Fishing Report July 31, 2013, Jeff Sundin - An Appointment With Destiny! And that means that I've got a drive ahead of me this morning. Since I need to hit the road early, I'm gonna save the report from Tuesday for later. No worries though, I'll be able to catch up on my fishing story really soon. LUCKILY! In the mean time, there's still plenty of fishing news arriving over the wire. For Today; A long Drive, For A Short Trip. Hopefully, I'll find 'em quick this time!
(7/31) Gus Sheker, Gus' Place Resort on Ball Club Lake; "Last weeks unusual cold snap put the chill on several days fishing with anglers unable to get out on the lake due to high winds.
Fishermen who were able to push against the weather did find some nice Perch on the back side or "inside" edges of the first weed lines fishing in the open spaces with slip bobbers tipped with minnows or crawler bits.
Walleye continue to hang in deeper water around 20 feet and with work, Lindy rigged crawlers or leeches have been producing fish caught along the drop offs.
Northerns have been plentiful in 8-12 feet. Use just about any flashy bait for some great fun and good eating. The bigger Pike are usually hooked on drifted live sucker or creek chub minnows rigged with spinners.
There is still plenty of Great summer fishing action left this year. Space at the resort starts to open up and if you haven't been out on the lake or you need another outing, call us." - Gus Sheker. Gus' Place Resort .
(7/31) At Lake Winnibigoshish, Joe Thmpson says; "Went fishing this afternoon with a Walleye or bust guy and we caught one keeper and dropped a pig.
Finding and catching Walleyes consistently since the cold front has really been a struggle. If I had better minnows, I might have gone shallow and done better. There were alot of bugs out on the main bars, but not alot of fish among them.
The good news is that Northern Pike are starting to go good. Caught some nice ones on suicks last night and we're thinking about a re-match trip again tonight".
We still have openings for our "Fishing Report Special" the week of August 10-17. Mention this fishing report, and get 25% off new weekly reservations August 10-17! >> Click here to check our availability << or give us a call and take advantage of the best special of the year!" 218-665-2231 .
The weather is cool and and it is great sleeping with the windows open! Give us a call ... >> The Four Seasons Resort on Lake Winnie .
(7/31) From the Lake Winnie Region, Nik Dimich says; " From the Lake Winnie Region, Nik Dimich says; "Search out lakes that hold multi-species of fish, especially when the going gets tough in August, and catching a mixed bag will be relatively simple. Spinners tipped with live baits like crawlers, minnows or even leeches will produce action from most species of fish. Pull these spinners at slower speeds of .08-1.2 mph with smaller blades for panfish and speed things up to 1.5-2.5 mph with larger blades for larger fish and you’ll get lots of attention from our submerged friends.
When fishing shoreline structures with these presentations, locate ..." >> Nik's Lake Winnie Region Fishing Report
(7/31) From Wired2Fish; "" click here to learn more >> Wicked Wacky Hook .
(7/31) On The Iron Range, From Greg Clusiau; "Still wanting to make the trip to Kabetogama, we rescheduled for Sunday. I don’t get over that way nearly enough but consider it to be one of the gems of Minnesota’s thousands of fisheries.
“Kab”, a classic Canadian shield lake, offers over 25,000 acres to enjoy, whether fishing, hunting, or just plain boating, riding around and taking in the scenery and there’s plenty of it to be had. We, my buddy Tim and I, had the total walleye ... " >> Read Greg's Full Report .

Fishing Report July 30, 2013, Jeff Sundin - More Is Less On The Big Pond! Our return to Cutfoot Sioux and Lake Winnibigosh this Monday reminded me of showing up at a different lake. The last time I drove away from the landing at Cutfoot, the surface temperture reading on my Humminbird was nearly 80 degrees. But on Monday morning, after the weekend dished out days of cool, breezy and wet weather, water temps had plunged down to 70 degrees.
I was looking at the new temperature and reading as much as I could into it. Trying to decide whether or not it would change the fishing patterns, move the fish to new locations or make them hungry for different presentations. It turned out to be one of those days where the more thinking I did, the less results I got. It was one of those days where it was better to just drop the bait in the water and fish.
Luckily, my crew of one, John Engler, was already fine tuned and ready to fish! There wasn't much coaching needed and that meant that whenever we got an opportunity, he was ready to capitalize on it. Most of the fish that bit, got hooked. Most of the fish that got hooked, were landed.
For one reason or another though, many of the fish that were landed, wound up being tossed back into the water. Keepers were at a premium, but we did get some and by days end, had a respectable catch. But, there were a lot of small Perch, Panfish and a few small Walleyes along the way. Then there were the Walleyes in the "protected slot" that were too big as well.
