Ely Area, Arrowhead Outdoors Fishing Report September 18, 2024

"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 to 30 feet of water. 

Smallmouth - Smallmouth fishing has cooled some too as smallies have also become more scattered with the warmer water temps. Shoreline structures like downed trees, boulder points and flats in 5 to 15 feet of water, have all been holding active smallies. Rivers too are also 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 weed beds. 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 weed beds to feed. Both locations they are hitting jig/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 to 10 feet 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." — Arrowhead Outdoors, 218-365-5358

Brainerd MN Area Fishing Report September 16, 2024

"The lakes in the Brainerd area are sitting at around 73 degrees due to the warm spell this week. Walleyes have not yet transitioned to fall patterns but they are on the verge.

In the last week minnows have become the dominant bait in my boat. Working a jig and minnow along weed lines has been productive for just about anything that swims. If the wind lays down using spinners tipped with either crawlers or minnows along the weed line covering water is producing walleyes and pike.

In addition to fishing the weed lines, fishing over shallow rocks has produced some bigger fish on top but can be hit or miss. From day to day, we never know if the fish will be holding on the rocks, but is always worth checking and whe they are, expect big results.

Looking ahead the colder weather will be coming and fall patterns will begin to develop more. " — Joe Billiar, Crooked Hat Guide Service

September 16, 2024 "Are You On Board With Forward Facing Sonar?"

Kip Lindberg wrote: Q) "Jeff, I've enjoyed your recent posts on Winnie, that the fish aren't as concentrated due to lots of forage, and the boat shyness (or not) due to water clarity. I've fished Winnie the last two years in early June, so I don't have any data points of what the fishing was like prior to the zebra mussels.

My question is on forward facing sonar (ffs). I bought a loaded guide boat in 2015 end of season. It's Lund 2075 Pro Guide with a 200 hp tiller, Humminbird 998ci graph, and I put a Terrova on the front, getting rid of the Vantage (I see they no longer sell them; no wonder!).

I follow Tom Boley and the success he is having utilizing FFS has me intrigued. I fish Lac Seul every year as well, and if I see the walleyes on sonar, I can catch them. I'm much more into finding bigger walleyes, and the thought of being able to sharp shoot to a large fish definitely gets my interest.

Are you utilizing FFS or thinking about it? I would need to upgrade my electronics if I wanted to network them, but it would be beneficial if I upgraded my trolling motor as well.

I do love fishing Lake Winnie, and God willing, I will be back to Winnie in early June 2025 and expanding my knowledge of the lake. And, maybe I will have FFS to give me something new to play with. It's elk and antelope season back home in Wyoming, so my fishing is done for this year! Take care, Kip"

A) Good morning sir and thank you for the note. At this time I do not use any version of live sonar. Yes, I am thinking about it, but I'm not in any rush to get in on the frenzy.

Targeting large fish would interest me too, but depending on where and how you fish for them, could come at a high cost to the lake. The un-intended consequence of increased fish mortality cannot be overlooked. In Minnesota, folks are only allowed 1 fish over 20 inches in possession. So, repeatedly releasing fish over 20 inches, or in the case of Winnie, fish in the protected, 18 to 23 inch slot will likely result in at least some net decline in larger fish. Consider this, even though folks "believe" that they are safely releasing fish, there is always a certain percentage of fish that do not survive. Barotrauma, warm water stress and mis-handling of caught fish must be taken into consideration.

I am a staunch advocate of folks' freedom to choose and use this technology, and will never suggest limiting the availability of it. That said, I am also a staunch advocate of educating folks. In my view, technology comes with a heightened responsibility for how it is used. Like it or not, FFS is not going away, so tailoring it's use to be good for the fish, instead of bad, is paramount.

I appreciate you giving permission to share your thoughts, and I'm guessing that some of our readers will have follow up questions, which are more than welcome too. Thanks again Kip for the thoughtful note! Have a fabulous day! Jeff Sundin — Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or EMAIL

September 14, 2024 "Timing the Time-Able with Dick and Paul, MMXXIV-II"

This doesn’t look much like a perch, does it? Nope, that’s because it’s not, it’s a walleye and as it happens, the largest one of the first 4 days of ‘Fun with Dick and Paul” fall fishing trip. How you catch fish like this is to go out on a mission to catch perch, and then you will catch walleyes. That’s more or less how it worked for us on Friday.

Perch are a frustrating fish, sometimes they can be so easy to catch, and other times they can be scarce as hens’ teeth. Frustrating too is that sometimes you can find them, and catch them, but they still don’t do you any good because they’re the wrong size. That happened on Friday too, perch between 9 and 10 inches long weren’t too hard to get, but fish that crossed the 10-inch mark on the ruler, those were another story altogether. Sunshine, that’s the problem, that’s what kills a great perch bite, not all perch, just the ones we really want.

Some folks think my assertion is ridiculous, they catch fish on sunny days all the time and in some ways, they’re right. At certain times of the season, or in certain waters, perch are catchable on sunny days. Lakes with dark water, heavy algae blooms and great weed beds are some of the exceptions. But perch in lakes with clearer water and lighter weed cover are more willing to gather when the skies are darker. I think it’s because perch are tuned in to crawfish, and crawfish don’t come out to play in the daylight.

Stop, I didn’t say the perch only eat crawfish, I said they are “tuned in to them” and their behavior reflects it. I believe that perch, especially large ones, are conditioned to respond to dark water conditions because they’re accustomed to finding crawfish on days like that. So, even when crawdads are not the primary seasonal forage, the conditions encourage them to move onto gravel patches where the crustations live. Once they’re moving, they’ll eat whatever they find, but when the crawfish are moving, they will go out of their way to hunt them.

Walleyes, the largest member of the perch family, respond to current. They’re conditioned to follow their noses to find easy feeding when the water is flowing. They bite better when the sky is darker too but give them a healthy “walleye chop” on the surface, and they go on the move, sometimes even if it’s sunny. I think that is why catching walleyes was easier than catching perch yesterday.

I’m playing the “coulda, woulda, shoulda” game, but if I could re-live the week, I would have used the clouds and current to my advantage last Tuesday. I guess my head was wrapped up in getting the trip off to a good start with walleyes, but if I’d known it would be a good walleye week anyway, I’d have been more opportunistic.

I’ve got one day left to find a good perch bite, and I’m looking over the weather forecast city by city, watching for the one with cloudy skies in the forecast. Let’s see, should I go north, south, west …? — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email

September 13, 2024 "A Crappie Time For Dick and Paul, MMXXIV-II"

For most of the summer, I’ve posted reports like the one from (June 14, 2024 "Turning The Corner Into Summer Crappie Patterns") about a “trick” for locating schools of crappies. Finding schools of fish holding along inside corners adjacent to weed beds has been almost bullet proof, until a couple of weeks ago.  That’s when I started noticing that large weed flats with slow tapering breaks into deeper water were holding more fish. Yesterday, day 3 of Fun with Dick and Paul, that new “bullet proof” pattern was the solid one.

The lake, a medium size 1,500-acre lake is typical of north central Minnesota mixed species lakes. It has one deep basin, 3 or 4 mid-lake bars and loads of shallow, weedy flats in water depths of 6 to 12 feet. The water clarity is low, my Secchi disk reading on my last visit 2 weeks ago was just 3 feet, that’s when the algae bloom was heaviest. Yesterday it was somewhat clearer, now ranging from 5 to 7 feet depending on where we were fishing. Surface water temperatures were summer-like, 70 degrees was the average.

If there were any crappies located in open water yesterday, I didn’t see them.  Weed growth on the lake was still heavy, but not super healthy looking and that’s where the fish were located. Coontail looked the best, it was still mostly green and stood tall. Flat Stemmed Pondweed was semi-green, and old looking, but still good enough to hold fish.

I’ve been looking for excuses to stop trolling with spinners and switch over to jigging presentations. But it had been a while since my last visit, and there was a lot of water to cover, so we used the spinners tipped with medium fatheads to search for fish. Several times, I spotted schools of fish on my graph, dropped a marker and stopped the boat. Fishing vertically with 1/8 jigs, we were able to pick up a few fish from most every stop. Tipping the jigs with minnows was the best, but there were fish caught using plastic tails, and a cut piece of night crawler produced several fish too.

The key depth for us yesterday was about 10 feet, give or take. There were some fish caught as deep as 14 feet, near a heavy, free-standing patch of coontail. In that area, crappies were suspended high above the bottom, held at 6 to 8 feet deep. Vertical jigging worked well there, but by late morning the wind had become very strong and vertical jigging wasn’t that much fun anymore. So, we finished off the day trolling with spinners.

The bite was steady, and if we’d been laser focused on crappies, we likely could have been wrapped up on the lake by noon. But we killed some time searching for a walleye or two, so it took us longer, I think the boys captured their 20th crappie at about 2:00 PM.

After the necessary clean-drain and dry, we arrived at Lake Winnie, hoping to quickly find some perch. The wind there was strong, and we didn’t have a lot of time, so 3 spots on the calm side of the lake was all we had time for. Trolling spinners in 6 to 8 feet of water did produce quite a few perch, but only 2 of them were large enough for harvesting. So, by 4:30, we put the search for perch on the backburner.

