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 - With water temps in the low 40s, walleyes were largely in post-spawn throughout the Ely area. With water temps this cold, minnows still have yet to spawn in area lakes. This is a great clue as to where anglers should be looking for active walleyes. Skinny water as shallow as 1 foot held aggressive walleyes during the evening, after dark and early morning hours. Many anglers focused their efforts in that 2-7ft of water range. Rainbows tipped on a 1/8oz jig and fan cast around shallow rock flats and river mouths. For angler fishing in the current driven areas, they had success fishing a little deeper waters in 15-24ft of water, with a jig and minnow. Many of the walleye being caught in the current were under 20'. Mostly males/eaters. No minnows, no problem. Long-line trolling shallow-swimming minnow baits during the evening hours or after dark was also very effective for anglers. Swimming paddle tails and twister tails along windy shorelines, over rocks was also very effective for catching quality walleyes. Gold, blue/white and firetiger were all popular colors this last weekend.

Smallmouth Bass  - Weather conditions over the weekend were not favorable for bass fishing, so as expected, smallmouth bass fishing was very limited.  With such cold water temps, anglers need to slow way down to get bites. Medium to small suspending minnow baits are the best way to go right now. Be sure to fish these baits with an uncomfortably long pause to get the bass to bite. Anglers should look for areas with shallow rocks that absorb the sun's heat during the day, raising water temperatures a few degrees around the rocks. This little difference is all it takes to really turn on the smallmouth and turn a slow day into an incredible day of bass fishing.

Pike - Pike anglers reported a slow start to their season. Only a handful of reports from anglers came in of pike being caught over 40” this weekend. The usual method was the best method. Large suckers fished under a bobber, back in the shallow muddy bays. Current areas just didn’t seem to produce as well as they normally do as water levels were higher than normal. Anglers throwing artificial baits did well with large swimbaits and curlytails. Best depth for pike was 10ft of water and less during the brighter times of the day. 

Panfish - Panfish anglers reported some good bites happening for crappies right now. These anglers found them at the mouths of bays where the panfish are looking to spawn in the coming weeks. Key depth for them was 15-25ft of water. Small 1/16oz jigs, tipped with a crappie minnow, were really effective.

Stream Trout - Stream trout reports were mixed this last weekend for anglers. Anglers fishing from shore reported a slow bite, fishing night crawlers under a bobber about 5ft under the surface. Anglers fishing from a boat reported better fishing, but they had to cover ground to find biters. Again key depth for them was about 5-7ft under the surface. Small, brightly colored minnow baits and copper-backed trolling spoons were more effective for them.

Lake Trout - Lake trout reports were very limited as high winds kept anglers seeking areas out of the wind. Still some anglers managed to connect with some big lakers with a jig and a minnow. Many of these anglers were actually looking for walleyes. Best depth was 12-20ft of water, back in bays protected from the wind.