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Minnesota Fishing Report ArchiveMore Info In Discussion Forums
| Author |
Messages |
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justnorth
Posts:3733
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| 3/21/2005 6:29 PM |
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An early glimpse of Spring Fishing in Northern Minnesota
Ice conditions improved this week when Sunday’s blast of warm sunshine reduced snow cover on most area lakes. We saw certain areas of Leech Lake where snow was reduced to standing water on the ice. Perfect timing for the return to colder weather that blew in on Monday. For the first time in a couple of months, there are folks driving on the ice without needing any plowed roads. This has opened up huge amounts of new territory that was previously available only to the anglers clever enough to bring their snow machines. On a trip to the Wadena, Minnesota area this past Sunday, we saw lots of snowmobile trails now showing open grass or dirt, so it looks like early spring fishing is creeping our way. We saw vehicle traffic on many smaller lakes that were previously inaccessible.
Bluegills are turning up in the creels of quite a few Northern Minnesota fishermen right now and we’re going to be hearing a lot more buzz about this in the next couple of weeks. The majority of the action is ice fishing of course, but believe it or not, there is already some shore fishing action available. A case of spring fever and an opportunity to fish in open water for a change inspired us to take a shot at some of the seasons earliest spring Bluegill fishing in an area adjacent to the river where the water opens up early. We had a reasonably good catch of fish ranging from 6 inches up to maybe 9 inches. No real whoppers, but some delicious eating size fish. One of the keys to keeping your favorite Bluegill lakes healthy is to get in the habit of harvesting some of the smaller fish and releasing larger ones. This can help avoid the over-crowding and stunting of the smaller fish, so we don’t get too concerned about the size anymore.
Our best baits were regular round jig heads tipped with wax worms. We caught some fish on Euro Larvae after the waxies ran out, but they were not quite as productive. Color combinations of green, green-glow, black and black-green produced well. Other colors we’ve been using for Crappies this winter were a bomb. Reds, pinks and brighter combinations failed to bring in a single Bluegill, so be prepared to switch away from some of the habits that formed earlier this winter. Our fish were holding tightly to patches of coontail weeds in shallow water, start your search in the weeds and don't be afraid to go really shallow.
Crappie fishing continues to pay off for anglers as well, the Red Lake bite has continued to pay for folks who really study it, but there’s easier fishing on the smaller local lakes right now. Crappies are still holding in the deeper holes but like the Bluegills, they’ll be moving toward the shallower drop-offs and into the weeds as well. On the smaller lakes, start looking for the Crappies near the deeper holes and then move toward the shallower breaks. As you search, watch for suspended fish, some spring crappies with be active just a few feet below the ice. Reports from friends are that minnow tipped blade baits continue to be the top choice. Late winter, I expect to catch Crappies on the grubs as well, so from here on out we’ll carry waxies as a backup on every trip.
Perch reports are still coming in mixed with some folks finding fish and others getting shut out. It sounded like the key for those who succeeded this weekend was to move into new territory. There’s been pressure on the deep-water haunts for most of the winter and with the coming warming trends, I’d expect to see better action by heading for the shallows. Most of the folks who did well over the weekend had moved back toward the shorelines. Although it sounded like the fish were running smaller than the deeper spots, the action was quite a bit better. So the trade off is action for size.
Courtesy of
Jeff Sundin
Minnesota's Hardest Working Fishing Guide
218-246-2375
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A service of
JustNorth Outdoors LLC
www.justnorth.com
Outdoors Learning Center
Connecting Families with the Great Outdoors ™ |
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justnorth
Posts:3733
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| 3/29/2005 5:45 PM |
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Snow cover is declining rapidly and travel conditions are fantastic for anglers who want to get in on the last round of early spring ice fishing. Ice is still in fairly good shape, but with all of the warm weather we had this weekend, it is starting to become wet from the melting snow cover. Some of the more popular landings are showing signs of stress too. There are several landings with water problems developing. Folks, if you want to travel on the big water, it’s time to start thinking about 4 wheelers. Even though there’s plenty of ice right now, it won’t take long to turn the corner if weather conditions remain stable. Smaller lakes have seen a lot less traffic this winter and there are some great opportunities now that the snow cover is largely gone.