Our day started with a quick run to check out some weed edges, maybe there would be some Crappies or Sunfish out in the open where we could see 'em. Yes, there were, the post cold front conditions did have an affect on panfish, it gave them a temporary excuse to fall out of the weeds and back into deeper water, away from the weed edges.
We actually caught quite a few, the problem was that many of them weren't very large. We were really lucky to see an occasional Crappie the crossed the 10 inch mark, giving us an excuse to add it to the cooler for the evening fish fry. It was a good time to try something different.
Our next move was to rig up with spinners and check a few Walleye holes in Cutfoot. At first, it looked like it might be good. John caught and released a small Walleye right away, but the plan didn't hold up. Small Perch were too active and even if there were Walleyes present, they'd never find our baits before the Perch would pick them apart.
I spied a school of fish along the edge of a bar, on an inside corner. We tried fishing for that school of fish by moving slower, using 1/16 ounce jigs tipped with night crawlers. We caught our first keeper, followed by more little stuff.
The results were less than I'd hoped for but in fairness to the lake, we didn't stick with it that long either. Maybe if we'd toughed it out and searched more territory, we would have found a better school of Walleyes. But, after an hour or so of our lines being tugged by tiny, baitfish size Perch, it just felt like time to make a move.
At this point the water was calm and the best idea seemed to be heading for the main lake humps. That turned out to be a geography test. There were still some fish out there, but the average was about 4 stops between schools of fish. The good news is that many of the fish that showed up on the humminbird, were active enough to strike. I wasn't worried about finding more fish, there are 100's of spots to try and if the winds had remained calm ... but they didn't.
On the humps, more wind definitely equaled less fish. It took longer to move and it was more difficult to stay on top of the fish and it was time to make another decision. By now, I'd already gotten a heads up from my buddy, Jeff Skelly. They were catching a mixed bag of Pike, Perch and Walleye by trolling spinners over the weed tops. We could have gone that direction, but being something of a purist, John liked the idea of targeting just the Walleyes better. After pounding our way from one spot to another and picking up only a few more fish, it was time for one more move, back into Cutfoot.
Joining us for her annual cameo appearance, Nancy Engler directed us to a new Crappie hole. The fish were in 17 feet of water off the tip of a submerged point. It wasn't a huige school of fish and in terms of size, the results weren't a lot different that we'd found in the morning. But this time there were a few nicer fish. Using 1/16 ounce jigs tipped with crappie minnows, we caught 3 that were around 12 inches, all of the rest were 10 inches and smaller.
By evening, the surface water temperature had recovered and was now 73 degrees. As it continues to warm back up, I'll bet that the panfish will head back toward the weed edges and that morning and evening feeding session will be the rule of thumb for the next few weeks. As we move closer to fall, any cold snap like the one we just enjoyed would give the fish a reason to move deeper, even if the moves are only temporary.
So there ya' have it. More = Less. More fish in a school = smaller size fish. More wind on the humps = less productivity and more baitfish = less hungry Walleyes.
Byt the way ... How is it possible that we can go anywhere and everywhere on the lake and still be pestered by those tiny Perch. How can they be everywhere? Is this a fluke? A weather thing? A population expolsion? Seriously, is there that many of these little critters that they need to occupy every single spot on the whole lake? Or Am I Just The Lucky One?
(7/30) Bemidji Lakes Area, Paul A. Nelson, Bemidji Area Lakes Guide Service says; "Surface water temperatures have dropped into the upper 60s in most of the lakes in the Bemidji area. The weather pattern of highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s is more like a September weather pattern than one normally seen in July.
Hopefully, the walleyes and muskies will think it is September and start to bite like they usually do in the fall. If the cool weather pattern continues for at least another week, the thermocline in the lakes could begin to breakdown, which would add another footnote to a summer full of unusual weather events.
Winnibigoshish is still has the hottest walleye bite in the area. Anglers are finding walleyes on the numerous bars and humps as well as in the cabbage weeds that ring the shoreline. Northern pike and perch have also been active in Winnie, so anglers have a chance to catch a mixed bag of fish.
Panfish action has been good on many of the smaller lakes, with bluegills and sunfish using the outside edge of the cabbage and coontail weed beds.
Perch have been active in many of the larger lakes, with most of the fish in the weeds. Perch may burry themselves in the cabbage weed beds or they may use the inside edge of the cabbage weeds and look for crayfish hiding in the mats of chara on the bottom.
Muskie and walleye anglers in most lakes continue to struggle to find active fish. Muskie anglers have had the best success on the days with overcast skies and some wind.
Walleye anglers are still finding walleyes in shallow to moderate depths, with anglers using a mixture of presentations. Bottom bouncers and spinners with night crawlers or leeches have been working in some lakes, while anglers are using live bait rigs and larger minnows in many other lakes." - Paul A. