Fishing Pro Jeff Sundin Mn Fishing Report Lake Winnie, Leech Lake, Cass Lake and Minnesota North Lakes Region.

6/28/09 Quite a week has passed. Hours of hard work have paid off and we've been rewarded with some moments of real of greatness. Some days have been a lot easier than others, but the weather keeps dishing out challenges and honestly there have been times that we've felt like throwing in the towel. On most days though if we just keep on fishing, we eventually hit a couple of really good spots that help make our day.
Water temperatures are reacting strangely to the weather and there are some lakes that have reached the mid to upper seventy degree range while others remain in the mid sixty degree range. In general, the lakes that have warmed up the most are showing signs of "normal" mid summer fishing action. Live bait rigs tipped with Crawlers and Leeches are producing Walleyes in these lakes. Jig and minnow combinations still provide the best action on lakes that have remained cooler. Wind and overcast or partly sunny skies are still important to trigger the best Walleye action and there are some lakes in the Deer River area that should be avoided on calm, clear days. Leech Lake, Lake Winnie, Deer Lake and others that remain clearer than usual for this time of year have been tough bites on this type of weather. On these clear, calm days we've done well by scrounging around in the heaviset weed cover we can find. As a side benefit of doing this, we've had good Bass and Pike action mixed with the Walleyes. It won't be long before we'll have some panfish using these deeper weeds as well, but for now, panfish are still shallow.
Smallmouth Bass have moved up on to their spawing beds and we've had some really good Bass action this week as well. Here again, we're not going out of our way to catch them, we just fish for Walleyes and the rest of these fish come along as a bonus. The simplest approach has been to hold the boat tight to the weedline and have one angler work a jig and minnow toward the shallow water while another works out toward deeper water and the third fishes on the breakline by either trolling or drifting along with the movement of the boat. Wherever we discover a pocket of fish, we concentrate on that area for a while and then move on to greener pastures.

6/18/09 A couple of rainy days have pulled the water temperatures back down to about 64 degrees. During the past few days we've seen that there are still lots of shiners spawing in the shallows. As long as these minnows are "in", there will be some good shoreline action. I'd suggest keeping an eye on the minnow activity on the shoreline and use this as your gauge when making your daily fishing plan.
Walleye action, because of the extended spring has remained strong in shallow water, but because the cooler water is staying so clear, fish move best on breezy days. If I get stuck on a calm, sunny day, my best options have been to fish in the heaviest weeds I can find. If I can't find weeds, I'll move out to the deeper water and try to get in on some of the early movement to mid season humps, bars and reefs. There have been some good days on main lake humps and bars, but it's not 100% guaranteed. So even though it's getting easier to make the move to deeper water, be prepared to do some scrounging.
Crappies, depending on the lake you fish are either just finishing up spwaning or are in the process right now. We've caught some fish in 1 to 2 feet of water in cover that included mixed sand, gravel and bulrushes. We've also caught a few fish in the deeper cabbage weeds located near the spawing areas. Typically these are fish that have finished spawning and stage in the weeds before heading into open water later in the summer. Fishing a small jig below a bobber is the best bet for fishing the bulruses. For fish in the Cabbage patches, try casting a small 1/16 ounce jig with a plastic tube, twister tail or other soft plastic tail.

6/11/09 Warmer temperatures are predicted for this weekend and this will be great news for anglers checking out the shallow water Bluegill bite. On Wednesday we found our first couple of schools of sunfish roaming into the shallow shoerline coves. The fish were not on beds yet and with sunny skies they were extremely "spooky". We managed to pick up a handful of nice fish before they spotted the boat and darted back out of the shallows. For what it's worth, the shallow cover was so thick that many folks might have trouble getting their baits stuck in the bulrushes. Next time I go back in there, I'm going to pack a couple of collapsable cane poles because I think we can fish more effieciently with that set up. When you start seeing Bluegill pictures on this page, you'll know we're getting it figured out.

6/8/09 We've had another blustery week and with water temperatures stubbornly locked below 60 degrees, it looks like we can call 2009 the year of perpetual spring.
The Good news is that the fish seem to like it this way! Walleye, Crappie, Bass and Norhtern Pike are all roaming the shallow water breaklines. This helps those of us who love to fish jig and minnow and we are getting a "Bonus Extension" of the spring action bite.
Walleye action in the Deer River area continues to be strong, with most of the fish being caught in the 6 to 12 foot range. On breezy days the fish are aggressive and can be caught easily by drifting or back-trolling. Because the water has remained unusually clear due to cool temperatures and high water levels, we have been forced to scrounge for fish on calm days. If you're fishing on a clear, sunny day without a breeze, go to the weeds and stay there. You'll find a mixed bag of Pike, Perch and Walleye using the newly emerging weed growth. The action may still be a bit sluggish, but at least you'll be in the game. Don't be afraid to switch over to leeches during calm conditions either. The added action of the lively leeches seems to trigger a few extra fish that won't go out of their way to chase down your jig and minnow.
Smallmouth Bass have been the highlight of our weekend. As we fish for Walleye in areas with mixed rock and cabbage weeds, we've discovered a lot of Smallies staging in the 8 to 12 foot depth range. I guess these fish will be heading up on to the shallow rocks soon, but for now they are in schools on the deeper sections of these rocky areas. We've been catching them on jig and minnow because that's the way we're fishing for Walleye. But on Sunday I tried some soft plastics and caught them on these as well.
Crappies are cooperating for anglers who search in the shallow spawning areas. Pockets of open water in heavy Bulrushes with mixed gravel and sand have been the best. We've been using 1/16 ounce jigs under bobbers set at about one foot and doing our best to get inside the weeds without getting stuck too often. When you find them, the Crappie are aggressive so don't linger in areas where you're not catching fish. Keep moving until you find a school of fish.

6/1/09 If the weather cooperates, the fish respond very well. But another week of crummy weather has sometimes forced us to go into the "scrounging mode" to catch our fish. Many of the lakes we've been fishing have produced good catches of Walleye and on the better days fishing has been good to great. When we're faced with heavy wind and cold temperatures, the bite is sometimes unreliable. So there have been a few days where we've had to try and win the game by sheer stubborn enthusiasm.

Water temperatures still haven't topped the 60 degree mark, so most of the fishing is still being done on the shoreline points and shollow drop of areas. Jig and minnow fishing is still the top choice, but we've also started catching some fish on leeches and crawlers as well as artificial baits. Earlier this week we had a great experience using the Berkley Gulp Alive 3 inch minnow and Northland's Slurpie Tubes. Aggressive jigging with a 1/4 ounce long shank jig head mad the larger fish jump hard on both of these baits. The best situation for trying these baits are when you find fish on the shallow flats ( 5 to 10 feet) especially when there are newly forming weeds. The sparse weedgrowth seems to be hold lots of minnows that are attracting the hungry Walleye.

5/20/09 The weather hasn't exactly been friendly. But in spite of cold temperatures and high winds, the fish have been active enough to make for some darn good fishing. As of Tuesday (5-19-09) the surface temperatures are running at about 54 to 55 degrees on most lakes. Most of the lakes that I've fished so far have provided good to great Walleye fishing action, especially during the early evenings. But on Sunday I did learn that some lakes are still too chilly when I spent the entire morning catching small northern Pike and not a single Walleye. We switched lakes in the afternoon and managed to make up for lost time, but the lesson is that there are still a few locations where the Walleye haven't recovered from spawning. These deeper, cooler lakes will start to turn on as the warmer weather moves in and the surface temps begin to rise.

There have been a lot of really good reports about Crappie fishing this week and several of our area lakes are producing good Crappie action on the shoreline in 2 to 5 feet of water. We've had a few Crappies hitting on the deeper breaklines too and each day we get a couple of them in 10 to 14 feet of water as we fish for Walleye. These crappies have spawn in them and they will probably move to the shoreline as soon as the water temps start creeping up into the high 50's and low 60's.

On Tuesday, we started seeing our first evidence of Perch in good numbers. The larger ones all appeared to be skinny, spawned out females and it looks like there will be some good opportunities for Perch anglers as these fish keep getting more hungry. The best schools have shown up in 6 to 8 feet of water in areas of mixed sand, sand grass and newly emerging weeds.

5/13/09 The Minnesota Walleye fishing opener weekend arrived amidst turbulent weather. The fish don't seem to be bothered though as we've now been to four lakes and found good fishing on all of them. On Monday, we had great weather, sunny, warm and calm. the fish responded by getting really active and this has been the best single day of the season for my crew. Tuesday thru Thursday have been blustery, cold and rainy. Twice this week we've opted to skip fishing early in the morning and wait for the afternoon to warm up. This has really paid off because there has been a really reliable evening bite going on. My best strategy has been to move around the lake picking up odds and ends during the day. Keep track of spots that seem to have the most fish and pick your top two or three locations for the evening. Make sure you're in position by 6:45 - 7:00 PM and your efforts will definately pay off.

We've been slow trolling 1/16 ounce Sneaky Pete's tipped with Rainbows or Shiners and either of them have been working well. On Thursday, we fished on a breakline that drops from 8 feet down to 12 and found a mixture of Walleye and Crappies on the same spot. There were some other boats in the area that anchored and fished slip bobbers who were catching fish at an equal pace. So if you like to bobber fish, this looks like a good time to give it a whirl.

Be sure to listen or go to KAXE 91.7 FM Grand Rapids Radio on Thursdays at 6:20 AM. We usually try to expand on this report. If you miss the show, you can pick it up on the website.

    Check back for a weekly fishing update (usually on Wednesdays). Things are hectic right now so I'm struggling to keep the reports updated, don't be shy though. Ask fishing questions if you need to and I'll get back to you ASAP.

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