Bluegill fishing is the top pick in my book right now. You don’t have to be a pro at fishing to find Bluegills in Minnesota. Our area is blessed with scores of good Bluegill lakes and most of the smaller lakes that have good size areas of shallow weed cover and some access to deeper weed edges will have Bluegills in fishable numbers.
On an afternoon trip to a new lake (for me) our friends re-assured us that the Bluegills would become active during the last afternoon light. It worked like clockwork. At about 5:30 PM the locators started showing fish and once they got active, the action was as fast as we could handle. In fact, it’s probably the best fishing we’ve had this winter. The fish weren’t particularly large, but they were running about 3 to a pound and plenty good for a family fish fry. This is one example of the kind of reports that are coming in from all over the area.
Bluegill locations are along the weedlines with mixed cover. We’ve been finding most of our fish in Coontail weeds in particular. Water depths of 8 to 12 feet have been reliable, but we’ve found them even shallower if there’s good weed cover. Initially, the fish were located near the bottom and later moved up to about half way between the bottom and the surface. These suspended fish were the most active. Some fish were even caught just a foot or two below the surface of the ice.
Best baits have been the Glow Bug, Doodle Bug and Ants tipped with a fresh wax worm. Unlike past trips, a plain jig head or other horizontal type bait didn’t really get them fired up. Lately, all of the best baits have been vertical type presentations. Wax worms that stay on the hook too long and get waterlogged don’t produce as well. Changing the bait often really made a big difference.
Crappie fishing has also been generally good in the Grand Rapids area with anglers on several lakes reporting good fishing. We fished Crappies on Friday at a lake that’s been heavily fished this year and discovered that waiting for the evening bite was the only way we could get decent action. There had been reports of good daytime fishing, but for one reason or another we had to wait until dark before the fish started moving. In fact, we left at about 8:45PM and there were still some fish biting. It may have gone on for another hour or maybe longer if we’d stayed. The depth we located fish was different than in past weeks with a clear shift toward shallower, soft bottom areas. OUR SEARCH in water depths of 23 to 30 feet yielded few results. But finally following our friends into shallower water of about 16 feet finally paid off. Best baits were the now familiar blade type baits like the Demon tipped with a minnow hooked in the dorsal fin.
Perch anglers in the area are talking about the "Morning Bite". Getting up early and hitting the first run of fish each morning is paying off for savvy Perch anglers. Daytime fishing has been spotty at best, with most of the better fishing isolated to spots that haven’t been heavily pressured this winter. Like other panfish, the Perch are also making a move toward shallower soft bottom flats where the early spring feeding centers around bugs wriggling on the bottom. Even though Fathead minnows are the usual choice for Perch, don’t overlook wax worms at this time of year. One of my favorite tricks for finicky fish is to use a super flexible (almost ropelike) soft rod and a small Perch-Eye imitation jig tipped with a wax worm. I lay the rod on a bucket and watch for the tip to move. It’s so soft that the fish don’t feel the resistance. When Perch get tricky, this usually outperforms most of my other approaches.
Courtesy of
Jeff Sundin
Minnesota's Hardest Working Fishing Guide
218-246-2375
|
|
A service of
JustNorth Outdoors LLC
www.justnorth.com
Outdoors Learning Center
Connecting Families with the Great Outdoors ™ |
|
|
justnorth
Posts:3733
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| 4/09/2005 7:07 AM |
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Snow cover throughout most of the 1000 Grand Lakes Area is all but gone. We’ve had some really warm, windy weather during the past few days and although ice is still good for foot travel and ATV’s in some places, conditions are changing daily. Area rivers like the Mississippi, Ball Club, Prairie and Leech Lake River are entirely open including some of the backwaters. On lakes, the narrows and some of the shallow shoreline spots are breaking up already, in fact we’ve seen some of the smaller lakes getting pretty "Black" already, so double-check everything before venturing out for the final burst of spring ice fishing action.
