both Cutfoot and Winnie have been tricky this year. So fishermen who would typically be out doing something else have joined you in the pursuit of Crappies.
You asked; "How does the lake handle that much pressure?
A) Crappies are a resilient fish and their populations re-build quickly. Unfortunately though, what really control the fishing pressure are declines in population caused by fishing pressure.
Crappies have always been vulnerable to these "boom and bust cycles". They flourish, we find 'em, they decline, we move on and so on ... There aren't many back to back years of fantastic Crappie fishing on the same lake. One of these seasons, we will notice a decline as the populations are drawn down. Then the fishing pressure will disappear for a while and that will begin the next cycle.
I don't want to sound like I'm preaching. But please do me a favor and think about some important information regarding fishing in deep water.
Catching any freshwater fish (except Lake Trout) in deep water is extremely hard on them and the deeper you go, the worse it gets. Whenever I fish in water depths approaching 30 feet, I know that I am going to kill these fish and once I have reached a reasonable goal, I move on to another pursuit.
It's vital that we as fishermen learn more about the effects of Barotrauma on the fish that we think we are releasing. Many of them do not survive and we can help preserve some of these fish for next year by avoiding a few common mistakes.
I'm up against the clock right now, but I will re-touch on that subject as time allows.
Thanks for the report Steve and be sure to stay in touch!
Fishing Report September 17, 2014 - Any Way The Wind Blows, Doesn't Really ...
... Oh yes it does and I think we lived it twice on Tuesday as Walleyes came and went with the wind.
Heading out from Bowen Lodge on day 2 of the VA Nurses Mecca, I was hopeful, but skeptical about our chances of catching a lot of Walleyes. The forecast was calling for Blue skies and calm seas, the last thing I've wanted to hear in recent weeks.
At the landing, the surface temperature reading was below 60 degrees for the first time this fall. As we moved away from the shallow water at the dock, the temperature began creeping up, settling in at 60.6 degrees.
Lucky break #1 came in the form of an unexpected wind. Even though the sky was clear, the whitecaps provided incentive for Walleye to roam the flats, feeding along the way.
We worked along the weed edges in 10 to 12 feet of water and for most of the morning, 1/8 ounce Lindy Jigs tipped with good looking, 3-4 inch chubs produced enough strikes to keep us busy.
Just after noon, the wind lay down and when it faded, so did the Walleye action. There were still a few bites, but all of the sudden; we were working for strikes instead of reeling in fish. It was okay for the morning crew though, they had enjoyed a good run and while they hadn't reached their bag limit, they were really close.
The afternoon crew made me work a little bit harder, at least at first. The calm seas and sunny skies were working against our game plan. In fact, we had fished 3 spots without adding a single fish to their larder.
What I think was the key on Tuesday was that most of the Walleye were not primarily interested in rocks. I could find very few of them marked on the graph.
Instead,
they preferred heavier weed beds in 10 - 12 feet of water. Those heavy weeds contained the most fish and when the wind blew, the fish roamed out where we could catch them. When it stopped, they retreated back into the cover.
For skilled fishermen, rooting a few fish out of the heavy cover may be doable, but the weeds are unusally thick this year and working a bait in them is not an easy task.
That's why I was so happy when Lucky break #2 came in the form of a bank of clouds sliding overhead, bringing along a nice drifting breeze.
It was just like flipping on a light switch, Walleyes were back on the move within a half hour and once they were, we were back in business. The same presentation, 1/8 jig and minnow was working again and we were on a roll until the wind faded again and the sunny skies return.
This time it was like flipping the light switch back off, the action was over. Happily, we were at the end of our day and our creel, while not filled, was close enough to put a smile on everyone's face. it was time to make tracks to the resort where I'd cook up a fish fry for the whole crew.
This year, during our late inning rally, Mike Shepard snatched the big fish of the trip, a 25-1/2 inch Walleye. On day 1 though, Joyce captured a 14-1/2 inch Crappie and in my book, that is a spectacular catch too!
All in all, this trip was one of our better performances. We enjoyed good weather, good Crappie fishing and steady Walleye fishing too. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd say, "Let's do it again next time".
Fishing Report September 16, 2014 - It Looks Easy When Joyce Does It!
I'm about a day behind schedule on the reports right now. I don't know where the time goes, but it does seem to fly right off of the calendar pages, here's a quick rundown.
Monday was the kick off of the annual
VA Nurses Mecca to Bowen Lodge and we kicked off the fishing trip by having a pretty Crappie day. It's not too often that I send six people home with their bag limits of Crappie in a single day, but that's what happened yesterday. There is nothing new about the patterns, so just click on the report from the past week or so and you'll get all of the details.
We squeezed in some time to check out the Bluegill fishing too and that has some potential for today. But if the weather breaks in my favor, Walleye fishing will be the first priority.
I'll let you know what we decide and how it works out. But before I can do anything else, I have a little confession to make.
these daily fishing reports are designed to get you interested in traveling to the Itasca area for a fishing trip.
Knowing that you're excited about coming to pay us a visit does my heart good and I ALWAYS do my best to show you some of the great reasons for heading this way. If I had more time, I'd do even more.
That said, I also always try to paint a realistic picture of what's going on at any given time. I know how much you have invested in making a trip up here and I KNOW how important making a good decision about when to visit it is to you. That's why I bare my soul on the tough days with just as much enthusiasm as I do when I'm telling the story about the really good ones.
(9/16) This leads to the question that came by email from my good friend and customer Mike Nolan who asked; "Should we move our fishing time (to) after labor day in 2016? It seems like the fishing results in your blog are better after Labor Day.
A) Hmm..; not always Mike. You must have missed my report from September 10th. If it wasn't for warm fires and comfortable places to sit, that could have turned out to be a really hard day.
That said, it depends on what your fishing priorities are. Beginning shortly after Labor Day, surface temperatures cool and as it gets colder, Walleye become more active and so do Northern Pike. Crappie and Sunfish typically begin to gather in deep holes where they can be easy to find. So generally speaking, the fall is a perfect time to visit.
On the other hand, late summer and warm water have their advantages too. For one thing, you can fish without getting all bundled up and when you do, Bass and Panfish are very active. Walleye and Pike fishing have ups and downs during the summer. But give the right conditions, late summer Walleye and Pike fishing can be incredible.
Then there's the wild card, the one thing that's really tricky about being a fishing guide; matching up the right customer with the right opportunity.
Everyone who fishes has certain favorite things to do. Some folks like the increased action of fishing for Panfish while some would rather fish all day long for a chance to hook a single trophy fish; most are somewhere in between.
Before you can pin down the best time to fish in the Grand Rapids area, you have to take a realistic look at what your preferences are and then do your best to choose the season that best fills the bill.
I have an advantage because knowing you and Atcha (Mrs. Nolan), I would say that fishing these deep water Panfish patterns or fishing with jigs and minnow for fall walleye and Pike would be right up your alley.
The tradeoff would be decreased odds of getting in on the late summer "multi-species" action bite. Oh and yes, you'll probably have to bundle up a little bit more.
Because I know that there are lots of folks tuned in specifically to Walleye fishing, I've already prepared an article about Planning Your Walleye Fishing Trip .
Now that we've gone this far, I might just go ahead and expand the idea into a planner for every species.
So, for now, there are folks waiting on me and I've gotta run. I love it that you asked the question though and as time allows, I'll do my best to expand on the answers.
(9/16) From The Iron Range, Greg Clusiau wrote; "Meeting up Friday afternoon at the family cabin on Rainy Lake, we had plenty of time to get in a little fishing before supper. Crappie were the target and we were more than delighted to find them in their fall locations.