We’re scheduled to pick up that search for perch again today, and because we’ve eaten fish for dinner every night this week, we’re hoping to finish off the boy’s take home ration of walleyes at the same time. That means we’ll probably be fishing on Winnie, provided that there’s enough breeze blowing to keep the fish moving. If it’s too calm for Winnie, I’ll come up with something smaller with dingier water. Whatever happens, I’ll report in again on Saturday morning.

If you’re headed north this weekend to fish, expect to find more fish in summertime mode than in fall mode. Water temperatures are actually warmer now than they were a week ago, and if our crappie experience yesterday was any indication, fall haunts will not be in favor until after our next period of cold weather arrives. I see that somewhat darker skies, and breezy conditions are in the forecast for Saturday. That will be good, I think, for folks headed toward Lake Winnie, Leech, Cass and other clear water lakes in the north central region. — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email

September 12, 2024 "Boat Shy Walleye vs Small Schools?"

Steve Jorgenson wrote, “Jeff, I read your guest post fishing article on Bowen Lodge's website about locating walleyes in small groups, catching a few of them and then moving along to find the next small school. You suggested that the fish were active and biting, but that there weren’t enough of them to keep fishing in any given area for extended periods.

Q) My question is this, do you still think your theory is true, or do you think that there are more fish than you think, but they are wary of the boat because of clear water?

A) Steve, thank you for reading the article (9-10-2024 "If You're Happy and You Know It, Stay Right There.") and the question, it is timely, especially in that it fits into my fishing update about our trip to Lake Winnie on Wednesday (9-11-2024).

First off, yes, I do still have faith in my theory about walleyes being gathered mostly in small schools. That said though, I do also agree with you, that “boat-shyness” is part, or may be part of the trouble as well. The problem with proving either point is that the fish would have to stay perfectly still, rather than moving in and out of range of our fishing electronics.

The only thing that I do know for sure is that seeing fish on the screen of my graph has been relatively easy whenever I steer the boat along a fresh spot for the first time. Most often, I see few, if any fish on the second pass through the same area. Because of their willingness to strike, I felt that we’d simply been catching the fish that were on that spot at the time we first arrived. Admittedly, my boat passing overhead may indeed be alarming to some of them, causing them to disappear whenever I’ve tried to re-run a good spot.

Weather conditions are skewing the information too and that makes proving my theory even trickier. Contrast the past 2 days as an example. Tuesday’s weather was ideal for walleye fishing and the fish were not only easier to catch than some previous days that were sunnier, and calmer. They also allowed us to get a 2nd, sometimes even a 3rd productive drift in before the action fizzled out. On Wednesday, fish in those same areas were still catchable, but we had to work more deliberately to coax them into striking. Any time we picked up a couple of fish from a spot, going back for a 2nd pass was just time wasted.

When you think about it, a review of the circumstances this week could be used to prove either theory. One thing that takes away from the boat-shyness theory is that water clarity is fairly low on Winnie right now. When the surface is dead flat, and the sun is high overhead, I’m seeing my Secchi disk down to only about 8 feet in the middle of the lake. In some of the shallow bays, it disappears at about 6 feet and reminds me of the “good old days” before the Zebra Mussel invasion.

Along those same lines, assuming that fish are travelling in large schools, then on the good days, we should be able to make several productive drifts or trolling passes through the same areas. On Tuesday, even under ideal fishing conditions, the walleye was good for a pass or two, but then faded after 2 or 3 drifts through every spot we fished. That makes it hard for me to imagine there were any full-scale migrations of walleyes moving in.

Another way to look at it is that whether fish disappear because of wariness, or there simply aren’t a lot of them at any given location, the results are the same. Anglers who want to be more productive should make frequent moves, and avoid lingering too long anyplace, even when they’ve enjoyed a period of “good luck” there.

Steve, I’ll do what I can to refine my own theory, but I do believe your theory is equally valid too. I’ll do what I can to learn more about your ideas on the question of boat shyness too. I truly do appreciate your thoughtful and succinct comments and questions. Thank You! — Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or EMAIL

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Be like me, become a duly deputized "Cub Reporter", it's good for fishing! Contact Us or if you prefer to be "social", Fishing Reports Minnesota, the Facebook counterpart to this page is open to the public, so you can post your own fishing update or just share a photo of a nice catch.

September 11, 2024 "Fun With Dick and Paul, MMXXIV-II"

Basic observations about this photo, shared by yours truly, Cub Reporter, Staff #003-IHBFBB. The sky is cloudy and grey, there are whitecaps on the water, the Alaskan appears to be rocking, and Dick and Paul are having FUN, with a walleye double on Lake Winnie! Yes, the fall session of “Fun with Dick and Paul has begun, and the bar is set high for the next 4 days of fishing.