Bluegill fishing is still the top pick in my book right now. Smaller lakes make walking easier and this is prime time for these offbeat Bluegill waters. Bluegill locations are along the weedlines with mixed cover. We’ve been finding most of our fish in Coontail weeds in particular. Water depths of 8 to 12 feet have been reliable, but we’ve found them even shallower if there’s good weed cover. Initially, the fish were located near the bottom and later moved up to about half way between the bottom and the surface. These suspended fish were the most active. Some fish were even caught just a foot or two below the surface of the ice.
Best baits have been the Glow Bug, Doodle Bug and Ants tipped with a fresh wax worm. Unlike past trips, a plain jig head or other horizontal type bait didn’t really get them fired up. Lately, all of the best baits have been vertical type presentations. Wax worms that stay on the hook too long and get waterlogged don’t produce as well. Changing the bait often really made a big difference.
Crappie fishing has also been generally good in the Grand Rapids area with anglers on several lakes reporting good fishing. There had been reports of good daytime fishing, but for one reason or another we’ve had to wait until nearly dark before the fish start moving. The depths have shown a clear shift toward shallower, soft bottom areas. OUR SEARCH in water depths of 23 to 30 feet yielded few results. But moving into shallower water of about 16 feet has paid off. Best baits were the now familiar blade type baits like the Demon tipped with a minnow hooked in the dorsal fin.
Perch anglers on Winnibigosh; are now limited to ATV’s as most of the lake access roads are now closed. Perch fishing remains spotty, with most of the reliable fishing located in the Northwest corner of Big Winnie. There are some smaller lakes with fishable perch populations, so for the moment, Perch anglers might want to seek some new, smaller territory to test their skills.
The Rainy River has drawn a lot of attention from folks with the itch to get out on open water, we made the run up last Friday and were treated to some of the longest lines of parked rigs that we’ve ever seen. The good news is that most folks were helping each other out with rides to their rigs and there were very few slow loaders at the ramps. Water conditions were generally good at that time. Unfortunately, several of the tributaries are now rising, sending lots of murky water into the Rainy. Rising, muddy water usually slows down the action on the Rainy, so some folks are heading upstream towards Pelland while others are pushing out into four mile bay in search of water that’s clearer.
Reports from folks who had been there before us were excellent and we talked to several people who had great fishing a day or two before our trip. For us, fishing was slow in the morning and we had relatively few bites, but as the day grew warmer and we moved further downstream, the action picked up. Eventually, we had a few hours of good fishing that remained steady until about 6:00 PM when it tapered off again. Most fish were caught in the deeper portions of the main channel from 16 to 19 feet of water. A ¼ ounce yellow fireball tipped with a larger fathead and fished with a lazy, lift-drop, produced the most fish. Average size of the fish was 13 to 15 inches with a smattering of larger 19 to 21-inch fish. We only caught one larger fish, although we heard reports from folks who caught some larger fish.
Courtesy of
Jeff Sundin
Minnesota's Hardest Working Fishing Guide
218-246-2375 |
|
A service of
JustNorth Outdoors LLC
www.justnorth.com
Outdoors Learning Center
Connecting Families with the Great Outdoors ™ |
|
|
justnorth
Posts:3733
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| 4/18/2005 7:54 PM |
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In case you haven’t guessed by now, most of the smaller and medium sized lakes in the 1000 Grand Lakes Area free of ice again. Some of the larger lakes are holding on to sheets of ice, but it won’t last long. They have the Walleye Stripping operation set up at the Cutfoot Sioux Bridge and the Walleye Spawning run is under way.
Anglers that want to get a jump on the fishing season are finding some panfish action from shore right now and to be sure, the back bays and narrow inlets of your favorite panfish lake are going to be worth a visit during the next week or so. The best bet has been to stick with small jigs tipped with waxworms about 8 inches below a bobber. The fish that move in early are looking for food, so they move into really shallow water. Many times less than a foot. So while it’s nice to get the boat out for a test drive, the shore anglers probably have an advantage right now.
We’ve been watching for the early signs of a Sucker run, but with water levels much higher than they’ve been in the past few years, it’s going to take a little longer for temps to warm up enough to get it started. Watch here for a report in the next few days and be sure to check on the Cutfoot Sioux Walleye Spawning Run to see how that project is going this spring. We should have some new photos and news about that tomorrow morning.
Walleyes that swim into the nets at the Cutfoot Sioux stripping station are held overnight and the eggs are taken, fertilized and brought to the hatchery in Grand Rapids where the eggs will hatch and mature under controlled conditions. Later the fry will be stocked into area lakes, providing anglers with the promise of another good season in just a few short years.
Courtesy of
Jeff Sundin
Minnesota's Hardest Working Fishing Guide
218-246-2375 |
|
A service of
JustNorth Outdoors LLC
www.justnorth.com
Outdoors Learning Center
Connecting Families with the Great Outdoors ™ |
|
|
justnorth
Posts:3733
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| 4/28/2005 9:12 AM |
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An early jump-start of summer-like weather combined with the early ice out to produce a great run of spawning Walleyes at the Cutfoot Sioux Walleye stripping operation. The week passed quickly for the Minnesota DNR as they completed the operation in short order. In fact, one day this week was at or near record levels with a single day egg harvest of over 625 quarts. With an approximate total egg harvest of 1400 quarts, it’s off to the hatchery in Grand Rapids where the Walleye eggs will grow to barely visible fry before being released into Itasca Area lakes and rearing ponds. We’re about due for another strong year class, especially on some of the lakes that have struggled to produce a year class for the past few seasons. Now we have to hope for a nice warm up in water temperatures over the next couple of weeks so the fry will have good food supplies when they’re sent back into the wild to fend for themselves.
The ice is completely out on all of the Grand Rapids and Deer River area waters so anglers anxious to test their equipment are starting to show up in small numbers. Fishing action in the area is centered on folks fishing for Crappie and Bluegills in the smaller lakes or back bays of the larger ones. Bluegills in particular have been cooperative so far and some of the better action has been fishing from shore in heavily weeded areas with black bottom. Soft mud, coontail, cattails and boat docks are all good places to check. Keeping it simple with small floats, 1/32 or 1/16 ounce jigs and a wax worm is plenty to get you in the ballpark.
There are also some folks looking at the smaller streams and rivers for the spring Sucker run, which is one of my personal favorites. It’s too early to legally take the Suckers by archery or spearing, but when you find a river in the midst of a full scale spawning run, you can catch some of these scrappy fish with a hook and line. The best rig I’ve seen for angling would remind you of a Lindy Rig except using a floating jig tipped with small a worm. Using the sinker to hold your rig in place instead of trolling as you would for Walleyes. Cast your rig toward the edges of current breaks and drag the sinker into place by "feeling" where the current stops pulling on your rig. When you get the knack for finding these "current breaks", the fish do the rest of the work for you. Just let your bait sit still and occasionally one of the passing fish with grab your small worm.
For folks with a little bigger game in mind, the Sturgeon runs on the Rainy River are well, sort of under way. There are some fish biting, but hampered by high winds, cold temps and fast currents, only the toughest anglers are trying their hands at it so far. There are some fish being caught using the traditional bottom weights and night crawlers. River currents are reported to be strong, so prepare with some heavier than usual weights.
Stay tuned as the countdown continues!
Courtesy of
Jeff Sundin
Minnesota's Hardest Working Fishing Guide
218-246-2375
|
|
A service of
JustNorth Outdoors LLC
www.justnorth.com
Outdoors Learning Center
Connecting Families with the Great Outdoors ™ |
|
|
justnorth
Posts:3733
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| 5/18/2005 11:50 AM |
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The Minnesota Walleye Opener
Continuing the recent tradition of fishing in the cold, snow, wind and rain, The 2005 Minnesota Walleye Opener arrived with a little bit of all the nastiness Minnesota weather can dish out. Most folks never have to endure fishing on days like we had this opener, so I have to give a lot of them credit for toughing it out. Even with high winds and cold temps there were lots of people on the water up here this weekend and for lots of them, the struggle against the weather did not go un-rewarded.
