 |
About Us
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Departments
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Resources
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Fishing Gifts
|
 |
|
|
|
|
New Releases at Justnorth
|
|
Minnesota Fishing Report ArchiveMore Info In Discussion Forums
| Author |
Messages |
|
justnorth
Posts:3733
 |
| 9/08/2005 12:01 PM |
|
September takes forever to arrive and it feels like it’s over in about a half-hour. Get out here now and enjoy it while you can. Fish in the Grand Rapids and Deer River area are responding to the falling water temperatures and the early fall bite is getting more reliable each day. One caveat is that the fish aren’t completely moved into their fall locations, so you’ll have to do some looking to find the areas that attract the earliest groups of fish.
With the water temperatures remaining in the mid sixty degree range, Walleye anglers can still locate some fish on the deeper main lake bars and points, where we continue to use Leeches fished on a live bait rig with about a five foot leader. The deep breaklines that are adjacent to large flats that meander toward the shoreline are especially good because these flats are key transition routes as the fish make their way to the main shoreline breaks where baitfish will be gathered. During the transition, fish will stop and feed near small rock piles or near deeper isolated weedbeds. The fish that use these areas will be transient, so if you want to fish the flats, be prepared to cover lots of water and keep a constant eye on your electronics to reveal new spots to fish. Spinners and bottom bouncers, trolling crankbaits or even jigging at a fast pace will put some fish in the boat.
Walleyes that we’ve located in the shallower water have been responding better to jig and minnow fishing and now that these fish are arriving in decent numbers, we’re putting more emphasis on this approach. The action is generally faster and the likelihood of a mixed bag appeals to lots of my customers. Shallow water fish are generally relating directly to the weeds except when there is enough wind to stir up some action on and around rocks or mixed rock and weeds. For the time being, if the water is calm, skip the rocks and search in the weeds. If you like to fish live bait rigs instead of jigs, try using a light bullet sinker, a three to four foot leader and a crawler in these shallow weeds.
Northern Pike action has continued to improve and we’ve found that many of the Pike we’ve kept have been feeding on Tulibees. The Tulibees are located in areas where the larger flats containing mixed rock and gravel. Concentrating on the weedbeds adjacent to these flats has been good for us. The best bait selection for casting has been the large minnow type baits that I mentioned in last week’s report. The Salmo baits, especially the number 18 Whitefish have been consistently producing the best number of fish. We are also catching some pike on the Suick and a few on the larger Bucktail baits. Rattle baits that produced so well a couple of weeks ago, have slipped off the charts and while we continue to experiment with them, they’ve been poor producers this week.
Crappies have taken over the lead position in Panfishing right now and with many schools of fish forming in the deeper water, this has been a reliable way to add some action to the day. We are now bringing some crappies in every day. There’s only one key to finding and catching these fish, slowly follow the deeper drop off searching for schools of fish suspending in water from 18 to 26 feet deep. Once a school of fish is located, hold the boat stationary above the school and drop your jig/minnow slowly into the school of Crappie. These fish like to be teased and a bait that falls slowly (or is lowered slowly by the angler) will produce a lot of bites before your jig can reach the bottom. If it does reach bottom without attracting a bite, slowly raise it back up again about a foot or so at a time. Repeat this process as needed until you uncover the trick of the day for getting them to snap up the bait. Crappies will suspend fairly high above the bottom so really effective Crappie anglers are continually probing up and down like this to locate the level that fish prefer on a given day. Don’t be surprised by fish that come up to within a few feet of the surface, these fish are active and will bite readily if you remember to bring your bait up high enough to catch them.
Bluegill anglers continue to find some fish along the deeper weed edges and deep drop off areas close to these weedy flats. We’ve caught them by fishing near the bottom with a small jig, ice fly or hook/splitshot. Waxworms, tiny leeches and cut pieces of night crawler are all about equal. The Bluegills seem to require less movement right now and a bat fished almost motionless a few inches above the bottom has worked fairly well.
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
|
| 9/26/2005 10:18 AM |
|
Early Fall Big Fish Bite Is On! - Jeff Sundin
Amidst the turbulent weather and cooling water temperatures, the big fish in the Itasca Area are on the prowl. Thanks to some rainy days and cool nights water temperatures are dipping in to the lower sixty-degree range. Some weeds are beginning to die off and there are noticeable movements of bait and fish out to the deeper shoreline breaks and points.
Thanks to a special project we’ve been working on, I’ve had a chance to fish several area lakes in search of larger fish and it has been a ball. Walleyes and Pike have been using the deeper portions of the best shoreline structures. These are structures like points or deep inside turns that have all of the cover a big fish would need. Before you start fishing, locate areas that combine shallow weedy flats, immediate access to deeper water (thirty to seventy feet or deeper), rocks & clam beds. Once I have a few spots in mind, I watch my graph for fish on the edges of the deeper breakline. Key depths for me have been 24 to 36 feet of water. You will discover fish deeper too, but for us the largest fish are hugging that initial deep breakline.
Walleyes have responded well to large size Creek Chubb and Redtails (when I could get them) fished on a Lindy rig with a ¾ ounce sinker and five-foot leader. To give us an extra measure of safety in landing the large pike, I tied the leaders with 1/0 hooks and 20 pound fluorocarbon line that has a durable, clear finish. Thanks to these leaders, we’ve only lost one pike due to a bite off in the past week. I’d really recommend looking in to this stuff.
Some of the better Walleyes have also responded well to night crawlers fished on a more conventional rig and as a back plan, the crawlers would be an excellent second choice. We used a size 4 hook and tied the leader using six-pound Berkley Iron Silk line. This is also a good, durable line for tying the lighter leaders. If you want to get into this subject in more depth, click here to read an article on the subject.
Meanwhile, the Walleyes of eating and action size are gathering in larger schools in the shallow water weed beds making the fishing really fun for lots of folks. Weeds found in water depths of 6 to 12 feet are holding lots of baitfish and the Walleyes are in there feeding heavily for the winter. This low sixty-degree water is perfect for this action bite and we should have fairly reliable fishing for the next week to ten days and if the weather holds, maybe even longer.
Folks using every kind of bait from soup to nuts are capturing walleyes. Leeches, Crawlers and jig & minnow combos are all producing fish and for the time being it’s "anglers choice" fishing. However, the jig and minnow bite is getting more reliable by the day and this will continue to improve as the waters cool down. My personal advice would be jig & minnow on breezy days and night crawlers on calm days. Even though the action has been best around the weeds, I’d check the rocks too especially on windy days.
Crappies are moving out into some of the more open terrain and can be found in small packs. It’s been a little unpredictable and sometimes the bite has been sluggish requiring lots of attention to trigger a bite from the fish. More and more now I’ve been waiting for the last couple of hours of daylight before going after them and it seems to help. The method for catching them is largely the same as it’s been during past reports except that we are now searching a little further out from the breaklines and open water, soft bottom areas are becoming more important to us. Look for any sign of a roaming pack of fish, hover over the school and fish vertically with a jig & minnow. These fish have been particularly interested in a slow presentation and at times we’ve had to stop moving the bait completely before they would bite.
Bluegills are also locating further out into open water and finding them is a lot like finding the Crappies. In fact, we’ve found some of the schools mixed with Crappies. A smaller jig tipped with a piece of cut night crawler or a tiny leech has worked fairly well for the ‘gills'.
Largemouth Bass are still scattered, but mainly located on the deep edges of healthy green weedbeds. The better fishing is still found by using soft plastics and casting to the deep weed edges. But, the spinnerbait bite is coming on as well and it won’t be too long before the fish concentrate on deep bulrush edges adjacent to good stands of Cabbage or Coontail weeds.
Smallmouth Bass are still located on deep structure like sunken islands or deep underwater points with rocky cover. Fishing the edges with rigs and minnows has been working well. A four to six inch minnow like a golden shiner, large rainbow or even a smaller creek chubb will work well.
Musky and Pike anglers are back in business again this week with good fish movement in the shallows where good schools of Perch and Walleyes are beginning to gather. Top water baits, crankbaits and wood are turning them on right now and there’s been a pretty nice sampling of larger Pike mixed in with them. As Tulibees and or whitefish begin staging in their fall spawning areas, look for the Musky/Pike action to build over the next few weeks. |
|
A service of
JustNorth Outdoors LLC
www.justnorth.com
Outdoors Learning Center
Connecting Families with the Great Outdoors ™ |
|
|
justnorth
Posts:3733
|
| 10/13/2005 9:35 AM |
|
The Big Chill Arrives!
Well, thanks to the massive cold front, rain and winter-like weather we enjoyed last week, the 2005 open water fishing season has entered it’s final phase. Water temperatures have fallen into the middle to lower 50 degree range and what I’d call the "peak" pre-turnover fishing action has given way to a slower, but equally interesting cold water period. It’s hard to put your finger on the exact moment that the turnover occurs or the precise effect that the turnover has on fish. But each year as the water temps fall below 55 degrees, I notice a definite change in the action and we are forced to make some dramatic changes in our fishing approach if we want to stay in the action. It’s important to remember that not all lakes thermocline in the summer and so for several lakes in our area, this cold blast will actually improve the fishing. On many of the other lakes, there is a slow down in the action for a few days. After that, the fish re-group and the action begins to pick up again. For lots of folks the action has slowed down enough to cause them to lose interest. But for the hardcore or die-hard anglers willing to put up with the colder temperatures, there are still some great days ahead!
Walleyes are now a little sluggish during the daylight hours and we’re doing well to catch a couple of fish each time we locate a new school. After a pass or two, the fish get "spooky" and we have to move on to another new location. The good news is that when you locate a new group, their initial reaction is to bite fairly well, so if you take the "keep on truckin’ approach", you’ll still be able to put together a reasonable mess of fish for your evening meal. For us, the action has been decidedly better during the final couple hours of daylight each day. In fact, most of the best action we’ve had during the past five days or so has been during those last couple hours of daylight. I presume that there would also be some action during the dark of night, but we have been leaving at around 7:30 PM and haven’t really tried the night bite.
The walleye we are finding have been located on the steeper portions of shoreline structures like points and inside corners. Rocks have been holding some fish too, especially on the windier days. Jig and minnow is our best producer, but we’re still getting some fish on Night Crawlers. The Night Crawlers have been a great back up plan for working the steeper weed edges when the water is calm. Creeping along slowly by back trolling with an electric trolling motor has been the ticket. Moving too fast seems to be taboo right now, so if you’re marking fish that won’t bite, slow down and try again.
Jumbo Perch are still hitting fairly aggressively if you can locate a good school. They have gathered on smaller spots though and like the walleye, have responded better to a slower fishing style. They can still be located in and around weed beds where plenty of baitfish are present. Jig and minnow is our best bait and we’ve experienced better results by using larger than normal size minnows. A fathead, Rainbow or Shiner in the 4-inch range keeps some of the smaller fish from attacking and the better fish have had no problem gobbling up these larger minnows.
Crappies continue to be found out in some of the more open terrain and can be found in small packs. It’s been a little unpredictable and sometimes the bite has been sluggish requiring lots of attention to trigger a bite from the fish. More and more now I’ve been waiting for the last couple of hours of daylight before going after them and it seems to help. The method for catching them is largely the same as it’s been during past reports except that we are now searching a little further out from the breaklines and open water, soft bottom areas are becoming more important to us. Look for any sign of a roaming pack of fish, hover over the school and fish vertically with a jig & minnow. These fish have been particularly interested in a slow presentation and at times we’ve had to stop moving the bait completely before they would bite.
It has become a lot more common to locate Bluegills mixed in the same areas with the Crappies, so now days I have someone fishing with a jig and small piece of cut worm at all times. It’s amazing how often the Crappies bite these worms and although the worm wouldn’t be my first choice for Crappie, using them won’t take you completely out of the action while you search for Bluegills.
Northern Pike are getting pretty cooperative, but not on the larger casting baits or trolling lures. We’ve found that the average size of pike we’re catching by jig & minnow fish is at least equal to the quality we’re getting on larger baits. They do seem to want meat right now though and I’d recommend using either the jig & minnow approach or use a live bait rig with a lively minnow like a Redtail, Creek Chubb or Sucker. I’ve had great luck with using a heavy 20-pound test fluorocarbon leader to protect from the bite off problems associated with using live bait for Pike. The patterns for the pike are varied, but anywhere that you find an abundance of food (for them), you will have some action. On a few of the area lakes with good Tulibee populations, we’re seeing the Pike gather along the steep drop off areas where these fall spawning bait fish are already staging. On the shallower lakes, we’re finding the Pike in areas where other forage including Walleyes or Perch is abundant.
As the fishing season winds down for many, we’ll still being going strong for another couple of weeks and I’ll try to keep you posted on the changing conditions. After that, I’m hoping to take a little break and do some hunting.
Jeff Sundin
www.jeffsundin.com |
|
A service of
JustNorth Outdoors LLC
www.justnorth.com
Outdoors Learning Center
Connecting Families with the Great Outdoors ™ |
|
|
|
| Please login to post a reply. Not a member? Register now. |
|
|
|
ActiveForums 3.7
|
|
|
|
Your Own Lake Lot
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Discussion Posts
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Featured Links
|
|
|
|
|
|