Early the next morning found us boating across the bay for our first ever cast and blast get-together. Having talked about doing this for years, it just hadn’t taken place. Now, here I was, gliding across the darkened waters of Rainy Lake with a shotgun and a big grin on my face. Also, the air... " >> Read Greg Clusiau's Full Report .
Fishing Report September 15, 2014 - Crappies Moving Deeper
On Sunday morning, the cold overnight temperatures and a strong West wind gave us the notion that Walleye fishing on Big Winnie could get just a little too chilly. So instead, I and my crew, Keith and Diane Eberhardt were decided to bide our time fishing calmer water where we could hopefully catch Panfish.
When we moved away from the dock, we found that surface water temperatures had dropped again, now holding steady at 60.6 degrees. The wind was raw and the sky was Grey, but there were still numerous places where we could hide from the wind.
At the first stop, we found the fish, but after catching a couple, the rest of them snubbed us. We moved to alternate plan C and the fish there were more cooperative. We were already about half way toward our goal of capturing 20 Crappies when the action began to fizzle out again. Instead of wasting the morning, hanging around to scrounge out the rest, I decided to go look at a place that I hadn't visited so far this fall. If they weren't there, then we switch over to Walleye fishing instead.
When we arrived at alternate plan D, there were already a few boats fishing and it looked like they were smack dab in the area that I had planned to search. I don't like stopping and pestering people while they're fishing, so instead we cruised along the breakline inside of where they were fishing. But the Humminbird didn't reveal any fish on the edge in the 20 to 24 foot range. We continued down the shore a 1/4 mile or so, found nothing and turned back toward the shallows for some Walleye fishing instead.
It was kind of Ironic; as we turned out and headed toward the shallow weedline, I said to Keith; "I suppose that I do have to consider the possibility that these Crappies have started moving deeper". Little did I know how soon those words would come back to me in the form of a favor! Fast forward >>>
Walleye fishing on the weed edges was going fairly well, we were drifting in about 12 feet of water and had caught 4 or 5 of them on the first pass. We were still in sight of the Crappie hole, but by now, the notion of catching Crappies was fading fast. Just then, a brand new looking, shiny Black Lund Boat was heading our way. I can't recall if it was an Impact or maybe a Crossover, but it sure was pretty.
It was the same boat that we had seen fishing in the Crappie hole and its captain was all smiles. It turned out to be a pal, Steve Sykes. He and his fishing partner were stopping by to say hi and to give me a heads up that the Crappies were indeed there, holding in 28 to 30 feet of water. I asked if they were still biting and he said yes, they were.
Whenever the boats were gone and the area was available, we went over to have a look. Sure enough, the fish were there and they were still active. It didn't take long to get the next 10 Crappies; we just dropped 1/8 ounce jigs tipped with Crappie minnows over the side and they cooperated.
Thank you Steve, that was a really nice tip, a fantastic time saver and I really do appreciate it!
From then on, we were back to the search for Walleyes and the results were similar to most recent trips. Jumping from point to point, fishing the breaks in 10 to 14 feet of water, we found small, scattered packs of fish. We never caught more than 4 or 5 fish in an area and sometimes we only got 1 or 2 bites. But we hardly ever stopped anywhere that didn't produce a couple of bites.
That's the pattern; the rule of thumb is to KEEP ON TRYING, knowing that every so often, you'll be in the right spot at the right time.
The days of hitting the mote lode are on the way and it's important not to get discouraged and give up now, because if you do, you might miss out on the first really great days that lay ahead. Of course, that's just my opinion ... :)!
Fishing Report September 14, 2014 - Jig & Minnow Walleye Pattern Solid on Winnie and Cutfoot Sioux
Jigging is synonymous with fall fishing on both Winnibigoshish and Cutfoot Sioux. For me, there's nothing more fun than to cast a jig into the water, hop it a few times and feel a Walleye strike.
If you were following the reports, then You Know, that Thursday was my first day of jigging this fall. It worked again on Friday and yet again on Saturday.
So with 3 full days of consistent Walleye fishing to serve as confirmation ...
"By special proclamation of Cub Reporter, Staff #003 IHBFBB, The jig and minnow bite is officially on!" ... :)!!
Saturday morning, Surface temperatures on Cutfoot Sioux had resisted dropping overnight Friday, stabilizing at 62 degrees. The wind was much stronger than predicted and that served to further confirm another theory that's been bouncing around in my head all season long. At first, it won't make sense, but if you think about it, the logic is sound.
On days with ideal fishing conditions, it's easier to catch "keeper size Walleye" than it is on bluebird days. Look at my reports to see what happened these past few days. On Thursday, it was breezy, overcast and drizzly. We caught 14 keepers, 3 slot fish and a couple of little ones. By Friday, conditions were calmer, sunnier and much less conducive to a "hot bite". That day we still caught about 20 fish, but the lion's shares of them were slot fish. On Saturday, back to the wind and Grey skies, we managed to bag nearly a dozen keepers, along with a half dozen slot-fish and a couple more little ones.
Here's the theory. Walleyes bite best when conditions are most favorable; during the evening bite, windy days, overcast conditions and other prime times.
Any time that there's more fish on the move, your chances of encountering smaller fish are enhanced. But on days where conditions are less favorable and fish are not naturally moving; it is the larger, more aggressive fish that get tempted into eating your bait. They're larger because they've been the most aggressive fish, feeding more often and more heavily. The smaller fish tend to lay low, waiting for more ideal feeding conditions.
This could go a long way toward explaining some of the changes that have taken place on Winnie over the past couple of years. Anglers who became comfortable with Winnie and its famous daytime Walleye bite have spent most of the summer believing that there were no fish left.
On the other hand, anglers who fish during the evening or early morning have been catching keeper size fish out there all summer long. Even for me, the evening bite has saved the day more than a few times.
Winnie's water has already been clearing up over the past few years. Now, with the discovery of Adult Zebra Mussels up the Mississippi at Cass Lake, all of these connected waters are likely to become even clearer.
It's just possible that we're going to have to adapt, we might just need to change when and where we fish out there.
I'll be thinking about this a lot more as we finish out the fall season and I'll do my best to keep you up to speed about what we learn. In the meantime, keeping an open mind could be a really great idea!
Fishing Report September 13, 2014 - Jig and Minnow Walleye Action
Looking outside my window this morning, I'd say that the mystery of when we'll see the first frost has already been solved. The lawn mowers might be getting parked earlier than I thought and maybe that will give me a few extra minutes to go hunting soon!
Following up on my Thursday report about Cutfoot Sioux Walleye fishing, here's what happened yesterday.
Surface temperatures chilled again, dropping another notch to 62 degrees. Ideally, we'd get a warming trend now. That would really encourage
an extended period of great action. I Know, it's hard to count on things like the weather. But YOU KNOW, that I AM the world's foremost authority on optimism, so I'm optimistic!
The fishing action on Friday was a little bit slower than Thursday, but not that much. The biggest difference for me and my crew was that the fish we caught on Friday were a little bit bigger, mostly between 17 and 19 inches and firmly within the protected slot. That affected our creel more than it affected our action . By days end, we caught about 20 fish including 6 keepers, 2 little guys and the balance of them were slot-fish.
I can save you a little time reading, because everything else that we did was already described in yesterdays report. Today, there's even more information posted on the Bowen Lodge Fishing Report so you can check out that one too.