I’ve written enough about fishing on Lake Winnibigosh this week that you can get all you need from recent reports. So, if you don’t mind, I’ll just share a few of the basic details about our trip on Tuesday and call it good. If by chance you happen to have a question, or would love to share thoughts of your own, please do. Email is good, and so is texting if you prefer that, just use the contact information at the bottom of today’s update.

The surface water temperature on Winnie ranged between 67 and 68 degrees over most of the lake on Tuesday. The cooling temperatures are encouraging for jig and minnow lovers like us, and we were able to use that presentation all day long. Most of our fishing occurred in water depths between 12 and 16 feet along the shoreline breaks yesterday, and with a chop on the surface, we used ¼ ounce Lindy Live Bait Jigs to be sure we could be in the strike zone.

I don’t always feel that color is as big of a deal as others do, but on this trip, I think it made more of a difference than usual. Walleyes showed a strong preference for the solid chartreuse yellow color and had a secondary liking for the gold color. My beloved blue-glow, and glow-perch colors got the cold shoulder yesterday, I did not get a single fish while using either of them. The minnows we had were a mix of small golden shiners and fatheads. I can’t say that I loved them, but they were the best minnows we could get at the time and they worked.

The shoreline bite was good enough so that I didn’t need to spend much time looking for fish on mid-lake structure, but we did stop at one spot. Here, fishing in 16 to 20 feet of water, we encountered a small pack of hungry walleyes too. For Dick, the same ¼ ounce jig and minnow combo worked fine, for me, a ¼ ounce jig tipped with ½ night crawler provided a spurt of action, Paul, on this spot, appeared to be tasked with providing moral support, and that’s one reason I didn’t stick around too long.

Hoping that the waves and clouds would trigger some perch action in the shallow weeds, I headed toward the west side of the lake. On and off, there have been some nice perch biting over there. The problem is that they don’t stick around in the same spots from day to day, and that was evident on Tuesday. Two of the places that provided action last week turned up empty, but there was one small pack of fish that produced some “decent” perch. There, the 5- to 7-foot-deep shoreline break contains a mix of gravel and weeds. Perch there were using the inside weedline as their headquarters.

Last week we caught fish in areas like that using spinners tipped with minnows. Yesterday though, the breezy conditions discouraged me from pulling out the Ugly Sticks. The 1/8-ounce jig and minnow combos we substituted for spinners worked, but weeds and jigs aren’t always a fun combination. So, instead of spending a lot of time fighting them, we moved a little deeper, where the bottom was cleaner. Along the 8-to-10-foot breakline we caught some pike, and a couple more walleyes, but the only perch we found there were too small for us.

On our way out of the area, I stopped by to chat with some guys in a very nice red and black Lund Pro Guide. They were casting big plugs for pike and because I love doing that, my curiosity was piqued. Unfortunately, that crew was too serious to talk about it with me and provided only a curt reply to my question. I took the hint and moved along, but the impression they left on me was not a happy one.

For the record, if I stop by your boat to say hello, the only motivation is to share a few words of encouragement. I have no intention of moving in on your territory or sharing your top-secret information; I hope you’ll remember that. OH, and the reverse is also true. If you see us fishing on the lake and want to swing by for a quick chat, then do it; I’d love to see you.

Okay, so it’s getting near the end of the day, Dick drops a hint that he’d like to go back and try the first spot we started on in the morning. We did that, discovered that Dick’s idea was a good one, and had a couple more nice drifts there. Then called it a day and stopped by the Gosh Dam Place with some of our catch for their fish fry. They provided us, as usual, with their typically great meal and good service.

The takeaway from today’s report should be, I think, that Lake Winnie is getting ready for primetime fall action. The conditions yesterday, like they were last Saturday, were ideal for fishing. The walleyes responded immediately by going on a feeding binge, albeit a temporary one. In my mind, this is how they act during this transitional period. Calm, sunny days encourage them to sit tight in cover or on deeper structures; they are catchable, but we have to work at it. On ideal days, like yesterday, they get stupid, feeding heavily and making my life easier.

Day 2 of Fun with Dick and Paul might not be quite that easy. We’re going to take a swing at finding some crappies and it’s been a while now since I last fished for them, so it will be interesting. They’re not the biggest fans of calm and sunny weather either and that’s the forecast for today. So, I’ll have to figure out if they are still in the weeds or have begun moving out into open water, then figure out how to make them strike. Whatever happens will be the subject of tomorrow’s report, so stay tuned. — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email

Ely Area, Arrowhead Outdoors Fishing Report September 11, 2024

"Walleye - Walleye anglers have struggled a little this last week. Recent cold snap has pushed most walleyes down to 15-20 feet of water. Leadcoring small crankbaits has been on fire and has been the top way to catch walleyes in these depths. Anglers have been focusing on large sand or mud flats for leadcoring. Jigging large minnows has also been worth knotting. Orange/Chartreuse, Gumball, and Pink/White jigs continue to be popular colors. Anglers jigging minnows have been focusing around river mouths and sunken islands in 15 to 30 feet of water.

Smallmouth - Smallies continue to be the easiest fish to catch right now as smallies have begun to fatten up for winter. Smallies can now be found just about anywhere. Sunken islands, rivers, river mouths, large boulder flats, downed trees and around islands. Small suckers have been red hot for smallies, out around sunken islands, but smallies relating to shorelines have been hitting topwater, in-line spinners, spinnerbaits and large paddle tails.

Panfish - Crappies and sunfish were starting to group up with that last cold snap, but recent warm weather has spread them out again. Nonetheless anglers have been catching good numbers and quality fish, both are being found in and around weedbeds. Sunfish are hanging out inside of the weedbeds while crappies are hanging just outside weedbeds, then moving into the weedbeds during the last hour of light. Beetle spins, jig/twisters have both accounted for the bulk of panfish being caught.

Pike - Pike anglers had mixed success this last week. Fishing for big pike picked up a little during the cool snap, but has slowed up with the current warm spell. Big pike were hitting large suckers, fished under a bobber. Large spoons, large crankbaits and large spinnerbaits, fished around river mouths and main lake points has been the best technique right now.

Stream Trout - Rainbow trout continue to bite for many anglers fishing the local stream trout lakes. Anglers fishing from shore continue to catch rainbows with a nightcrawler, fished under a bobber, 5 to 15 feet down. Small spoons and jig/twisters have also been catching rainbows. Anglers fishing in a boat have been having good luck catching rainbows, trolling cowbells, tipped with a small crankbait, or just trolling crankbaits over deep water." — Arrowhead Outdoors, 218-365-5358

September 10, 2024 "Affecting the Affect-Able" The Snyder Effect In Action

It’s been a busy September so far, and to be honest, I’ve fallen behind on writing about time spent on the water. I’ll do my best to fill in some of the gaps about fishing with the Luscious Sisters late last week as soon as I can. First though, I just have to bring up a topic I’ve written about before, “The Snyder Effect”.

Long time readers will remember reports like this one, written back on June 28, 2014. In that tongue and check report, I poked fun at a hypothetical attempt to explain the Snyder Effect in a scientific way. Today though, I am here to tell you that this is no joke, the Snyder’s, however they do it, have harnessed the power of positive thinking. When they get in my boat, I don’t even bother worrying about whether we’ll have good fishing, I just trust that we will, and we do.

I’m sensing that you’re skeptical and need an example to help convince you. Okay, yesterday on Lake Winnie should have been a tough fishing day for me. The sun was high, and the sky was bright blue. There were times when the lake’s surface was mirror-glass calm and there wasn’t enough breeze to drift the boat. In 16 feet of relatively clear water, the fish should have run away and hid from us as we passed overhead, but typical of most trips with the Snyders, they didn’t. We left the lake with three hefty bags of walleye and pike fillets, plenty to feed the whole clan a few meals.

This happens every time I fish with them, cold fronts, lightning storms, bug hatches, calm seas .. whatever. No matter how worried I am that the fish won’t cooperate, they just tell me not to worry about it, they just know somehow that the fish will bite.

I don’t write about it a lot, but folks who fish with me will know that I mention the “Rainbow Fish Meditation” a lot. This term, introduced to me by my lovely and charming wife Susan, AKA “The Hippie Chick” is simply a way of communicating. We can all do it, the power is locked up in our DNA and goes all the way back to the time before we “knew” anything. A time when humans were just part of the food chain and instinct meant everything; scientific explanation meant almost nothing.

Yesterday it dawned on me that whether you call it “The Snyder Effect”, “The Rainbow Fish Mediation”, “The Power of Positive Thinking”, “An Optimistic Attitude” or anything else, it is all the same thing.  Some of you already know this, but for those who don’t, here’s my suggestion. The next time you’re on the lake, and you think the fish aren’t biting, visualize that they are and that you will catch them. Communicate to them what you want, dwell on being successful, and accept what the lake is willing to share with you.

I am the first person to tell you that it’s not always easy, I get down in the dumps sometimes and dwell on the struggle. Luckily for me, I have my own Hippie Chick to coach me through those days via text messages. Often though, I can manage on my own to keep a positive outlook until I connect with the lake and its beautiful fish. I know it probably won’t be instant gratification, and will take some practice, but take a lesson from the Snyder family playbook and try visualizing success. To me, the reward for modest success on a tough fishing day is ten times more gratifying than catching a hundred fish on an easy day. Trust me, I know.

