More Recent Fishing Reports
LOW 09-16 • Flaata Report 9-15 • Crappies 9-14 • Perch 09-13 • Sundin 09-12 • Ely Area 9-11 • Lake Winnie 9-10 • Follow Facebook
Lake of the Woods, LOW Tourism August 31, 2021
"It was another really strong week of walleye fishing on the south end of Lake of the Woods.
One of the main areas to fish is still deep mud. Basically 28 to 34 feet of water. Various schools of walleyes continue to move around the basin, relating to different kinds of forage.
Big walleyes eat a lot of everything, but really key in on tullibees (ciscos) who live primarily in the basin. Other forage can be perch, perch minnows, emerald shiners, blood worms, crayfish, and the list goes on. Various schools holding in shallower water too, over rocks or sand, based on bait options in that area. Reefs are still holding fish, normally on the sides and base where rock meets the mud.
Drifting or trolling spinners with crawlers and trolling crankbaits are still very effective for catching walleyes this week. As we approach mid to late September and October, the jig bite will fire back up!
Walleyes hanging out in some of the deeper holes throughout The Rainy River. Moving up and down the river, hitting numerous spots until you find which areas have walleyes is a good method for success.
Some anglers trolling crankbaits to cover water. Oftentimes, walleyes won't show up on electronics if they are laying in a depression in the river bottom. Only way to know is to fish the area.
Bass and pike are plentiful on structure, docks and weed edges. Hitting various "goto" spots up and down the river is a fun and normally productive day.
The sturgeon "keep" season continues through September 30, 2021. Then the catch and release season resumes October 1, thru April 23, 2022.
Great fishing continues on both sides of the border up at the Northwest Angle. In U.S. waters, deep mud of Little Traverse Bay continues producing walleyes in 28 to 33 feet of water. Gold, white and orange spinners with a crawler is effective.
Underwater points, sunken islands and neck down areas with a bit of current in 18 to 27 feet of water holding fish too. Locations like these are good areas to jig.
Pike and muskie anglers are still finding good fish on weedy points using jerkbaits and topwater.
Travel via vehicle through Canada to the Angle is open. Boating into Canadian waters is now open. Contact a NW Angle resort for details. Charter boat transport and float planes are still available through the LOW Passenger Service and Lake Country Air." — Lake of the Woods Tourism, (800) 382-FISH
Lake of the Woods, Border View Lodge August 31, 2021
"We continue with the majority of our time using spinners. Bright colors are still best. We also continue to work Big and Little Traverse Bays based on wind speed and direction. There have been plenty of fish in ranging depths for awhile now. The 12-18 foot range has included many keeper and large Walleye as well as the 25-32 foot range.
Here is a late September and early October Guided Walleye fishing deal! Charter package specials from September 26th to October 17th. 3 nights lodging and 2 days of Walleye Master Guided Walleye fishing for $426.00 per person, add 8 meals and its only $526.00 per person.
If you have thought about relocating to a location like Lake of the Woods check out our new employment webpage. Relocation housing is available. Learn More >> Border View Lodge Employment Opportunities
Temperatures are forecasted with 70’s as daytime highs and 50’s for overnight lows this week." — 1-800-776-3474 Border View Lodge
Wired2Fish August 31, 2021 "Targeting Shallow Schools of Bass in the Late Summer"
"Summer has reached its clammy, nasty climax; across much of the country you can't walk outside without breaking a sweat right now. As a result, fishing has become much less appealing. The shad spawn has long since come and gone. Likewise, the early summer ledge bite full of fresh fish eager to feed up and naive enough to hit anything has been beat to death. The thermocline has pushed deeper and deeper, pulling a large population of bass to the deepest depths they'll visit all year. Thus fishing deep has become far more of a chore than a leisurely pastime.
It's around this time of year each summer that many anglers opt to bail out. It's just too hot.
Whether you have problems at home or not, the old country Mark Chestnut song starts to ring out in our ears. "It's too hot to fish, too hot to golf and too cold at home."
Anglers turn the lakes and rivers over to the ever-increasing number of ..." Read More >> Targeting Shallow Schools of Bass in the Late Summer
Jeff Sundin August 30, 2021 "Lake Winnie Walleye Report"
A few days ago, I wrote that we’d been doing our best work on Winnie Walleyes whenever we used jig and minnow combinations. It’s true, we are still catching plenty of fish using my favorite, 1/8-ounce Lindy Live bait Jig tipped with fatheads. But during the past few days, there have also been situations when the Little Joe Spinners have performed better.
So, what’s the difference?
Weedline fish in shallow water have been spread out horizontally, making spinner presentations more efficient. On both Saturday and Sunday, we’ve located and caught fish that were spread out along ..." Read >> Sundin: Lake Winnie Fishing Report August 30, 2021
Jeff Sundin August 27, 2021 "A Day Without Sunshine Is Like Night!"
Whichever way we got here; we are here! Cooler, wetter weather, combined with east-southeast winds and slate grey skies for the backdrop for the quintessential “would-be” Labor Day Weekend. I used the term would-be, because this is not the actual 2021 Labor Day, but to me, it feels like it is.
After a long, hot summer, the change is welcome, and after the fish have a chance to adjust, the improvement in fishing action will be too. In fact, on select days, there has already been an uptick in walleye, crappie and pike activity. As surface temperatures decline, the improvement will be more pronounced, fish will become easier to locate and prime feeding periods will extend longer into the mid-morning and begin earlier in the evening.
An old friend, Skip Meister once told me, “A Day Without Sunshine is Like Night.” It’s too bad that he’s not with us anymore because this is the time of year he would typically have been here and this weekend, he’d have gotten a chance to say, “see, I told you.” That’s because from what I witnessed yesterday; the fish do agree with his assessment. There was already an improvement in the action as they were both aggressive and plentiful under the dark, drizzly conditions.
In the morning, we caught crappies on Cutfoot Sioux and in the afternoon, we caught walleye and pike on Big Winnie. Some of the fish were caught using jig and minnow combinations, some of them, trolling Little Joe Spinners tipped with fatheads. The “hot color” was an unusual one yesterday, walleyes showed a strong preference for the White-Silver #3 Indiana blades. Maybe they look more like shiners, or tullibees? I don’t know, but I do know that they worked and I’m going to try more of them today.
Surface water temperatures were hovering at 70 degrees on Thursday, in some areas, a little bit warmer. Key fishing depths on the big lake ranged from 5 to 7 feet and the presence of wild celery appeared to be helpful.
The eelgrass, as it’s sometimes called held not only held walleyes, but a fair number of pike too. The pike showed a strong preference to bite the jig and minnow combos, often resulting in bite offs. That’s why I started the crew trolling in the first place, so we’d have some heavier hardware and fewer snipped lines.