Deer River-Blackduck Team Win MWC Tournament on Cass Lake
Cass Lake, Minn.—Sept. 13, 2014: Consistency was the key for Minnesotans Jay Braaten and Dan Swenson, who put together a pair of equally solid baskets to claim top honors at the Cabela’s Masters Walleye Circuit’s Cass Lake qualifier September 12-13, 2014.
“It’s really exciting,” Swenson, of Deer River, said of the win seconds after topping the 80-team field in front of a roaring crowd gathered at Stony Point Resort. “This was a great day,” beamed Braaten, of Blackduck. The event was Swenson’s second Circuit competition, and Braaten’s first. “It’s a good way to start out on the MWC,” he added.
After landing in fourth place on day one with a five-fish limit weighing 15 pounds, 9 ounces, Braaten and Swenson stormed the leaderboard with an identical day two weight for a 31-pound, 2-ounce total.
They relied on rigging creek chubs and redtails in 20 to 30 feet of water on ... Read Story >> MWC Walleye Tournament Cass Lake .
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September 13, 2014 - Winnie Walleye, Cutfoot Panfish"Jig and minnow combinations have now overtaken other, faster moving presentations. Walleyes are being located on shoreline points and weed edges. There a few anglers finding some fish on mid lake bars, but shoreline areas are getting the nod for being most productive. Key depths have been 10 to 14 feet and will vary from spot to spot. Don't fall into the trap of finding them at a certain depth on one spot and then expecting all of the spots to ... >> Cutfoot Sioux Fishing Report |
Fishing Report September 12, 2014 - Paybacks Are A ...
... BLESSING and on Thursday, my old friend Paul Vitse and his brother Gary just happened to be on hand to share both good fishing and a beautiful day!
After a 10 year absence from fishing with me, an recent email from Paul asked if there was any chance that I had an open date for he and his brother Gary. I mentioned that I'd been holding a date for someone who discovered that they couldn't use it; the timing worked out perfectly.
At the bait shop, I was scratching my head about our game plan. I told them that after our blustery, two day cold snap, the fishing could go 2 ways. The cooler weather could force some Walleyes out of their shallow, weedy hideouts onto the breaklines where they'd be vulnerable or it could make them hunker down for a couple of days.
Without knowing for sure, the safe bet was to pay a quick visit to Cutfoot where we could check out the Crappie hole. It was likely that the deeper water had been less affected by the cold front and those fish would probably be cooperative. Then if that worked, then we could try for Walleyes right there; switching to a second lake if either Winnie of Cutfoot was a bust.
At the landing, the surface temperature had fallen to 64 degrees; a 5 degree drop since my most recent visit on Monday. There was an unexpected chop on the water and there was already plenty of traffic on the lake too.
Several of the better Crappie spots were already occupied and I was lucky to find out that my "alternative Plan C" was still available. Even luckier was the fact that there were some fish there and that they were cooperative. Gathering 20 Crappies for the crew wasn't a very big job and it left us with plenty of time to experiment with Walleyes.
Jigging is synonymous with fall fishing on Winnibigoshish and Cutfoot and we thought it would be sweet to jump into fall pattern and forget about spinners, night crawlers and dirt for a while. I hoped that the water temperature had fallen enough to tease fish out of the spinner pattern and into the jig and minnow pattern.
We all rigged up a little differently, I used a Blue-Glow 1/8 ounce Lindy Jig. Paul tied on a 1/4 ounce Yellow-Green combination and Gary had a 1/8 ounce multi-color.
We tipped them with assorted minnows from the hodge-podge that has accumulated in my minnow tank. There were Rainbows, Golden Shiners, Fatheads, Dace and even some small Redtails. We just picked out the ones in the right size range and pinned them on.
Okay listen, I don't want to make this sound too good; but the results were definitely encouraging.
We spent the day moving around trying typical fall Walleye spots. We fished weed lines, points and small bars in water depths of 10 to 14 feet. By the time it was over, we had caught 20 Walleyes. We released 4 slot-fish, 2 little guys and bagged 14 keepers; 12 for the crew and 2 for me. Add to that the Crappies that we bagged in the morning and the creel was looking good for the crew.
Most encouraging though was that we only fished one spot where no fish were caught. At most of our stops, we got 2 or 3 fish and if we would have stayed longer, I'm confident that we could have filled our bag limit. But I didn't need more than 2 Walleyes and leaving a little early gave us time to mess around taking pictures, so that's what we did.
They say that the proof of the pudding is in the tasting, so before I can proclaim that the fall bite is really under way, we'll have to see if the pudding tastes the same today as it did yesterday.
Either way, for me, Thursday was a beautiful day, even more than usual! A beautiful day all the way around!
(9/12) From Keith Eberhardt; "Coming in tomorrow. Will be picking up bait Saturday morning. What are the walleye and crappie biting on? I normally pick up night crawlers, leaches, shiners and crappies minnows. - Thanks, Keith Eberhardt
A) Keith, I don't think you'll find many leeches up here right now and I doubt that you'll need them.
Until yesterday, we had been catching Walleyes on Lindy Spinners tipped with 1/2 night crawlers. But as I wrote in today's report, jig and minnow worked well on Thursday.
I know that you won't find any spot tails up here right now. But you can get Golden Shiners, Rainbows and Fatheads. For me, the Rainbows are a good option and that's what I'll be stocking up on for today.
Crappies are in the same patterns that I've written about over the past couple of weeks. Water depths of 18 to 22 feet are best on Big Cutfoot. Jigs tipped with minnows will work fine. So will a variety of small artificial tails. If you want to go with artificials, then I'd say use 1 inch size minnows or the ones with the needle type of tails.
(9/12) From Steve Sykes; "I plan on going up to Cutfoot this Saturday and fishing through Monday. Do you have any tips for catching walleyes and crappies.?
Last year when you took us out, the crappies were still in the weeds and we used Ripple Shads and did very well. Will these work vertical jigging if the crappies are deep? Any help would be appreciated. - Steve Sykes
A) Steve, most of your question is already answered in today's report except this.
I don't think you'll need to focus on the weeds as much this fall. There are relaible schools of fish on the sharp drops and inside corners. Jigs in the 1/16 to 1/8 ounce range tipped with small minnows are fine. The swim baits won't be required for these deep fish, but they could be useful this fall in Little Cutfoot where the fish have tended to be spread out horizontally along the shoreline breaks.
Slowly trolling and using a soft jig-swim-jig
approach will be a good way to utilize those swim baits. Good Luck!
Fishing Report September 11, 2014 - Readers Weigh In
Knowing that most fishing patterns will be changed by the blustery weather that just blew through, I think that today's report will be better if I wait and give it to you tomorrow.
In a couple of hours, we'll see how the surface temperatures held up during the cold snap and get a feel for the reaction of the fish too.
I'll be sure to give a heads up about trends for this weekend by turning in a solid report for Friday. In the mean time, here are a couple of questions from my in box.
(9/11) From Tom Howell; "I was reading your report today, and you were talking about having a real tough day on the water. I know you have enormous experience as a guide, and I would be very interested in your perspective.
I've guided some, and I really felt bad and struggled with those days when nothing I did worked. I felt bad for my clients, and never really new how to apologize or explain why? What do you say, what do you do? Do you ever offer to take less money, etc. Thanks buddy, much appreciated! - Tom Howell
A) Well Tom, that's a really interesting question because there are so many variables. As it happens, on this particular day, I did not accept any money for the fishing trip. That's rare, very rare, but I have a personal policy about it and when I choose to exercise the option, I do it willingly. Luckily, almost all of the time, I do get paid for my work.
How I respond to hard days on the water depends a lot on what's happened to cause the disruption. Weather can throw some real curve balls at a fisherman and so can people. Remember Clint Eastwood's quote? "A man's gotta know his limitations."
If there's a reason that I know that it is going to be a tough day, I accept it and set the stage early for my customers. I try to give them a realistic expectation about how the day will go. Never bragging about how good it was yesterday, only focusing on how I think today will be. After I've done that, I do my level best to exceed whatever expectations they have. Promise a little and deliver a lot.
Luckily, most of the time, we find something really fun to do and there are seldom any apologies needed. But during those really hard days, while I'm working my way through, I’ve often said something like; "I am really sorry, I am working on it, I'm doing my best and sooner or later I will find you something to do".
For me, it seems like people know when you're trying and they know when you're not. Everybody has tough days sometimes, so they understand when they see you fighting an uphill battle. For whatever reason, the rougher the going gets, the harder I try! That’s just the way I do it and for me, it works. - Sooner or later, there's always a happy ending, even when isn't a giant pail of fish!
(9/11) When Derek Johnson wrote his comments yesterday, he ended by asking; "Lastly any tips on getting oneself into your line of work? It’s my dream.
I’m a sales rep by profession. I'm sure that networking with people, building client rapport and marketing is huge what else? - Keep up the great work" - Derek Johnson."
A) Well Derek, it's really not all that hard to get into guiding. If you have reasonably good gear, a suitable boat and a few extra bucks to spend on insurance, then you're a guide!
If you want to follow in my footsteps, then I'd suggest taking the same simple approach that I did 30 years ago. Before you quit your day job and start worrying about "Marketing" your guide business, take a year or two and start "being a guide". Offer to take friends, family and business acquaintances fishing. They will all offer to pick up the tab for bait and help with gas etc..
Even though you'll be operating without charging a lot of money for a trip, you'll be getting more, you'll get a valuable education. You'll be discovering whether you really like "being a guide" or not.
If you figure out that you really love people and really do want to be involved in an intensely competitive service business, then you can take it to the next level.
These days, $500 will take you a long way toward marketing the business and you will get some calls. Once you're on the water with paying customers, the whole business changes. It's no longer about your fishing, it's about their fishing. See to it that they enjoy themselves while they fish with you and you'll be successful. It's really that simple.
Fishing Report September 10, 2014 - September Whitecaps Roll In Changing Patterns
On Lake Winnibigoshish this Tuesday, blustery Northwest winds got the best of us. An early morning attempt to capitalize on the weed flat/spinner pattern that I've mentioned recently, yielded little more than a healthy dosage of chilly fingers.
Hoping to save the day by moving to a smaller, calmer Panfish lake, I got another surprise. The fish werent there, at least not where I expected to find them.
The small lake, typically a no-brainer at this time of year, just wasn't into the swing of fall fishing patterns yet.
Another disappointment was that the fish that we did find on this tiny lake were very small and still hunkered down in the weeds. Scanning the deep water, the Humminbird did reveal a few fish. But the ones that we found in deeper, open water had a serious case of lockjaw.
By the end of the day, there just wasn't too much good fishing news to report.
Humility is born of this type of day and for me, the best I can do is to chalk it up to a another good learning experience.
The good news is that the cold front that disrupted this fishing trip, will likely be the catalyst that delivers us the fall patterns that we've been chomping at the bit to see.
I for one, am looking forward to a good old fashioned jig and minnow bite and I think now, it's probably just a few days away.
For today, it's questionable; if we figure out a spot to beat the wind, the fishing could either be really good or really tough. We'll know soon enough and I expect that more fall like images will be showing up on these pages very soon.
(9/10) Derek Johnosn wrote; "First off I want to say thanks; it takes a lot of work putting all the info together that you do along with guiding. I wanted to share my story from a tad bit south of your area.
I’ve followed your page ever since my buddy moved back to MN from New Mexico. We were in search of a great lake to get him some walleyes. We wound up staying on Lake Winnie 2 summers ago. I enjoyed it so much that many weekends I'd take a day trip there with friends.
I caught many fish there. Highlight was last year shortly after opener myself 29 yrs. old and 3 brothers 27, 15, 12 all took a trip and although we got rained out after day one our first 2 hours out yielded nearly a limit for the 4 of us including a 27 inch Walleye caught by the youngest.
I grew up fishing the walker area on small lakes, spending the summer with grandparents who lived there.
Upon coming of age I moved to the Brainerd area from "no lake land" of SW MN and didn’t pick fishing back up until the aforementioned 2 years ago.
My rig wasn’t pretty at first but the equipment doesn’t matter as much as the electronics and fish patterns.
Ultimately, I’ve caught plenty of Walleye, I breathe and sleep Walleye fishing. With all the fish caught the trophy fish was elusive.
The resort area down here sees a lot of fishing pressure and with that, lower and smaller fish populations.
After reading your report for sept 7th, I was encouraged to try a 5000 acre lake hoping for a few fish. I ended the night with only 1 fish but it was well worth it.
The story of the catch is long; net tangled in spare pole, black lab excited for the fish and nearly knocking me over, peeling line, barely hooked fish etc. Still the event yielded this 10 Lb plus Walleye it was just over 30 inches, a monster.
I’d like to thank you for the work you do, it helps. The area guides down here sadly are more showmen than guides. The knowledge base reflects a disconnect that has occurred.
Thankfully your area still has guides like yourself.
Lastly any tips on getting oneself into your line of work it’s my dream. I’m a sales rep by profession. I'm sure that networking with people, building client rapport and marketing is huge what else? - Keep up the great work" - Derek Johnson.
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Lund Boats’ 2014 Angler & Young Angler Championship Winning anglers weigh trophy walleyes toward a trip to Disney World New York Mills, Minn. (September 9, 2014) – For generations of aspiring anglers, early recollections of adventures center on their very first fish, which often was hooked while fishing from a Lund Boat. |
| The legendary boat company’s longtime commitment to youth and its efforts to recruit young anglers has remained as steadfast as the iconic brand itself. That tradition of infusing the sport with youthful exuberance continued on August 23, as Lund Boats hosted its sixteenth annual Angler & Young Angler (AYA) Championship. Read full story >> AYA Fishing Championship | |
Fishing Report September 9, 2014 - Panfish Retreat To The Weeds?
On Cutfoot Sioux and Lake Winnibigoshish, migrating fish made my Monday sort of a head scratcher.
After almost a solid week of fishing exclusively on Winnie and Cutfoot, I thought that I had a pretty good feel for where the Panfish were; the operative word being "were".
No, it wasn't a disaster; they didn't all completely disappear and ruin our fishing day. But it was evident that a lot of Panfish had moved from where they were, to where they are now; I think back toward the weeds.
Surface temperatures were on the rise again, ending the day at 70 degrees on Little Cutfoot, 68 degrees on Big Cutfoot.
The warming trend, coupled with heavy fishing pressure and stable weather probably encouraged active fish to move back into the weed lines where food is more abundant. Inactive fish, pestered by too much fishing pressure would be likely to move into the same weeds just to hunker down and take a breather.
Because we stuck with the open water pattern, managing to find enough stragglers to produce a decent catch, the only evidence that I have to support my theory is a couple of sightings and an educated guess.
The fact remains that most of the fish that were holding in open water territory have temporarily moved. It's not likely that they made a mass migration to another lake, so then if they aren't out in open water, they must be in the heavier cover.
According to the weather forecast, we'll have a chance to test my theory as the next cold snap moves into the area. Falling water temperatures will chill the shallow water first, sending Panfish back onto the breaklines where temperatures fall more slowly.
Walleye fishing on Winnibigoshish was too tricky for us yesterday. We attempted to fish the weed flats using spinners and did manage to catch a few fish. But the gusty wind and whitecaps made controlling my boat speed very difficult. Fishing with 5 lines in the water, trolling was becoming a little too dis-organized for effective pursuit of the fish in that territory.
As Bill put it; "It's all about getting a bite", so rather than bouncing around, hoping to find a better Walleye deal, we decided that it would be more fun to stick with the Panfish.
By days end, we had managed a nice catch of Crappies, not quite a limit, but very close. There were a handful of Sunfish and 3 Pike in our creel too. The Walleyes that we did catch were all in the protected slot, so we didn’t bag any of them.
Using Lindy Spinners tipped with night crawlers cut in half caught the most fish while we were on Little Cutfoot. The fish we found on Big Cutfoot were deeper and gathered more tightly. It was more efficient to fish vertically with 1/8 ounce jigs and small minnows.
(9/9) From Bowstring Lake, Trails End Resort; "Greatest weekend of the whole summer, said Erin Charlton as she described their Heroes On The Water event.
The winner of the free Weekend for 4 at Trails End Resort was
Russ Vernon from Dubuque, IA. Russ won the prize by catching a 30" Northern Pike! " >> Geiger's Trails End Reosrt .
(9/9) From The Iron Range, Greg Clusiau wrote; "After a great day on the water, catching dozens of crappie and walleye, I switched gears and went to a different lake a day later. There’s no need to beat a body of water to death, even though all fish were released.
On my way to the next lake, I realized it would be too windy to fish it the way I wanted to so a change of plans was made on the fly. I drove right on past this crappie wonderland and headed further north to a great little panfish and walleye lake.
Once there, I was a little surprised at the" Learn More >> Read Greg Clusiau's Full Report .
(9/9) From Lake of the Woods, Mike Kinsela, Border View Lodge; "We are getting ready again to host the MTT Championship. This Thursday and Friday will be tough competition for the number 1 spot and a brand new Skeeter boat goes to the winners.
We have still been covering the lake. Depending on the wind we have been from Little Oak to Pine Island and all points in between. Anchored and jigging or drifting with spinners has continued to be the question, each day it seems to change between the two. Fishing has been great. Many large Walleye caught and released and nice keepers all day. We have had a few large Sturgeon this past week also.
The fall is filling in fast, so if you want to book a trip planning sooner may be in your best interest. Also winter is booking in, it’s time to get your dates coordinated.
It may be cooling off this week. There are a few days where high are predicted to be in the 50’s with potential 30’s overnight." - 1-800-776-3474 Border View Lodge .
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Lund Boats’ 2014 Angler & Young Angler Championship Winning anglers weigh trophy walleyes toward a trip to Disney World New York Mills, Minn. (September 9, 2014) – For generations of aspiring anglers, early recollections of adventures center on their very first fish, which often was hooked while fishing from a Lund Boat. The legendary boat company’s longtime commitment to youth and its efforts to recruit young anglers has remained as steadfast as the iconic brand itself. That tradition of infusing the sport with youthful exuberance continued on August 23, as Lund Boats hosted its sixteenth annual Angler & Young Angler (AYA) Championship. |
| Originated by Lund in 1998, AYA fishing events engage youth and enable them the opportunity to fish in a competitive tournament atmosphere – this while priorities remain to educate and introduce young folks to fishing with the help of friends and family. Teams consist of two young anglers under 17, one adult angler, and a certified professional Lund guide. Events including the AYA Championship, consist of a full day of fishing followed by a weigh-in, prizes, awards and a BBQ. Top finishing teams from each regional event are invited to fish in the Championship, held this year on Ontario’s scenic Lake of the Woods. Among this year’s sixteen Championship qualifying teams, siblings Kylee and Tyler Rassmussen of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, emerged victorious, winning a trip for four to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The successful sister and brother team, sponsored by Ray’s Sport & Marine in Grand Rapids, MN, skillfully landed 23.25-pounds of Lake of the Woods walleyes, thanks to the adept guiding of Lund Boats Product Engineer Rory Wiebe, as well as their father Brad Rassmussen. “The AYA Championship is just an awesome event,” said the elder Rassmussen. “To be able to fish with my kids and actually win both the regional and international tournaments is unbelievably special. The memories we’ve made this year will never be forgotten. Both Kylee and Tyler proudly wore their new AYA Tournament jerseys all weekend, including the trip home Sunday. After we won, Tyler had to keep pinching himself to make sure he was not dreaming that we had won a trip to Disney World. “Lund Boats and all the volunteers do a tremendous job organizing and conducting this event, and we’re extremely grateful to this wonderful fishing boat company, and the leadership position they’ve assumed in youth angling today.” As to the fishing, Rassmussen reported that “Crankbaits, spinner rigs and jigs all caught walleyes, though the spinners were probably our most effective presentation. Special thanks to Lund’s own Rory Wiebe for his fishing expertise and guidance.” Having guided at numerous AYA tournaments, renowned Canadian angler and Lund pro-staff Jeff “Gussy” Gustafson added perspective. “As someone with a passion for tournament fishing it's great to see kids who might not otherwise get the opportunity to fish a tournament compete in AYA events. Watching kids of all ages catch fish and wear big smiles throughout these events is really special. “It’s great to see Lund and the fishing industry support these AYA events. This is a truly outstanding organization that continues introducing numerous youngsters to the joys and rewards of competitive angling across North America.” From Lund Boats and the fishing industry at large, shared sentiments ring far and wide: Welcome young anglers to the most wonderful sport in the world. You’ll never regret the days you spend on the water. For more information about Lund Boats’ commitment to youth fishing programs and Angler & Young Angler tournaments, visit www.lundboats.com, or log onto www.angleryoungangler.ca. Here you’ll find info on upcoming events as well contact and sponsor info, plus photos and videos from previous tournaments. |
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Fishing Report September 8, 2014 - Howling At The Moon On Lake Winnibigoshish
The birds know, the fish know and even I KNOW that there's something special about the Harvest Moon. Even if I can't explain exactly what happens, I can say that there is magic in the air during this Full Moon.
I hope that you trust me enough to take my advice, get out your fishing rod and enjoy a troll around your favorite lake while we have these ideal conditions.
On Lake Winnie this weekend, I followed my own advice and hunkered down for some industrial strength trolling with spinners over the weed tops. That turned out to be a good idea because even if we didn't fill the boat with "keepers", we did enjoy a couple days of steady action.
What you catch depends on where you troll; on Saturday, Crappie and Bluegill provided the entertainment in Cutfoot Sioux. On Sunday, Walleye and Northern Pike helped keep somebody's pole bent for most of the day.
When I picked up my crew on Sunday, the first thing I told them was that I was lucky, I had learned from the mistakes that I made last week. In other words, instead of knowing what TO DO, I knew what NOT TO DO! So no more running all over the
lake in search of one spot that would provide a "hot bite", no. This time I settled in on a weed flat that has a decent population of fish and just kept working it; that turned out to be a good idea.
Trolling Lindy Spinners at 1.0 to 1.1 MPH over the weeds in 10 to 12 feet of water produced a dozen Pike ranging in size from 24 inches up to one bruiser that was pushing the 40 inch mark.
Walleyes numbered a dozen too, 5 of them were "keeper size" and the rest of them were protected slot fish.
Surface temperatures are stubborn, holding steady in the 67 to 69 degree range on Big Winnie and from 68 to 70 degrees on Cutfoot Sioux. I guess that's why the spinners continue to produce.
It looks like we have some colder weather heading this way and that's liable to throw a monkey wrench into this pattern, so for now, enjoy it while you can.
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September 7, 2014 - Winnie Walleye, Cutfoot Panfish Fall Colors"This year fishing Winnie has been challenging; establishing contact with a school of Walleyes and then fine tuning the correct presentation has been like trying to pass an "Advanced Calculus" exam. |
Remember the report about catching Largemouth Bass by "Dead-Sticking" YUM Dingers?
Well
I linked up a video that does a really nice job of explaining how to do it. In fact, the video portrays what we were doing almost perfectly. Click here to see the video >> How to Dead Stick the YUM Dingers .
Fishing Report September 6, 2014 - Going Horizontal For Early Fall Panfish
Many of the Itasca area's Panfish have seen the calendar and taken note that it's September. These are the fish that already moved into the deeper, shoreline related pockets of water that I've written about for the past couple of weeks.
Many of these popular fall spots are now solid producers and I think that it's safe to say that they will continue to provide reliable action for the next few weeks.
What about some of the other good Panfish lakes? The ones that don't have a lot of deep water where Panfish can move into this classic deep water fall pattern.
Many shallow water lakes that appear to have little or no structure can still be fantastic Panfish lakes. The problem is that Crappies and Sunfish don't always play by the same rules as their deep water cousins. Often, the fish in these lakes spread out horizontally across the bottom or along a soft, slow tapering breakline.
On Friday, I and the boys from the "Fall Crony Tour" found out that trolling the breakline has its rewards too.
At the moment, the hours are clicking off of the clock even faster than usual! I'll be working on perfecting the system and I promise to pick up right where we left off at the very earliest opportunity!
Fishing Report September 4, 2014 - Well Fed Winnie Walleyes Still Coaxable
This year fishing Winnie has been challenging; establishing contact with a school of Walleyes and then fine tuning the correct presentation has been like trying to pass an "Advanced Calculus" exam.
For many casual Walleye fishermen, solving the equation isn't worth the trouble, they'd rather just wait until they here they the fish are biting. But for more persistent anglers who are willing to make adjustments and stick with a pattern until it pays off, there are good opportunities. For me, Wednesday was one of those good days to hunker down and figure it out.
Fishing with Leroy Kramer who was solo on this trip, we had already used Tuesday for gathering Panfish. We had enough Crappie and Sunfish to satisfy his allowance, so there would be no need to pester Panfish again. If there was to be a mixed bag opportunity, we'd find it wherever there were Perch and Walleye; so that's what we set out to find.
When we left the dock at Bowens, surface temperatures were holding steady at 68 degrees. The skies were too blue for my liking, but there was a good chop on the surface, enough to make looking at the rocks a good idea.
Working our way across the North side of Winnibigoshish, we stopped at a variety of rock bars and small rock humps.
Isolated rock bars found out and away from the shoreline, were largely empty of fish. Conversely, checking spots that were fairly close, within a half mile of shore revealed that they had fish on almost all of them.
There were tons of Perch that were way too small and then there were a lot of them that were just too small, then some of them that were almost big enough, but not quite. The Perch that actually met our self-imposed size restriction of 10 inches, numbered exactly a half dozen.
According to my Humminbird, there were Walleyes on the rocks too, but fishing for them wasn't going very well. I caught one good keeper on a jig and minnow, the rest of them would not strike. Confirming 100% that these marked fish were Walleyes would not have been possible, except that we stumbled into a crew of DNR fisheries staff. This crew was doing population assessments on the lake and just happened to have a team scuba diving on some of these same rock bars.
When we pulled alongside to say hello, they offered us details about their study, including the fact that they had been spotting Walleyes on these rocks too. That tells me that next time, I'll either have to try offering them something tastier than a jig and minnow or maybe that I'll need to get there earlier in the morning.
Our next stop was on the weed flats where we fished with spinners tipped with 1/2 night crawlers. Leroy caught a nice keeper and there were a handful of smaller Perch there too. The weeds had some potential, but as we began working up a head of steam, the surface of the lake went flat and so did my faith in the trolling pattern.
Next, we looked at a half dozen of the "North Humps". Scanning these particular humps with the Humminbird did not make me enthusiastic about them at all. I saw very few fish and when I did, they appeared only to be small Perch and other undesirables.
I could feel the clock ticking and decided not to go further south for a look at any of the larger bars. But when I got home last night, messages from friends indicated that there are fish being caught on the Bena Bar, Horseshoe Bar and Moses Bar too.
For us, a trip Eastward to check out the Highbanks area eventually led to a series of stops ending at the deep weed flats in Tamarack Bay.
By now, the sky was Grey and there was a slight chop on the water, it was just enough to renew my faith in trolling spinners again. We started moving through the weeds and for me; the minutes were going by slowly. I was thinking, scratching my head about the next move and I was nearly ready to sound the closing bell on this session when Leroy said; "Ooh, I got one!"
For an hour or so, there was enough action to keep us both interested and entertained. I was especially happy for Leroy, trolling the spinners was particularly well suited to his style of fishing. That meant that he was getting the lion’s share of the action, which is how it should be.
We could have stuck with this presentation longer and we would have done that, but before we were finished, a strong wind kicked up. Whitecaps slapping at the Wave Wackers made trolling at a consistent speed really tricky and we decided to leave the waves for one last visit to calm water to say good bye to the Sunfish.
So there you have it, we paid our dues, but it was worth the trouble. It wasn't in the cards for us to "knock 'em dead", but we did finally figure out a place to fish where a solid pattern worked. In the end, Leroy goes home with limits of Sunfish, Crappie and as a bonus, his 6 Walleyes too.
For me, this has been the upshot of every fishing story from Lake Winnie this whole summer. If you say that you want Walleyes and are willing to work through a whole day to figure out where they are biting, then you will catch them. But if you're a dabbler, then it's going to be your own personalilty that beats you.
In other words, you need to enjoy the hunt almost as much as you enjoy bagging the fish. From my own experience, I can tell you that nothing tastes sweeter than the fish you catch on a tough day. There's something rewarding about KNOWING that you've paid your dues and won!
So let's just say that you're fishing on Winnibigoshish today and for you, catching Walleyes is the #1 priority. Then I think that if you spend a full day working the weeds, you will eventually get your fish.
If you prefer deep water, then avoid the mid lake humps and focus your effort on the lakes larger bars and stick with it until you lead yourself to some fish.
Fishing Report September 3, 2014 - Early To Bed, Early To Rise, Get Out There Early and Catch Some ...
At least we're hoping that for Lake Winnie, the Early Bird gets the Walleye. So today, I'm going to run the report backwards and write it up tonight, after we find out.
ON Upper Red Lake (9/3) - Walleye action continues to be good. Most fishermen are trolling the shoreline breaks in 5 to 8 feet of water using Gold Little Joe Spinners.
Trolling crankbaits is an option too, especially if you're looking to capture some larger size fish.
With water temperatures falling, be ready to try jigs tipped with larger artificial action tails. We have had good luck with swim baits like the YUM Money Minnow.
On Leech Lake (9/3) - Trolling the weeds using spinners and night crawlers continues to produce a mixed bag of Perch, Northern Pike and Walleye.
Weeds are the main ingredient to making the spinner fishing pay off. The best areas to fish are patches of Cabbage weeds, but when you locate the deeper, lowing lying grass line, fishing over the top of these sparse weeds will produce fish too.
At least for the moment, There doesn't appear to be any significant "rock bite" going on out there, but again, cooler water temperatures are on their way and it won't be long before jig and minnow combinations on the rocks will begin to pay off.
(9/3) One parting thought.
It's always nice to get a pat on the back and I got one really nice one from Paul Fournier who dropped me this note on facebook;
"Jeff, you will be happy to know your tip about sharp break, inside turn location for early fall crappies is also working well on metro lakes. Enjoyed a great evening on the water with schools of crappies loving the vertical jigging. Thanks for the great tip!!!!" And Thank You Too Paul!!
(9/3) Bowstring Lake, Trails End Resort; "Crappie are in abundance and continue to strike readily for our guests who are trolling the weed edges using Little Joe Spinners. From what we've been seeing, almost everyone on the lake is catching plenty of these tasty fish.
Walleye and Perch Perch are mixed in and anglers who cover a lot of territory do roll into them. Your best bet is to work the weed lines in 7 to 9 feet of water, cover as many fresh spots as possible and captialize on the small packs of fish as you encounter them.
Walleye and Perch appear top be roaming the flats as they feed. That means that they are literally turning up in a new area every few days.
Watch your chart for areas where deeper water swings the closest into the shoreline. Even what appear to be subtle changes make a big difference to these schooling fish.
Now would be a good time to get your reservartions in for the Fall and Winter season. Fall Discounted rates apply. If you are just visited the lake for a day, don't forget we have gasoline, bait and pizzas and pop.
Get in touch with us to see what we have open. >> Geiger's Trails End Reosrt .
Fishing Report September 2, 2014 - The Countdown To Fall Fishing Patterns
You can feel it in the air, surface temperatures nudging their way down, days getting shorter and school busses on the roads. The birds know it; the fish know it and luckily, I Know It Too!
Whether we like it or not, fall is already here and it is gonna fly by. So hurry up and get with it, there's not a minute to waste!
On Monday, surface temperatures moved down again, this time hovering between 67 and 68 degrees. Northwest Winds blew in a taste of some dryer, more fall-like weather and the sunshine highlighted early signs of a color change in the tree tops.
Panfish patterns, the primary focus of my reports for over a week now, remain stable. I won't go through all of that again because you can just browse last week’s reports for everything you need.
Northern Pike and Musky fishing have been getting the cold shoulder in my reports because I haven't been out there chasing them. But recent reports from others are making me believe that I'm missing the boat (pun intended) on chasing toothy critters.
On Saturday, my friends Bill, Chester and Billy stopped to say hi on their way to the Musky hole. About 45 minutes later, I had a text that contained a photo with a caption that said; "That was fun". Within a half hour, I had another picture from another friend of another Musky. Yes, I'll bet that was fun too!
This morning, my friend Joe Thompson has this to say about the West side of Lake Winnibigoshish...
(9/2) On Lake Winnibigoshish, Joe Thompson, Four Seasons Resort says; "Northern fishing continues to dominate the fishing at Four Seasons. Some very nice northerns have been caught this past week. Sucker minnows, spoons, jigs and minnows, crank baits, jerk baits, you name it, they are catching pike with them. Many fish over 30" have been caught. Some released, like the 35" that is pictured here, some kept for eating. There have been no shortage of smaller pike caught, as well.
Perch have been scattered. It is tough to find a spot where there is a school of nice keeper size perch. Most of the fish are relating to the weeds, with crayfish their main forage. If you work these areas and do some sorting, you can get your fish.
Walleyes remain elusive. Some good signs are the small fish that are finally showing up. Not keepers, yet, but will be next year. The fish that are being caught are taking jigs and minnows, spinners with crawlers, and crankbaits.
Remember, we are out of leeches, so if you want to fish with them, pick some up on your way to the resort. Our fall cabin special kicks in today. The leaves will be turning soon, it is a very beautiful time to be up here in the coming weeks. Check our availability and give us a call." >> Four Seasons Resort .
Fishing Report September 1, 2014 - Wanna See How Fast 30 Days Goes By?
For anybody who's ever thought that 30 days is a long time, try checking off everything on this Northern Minnesota to-do list; Walleye Fishing, Crappie Fishing, Bluegill Fishing, Musky Fishing, Pike Fishing, Bass Fishing, Perch Fishing, Dove Hunting, Archery Deer Hunting, Early Goose Season, Bear Hunting, Fall Color Tour, Mushroom Hunting, Wild Rice Harvest OH and ... don't forget, squeeze in time to eat and sleep too!
Nobody's perfect, especially not me. But I do promise this; I've got 30 days to try and squeeze it all in and I'm gonna give it my best shot!! In fact, since I'm in such a hurry to do that and since most of we did yesterday can be found in Bowens report anyhow, I better get going right now!
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Oh I know, I've got a head start ... HA !! You'll just have to try and catch up then!! See You!!
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September 1, 2014 - Crankin' Out Walleye and Pickin' Up Panfish!"With all of the great Panfish that our guests are bringing in, we're not too sure if anybody is really paying attention, but there is a Walleye bite on Lake Winnibigoshish and it's a pretty darn good one. |
(9/1) From Lake of the Woods, Mike Kinsela, Border View Lodge; "Although the weather wasn’t great this past week the fishing was! We have headed into fall temperatures already. It has been cooler with lots of wind and some rain. The rough waters kept us south the first part of the week fishing by Zipple Bay and the Fields. The days we went north the fishing was great. We fished north of Garden by little oak using both spinners and jigs.
If you haven’t already, look to book your fall fishing trip and take advantage of our fall specials! We have some availability left but we are booking fast so call today!
Sturgeon fishing is in season until September 30th if you are looking to come up and fish Sturgeon. We are also getting into fall hunting season. Bear opener is September 1st, early goose opens September 6th and grouse opens September 13th. There are a lot of birds in the air it should be a good Goose season.
If you are heading up this next week make sure to pack a sweatshirt or jacket for the mornings. Also you may need your rain gear as well as sunscreen! It looks as if we will have a few days of rain and a few full of sunshine. The lows will be in the 50’s with highs in the 70’s." - 1-800-776-3474 Border View Lodge .
It was a great day to be Roy Zbinden who began his first ever Minnesota fishing trip with the question: "So how do I get the line to come off of the reel?" Pictured with his first ever, freshwater fish, a Crappie.
... and by days end, Roy was fishing like an old pro! Not a bad effort for day number one. Will Roy use the 1/8 ounce Lindy Jig and minnow combo to earn his masters certificate today?
Marty Glackin shows off one of his better efforts too! Lake Winnie Walleye are feeding on small Tulibees and other baitfish along the deep weedlines. Key depths are from 12 to 14 feet of water.
Lake Winnibigoshish Walleyes were on the prowl again this Monday. The big lake has turned on according to the folks at Bowen Lodge. Read >> Lake Winnie Fishing Report .
Leech Lake produces highlights even on a tough fishing day. Patrick Parr shows off a fat Leech Lake Walleye caught on a jig and minnow in 11 feet of water.
Using a 1/8 ounce Yellow/Orange Lindy Jig, tipped with a 2 inch Perch pattern split tail turned out to be the perfect combination. Young Perch are the primary forage for these larger inhabitants.
I don't know if you'll get a kiss on the cheek. But if you'll do some sorting on Leech Lake, you'll get rewarded with some Jumbos like these hefty Leech Lake 13 inchers.
Leech Lake Walleye are getting more cooperative. Kyle Reynolds' highlight reel includes this dandy that we
caught after our Perch fishing, on a quick drift along the big break.
September 26, 2014
It was a nice float down the Mississippi for Karen Reynolds who bagged this nice Walleye by "Jigging The Holes" with a 1/8 ounce Green/Orange lindy Jig tipped with a Rainbow Chub.
Wednesday was a good day to be Kyle Reynolds. Showing off one of his better Lake Winnie Walleyes. Smile? Yes, they both are smiling, can't you tell?