I guess I should probably mention how we caught our fish on Monday. We drifted, when possible, or slow-trolled the edges of mid-lake bars and shoreline breaks in water depths of 16 to 20 feet of water. We used ¼ ounce Live Bait Jigs tipped with small to medium size golden shiners and the jigging presentation was a subtle hop-drop-hop-drop motion.

Also notable was that Monday was the first day in a couple of months that we never used a spinner at all, only the jigs. This is a trend that will likely continue for me, especially if I fish for walleyes on Big Winnie. We may go back to spinners as a search tool, especially when looking for panfish and pike on smaller waters.

Today marks the beginning of “Fun with Dick and Paul” and that means I’ll have some time to experiment. I’ll let you know tomorrow how today works out, and what we have planned for the rest of the week. — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell (Call or Text) 218-245-9858 or Email

Wired2Fish September 10, 2024 "How to Catch Suspended Bass on Jig and Minnow Plastics"

"In this video, Dan Quinn explores a relatively new bass fishing method, targeting fish in the open water basin of a lake using a jig and minnow (plastic) lure. Using the “Shake n Bake” approach, Quinn uses a lighter jig head paired with a CrushCity Freeloader, a straight tail minnow-imitating plastic.

The fish in this area are pelagic, roaming the middle of the lake in pursuit of baitfish like bluegills, crappies, and minnows. Quinn compares this technique to Jacob Wheeler’s win on Lake Gunnersville, applying forward-facing sonar technology to locate and target open water largemouth bass. By adjusting his presentation to keep the lure in the strike zone, he can trigger bites from fish that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Quinn emphasizes the importance of the right gear in this technique. He uses a medium-action spinning rod with a 6-pound braid to a 12-pound fluorocarbon leader. This setup allows precise control over the ..." View Video to Learn More >> How to Catch Suspended Bass on Jig and Minnow Plastics

September 10, 2024 "If You're Happy And You Know It ... Stay Right There!" Lake Winnie Fishing Report by Jeff Sundin

"Having a couple of days to fish with the same crew is nice for me, it allows extra time to experiment with locations and presentations. It allows more time too, for talking with folks around the resort, comparing notes about who’s doing what, and where. On these particular fishing trips, I also had a chance to learn how Winnie’s walleyes reacted to completely opposite weather conditions.

One thing I’ve learned this week is that it would be easy, after a few hours of casual fishing, to conclude that the walleyes on Winnibigoshish are not biting. Unless you were to get stubborn, like I sometimes do, and keep covering the water until you find fish. If you did that, then you would figure out that the complete opposite is true; they actually are biting well. The only trick is to realize that the fish are scattered far and wide throughout the entire system. So, instead of finding a lot of fish anywhere, we’re finding a few fish everywhere. The more spots we try, the better we wind up at the end of every day.

For a time, we experimented with jigs and minnows in deeper water. Fishing on mid-lake structure in 16 to 20 feet of water, we did find some walleyes there and they ..." Read >> Lake Winnibigoshish Fishing Report September 10, 2024

Septenber 6, 2024 "Playing Hide and Go Seek"

The Luscious Sisters, and friends, are back in town and they arrived just in time for an old fashioned, early fall cold front. Winds from the north, cool air temperatures and falling water temperatures. For me, it meant playing a game of hide and seek with fish. Some that had disappeared from their summer haunts, others that were still there, but were hunkered down and difficult to coax into striking.

When I arrived at the landing with my morning crew, the surface temperature was 67 degrees. That’s not terribly cold but represented an 8-degree decline since my last visit, about 10 days ago. It was enough of a change to force fish into an in-active mood. Working the edges of mixed cabbage and coontail using spinners, we could get fish to strike, but not aggressively enough to inhale the hooks. The result was high bait consumption, and low productivity. All the fish, pike, panfish, crappies and walleyes were in the same mood, negative.

During the morning session, I spotted some fish that had moved out of the weeds and were set up along the deeper breakline in 20 to 24 feet of water. Thinking we could finesse them into striking, I re-rigged and passed out the jigging rods. Using ¼ ounce live bait jigs, some tipped with minnows, some with night crawlers we got snubbed again. A few fish picked at the baits, but most were not aggressive enough to inhale our lures.

Our best spot for strikes had been a 12-foot breakline, along the edges of a weed flat. Taking one last swing at that spot before switching crews, the results were somewhat better. Panfish were still sluggish, but the pike were awake, and we did catch enough of them to make life interesting. One of them, pictured here, made it into the livewell, destined to become blackened pike at the evening fish dinner.

The afternoon crew got luckier, in part because of changing to a different lake. At the second one, surface temperatures were warmer, 69.7 degrees in most areas. On this small lake, fish were still located on shallow, weedy flats in water depths of 8 to 12 feet. Sunfish, crappies and northern pike were fairly active, walleyes were not, in fact we only picked up one on this trip.

Trolling spinners was the only presentation we used here, and which fish we caught depended on the live bait we tipped them with. For crappies, medium fatheads were best, for sunfish, ½ night crawlers strung up high on the hooks worked better. Tipping the spinners with leeches worked for sunfish too, but my supply of large size leeches was too precious to use for that project. If I was going back there again, I’d bring some medium size leeches instead.

By the end of our afternoon session, we’d gathered enough fish to feed all 8 of us. Some sunnies, some crappies, and the single walleye were prepared using my shore lunch recipe. I blackened the pike, that’s a popular recipe for folks who prefer not to eat fried foods.

Last Tuesday, I had a trip to Winnibigoshish too. Pictured here, the Benson twins had a rewarding morning on the big lake. On that trip, our results were very similar to the most recent Bowen Lodge report, so I’ll refer you to this link for that for review. >> Lake Winnie Fishing Report August 29, 2024

In a nutshell, we caught some fish in 6 feet of water, others in 12 feet of water, and a couple of them in 16 feet. We caught most of them trolling spinners tipped with fatheads, but there were a few fish caught using jigs and minnows. The jigs worked best in the shallowest water, 1/8-ounce live bait jigs tipped with small golden shiners.

On that trip, there was a strong south wind, so we didn’t move far away from Musky Bay, Duck Pass area in the southeast corner. In that region, there were enough fish to make the trip interesting, but definitely not enough to be called a good bite. Walleyes were widely scattered; depths varied a lot and there were no perch or pike to provide action between the sporadic walleye strikes. It was good enough for us because it allowed us to fish in relatively calm water, but it won’t be my first choice on the next visit.

Today, it appears that the weather will be cool again, but a lot less blustery. It’s dress up day, so calm seas and sunny skies will be perfect for the Luscious Sisters. I’m not so sure that I’ll love it though, but I’ll do the best I can with whatever I have to work with. — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email

Ely Area, Arrowhead Outdoors Fishing Report September 4, 2024

"Walleye anglers are reporting that walleyes are quickly shifting to minnows as water temps begin to drop in Ely area lake. Location continues to be on the shallow side. 10 to 15 feet of water, and at times 5 feet and even less, continue to be reported by anglers. Windy points, windy flats and river mouths. Orange, chartreuse, bubble gum and pink/white 1/4 ounce jigs, tipped with a large minnow, were very effective. Orange, chartreuse, red/white sinner rigs tipped with a crawler were also reported as being effective on walleye. Anglers have also been reporting that leadcore fishing small crankbaits has been very effective. Here anglers have been focusing on large flats in deeper water.

Smallmouth - Smallies continue to shift to sunken islands as temperatures continue to drop. Anglers should expect this to continue until winter. Large minnows have been extremely effective out here. Again, 1/4 or 3/8 ounce jigs, in orange, chartreuse, pink/white and bubble gum, have been very effective. Anglers not able to carry live bait or don't want to use it, topwater, in-line spinners, spinnerbaits and Ned rigs, continue to be effective. These anglers have been focusing around downed timber, large flats with boulders, river mouths and main lake points, in 5 to 15 feet of water.

Pike - Large pike continue to show up in anglers catches this last week. Anglers have mainly been finding pike patrolling weedlines in 10 to 15 feet of water with large sucker minnows, fished under a bobber, large spoons and spinnerbaits. Pike have also begun to stage at river mouths, looking for minnows to dump out of the rivers as water temps continue to drop.

Stream Trout - Rainbow trout fishing continues to be consistent on many Ely area stream trout lakes. Slip bobber and a night crawler, floating 5 to 15 feet under the surface has been very effective. Small spoons, in-line spinners and jig/twister have been very effective also. Anglers fishing from a boat continue to troll cowbells with small crankbaits for easy limits of trout.

Panfish - Crappies continue to be found hanging out just outside of weedbeds during the day, but during the evening hours, crappies quickly slide into weedbeds in search of food. Anglers targeting crappies continue to use small beetle spins, jig/twister and crappie minnows under a bobber. Sunfish continue to be found in shallow weedbeds and around downed trees. Small angleworms or wax worms, fished under a bobber remains very effective.