It’s rare for me to write much on Saturday mornings, but because of limitations on my time this morning, I’m shifting some of the workload to tomorrow. I know too that Bowen Lodge is working on a big fishing update in preparation for the upcoming Labor Day holiday, so check back in for both, as they become available. 
— Jeff Sundin 218-245-9858 or EMAIL
Jeff Sundin August 25, 2021 "Determining the Determine-Able"
South wind on Friday, northwest wind on Saturday, southeast wind on Sunday, west wind on Monday and east wind on Tuesday. Yep, that’s a shifting weather pattern alright, and it tests one’s talents being adaptable to changing circumstances.
I wish I could say that over the past week, I passed every test with flying colors, but that would be stretching it. I can say though that we managed to find something to do each day, even if it wasn’t exactly what we were expecting at the beginnings of our trips.
Walleyes, generally speaking, have been tough to come by, especially ones of quality size. There are exceptions though, and when all of the elements of weather, fish location and presentation come together, they will bite. Saturday for example, was a “good walleye day”, the fish were in a spot that favored a strong northwest wind. I happened to be there too, so I was able to cash in on it.
It took some doing, but we found some walleyes that were in a spot that favored the strong east wind. While it blew, the fishing action was steadily improving, I could see more and more fish on the screen of my Humminbird and my crew got bit often enough to make life interesting.
When the wind stopped blowing though, the action faded in stages, each cycle of the spot we fished produced slower-and-slower action until it was practically dead. Luckily, we had already caught a handful of “keepers”, along with some nice size perch, so that we could hold ours heads up at the fish cleaning station.
There were a couple of days when I could not find walleyes at all, like Monday. The strong west wind prohibited effective presentations on mid-lake structure, so we were held hostage along the shore on the semi-calm side of the lake. Small pike, a handful of perch and a baby walleye were all I had to show for my effort. Luckily, there were some crappies out there and we found them. That was work too, but as you can see in the accompanying photo of John and Jim, they were nice ones. It took determination, but we were eventually able to pull 19 of them out of the rocks, again, good enough to hold our heads up at the fish cleaning station.
There are other scenarios, but you get the idea, we’ve had to work at catching fish.
The common thread running through my successes has been the use of jig and minnow presentations instead of trolling. My Lindy Live Bait Jigs, tipped with fatheads have produced all of the best catches in my boat over the past 5 or 6 days.
Trolling spinners still works, many if not all the other guides are still using the presentation and they are catching fish. But for me, tricking “keeper size” fish has taken a slower, more deliberate approach. On Tuesday for example, I held my boat speed and .2 to .4 MPH while we hopped the 1/8-ounce jigs along the bottom. Fish would bump, tickle and sniff at the minnows, occasionally holding on long enough for a hook set.
At one point, we had to try the spinners, just to see if they would work better, but they did not. Except for 1, the same fish that were semi-tempted by our jigs, allowed us to troll spinners past them without giving them a sniff. In other areas, we were able to get strikes on the spinners, but the fish we caught were small, too small for harvesting.
Surface temperatures are falling, albeit slowly. I have seen 1 69-1/2 degree reading, but in most areas, they now range between 71 and 72 degrees. As water continues to cool, jig and minnow presentations will become increasingly reliable and soon, will be my first choice on almost every trip. But first, I have to get through “kids week”.
Coincidentally I guess, almost every trip I have scheduled for the next week involves kids. Fishing with dad, fishing with grandpa, fishing with mom, it won’t matter, there will be lots of entertaining to do. Naturally, I’ll be looking for the easiest possible presentation to keep everyone busy and smiling. With luck, I’ll be able to pull off a few more episodes of good trolling. However that goes, you will be the first to know.
I guess that the takeaway from today’s report ought to be that no matter what Mother Natures throws at us, we can still succeed if we keep plugging away. If you’re determined to catch a fish, keep your line in the water and don’t stop fishing, eventually you’ll be like me and “stumble” into the right school of fish at the right time and place; simple, right? — Jeff Sundin 218-245-9858 or EMAIL
Lake of the Woods, LOW Tourism August 24, 2021
"The walleye fishing remains good on the south end of Lake of the Woods. It really helps to be versatile. It seems one day fish are set up in an area and the next they slid somewhere else.
There has been some good fishing in 25 to 29 feet of water in front of Pine Island. When the south wind blows, the Zippel Bay and Graceton Beach area have been productive as well. The fish in that region have been in the 17 to 21 foot depth range and are mainly small fish and eaters with some slots thrown in.
There are still big numbers of fish being found in various areas of the deep mud too, 28 to 34 feet are key depths for those "basin" fish. Reefs are still holding some fish as well and fish could be on top, on the sides or relating to the deep mud just off of the edges over the mud.
Drifting or trolling spinners with crawlers and trolling crankbaits are the "Go-To" techniques for putting fish in the boat. Hammered gold with glow white or glow red, yellow, orange and red/white are colors doing well.
The top team in the AIM MN Championship on Friday and Saturday had 88.62 pounds for 10 walleyes to take first place. Some big fish were caught despite windy conditions.
On the Rainy River, anglers are catching a mixed bag of walleyes, saugers, pike, bass, and sturgeon. Spinners with night crawlers or trolling crankbaits are a good way to locate walleyes. Some walleyes holding in deep holes can be jigged once you find them.
Bass and pike holding on structure, docks and weed edges. Hitting various "Go-To" spots up and down the river is a fun and normally productive day. The sturgeon "keep" season continues through September 30, 2021. The catch and release season resumes October 1, 2021 and ends April 23, 2022.
Up at the Nortwest Angle, great fishing continues on both sides of the border. In U.S. waters, deep mud of Little Traverse Bay continues producing walleyes in 28 to 33 feet of water.
Spinners and crankbaits are effective in covering water and catching these fish as there are various pods scattered in the deep mud. Various structure, such as underwater points and sunken islands, are also holding some walleyes, as they normally do. Not all walleyes in the system are keyed into the same forage.
Pike and muskie anglers finding fish on weedy points using jerkbaits and topwater.
Travel via vehicle through Canada to the Angle now open. Boating into Canadian waters is now open. To travel up to the Angle and avoid the border crossing, vaccination cards and COVID test results, charter boat transport and float planes are available through the LOW Passenger Service and Lake Country Air." — Lake of the Woods Tourism, (800) 382-FISH
Lake of the Woods, Border View Lodge August 24, 2021
"Spinner fishing has been going strong all summer. We have been able to fish while drifting or trolling spinners since late June with great success this year. We continue to work with single or 2 hook spinners with either a minnow or a crawler. Mostly the bright colors have been working best. Strange to say, gold has not been a staple go to color this summer. Bright yellows have been consistently best.
We continue to catch and release many large Walleye in the slot range and trophy size over 28 inches. Having a fresh dinner while you are here is always awesome! Taking home limits has been regular also." — 1-800-776-3474 Border View Lodge
Jeff Sundin August 23, 2021 "Varrying the Variables"
Weather conditions became quite changeable again this weekend, under the influence, I think, of the full moon that passed yesterday, Sunday August 22, 2021. Declining water temperatures and blustery conditions have produced mini turnovers on a lot of lakes, leaving some of us scratching our heads for solid, repeatable, game plans.
First from the south, then from the west, then from the northwest and back to south again, wind direction has changed every 12 hours or so, all weekend long. The wind directions may have changed, but the wind velocities have not, strong and gusty have been the rule, not the exception for over a week now.
Surface waters that registered in the high-70-degree-range a week ago, now barely make the 73-degree mark. For a time, my Humminbird was showing 69.5-degree readings yesterday morning, but during the daytime, the surface temperatures recovered back up into the 72-73-degrees.
As far as the fish are concerned, the churning water has offered opportunity to feed, and they have been. For anglers though, staying a step ahead of the whitecaps and figuring out where there is a “workable” school of fish has made life interesting. I, for example, have made use of a wide variety of boats ramps this week, trying to launch my boat in calm water, but still within reach of some fish to catch.
Some of the smaller lakes still offer limited opportunities to get in on a mixed bag, spinner trolling bite. But with water temperatures falling, the intensity has declined significantly. On Sunday, we were out to bag a mixture of crappies and sunfish, perch were in the back of our minds too, but not a priority. While we did catch some fish, both the numbers and the average size was below the quality standards that this lake had produced earlier this summer.
Walleye anglers are finding some fish but reports about location and presentation are all over the map. Talk to 50 anglers, and you’ll get 100 ideas about how they are catching them. Over the past week, we’ve still caught decent numbers of fish using Little Joe Spinners, but on Saturday, we had great action using jigs and minnows. Late last week, I caught fish trolling shallow running crankbaits. Later, I heard a report that others were fishing theme area using slip-floats and live bait; they were catching fish too.
Trolling crank baits using lead core line came up in a conversation with a friend last night. Planer boards on the flats, pitching jigging baits on shoreline breaks, and trolling with Lindy Li’l Guys were all mentioned as productive walleye presentations over the past week as well.
The takeaway for me is that we have entered the transition from late summer into early fall. Fish are feeding, but they are on the move, so we’ll be noticing that the better anglers will be productive because of their awareness of changing situations and creative use of presentations to match conditions. It won’t be that long before fishing patterns will become simpler and more stable. But first, we’ll have to live through this period of variability; changeable weather, moving fish and conflicting advice about how to catch them.
Look at it this way, it will be a good time to watch for updates about fresh patterns as they emerge. — Jeff Sundin 218-245-9858 or EMAIL
Wired2Fish August 23, 2021 "Is Electric-Only Fishing the Next Big Thing?"
"Color me ignorant on this one but I had no idea electric outboards were even a thing. Heck, I didn't know that electric-only fishing was a thing, that is until recently. I had heard of the famed Dixon Lake in California where Dottie, the 23-pound largemouth bass that could have broken the world record, lived. Lake Dixon doesn't allow you to bring your own boat, instead you have to rent a boat from them rigged with nothing more than a trolling motor. So essentially, that's an electric-only boat. But that's nowhere close to what "electric-only" fishing means anymore.
Apparently, electric-only fishing has been a big deal for a really long time and electric-only outboards aren't new either, with our own Jason Sealock writing a piece in 2017 featuring one of the industry's front runners in this technology, Pure Watercraft. I also recently learned that Mike Iaconelli, former Bassmaster Classic champion and arguably one of the most influential ..." Learn More >> Is Electric-Only Fishing the Next Big Thing?
Jeff Sundin August 19, 2021 "Floating The Float-Able"
Given my preference toward optimism and a strong preference for sharing good news vs bad news, it’s not been easy to dwell on the dry conditions in Minnesota. But I’m afraid that whenever I see the root-term “RESTRICT” coming from the DNR, I must at least look to see what kind of restrictions they’re proposing. So, when I saw this DNR News Release come across the wire yesterday, I had to drop everything and take a look.
Here’s the headline, along with a link to the story. “Portions of Minnesota Enter Drought Restrictive Phase”.
“The Mississippi River Headwaters watershed, the Rainy River watershed and the Red River watershed are experiencing extreme to exceptional drought that necessitates further restrictions on water use to protect drinking water supplies.
The entire state entered the drought warning phase in mid-July. Conditions have worsened in much of Minnesota, particularly northern Minnesota, over the last month.
For the first time since the drought intensity classification scale was implemented in 2000, a portion of Minnesota has entered the exceptional drought ..." Read Full MN DNR Story >> Portions of Minnesota enter drought restrictive phase.
Clicking on the map shown above links to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a website that I never knew existed until yesterday. The present map, included in the MN DNR news release is a week old already, so conditions may have improved, or worsened, depending on the region, but using the link will presumably allow us to follow conditions, and get updates as they become available.
During my brief stint on this planet, I have seen some dry summers, but I don’t recall experiencing one the likes of this. For me, getting in and out of boat landings has not been a problem, that’s because on of the key features of any Lund Alaskan is their ability to run in very shallow water. But for some of my friends with deeper draft boats or ones that require bunk trailers, certain lakes have already been off limits for a while. But this week, even my wide-bottomed, shallow draft Alaskan has dragged its butt in the sand at a couple of landings.
If you are planning a fishing trip soon, I’d suggest looking at some of the lakes that are deeper, clearer and more landlocked. The shallow water lakes, especially ones that have out-flowing streams and rivers got low the earliest and continue to get worse as the drought intensifies. With persistent warm temperatures, many of the so-called clear lakes, have decent algae blooms, warmer than average surface temperatures and above average weed growth.
Like I mentioned in my report on August 15th, 2021, you may need to fish earlier in the morning, or stay later in the evening to get good action, but that’s a small price to pay for easier access and safer boating.
Remember too that the full moon is coming up on August 22nd, 2021. Historically, this, known as “The Sturgeon Moon”, has been one of the best periods for catching large fish. Whenever I’ve had folks’ intent on catching large pike, muskies or bass, I’ve tried to steer them toward scheduling their trips during this period. Walleye anglers sometimes notice an uptick in the daytime action too. But more often, it is the angler who fishes after dark that enjoys the most benefit from fishing during this full moon period.
On Monday, I was at Bowen’s after dark and noted that there were quite a few lights off Tamarack Point. While there were no firsthand reports to confirm that those anglers were catching fish, there is a little “buzz” going around that they are having some fun out there. Fishing after dark isn’t for everybody, but for the right person, it can be a lot of fun. An assortment of small profile, shallow running crankbaits are all you need.