We fished mainly along the first steep drop off edge at about nine feet of water and discovered early in the day, that the fish were relating to schools of minnows that were holding along these deeper pockets waiting to return to the shallows on a warmer day. We tried a few areas that normally hold fish on opener, but where baitfish were not present, neither were the Walleye. This tells me that the fish have nearly full recovered from the spawning season and are back to actively feeding on the minnows as they spawn in shallow water. Depending on how long the cold weather persists, this could be the signal of an earlier move to deeper water this season.
Our best fishing strategy was to use a 1/16 oz Sneaky Pete with a larger than normal Rainbow Chubb. We hooked the minnows lightly in the lips and fished them using a wiggling or wagging motion on the rod tip. Shiners worked too, but it was clear that the fish preferred the Rainbows on this outing. Heavy weights and fast jigging was not the ticket and we noticed that during wind gusts or when the boat moved too fast, our bite would virtually stop. Whenever we could go slow and maintain control of these little jigs, we would get back into the action. We finished up a bit earlier than usual this year because of the chilly weather, but not before collecting a nice mess of eating size Walleye.
Looking out the window now, it appears that we’re in for more of the same treatment today and I’ll try to post an update this evening.
Courtesy of
Jeff Sundin
Minnesota's Hardest Working Fishing Guide
218-246-2375 |
|
A service of
JustNorth Outdoors LLC
www.justnorth.com
Outdoors Learning Center
Connecting Families with the Great Outdoors ™ |
|
|
justnorth
Posts:3733
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| 5/26/2005 11:59 AM |
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It’s been an interesting first week of fishing this year. Most of our fishing days have been windy, rainy and gray. Luckily, most folks who have been hearty enough to put up with Minnesota’s early season Walleye fishing weather have been rewarded with steady fishing. At times and in prime locations, the Walleye fishing has even been what I would call "hot action". Water temperatures are hovering in the low to mid 50 degree range which is perfect for keeping the fish in the shallows.
There’s no doubt that the secret right now is to follow schools of baitfish that are near the shallow flats. When the sun comes or the wind calms down, there are quick movements toward the shallow water. Depths of 5 to 7 feet are working well under these conditions as the minnows and fish move toward shore. With colder temperatures and gray skies, the fish have been moving back out toward the breaklines where we’ve found them in 10 to 14 feet. Sometimes they have moved even deeper depending on the available structure. We’ve noticed that the fish are making these moves suddenly and within a couple of hours we’ve had to cover several different depths within the same general area of the lake. On Saturday we caught fish first in 10 feet of water, then they moved in to 7 feet, back to 10 feet and eventually back in to 5 feet. When your action slows down, check a different depth before moving too far.
Our presentations are still the traditional early season offerings. Light jigs of 1/16 ounce or 1/8 ounce are best when the fish go shallow. Most of our shallow water jigging has been most effective when we fish the jig tipped with a lip hooked Rainbow Chubb. We’ve been putting a little action on the jig by wiggling the rod tip or lightly hopping it along the bottom. When the fish go out deeper, we’ve been switching to a ¼ ounce jig tipped with a shiner minnow and fishing it more aggressively with a snapping or hard hopping motion.
Crappies are into spring spawning mode and the males are showing their early season black spawning colors. They are on or near spawning beds now so anglers with a passion for early season Crappies should be looking at their favorite shallow spots this week. With another, turbulent stretch of weather predicted, it might be a perfect time to scope out some of those smaller lakes with protected shallow spawning cover.
Courtesy of
Jeff Sundin
Minnesota's Hardest Working Fishing Guide
218-246-2375 |
|
A service of
JustNorth Outdoors LLC
www.justnorth.com
Outdoors Learning Center
Connecting Families with the Great Outdoors ™ |
|
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