Looking at the girth of both fish and you'd swear they were from one of the Grand Rapids area's "high growth rate lakes" like Pokegama. Well fed, content fish require a bit more persuasion. But when you're persistent ... :)!!
Lake Winnie's 15-17 inch Walleyes that had supposedly vanished from the lake just happen to be on the prowl, providing great fishing action right now. This one took a 1/8 ounce Lindy Jig tipped with 4 inch Rainbow Chub. >> Lake Winnie Fishing Report
Photo Gus' Place Resort: Ball Club Lake fall patterns have kicked in too. Walleye, Crappie and the lake's specialty; good size Northern Pike are on the move.
Dick Williams (above) and I were fishing with YUM Dingers rigged in a variety of ways, but the absolute best presentation was with the 4/0 worm hooks rigged weedless in the tail (skinny end) and half of a 16 penny nail in the nose (the fat end).
I guess that you'd have to know me to judge the size. But that ain't no little paw gripping that nice Bass!
Active Walleye were on the flats, at the upper edges of holes on corners and bends in the river. Lindy Jigs in 1/8 to 3/16 ounce sizes tipped with large minnows worked well.
Of all the dew drops in the world, the most beautiful dropped in here. Keeping a watchful eye on ... the Lucky Number for 9/22/14 2,220,480 and ... :)!!
Photos courtesy cub reporter, staff #004: Steve Parker,
who while attempting to guide his girlfriend
Mary Weirauch to her first Musky, wound up landing two of them himself. Within an hour, he boated these two, a 49 inch and a 50 inch
fish.
Keeping live bait fresh can be the secret to catching fish on a tough day. You can keep your valuable bait alive all day long on one tank of fresh water. For lots of us, it's worth the effort in terms of saving money. But it's also the best way to keep invasive species from spreading to your favorite fishing lake. Read Article >> Keeping Your Live Bait Alive .
Don't blink! It may seem like the fall colors are just beginning to appear, but I think that they are going to peak really fast this year. If you don't want to miss them, get outside this weekend and you will see them at their best.
As the seas calmed and the Sun burned off the clouds. Smallmouth Bass acted like they had been lying in wait for the good news. As the day warmed, they showed up in good numbers on the rocky points too.
Walleyes were tucked into the inside corners nearby heavy weed cover where shadowy conditions provide security.
They were catchable by rooting them out of the weedy cover.
Mike Shepard captured the big fish title of the trip with this fatty, a 25-1/2 inch Walleye caught on Phil's Black 1/8 ounce Lindy Jig tipped with a large, lively chub.
"DeLuscious Lori"
allowing her personal attendant Phil Goettl to help display her 20+ inch Walleye. Weedlines with tapering points held the most fish on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Walleye were not primarily interested in rocks. The edges of heavier weed beds in 10 - 12 feet of water contained the most fish. When the wind blew, the fish roamed out where we could catch them. When it stopped, they retreated back into the cover.
September 16, 2014
Day 1 of the annual VA Nurses Mecca to Bowen Lodge
started off pretty Crappie on on Monday. Typically our leading producer, Joyce didn't let us down this time either.
Not a bad performance by the morning crew. Mike and Joyce kept the Crappies
coming in steady while Missy planned her attack in the form of a stunning, late inning rally. By the time we picked up the afternoon crew, these 3 were already filled out.
Cutfoot Sioux Walleye pattern has been stable and the rule of thumb is to KEEP ON TRYING, knowing that every so often, you'll be in the right spot at the right time.
Thanks to a heads up from a pal, we found that the Crappies were indeed there and still active, holding in deeper water 28 to 30 feet.
Jigging is synonymous with fall fishing on both Winnibigoshish and Cutfoot Sioux. So with 3 full days of confirmation, Sundin Says;
"By special proclamation of Cub Reporter, Staff #003 IHBFBB, The jig and minnow bite is officially on!"
Photo Courtesy MWC: "Consistency was the key for Minnesotans Jay Braaten and Dan Swenson, who put together a pair of equally solid baskets to claim top honors at the Cabela’s Masters Walleye Circuit’s Cass Lake qualifier September 12-13, 2014". Read Story >> MWC Walleye Tournament Cass Lake .
The homecoming for my oLd friend Paul Vitse was a good one! Paul and his brother Gary helped launch me into fall by catching the first limit
of Jig and Minnow Walleyes since last June.
After putting on his own Crappie catching clinic, Paul helped lead his brother Gary into some good Crappie action too. An 1/8 ounce jig rigged under a Thill slip-float helped deliver the bait into the strike zone.
Photo couretsy AYA Lund: Angler Young Angler 2014 Championship Winners. Siblings Kylee and Tyler Rassmussen of Grand Rapids MN emerged victorious, winning a trip for four to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. read story >> AYA Fishing Chamionship Winners .
Photo Trails End Resort: Heroes on the Water event on Bowstring Lake was a great success. Russ Vernon wond the free weekend for 4 by catching this 30 inch Pike.
Whether it's because of the Full Moon or
just good luck, you can't fish like these unless they're within reach. Right now, they are in the weeds and within reach. Trolling Lindy Spinners over the weeds in 10 to 12 feet of water produced this great Pike for Mike Reuff.
Walleyes numbered a dozen on Sunday; 5 of them were "keeper size" like this ideal 16 incher and the rest of them were protected slot fish. The payoff for having patience was slow, but steady action.
In Cutfoot Sioux, Crappie action in "pre-fall" locations is reliable. Located in 18 to 22 feet of water on sharp inside corners near shore, fish are holding in tight schools.
September 7, 2014
Photo courtesy Leroy Kramer who used this "selfie" to let me know that after we fished together, he followed my advice and rigged himself up with a Little Joe Spinner to prove the system. >> Read Report .
Once you try it, You'd Know! A "Non-Traditional" evening shore lunch featuring Bluegills
could easily replace a traditional Walleye dinner.
Oh, but then you'd have too much fun catching and might forget to eat. Never Mind.
Mercury Marine has announced some new developments with their partnership with Navico and news about the Mercury Glass dash system. The system offers an all-in-one option for vessel monitoring and navigational information. Read Full Story >> Mercury Glass Dash System
September 5, 2014
Lake Winnie Walleye may be a little late to the party, but they are still in there.
Warm water, late summer spinner patterns are still in play. Leroy Kramer bagged this on in the weeds on a Lindy Spinner tipped with 1/2 night crawler.
For Leroy Kramer, a first hand look at early fall Crappies. First one hand, then the ...
Chester Powell showing off at "The Musky Hole". This big girl fell for the oldest trick in the book, a Black Bucktail!
Rand Olson with whopper Bluegill. On Cutfoot Sioux,
Panfish patterns, the primary focus of my reports for over a week now, remain stable. Read >> Bowen Lodge Fishing Report
Photo courtesy Bowen Lodge: Crappie action on Little Cutfoot has been consistent. Kendra and Linda
show off part of a good mornings work. 1/16 ounce jigs tipped with Crappie minnows tricked these dandy Crappies into biting.
Bluegill fishing action has been consistent this weekend, albeit somewhat spotty. For anglers who find them, the average size is very good. Most fish are coming from water depths of 10 to 12 feet.
Little Joe Spinners have been putting fish in the boat for a long time and this episode proves that they're still working their magic.
And Do You Know that you can even post your own helpful hints to my fishing reports page on facebook? YES! You Can! You don't have to tell us your secrets, just go ahead and brag a little when you get a whopper! >>> Click Here >>> Fishing Reports Minnesota . |
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