Fishing Report

When is the best time to go fishing?  Here in the north woods, every day is the best day.  Our area contains a wide range of lakes with varied depths, shoreline structures, and a wide range of fish species.  Seasoned anglers know success requires patience and a willingness to try different techniques.  If you have a youngster in the group, they will most likely catch the biggest fish - it always happens.  So, maybe no technique is a good strategy too.  For those interested in learning about lake structure, water quality, or creel surveys, we encourage you to visit the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Lake Finder page.  Area lakes will either be found in St. Louis or Lake County.  Minnesota Fishing Regulations

***Fishing Report***

Walleye - Walleye anglers are now starting to report mixed results this last weekend as water temps rise as high as 56 degrees and walleyes start dispersing throughout the lake now. Anglers should now be looking for shoreline rocks, rocky points, or windy shorelines in that 2-12ft of water. As water temperatures continue to warm this coming week, leeches fished under a bobber will quickly become the most effective way to catch walleyes. Evening hours will be the best time to fish these areas as walleyes will slide up shallow looking to feed. Minnows will still be working, but they will be more effective in that deeper water, say 8-15ft now. Reports of paddle tails working really well in shallow water have also been coming in. Gold, pink, and orange/gold were hot colors this last week. 

Smallmouth Bass - Bass are now in that pre-spawn mode and may start spawning later this week on shallower lakes. Anglers have really noticed a jump in the numbers of bass that are showing up on shallow rocky/gravel shorelines this last week. Anglers should continue to focus on these areas for the next few weeks. Suspending minnow baits and square bills have been extremely effective on bass this last week, but wacky worms, fuzzy balls, and Ned rigs also accounted for their fair share of smallies.

Panfish - Panfish are now largely being reported in shallow bays as they begin to get ready to spawn in the coming week or so. Anglers continue to report some good panfish fishing in 10ft of water and less, in shallow bays. Fishing slowly continues to be the key here. Crappie minnows, red worms, or wax worms, fished under a bobber, have been very effective. 

Pike - Pike have become very active over the last week for many anglers. If you can find them, big lively suckers, fished under a bobber, right off the dock, have been very effective. Can’t find suckers, no problem. Frozen herring, smelt, and alwifes, fished the same way, have been catching plenty of pike too. Just like all the other species, shallow water has been the name of the game for finding active pike. Areas where the weeds are popping up, river mouths, and muddy bays have been where to look for the pike. 

Lake Trout - Finally, a weekend with no heavy winds, finally has some good lake trout reports coming in. Anglers are reporting water temps, on lake trout waters, still in the mid to upper 40’s. This means lake trout are still being found just about anywhere in the lake. Many anglers reported catching lake trout while looking for bass or walleyes in 10ft of water or less. Anglers focusing on lakers reported catching quality lakers out in 25-40ft of water while trolling deep-diving crankbaits or heavy spoons. Silver and blue spoons and crankbaits seemed to be the most commonly reported colors. 

Stream Trout - Rainbows were a popular target this last week, and many anglers reported catching some quality rainbows. Small spoons, spinners, and night crawlers fished under a bobber or off the bottom were very effective for anglers this last week. Depths varied greatly from right under the surface to 50ft of water.