There are lots of crankbaits out there, but on Sunday, I had some fun trolling some of the shallow breaklines on Winnie’s west side using Cotton Cordell’s Wally Diver, the 2-1/2-inch size, trolled on a short line was all I need to reach bottom in 6 to 8 feet of water. The Wally Divers have been a favorite of mine since the 1980’s, in fact I still have some of those old originals in the garage. These days though, there are a lot of new, more exciting colors, so if you haven’t used them lately, take another look at them.
Panfish anglers,
For today, entertaining my mother, getting fitted for a Tux, and preparing a Turkey dinner will likely keep me in dry-dock. Starting tomorrow though, I will work every day for the rest of this month and into September. So, there will be frequent updates as we roll into the post summer, pre-fall fishing season.
Hopefully, Mother Nature has us on her calendar for an upcoming correction. In the meantime, it’s a good idea for anglers and pleasure boaters planning to get on the water soon, to call ahead for a local update. As much as I like answering email questions from readers, I can’t stay on top of the conditions at every boat landing and calling a resort, lodge or bait shop located close to your favorite lake will likely get you better information, faster than I can. — Jeff Sundin 218-245-9858 or EMAIL
Ely Area, Arrowhead Outdoors Fishing Report August 18, 2021
"Walleye fishing has improved to good to outstanding right now. Best bite has been out on deeper sunken islands in 25-30 feet of water. Big minnows like pike suckers, on a jig, and jigging raps have been accounting for the majority of walleyes caught out here. Deep water trolling bite continues to also be excellent with anglers catching walleyes 20-30 feet down over 40-80 feet of water.
Smallmouth bass fishing continues to be excellent to outstanding for anglers targeting them. Topwater remains excellent early in the mornings, very close to shore with whopper ploppers, pop-r’s and torpedoes. As the sun gets up, subsurface lures like wacky worms, senkos and spinnerbaits have been very effective. Largemouth bass fishing also has been excellent. Topwater baits like frogs, fished in weedbeds, wild rice and around lilly pads has been very effective on largemouth bass.
Lake trout anglers have been having success catching lakers this last week on area lakes. Anglers are finding lakers 35-50 feet down, out over deep water. Trolling spoons fished behind down riggers has been the most effective technique for catching these deep lakers.
Panfish anglers continue to catch good numbers of sunfish and crappies in and around weedbeds. Time of day largely determines what you will catch. During the day, sunfish are found in the weedbeds, with small leeches and crawlers. During the evening, crappies move into these same weedbeds looking to feed. Crappie minnows, fished under a bobber or with jigs and twisters." — Arrowhead Outdoors, 218-365-5358
Lake of the Woods, LOW Tourism August 17, 2021
"Another good walleye bite on the south end of Lake of the Woods this week. One "Go-To" summer pattern on LOW is fishing the various schools of walleyes over the miles of deep mud in the basin called Big Traverse Bay. Targeting walleyes in 30 to 34 feet of water is a good bet as there are a lot of fish roaming the basin.
Reefs are still holding some fish as well and they could be located on top, along the sides or suspended, relating to the deep mud just off of the edges over the mud.
The two primary techniques are drifting or trolling spinners with crawlers and trolling crankbaits. As fish are not schooled tightly this time of year, covering water by drifting or trolling is a good strategy. Hammered gold, yellow, orange and gold/glow white are colors doing well.
The top team in the Warrior Boats David A. Andersen Memorial Shootout on Saturday had over an 8 pound average per walleye for five walleyes! There are lots of big walleyes in the lake.
The Rainy River was a backup for many anglers seeking sanctuary from some windy days this week. A variety of fish being caught including walleyes, saugers, pike, bass, and sturgeon. Spinners with night crawlers or trolling crankbaits are a good way to locate walleyes. Bass and pike are holding on structure, docks and weed edges. The sturgeon "keep" season continues now through September 30, 2021, with the catch and release season resuming on October 1, 2021 and lasting through April 23, 2022.
Up at the NW Angle, anglers are now allowed to fish both the U.S. side and Canadian side of the border. Those boating into Canada waters are not required to check into Canada Customs unless you are touching land or dock, doing a shore lunch, mooring, etc. If you plan on touching land or doing a shore lunch, check in via 888-CAN-PASS.
In U.S. waters, deep mud of Little Traverse Bay still holding walleyes in 28 to 33 feet of water. Spinners and crankbaits are effective in covering water and catching these fish.
The "Go-To" structure areas are underwater points, sunken islands and necked down areas where current flow aids in holding walleyes.
Travel via vehicle through Canada to the Angle now open. Boating into Canadian waters is now open. To travel up to the Angle and avoid the border crossing, charter boat transport and float planes are available through the LOW Passenger Service and Lake Country Air." — Lake of the Woods Tourism, (800) 382-FISH
Lake of the Woods, Border View Lodge August 17, 2021
"Our Walleye Master Guides continue to work both Big and Little Traverse while mostly drifting with spinners and crawlers. Bright yellow colors still seem to work best. We are having much brighter days of sunshine now that the smoke is gone.
There were a couple tough days of wind this past week which one of them trapped many anglers in the river. Yesterday brought much success, we were able to find more larger schools of Walleye back together after some storms with lightning passed through earlier in the week.
If you have thought about relocating to a location like Lake of the Woods check out our new employment webpage. Relocation housing is available. >> https://borderviewlodge.com/employment/
We start the week off with having the summer heat back and temps in the 90’s with 60’s overnight.
FISH ON!" — 1-800-776-3474 Border View Lodge
August 15, 2021 — "Happy Anniversary Fishing Trip To Ely, MN"
One wouldn’t ordinarily plan a vacation, drive to the destination, and then make multiple overnight trips back home during the week. But that’s what I and the Hippie Chick wound up doing this past week.
You see the man who bought my Lund 208 Pro V boat lives in Moosejaw Saskatchewan and transportation to deliver the rig was “complicated”. He hired a transport company to come load it on a flatbed truck and then deliver it to his location. Paperwork, rules, red tape, and unexpected hang ups caused numerous delays. The rig finally did wind up at its new home, but not before causing I and Mrs. Sundin to cancel a few days’ worth of “relaxation”.
Abbreviated as it was, our trip to Ely did afford us an opportunity to explore a few lakes, as well as giving us a chance to stop by Arrowhead Outdoors. The folks at Arrowhead have been sharing their fishing reports on the FishRapper for a couple of years now. So, it was fun having the chance to meet them and see their store, which by the way is very nice. They have a wide selection of lures, great looking live bait and their hours, 5:00 AM to 8:00 PM make it super-convenient for folks who need to get bait on the way to lake.
Comparing notes with Kris at Arrowhead validated the idea of a couple of lakes we had in mind to try. One of them, a lake that had stream trout in it, could offer a chance to catch our first ever open water trout. Another one appeared to have what promised to be decent populations of both crappie and sunfish. No, we did not care about finding a walleye or a lake that has walleyes in it, I get enough of that at home.