Lake Trout - Lake trout reports continue to be few and far between this last week. The few anglers targeting lakers have been trolling with down riggers and large trolling spoons in 40 to 60 feet of water with mixed success." — Arrowhead Outdoors, 218-365-5358

Wired2Fish September 4, 2024 "Lithium Marine Battery Review in Lund Alaskan Tiller"

"In this detailed walk-through, Ryan DeChaine showcases the power and efficiency of lithium marine batteries, specifically in a Lund 1675 Alaskan tiller boat. DeChaine explains how they provide exceptional power and longevity in a compact size, making them ideal for various marine applications. DeChaine’s setup is a case in point. This Lund Alaskan is a do-all utility boat rigged with three power-hungry fish finders and boat control equipment. With limited in-deck storage, DeChaine was able to outfit the setup with just two lightweight and energy-dense batteries for extended runtime.

LITHIUM BATTERIES: POWER AND EFFICIENCY: Lithium batteries, particularly the lithium iron phosphate type, are known for their high energy density and long lifespan. DeChaine starts by discussing the benefits of using a Millertech 12V 190 amp-hour dual-purpose battery, which powers both deep-cycle applications like fish finders and trolling motors, as well as marine starting applications. This battery’s compact size and lightweight nature make it ..." View Video to Learn More >> Lithium Marine Battery Review in Lund Alaskan Tiller

Brainerd MN Area Fishing Report September 4, 2024

"Fall definitely feels like it’s right around the corner in the brainerd lakes area. In the mornings water temps are 70 to 72 degrees. Cooler mornings and a good breeze helped the walleye bite in the region.

Staying off of larger bodies of water for the holiday weekend my clients were open to some smaller lakes for multi-species action. Bobbers in the sparse weeds on the edges of flats produced both bass on walleyes with night crawlers.

The fish were set up more on longer flats compared to sharp drop-offs and points. Working 14 to 16 feet of water and moving around after the active fish were caught kept us busy in the morning. Once action died down for mid day covering ground with spinners in the same depth rage and type of structure didn’t produce as many fish but the size of the fish increased greatly. Both worms and minnows worked equally but the minnows helped keep the annoying sunfish from stealing bait while working this depth range.

As the evening progressed bobbers once again came into play working over the same areas and slowing down keying in on the areas we previously caught walleyes. As the temperatures continue to drop minnows will come more into play and plastics will soon rotate back in as we work jigs shallow for aggressive fish.

Good luck and tight lines this week" — Joe Billiar, Crooked Hat Guide Service

Lake of the Woods, LOW Tourism September 4, 2024

"The walleye and sauger bite remains hot across the south end of Lake of the Woods, with anglers enjoying consistent action. Good numbers of walleyes along the south shore with some big schools and some big fish. The bite has been excellent and is really shaping up nicely for the fall jig bite both on the lake and in the Rainy River. As the days progress, fish are still holding in the deeper mud, with 28 to 32 feet of water being the sweet spot this week.

Jigging has really picked up in recent days. Jig colors that are producing well include gold, orange, chartreuse, and pink. Spinners and trolling crankbaits continue to yield good results, offering multiple effective strategies for anglers targeting walleyes and saugers.

For those pulling spinners, a two-hook crawler harness with spinner blades in gold, pink, orange, glow red, or glow white has been successful. Adjust your weights to 2 to 3 ounces to match the depth and breezy conditions. Trolling crankbaits remains a strong option for covering water, especially with walleyes spread across the mud flats in Big Traverse Bay. Areas with structure, such as rock reefs, or fish adjacent to these spots, are also holding fish.

On the Rainy River, a variety of species continue to be caught on the Rainy River. The presence of decent current is still drawing extra fish into the river, and there have been positive reports from anglers targeting walleyes and sturgeon alike.

Sturgeon fishing remains productive, with anglers anchoring up and using a combination of crawlers and frozen emerald shiners. The key is patience, let the bait soak and wait for that big bite.

Walleye anglers are also having success on the river, with some nice-sized fish reported. There are already signs of emerald shiners in the river, which typically draw in walleyes. Jigging, trolling spinners with crawlers, or trolling crankbaits are all working well and will continue to be effective as the fall run approaches.

Up at the Northwest Angle, walleye fishing remains excellent. Fish are being found on the structure as well as on the flats. As always, different forage in various areas influences where these predators are focused. The deep mud east and northeast of Little Oak Island holds numbers of walleyes with mixed in perch. Good fishing around Four Blocks, and north of Garden Island as well, continuing to produce solid walleye catches.

Spinners with crawlers and trolling crankbaits are ideal for covering water and locating active fish in these areas. Anglers are finding success in 15 to 32 feet of water. The cooler temperatures, with some days dipping into the 40s, are beginning to slowly lower water temperatures, which will only increase the walleye bite as we move deeper into August." — Lake of the Woods Tourism, (800) 382-FISH