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Fishing
Report! 6-9-08 Jeff Sundin - Summer Peak Fishing Approaching
Fast! |
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Bluegill and Bass are returning to the shallows with a vengeance as the
water temps return to the mid 60 degree range. It's not too hard to locate
the fish right now especially if you have a calm morning. We found a great
school of Bluegill by moving slowly along the shoreline and looking for
visual signs of activity in the shallow (1 to 3 feet) water. Once we
spotted an area where fish were surfacing, it was all action. Throw in a
1/16 jig tipped with a cut piece of worm and a bobber set to a foot or so
and you're in business.
As the day warmed up, the largemouth Bass found their way into the mix and
for anyone fishing Bass, it would have been a respectable outing. Typical
shallow locations like bulrush patches, wild rice or submerged branches
are holding fish right now.
We've seen the fist serious insect
hatches beginning now and while the Walleye action in shallow water
continues, there are early signs of Walleye moving out to deeper water
locations too. As long as we still have mid 60 degree water, there's no
big rush to move out to the deep water. But in spite
of the fact that water temperatures are staying cool, insect larvae are
churning and maturing on soft bottom flats and will soon be a major
influence on baitfish and Walleye location.
As soon as the water temps reach around 68 or on some of those days that
you don't have a decent drifting wind, it's probably a good time to start
checking out some of your favorite main lake haunts.
My first choices are bars and sunken islands (reefs) that are located
close to shore, but lead out into open water. These spots are often the
natural runways that Walleye use to travel to and from the deeper main
lake structures. These are the type of structures that tend to get "good"
before the more isolated bars or humps that exist further out into the
lake(s). On smaller lakes, the fish can change locations overnight. So if
you were on a good school of fish recently and they're not there on your
next visit, check the deeper structure.
My Crappie fishing really peaked last week, but we're still able to locate
some fairly good schools of fish out on shallow, weedy flats. Cabbage
weeds have been a good structure for me in the past few days. We've been
fishing small 1/16 ounce jigs tipped with crappie minnows. The weeds are
getting thicker now and we've been better off using bobbers set to about 3
feet, maybe a bit deeper if you find a cabbage patch on a deeper flat.
Your best bet is to poke around slowly until you get one active fish to
bite, then slow down and concentrate on that small area. When the bite
slows down, start wandering slowly again until you pick up the next
school.
Yellow Perch seem to be the hardest fish to stay on top of right now.
We've had some decent fishing for them as we fish for Walleye, but I don't
think I could get a consistent, repeatable pattern going right now. The
fish that we're getting are generally a bit smaller than usual, 8 to 9
inch fish are common, but 10 inch or larger are less plentiful so we've
released most of the fish we catch. Jig and minnow or lindy rigs tipped
with minnows and fished in areas with mixed weeds and rock have been my
best bet.
If you've been a fan of Leech Lake in the past but
haven't been there in a while, it's time to get out your notebook and bone
up on your favorite spots. Thanks to the efforts of the DNR, US Fish and
Wildlife and a variety of sporting groups, the Walleye fishing on Leech
has really rebounded. A combination of Walleye stocking, slot limits and
working to get the Cormorant population under control have helped lead to
the comeback. I'll be adding more comments about Leech Lake as time
allows, but for now, if you have time to get over there, I don't think
you'll be disappointed. Fish are still shoreline related, so you're best
bet is the classic jig and minnow combination. We've had consistent action
in water depths of 8 to 12 feet and as always on Leech, the windy days are
the best.
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Bluegills are moving into their shallow
spawning haunts and the schools of fish are aggressive right now. It's
rare for me to get into this shallow spring action, but I had a chance to
do it this week and it looks like prime time is here now.
The Crappie that were in the shallows
last week are moving back out onto the deeper flats near spawning areas.
Look for patches of green cabbage weeds and you're likely to find some
schools of Crappie.
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Fishing
Report! 6-7-08 Jeff Sundin - Walleye Opener in Northern
Minnesota |
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We
had a great warm up late last week that pushed the water temps up into the
mid 60 degree range on most of the Deer River and Grand Rapids area lakes.