The trout lake did not pan out for us on the first try, at least not in terms of bagging a fish. In my mind, it all added up that for our first attempt to catch a trout on the lake, it was too sunny and too "mid-day". If we'd been there earlier, or stayed later, the outcome might have been different, I thought.
Because we did get a few strikes and almost caught a trout, I was haunted all night long and by 4:00 AM the next morning, my eyes were wide open. It wasn't long before the coffee was brewing and without thinking, I was preparing for an early morning re-match with those trout. I can’t understand why, but the Hippie Chick opted to stay in bed and let me try it alone this time.
As you can see by the accompanying photo, the early morning session at Trout Lake worked out better for me. The first fish was caught at 6:45 AM and the 2nd one around 7:15 AM. I actually hooked a 3rd fish too, but that one got away before I could see it. They were not huge fish, but the 2 of them, cooked on the grill, made a darn nice meal for Susan and I last night. Best of all, I was able to rest, knowing that I didn’t have to keep trying until I finally caught a trout!
Later that day, we decided to give the panfish lake a try and drove over there to scope it out. At first glance, super-low water levels and heavy weed growth made the outcome appear to be less than promising. But trolling around the shoreline, there were 2 spots that looked promising. Cabbage weeds in about 8 feet of water grew out to the breakline where they formed a hard edge, a wall of weeds if you want to call it that. Fishing them was tricky, they were so thick that if we threw our spinners 1 foot too far, they would instantly be stuck. But if we didn’t throw them far enough, no fish would find them.
Susan was skeptical, but I kept saying that the fish would probably cruise that weed edge at sunset. Luckily, my credibility was saved when at about 7:30 PM, panfish began striking consistently. A 1/8-ounce Lindy Live Bait Jig tipped with a cut piece of night crawler allowed Susan to catch several nice Bluegills. Crappies like the 1/16 round head ounce Lindy Jig, tipped with a Bobby Garland 2.25" Baby Shad Swim'R. Cast the small jig toward the cabbage, let it drop a few feet and occasionally “POP”, a nice crappie!
We chose not to harvest any fish from the panfish lake. But if we had, our larder would have had enough fish to supply us with a nice meal of crappies, another meal of bluegills and as a bonus, a coconut pike delight on the BBQ as well.
It didn't take long to figure out that canoeing, camping and boundary waters adventures are way more popular than fishing from power boats in the Ely area. Still, there was traffic on most all of the lakes, and because most of the fishing lakes are relatively small, a little traffic adds up fast. Spring and fall, prime time may be different, but the takeaway for me was that early morning and late evening fishing trips are probably a must for folks who want to get in on decent, late-summertime action. Everyplace we went offered little-to-no action during the period from 10:00 AM to about 4:00 PM.
So, it wasn’t the highest-level fishing trip we’ve ever been on, but the combination of catching a couple trout, followed by a nice evening on the panfish lake, was good. Despite spending a good part of the week in dry dock, my Alaskan finally got to float us past a few fish. We had a few nice meals, got some gardening done around the house and best of all, did not worry about whether the fish were biting or not, not at all.
That all changes again in a few minutes, I’ll be worrying plenty about whether the fish are biting for the next 60 days or so. I don’t know where the summers go, but here we are again, the early fall transition is beginning and soon, the fall peak fishing season will be here. — Jeff Sundin 218-245-9858 or EMAIL
Ely Area, Arrowhead Outdoors Fishing Report August 11, 2021
"Walleyes seemed to have settled in, the 10 to 15 feet of water depths, as the majority of good reports continue to from that depth range. Anglers have been having good luck trolling spinner rigs out around islands and sunken islands during the evening hours. Anglers have also been reporting good luck trolling deep diving crankbaits during the evening hours on many area lakes. Best lakes for this have been lakes with strong cisco populations.
Bass - Little has changed with the excellent bass fishing on many area lakes. Early morning topwater bite remains excellent for both smallmouth and largemouth bass. Here whopper ploppers, pop-r and torpedoes have been very effective on smallmouth, but for largemouth bass anglers have been having better luck fishing frogs in thick cover. As the sun gets up, throwing in-line spinners, spinnerbaits and soft plastics keep anglers busy catching fish.
Sunfish and crappie fishing continues to be very good for many anglers. Anglers report finding both in either on weedlines or in thick stands to weeds. Anglers have been catching fish with jig and twisters, casted around weedlines and lily pads. If the bite slows, simply switching to jigs tipped with a piece of a crawler or wax worms have help get the picky biters to bite. Crappie minnows have been more effective for crappies." — Arrowhead Outdoors, 218-365-5358
Lake of the Woods, LOW Tourism August 11, 2021
"There has been a continuing, consistent, summer walleye pattern going on Lake of the Woods. Anglers come in with reports of catching lots of "eater" walleyes (under 19.5 inches), some slot fish (19.5 to 28 inches) which are great picture fish that must be released and trophy fish (over 28 inch) of which, one is allowed.
One consistent summer pattern on LOW is walleyes over the miles and miles of deep mud. Targeting walleyes in 30 to 34 feet of water is a good bet as there are a lot of fish roaming the basin.
A second pattern is fishing on or near structure, which can always be good. Imagine, the majority of the basin is mud so when a rock reef emerges amongst miles of mud bottom, it will oftentimes hold bait and is simply an attractor. If fish aren't directly on the reef, often they are in the mud around it.
The two primary techniques are drifting or trolling spinners with crawlers and trolling crankbaits. Covering water is a good strategy.
Hammered gold, chartreuse, yellow, orange and red / white are colors doing well.
On the Rainy River, anglers are targeting a variety of fish on the Rainy River. Most walleye anglers are fishing the lake this time of year but some good walleyes live in the river year round and offer good opportunities. Holes, current breaks, rock piles and weed edges can all hold fish.
Pike adjacent to weeds and current breaks. Smallmouth bass in great numbers throughout the river.
The sturgeon "keep" season continues through September 30, 2021. Catch and release season resumes on Oct 1, 2021 and remains in effect through April 23, 2022.
Up at the Northwest Angle, the Canadian border opened up on August 9, 2021 to American travelers who have both a vaccination card and can produce a negative PCR COVID test less than 72 hours old. That means driving to the Angle is once again possible. Boating from the Angle into Canada is also once again allowed.
Great walleye fishing up at the Angle this week. Anglers who slid over the border to fish the Ontario side Aug 9 said fishing was spectacular. The walleyes, bass, pike and muskies have not seen many, if any, lures for two summers!
Much like the south end, one area still holding fish is the deep mud of Little Traverse Bay. Walleyes are set up over mud in 28 - 33 feet. Spinners and crankbaits are effective in covering water and catching these fish.
To travel up to the Angle and avoid the border crossing, services are available.
1. The LOW Passenger Service, charter boat shuttle service from the south end, is open and running. 2. If you have the right boat and expertise, boating across is an option. 3. And finally, Lake Country Air flying service, a float plane service from the south end of the lake." — Lake of the Woods Tourism, (800) 382-FISH
Lake of the Woods, Border View Lodge August 11, 2021
"We have been in a consistent pattern for the last couple weeks. The bait fishing remains strong, mostly drifting with spinners. We have been fishing close by when the weather allows, other days have been spent in Little Traverse North of Garden Island. 3-ounce sinkers and yellow colors have been a steady go to presentation. On different days changing up colors makes a difference. Leeches are hard to come by, crawlers seem to be working well.
The summer is blowing by fast. Hard to believe the Vikings play this week. We still have some openings through October, give us a call and we can let you know what dates we have available.
Smoke in the air, yes, there are many fires on the Canadian side of the Border. If you go to our website and watch the web cam you can see the action on the docks and river, as well as how the smoke is hovering from day to day.
Forecasted temps are in the upper-50s and highs in the 70’s- 80’s for this week." — 1-800-776-3474 Border View Lodge
August 8, 2021 — "Where To Find Fish on Zebra Mussel Infested Lakes?"
"Ron Hansen wrote, I make three trips a year to northern Minnesota. I fish (withheld) for a week with family and (withheld) for two weeks. My electronics are nothing fancy or recent but do a nice job of marking depths and the weedline.
Your July report, “A Sucker Born Every Minute” was spot on because getting the right fish to bite was nearly impossible at the time. We probably caught more fish in that single week than I had ever caught in one trip. It is really sad that zebra mussels have been found in this lake.
QUESTION ONE: When fish are biting like this what size leeches should I buy when targeting walleyes? We ended buying panfish leeches after debating whether to buy large leeches. We did catch some of the nicest sunfish I've seen in depths anywhere from 8-14 feet. I know that a big bait usually means big fish, but we're targeting eater size fish.
Our family has been fishing (withheld) for 20+ years and we have seen it significantly change for the worse since the zebra mussels were introduced. The water clarity has gone crazy and low light or windy conditions seem to be about the only way to catch a walleye. We catch a minimal number of nice perch when we used to bring home a bunch.
QUESTION TWO: Is targeting the weedline my best bet on lakes that are inhabited by zebra mussels? We seem to have less and less luck on a yearly basis when targeting walleyes on the humps of that lake. The northern pike are still crazy on this lake and you can catch a boatload of them on any given day and that still gives us some fun and enough fish to fry for the week. Thanks! Ron Hansen
Q) Ron, first let me say that night crawlers are my favorite walleye bait to use when trolling the Little Joe's. The reason that I would choose to use leeches is not because they are more attractive, it is to help cut down on small fish nipping the baits off our hooks. So, whenever I can get away with it, yard bait is my number one pick.
The only consideration regarding the size of leeches I buy, is how easy they are to get on the hook, I like to double hook them through the nose. When I buy panfish grade leeches, I find that many of them are too small for the 2/0 Aberdeen hooks we use. Medium grade usually works out better, they are typically about 1-1/2 inches long in their relaxed state and stretch out to around 3 inches when we're trolling. Panfish will stick pick at them, but leeches tend to be harder for them to rip off and stay on the hook long enough for other fish to find them.
Regarding Zebra Mussels, as far as I'm concerned, they suck, and I share your distress about finding them in some of your favorite lakes. Unfortunately, figuring out how to work around them in any given lake isn't as simple as directing an anger to fish weeds vs humps, shallow vs deep water, etc.
Fish are flexible and will typically work with whatever Mother Nature dishes out. If they can go to deeper water, they will, but the lake has to have desirable temperatures, oxygen levels and food sources for the deep water lifestyle to work. So, in many cases, weeds do wind up being the best game in town for walleyes on Zebra Mussel infested lakes. The only way to figure it out is through research, time on the water is your only asset.
Perch, or the lake of them, can be connected to Zebra Mussels in several ways. However, it's been my experience that the Zebra Mussels don't make them harder to catch, instead, they make it harder for the lake to replace ones that have been harvested. It may be that those beautiful perch that you remember catching have not become more elusive, they may simply not exist there anymore.
It requires massive amounts of food in order for a lake to produce large numbers of quality size perch. The Zeebs rob that food from the lake, competing with the tiny perch in the lake. Without enough to eat, they fail to reach sizes that will allow them to survive over their first winter, that's one problem. Another one is that clearer water makes it easier for predator fish to locate and eat perch that depend on the turbid water for protection. A third problem is that clearer water makes it easier for perch to find and strike anglers' lures. Early in the life cycle of a Zebra Mussel infestation, fishing appears to improve. The improvement is short-lived though, because unknowingly, anglers over-harvest the fish, causing declines in the population of adult fish.
Whenever it's easier to take something out than it is to put it back in, there is gonna be a problem. That said, if there are still good numbers of large perch, they will be most easily located wherever the crawfish are most plentiful. Gravel patches that lay adjacent to weeds are good, marl substrates are good too, they host a variety of insects, most notable among them, bloodworms. Adding small perch minnows to the mix and you're covered. Perch, crawfish, and bloodworms are probably the 3 most important food sources that adult fish target.
I've noticed that perch fishing can be awesome on a windy, cloudy day. But when the sun shines and the winds stop blowing, they disappear. Again, assuming that there are healthy populations of large perch, it my be worth waiting for the right weather to target them. — Jeff Sundin 218-245-9858 or EMAIL
Jeff Sundin August 6, 2021 "Who's Getting That "Fuzzy Feeling?"
It all seems a little “fuzzy”, I mean the “crappie” way some of my days have gone lately. One of the summer patterns I really love is taking hold and helping to round out the mix of fish on some of my favorite mixed-bag lakes.
Deep patches of Flat Stemmed Pondweed, a grass that occurs in numerous lakes around the Itasca Region, attracts and holds good numbers of crappie and lately, the pattern is becoming more reliable by the day. As soon as you connect the dots and learn to recognize it on your electronics, pondweed varieties will begin making you a more productive crappie angler.
In past reports, you’ve heard me refer to some weeds as “fuzzy stuff”, that’s because they appear as fine clouds of wispy, thin lines on the screen of my Humminbird. In some ways, they remind me of seeing clouds of insect larvae or tightly grouped schools of minnows. They rarely reach the surface but can often be seen a foot or two below it. As described on the website Go Botany Dot Com; “flat-stem pondweed is distinctive because of its conspicuously flattened, winged stems. It also lacks floating leaves, and …” Learn More About >> Flat Stemmed Pondweed
On the final day of fishing for 2021’s “Camp Hastings” family reunion, Kristin, Brooke and Sarah agreed that fishing for anything the bites would be a good idea. We fished cabbage patches and caught lots of pike, then tried the shallow, 6-to-7-foot flat’s where Sarah bagged the walleye you see in the accompanying photo. But before we’d done any of that, we cashed in on some nice, “fuzzy stuff” crappies like the one Kristin is holding. Those fish were holding over the tops of the plants in water depths ranging from 10 to 13 feet.
You won’t be surprised when I say that we were using Little Joe Spinners tipped with minnows. On this day, the pink/gold color was the best producer, but I’ve seen times when crappies show a strong preference for the perch color. In fact, whenever I fish a lake with known populations of good crappies, I see to it that somebody in the boat has the perch-colored blade in motion as we pass over reliable crappie territory.
As I enter the Camp Hastings trips into the archives, my calendar shows welcome news coming up, an anniversary/honeymoon trip with the lovely and vivacious “Hippie Chick” AKA Mrs. Sundin. But before we start into our 5th year of matrimonial bliss, I have one more day of fishing on the calendar.
Keith Eberhardt has enlisted me to help entertain” the grandkids” today. I’ve never met them before, so I don’t know exactly how it will play out, but I do know that action is a priority over species of fish caught.
Now that the “fuzzy stuff” pattern has given me the itch, I am going to try and scratch it by heading for a lake that has a lot more of it than the one I fished with the ladies. With luck, the pattern will be a solid choice and we’ll pick up some more crappies today. If not, we’ll likely still pick up a variety of other fish, we’ve been known to bag 6 or 7 species of fish on most trips; that gives me some confidence.
Most folks that love the outdoors don’t read fishing reports on Saturdays; that’s why I seldom post anything new on those days. But I will drop in a few notes about today’s trip this Sunday morning and I think I’ll have a couple of Q&As to drop in too. After that, we’ll be headed into the Ely area where we’ll relax, fish, eat, fish, sleep, fish and whatever else comes naturally and then fish.
I haven’t fished in the Ely area since I was a little kid, so it will be fun to explore the region. As we discover the discover-able, I’ll let you know how the trip plays out. — Jeff Sundin 218-245-9858 or EMAIL
Jeff Sundin August 4, 2021 "Deer River Region Fishing Reports"
After what seemed like an endless period of calm, stable weather, fish were easy to figure out and easy to catch. Most of the better guides and elite anglers that I know were routinely catching limits of walleyes for their customers and guests. That period of stability ended last week when a string of heavy storms blew through the area, disrupting the status quo.
This means that looking for an easy, “Hot Bite” for walleyes has become trickier over the past week or so. I’d say trickier, but not impossible, because every lake I’ve fished this week eventually provides some highlights. The trick, if you want to call it that, is that we just have to just keep fishing.
Yesterday, on Bowstring Lake was a great example of what I mean. Walleye fishing actually started out pretty well, nice size fish were located on some of the mid-lake bars, and they were biting. The size #6 hook Lindy Rigs, trimmed to about 6 feet and tipped with air injected night crawlers worked well. By about 10:30 we had 6 nice walleyes in the livewell, half of Bob and Joe’s would-be, 2-man limit.
The conditions were about to change though, the morning breeze ground to a halt and the lake went flat. The sun’s reflection on the surface didn’t even wiggle, and from then on, neither did the ends of our fishing rods. Except for bay size perch, we could not drum up a bite, not even from one of lake’s skinny northern pike.
We tried spinning the weed edges, bottom bouncing the reefs and crawling more mid lake structures. Nothing, despite marking numerous fish on the screen of my Humminbird, Bowstring Lake had given up on me, or so it seemed.
Late in the afternoon, we were rigging one of the mid-lake bars, Joe was commenting about some light strikes he was getting. “I don’t think they’re perch, but if they’re walleyes, they won’t take the whole worm.” Joe said. Then, he finally did it, he hooked one of the fish; “that was the hardest I’ve ever had to work to get a … CRAPPIE to bite!” That’s right, some of the fish we were seeing on my graph were not walleyes at all, they were crappies holding tight to the high centers of small bars.
I pulled out the jigging rods, tied on 1/8 ounce Live Bait Jigs and tipped them with small fatheads. Two more nice crappies came to the boat, but I wasn’t seeing many more fish on the screen. “It’s kind of a longshot, but let’s go back and look at one of those humps where we marked fish earlier,” I said. So we backtracked, located some fish on the Humminbird and an hour later, headed toward the landing with 19 of the 20 crappies that Bob and Joe could potentially have gone home with. I don’t tattle on my customers, so you’ll have to ask the boys what happened to fish number 20.
It’s ironic that crappies would have provided the “grand finale” because we actually started the day hoping to find some of them on the rocks. When we didn’t catch any early, I sort of dropped the idea from the agenda for the rest of the day. In fact, if Joe hadn’t caught the first one on his crawler rig, we may never have tried to fish for them again.
As you can see by the accompanying photos, yesterday on Bowstring was just one example of what happens if we just don’t give up. After a slow start on Round Lake Sunday morning, camp Hastings crew members Owen, Blaine and Josie lit up the pike and walleyes on another popular Deer River area lake. The trick, again, was simply to not give up, we just had to keep fishing until I found the boys something fun to do.
Word on the street is that Winnie and Cutfoot have been the same way. Fishing might be slow at times, but for folks who keep searching, the lake eventually pays out a dividend. Fishing during late evenings and early mornings is currently the best way to turn the odds in your favor.
Bob and Joe have been fishing over there, mainly on Cutfoot and told me yesterday that the action for them starts after 6:00 PM. “They aren’t all that big, but we are catching a lot of walleyes using spinners, tipped with minnows,” Joe said.
Water temperatures remain warm, ranging anywhere from 74 degrees on the deepest, coolest lakes up to 82 degrees on the region’s shallow water, algae and bog-stained waters. On Bowstring yesterday, 81 degrees was the unofficial high reading on my Humminbird.
With water temperatures this warm. I would love to fish for Bass and Sunfish today. But this is the wrap up of 2021’s version of Camp Hastings. As a group, they like pike, both to catch and to eat, and I am only too happy to accommodate them. According to the forecast, conditions favor a good day for pike action. Hopefully, we’ll get a re-match with some of the big ones that got away from us on Monday! Whatever happens will soon be a matter of public record, so stand by. — Jeff Sundin 218-245-9858 or EMAIL
Ely Area, Arrowhead Outdoors Fishing Report August 4, 2021
"Walleyes seem to have slid out a little deeper this last week. Best reports continue to be fairly shallow for this time of the year. 10-13 feet of water has been where the best and most consistent bite has been.
Anglers catching walleyes here have been doing so with spinner rigs, jigs tipped with leech or crawler and even slip bobber and a leech. Anglers looking for trophy walleyes have been trolling deep diving crankbaits during the evening hours, 20-30 feet down, over 35-70 feet of water.
