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

September 17th, 2024

Steven Renneberg

***Fishing Report***

Walleye - Very unseasonably warm temps have largely shut down the fall bite. Instead, trolling small crankbaits with leadcore continues to be the way to go for catching walleyes. Walleyes have largely been scattered over deep mud flats in 20-30 feet of water.

Smallmouth—Smallmouth fishing has cooled some, too, as smallies have also become more scattered with the warmer water temperatures. Shoreline structures like downed trees, boulder points, and flats in 5-15 feet of water have all been holding active smallies. Rivers, too, are worth noting. In-line spinners, spinnerbaits, beetle spins, and topwater baits have all been producing fish. 

Panfish - Crappies and sunfish don’t seem to mind this heat wave as they have been very active for anglers. Anglers continue to find them just outside or deep in the weedbeds. Small angleworms or waxies, fished under a bobber, have been very effective on those big gills. Crappies continue to hang out just outside the deep weed edge during the day, but as the sun sets in the evening, they slide up into the weedbeds to feed. Both locations are hitting jigs/twisters, beetle spins, or a simple crappie minnow under a bobber.

Stream Trout - Rainbow trout have still been active but have shifted to very late in the day, after dark, or very early in the morning. Anglers continue to catch them from shore with a night crawler 5-10 ft under a bobber. Small spoons and jigs/twisters have also been producing here too. Anglers fishing from a boat continue to have luck catching rainbows trolling cowbells with small, bright-colored crankbaits out over deep water.