As soon as the water temp hit 65 degrees we saw an immediate upturn in the
Crappie action and anglers everywhere within a 50 mile radius began
reporting good catches of shallow water, spring Crappies. We had limits
every day until Wednesday when the cold front finally chipped away at the
shallow water temperatures until they returned to the mid 50's.
I'm not sure if I expect to see the Crappies move back into the shallows
or not. Typically, once we get the big run, the first cold front that
comes along moves them back out and we rarely see a secondary move back
into shallow water. If that happens this time, start looking for Crappies
in the green cabbage weeds. Anytime you can locate a good Cabbage bed on a
flat near a known spawning area, you'll find the Crappies. A great
approach is to cast small 1/16 ounce jigs tipped with a 1-1/2 inch plastic
tube, Beetle body or even a small 2 inch twister tail. let the jig fall
into pockets in the weeds and when you feel a "tick", set the hook
immediately.
Walleye fishing presentations are still primarily shallow water, jig and
minnow offerings especially when you have a good drifting wind to work
with. But even though the water temperatures remain cold, I've begun to
see small schools of fish 'stacking up" on deeper rock points and some of
the sunken islands or reefs located close to the shoreline. A couple of
these schools of fish have been failing to respond to the jig and minnow
so I've set my sights on leeches and night crawlers to begin working well
during the next few days of fishing. At any rate, it's a good idea to
start carrying some leeches and crawlers just in case the wind won't blow
and you need to start scrounging.
If you find one of these schools of fish in a concentrated area like a
small reef or point, remember that this is prime time to catch some fish
using slip bobbers too.
Bluegill reports were okay, but not great last week and I think a lot of
these fish were just beginning to move into the shallows before they were
interrupted by the cold snap. I'm expecting to see a lot of movement as
the water warms back up this week. We searched a lot of shallow water last
weekend and saw no real sign of any large scale spawning run, so I think
the best is still to come.
Perch fishing has been slow this week and they seem to be widely scattered
in the shallow water flats as are the Walleye. We've caught a few Perch
mixed in with the Walleye, but I have yet to find a really good school of
keeper size fish. The weather seems to be playing a role too as the bright
conditions and clear water are making the fish unusually spooky. When a
find a small group of fish, they bite for minute or two and then quickly
disappear. It wouldn't surprise me to see this behavior continue until we
get a little "bloom" in the water, but I'll let you know if the action
picks up.
This weekend is the Musky Fishing Opener and it will be really interesting
to see how they respond in the below normal water temperatures. What if
there's a "pre-spawn" feeding period associated with the late spawning
season? it could be a pretty action packed weekend for Musky anglers if
that's the case. We'll see how the reports come in and let you know.
Things are hectic right now so I'm struggling to keep the reports updated,
don't be shy though.
Ask a question if you need to and I'll get back to you ASAP.
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Marty Franklin found the Walleye
fishing pretty rewarding even if we did have to bundle up a bit. The cold
water temperatures have kept a lot of Walleyes in the shallows and so far,
the action has held up really well.
Crappies made a big move last week and
anglers all over the area were reporting good catches. The action slowed
with the cold front this week. We'll see if they come back in or not, but
I expect we'll still be seeing the big Bluegill move this week.
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Fishing
Report! 5-29-08 - Jeff Sundin |
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A couple of warm sunny days have helped push the water temperatures up
into the High 50 degree range on most of the major Walleye fishing lakes
in the Deer River and Grand Rapids area. We've concentrated mainly on Lake
Winnie, leech Lake and Bowstring this past week and fishing has been
consistent. Due to the cold nights we've had, fishing has generally
started out slower in the early morning, with action picking up as water
warms during the mid day and early evening.
Walleyes have been located on the shallow flats in roughly ten feet of
water sometimes shallower, sometimes a bit deeper. When the wind is fairly
calm and conditions are bright, the fish seem to be scattered and our best
approach has been to cover ground slowly and thoroughly. At times, we've
struggled to keep them biting and there have been a lot of light hanging
bites. But when the wind picks up and I can drift, the fish have been
moving tighter to the shallow drop off in water depths of 7 to 8 feet and
fishing tight to the structure becomes more important. Under breezy
conditions the Walleye have fed heavily and we've had some fantastic
action this week on this type of day.