Bass anglers continue to report excellent bass fishing on many area lakes. Early morning topwater bite remains excellent for both smallmouth and largemouth bass. Here whopper ploppers, pop-r and torpedoes have been very effective on smallmouth, but for largemouth bass anglers have been having better luck fishing frogs in thick cover. As the sun gets up, throwing in-line spinners, spinnerbaits and soft plastics keep anglers busy catching fish.
Sunfish and crappie fishing continues to be very good for many anglers. Anglers report finding both in either on weedlines or in thick stands to weeds. Anglers have been catching fish with jig and twisters, casted around weedlines and lily pads. If the bite slows, simply switching to jigs tipped with a piece of a crawler or wax worms have help get the picky biters to bite. Crappie minnows have been more effective for crappies." — Arrowhead Outdoors, 218-365-5358
Lake of the Woods, Border View Lodge August 3, 2021
"Our Walleye Master Guides continue to work all areas of the lake. The bug hatches seem to be over with. Walleye are biting well while drifting or trolling with spinners and crawlers or leeches.
Big Traverse and Little Traverse have schools of Walleye from 28 to 31 feet of water. There have been many large Walleye caught and released this past week. Having a fresh catch of the day meal and limits of take-home fish has not been a problem for those fishing multiple days.
Smoke in the air, yes, there are many fires on the Canadian side of the Border. If you go to our website and watch the web cam you can see the action on the docks and river, as well as how the smoke is hovering from day to day.
An important reminder while angling in warmer water is to play, photo and release fish as soon as possible. The sooner the fish is returned to the atmosphere it was pulled from, the better chance it has to survive. A fish that swims away has that chance.
At Border View Lodge we like having as many options in our tackle box as possible. This gives us the opportunity to do different styles of fishing. We like to accommodate everyone, but not everyone has the same preference of fishing styles. We have listened to the anti-down rigging crowds over the years and we have considered eliminating them from our fleet because of their negative social pressures. We are choosing to keep them as an option.
Experience matters, it is because we do use them from time to time that we are also able to determine what works. While down rigging it is much less likely a Walleye of any size will swallow the hook and cause harm to the fish, also, those fish are played to the surface much quicker and swim away healthier more often. There are many other methods of getting plugs to the floor of the lake which cause excessive time playing out fish to the surface. Also, nothing else besides a down rigger allows for more quality fishing time and less tangles while trolling with 6 people on one boat.
Forecasted temps are in the upper-50s and highs into the 80s for this week." — 1-800-776-3474 Border View Lodge
Lake of the Woods, LOW Tourism August 3, 2021
"On the south end... Strong summer walleye patterns continue, which is a good thing for catching LOW walleyes. The two primary techniques are drifting or trolling spinners with live bait and trolling crankbaits.
Schools of walleyes obviously move around based on forage, wind, current and a variety of other factors. This past week, a couple of patterns emerged. First and very consistent, targeting walleyes in 30-34' of water over deep mud in Big Traverse Bay. Fish of all sizes being caught.
The second pattern was off of Pine Island. With a south wind, a nice bite set up in 16 - 22 feet. Other patterns such as walleyes relating to structure are also in play.
Hammered gold, pink, yellow, orange and red / white are colors doing well. It is a good idea to use something different from your fishing partner until the walleyes tell you what they want that day.
On the Rainy River... A mixed bag on the Rainy River this week. Most walleye anglers focus on the lake this time of year but nice pockets of "local" walleyes are in the river year round. Holes, current breaks, rock piles and weed edges can all hold fish. Pull spinners or troll cranks to find scattered fish.
Pike adjacent to weeds and current breaks. Smallmouth bass in great numbers and they don't get much attention.
The sturgeon "keep" season continues through Sep. 30. Catch and release Oct 1 - April 23, 2022.
Up at the NW Angle... Great walleye fishing up at the Angle this week. Much like the south end, one area to consider is the deep mud of Little Traverse Bay. Walleyes are set up over mud in 28 - 33 feet. Spinners and crankbaits are effective in covering water and catching these fish.
There is so much fun structure to fish where pods of walleyes are hanging out. Underwater points, sunken islands, and neck down areas are just a few also holding walleyes.
Pike are usually willing to play and continue to be active in weedy bays. Spinnerbaits, spoons, crankbaits and bucktails are good choices.
Smallmouth bass are relating to deeper rocks. Some nice muskies caught and released again this week.
Canada announced driving over the border will be possible August 9th for fully vaccinated Americans who have a negative PCR COVID test less than 72 hours old. Other ways to the Angle...
1. The LOW Passenger Service, charter boat shuttle service from the south end, is open and running. 2. If you have the right boat and expertise, boating across is an option. 3. And finally, Lake Country Air flying service, a float plane service from the south end of the lake." — Lake of the Woods Tourism, (800) 382-FISH
Jeff Sundin August 1, 2021 "Simplfying the Simplify-Able"
On Saturday, it began feeling more like a normal summer again as the "Camp Hastings" crew began arriving back in town. Fishing with the advance crew, Rick and Mike, we got a good head start on gathering fish for the annual fish fry that we'll have later this week.
The recipe for our fishing day was really a simple one. Ingredients: 1 small lake, 1 mixed population of walleye, panfish and pike, 1 weedline, 3 Little Joe Spinners, 1/2 pint fathead minows.
Instructions, using an outboard engine powered boat, troll the weed edges at speeds of 1.0 to 1.2 MPH. A Drift Control wind sock may be added to aid in both speed and steering control. Maintain contact with the weed edges at all times, allowing the spinners to occasionally snag heavier patches of vegetation. When fish strikes, wait until they have firm grasp on both bait and hook, then reel them. Identify species and legal sizes before deciding whehter or not harvesting fish is desireable.
Following the simple-but-effective recipe closely allowed us to gather 10 nice walleyes, 5 crappies, 5 sunfish and 2 decent pike. Not bad for a relaxing day on the lake, far away from crowds, loud noises and cell ... oops, I guess you can never get away from cell phones these days. Anyway, it was a nice start to the week and hopefully, the next 3 or 4 days will be equally relaxing.
A few quick details, water temperatures held steady at 75 degrees. The weed edges varied in depth, cabbage patches and pondweed grew out to about 10 feet deep. Coontail and some other plants grew out to depths of 14 feet, there were some deeper patches of grass that I could not identify. Our best action came from the shallower depths, 10 to 12 feet seem ideal, however we did bag a few fish from deeper water, 14 to 16 feet.
I used a night crawler on my spinner instead of a minnow, that produced more sunfish. However, the spinners tipped with minnows produce more crappies. Neither pike, nor walleye showed a preference for either and there were nice fish caught using both.
As usual, I am up against the clock, but am feeling "the routine" settling back in. I'll be catching up steadily as the week unfolds. — Jeff Sundin 218-245-9858 or EMAIL
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