Walleye fishing presentations are still primarily jig and minnow. During
the calm periods, I've been switching back to the 1/16 ounce jigs and
trolling very slow keeping my speed at .4 to .5 MPH with the MinnKota.
When the wind blows we bump up to an 1/8 ounce jig and try to keep the
drift speed under 1 MPH. When it gets really breezy and the speed gets out
of control, I start backing into the waves with the outboard and use a
large drift bag to help control the speed. We have been lucky to get
plenty of minnows at Fred's every morning, so the shiners have been our
primary minnow. But honestly, I carry the shiners more for my customers
benefit than for the fishing. Lots of folks are convinced that you can't
catch a fish without shiners, but I have done equally well with nice
Rainbows, Fatheads and even small Sucker minnows. The real key is the
quality and size of the minnow. Keep a nice "bright" looking minnow on the
hook and you'll be fine. Incidentally, even dead minnows kept on ice can
look very nice and work quite well.
Crappie reports are starting to trickle in from smaller lakes in the area.
We spent a couple of hours checking spots yesterday on Cutfoot Sioux, but
with water temps only at 57 degrees, the shallow water wasn't very well
populated. Wherever water has reached the low 60 degree range, anglers are
finding some active fish moving in to spawn. I'm still the odd man out on
Crappies because of the demand for Walleyes during the early season, but
hopefully we'll get zeroed in on some fish this week.
Perch fishing has been slow this week and they seem to be widely scattered
in the shallow water flats as are the Walleye. We've caught a few Perch
mixed in with the Walleye, but I have yet to find a really good school of
keeper size fish. The weather seems to be playing a role too as the bright
conditions and clear water are making the fish unusually spooky. When a
find a small group of fish, they bite for minute or two and then quickly
disappear. It wouldn't surprise me to see this behavior continue until we
get a little "bloom" in the water, but I'll let you know if the action
picks up.
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Here's eleven year old, "Gabby" Goettl
with a nice 23 inch Walleye. She had a hot hand this week and almost won
the prize for big fish until uncle Phil boated a 26 incher in the late
afternoon. She still gets the prize for most entertaining angler!
Things are hectic right now so I'm struggling to keep the reports updated,
don't be shy though.
Ask a question if you need to and I'll get back to you ASAP.
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Grand Rapids Fishing Report 5-12-2008 Jason
Green A MN Fishing Opener To Remember |
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Sara Green Pictured With A Perfect
Opening Day Walleye
Another Minnesota Fishing
Opener has come and gone and this will truly be one to remember. As we
backed the boat down the ramp at sunrise I noticed that ice had blown in
front of the landing and refroze over night. Luckily several boats had
ventured out in front of us and did a great job of breaking a path to open
water.
In Northern Minnesota we
don't usually have the opportunity to fish Opening Weekend and have Pre
Spawn, Spawn and Post Spawn all at the same time. This made for an
unbelievable weekend on the water. We checked just about every fish that
came in the boat and found both males and females that were pretty ripe but
the majority of fish were spent and had their feed bags on.
At sunrise we found surface
water temperature to be just over 40 degrees but as the day progressed we
were able to find 43 degrees.
With water temperatures being
so cold the slower your presentation the better. Picture in your mind what
the definition of slow is and then cut that in half and you will still be
going to fast. We did best when I could keep the boat around .4 mph on my
GPS. As would be expected (cont.....>) |
a
1/16oz Fireball tipped with a spot tail shiner produced exceptionally well.
We found plenty of fish in 5' of water early in the day but as boat traffic
increase our Watermellon and Glow Rainbow Fireballs did better around 10' of
water.
The only problem we had was finding fish that were small enough to keep but
I would say that is a good problem to have. Plenty of 22"-25" with even a
guy in our group landing a 28".
To top off the day, rain came down off and on all day turned into thick wet
snow making everything white again. What a perfect day for Duck Hunting (If
it was October)!!!
Dr. Chris Johnson With His Trophy
For The Day |
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See You On
The Water!  |
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New Fishing
Report! 5-2-08 Jeff Sundin
With only 7 days to go until the Walleye Fishing Opener, folks that want
to head out on their traditional opening weekend fishing trips are
starting to ask whether or not the ice will be out in time. Yes, Ice is
going out fast now. Red Lake is now open, Vermillion is at least half open
and Winnie is breaking up fast. We'll get some photos together over the
weekend, but you can be assured that there will be a spot to fish next
weekend.
There are also complications on the horizon for folks who like to fish
some of the well known, "prime spawning areas" like Little Cutfoot Sioux,
Boy River and others. I talked with the DNR Area Fisheries Manager, Chris
Kavanaugh this morning and they attempted to set nets at Little Cutfoot
this past Monday. The DNR crew was forced to put the egg stripping project
on hold because of the heavy ice cover. The Walleye are probably already
moving through the river into Little Cutfoot under the ice. Even with the
ice cover, fish will begin to stage into their spawning areas. But until
the shoreline ice breaks up, they can't get out to the channel to set up
the platforms and set the nets. The current plan is to try setting the
nets again on Thursday (5-1) if conditions allow. If that doesn't work
they'll try again on Friday (5-2).
The problem with a late spawning season is that there will
be a need to protect some of the spawning fish by restricting certain
areas during the early days of the fishing season. Although the final
decision hasn't been made yet, it's likely that there will be some
restricted areas on opening weekend. According to Cavanaugh, there's a
better than 50/50 chance right now that the stretch from Little Cutfoot
Sioux to the Williams Narrows at Big Cutfoot will be off limits. The talks
with DNR Officials are scheduled for later this week and once a decision
has been made, there will be a public announcement.
The late ice out might cause us to do a few things differently, but it's
not a gloom and doom scenario. Some of us have been talking about past
seasons where late ice out created the opportunity for some of the best
"Pre Spawn" fishing that lots of us had ever experienced. The 1996 fishing
opener is remembered by lots of folks as one of the best big fish bites
we've ever seen in the Deer River area.
Anglers who head to places like the Rainy River or the Mississippi River
at Red Wing during early spring know what the pre spawn season is like and
that's why we race to be the first ones out onto open water. It's rare
that we get an opportunity to fish pre spawn Walleye on Minnesota lakes
because the season is almost always late enough to be assured that these
fish are finished spawning. It's beginning to look like we might see the
opportunity again this year and I expect to be adding some tips on
strategies after we see how the weather breaks this weekend.
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This was a typical view around the Deer River area
last Monday. Lakes were mostly ice covered except for shallows or current areas at
inlets. Now with two days of rain and high winds ice is going out fast.
Birchdale Ramp at Rainy River is one
lane open as of 4-2-08. We made the trip up there on Wednesday and it was
worth the drive.
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New Fishing
Report! 3- 25-08 Bill Powell
The calendar says its
spring but there's no big signs of it showing yet other than a little
water where the old roads were plowed. The ice conditions are very
good and I'm not sure its not still making ice some nights. On a lot
of lakes an auger extension is needed now. This seems to be confusing
to the Crappie and Bluegills too, with a couple warm sunny days the
bite starts to get real good but a couple cold nights slows them down
and pushes them to deeper water. We have been finding very mixed
results. Fishing gills one time they're in shallower water biting
really good, next time they're in deep water and really have to work
on them to get a few.
The Perch fishing has
been a lot better for us with them starting to push shallow the bite
is getting better every day with the bigger one sometimes coming ten
feet off the bottom to hit a bait. We also made a run to Lake of The
Woods last week and was happy with our results some of the reports
have been kinda bad but the fish bite perty good for us we went out of
Long Point resort the conditions were very good with most of the snow
gone. I poked around till I got out past where the big crowds have
been fishing all winter.
The fish seemed to come trough in spurts
sometimes two or three fish caught at a time then we would get a while
with one here and there but no big dry spells. The guys I went up with
had enough fun to go back a couple days later and had the same results
so I really have the itch to go back again but well have se what
happens.
I was thinking earlier that maybe we might get a boat in the
Rainy river this week but it don't look like its going to happen with
the cold nights the ice seems to be holding on. -
Hope to see ya on the ice or maybe water. - Bill |
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Winter fishing reports
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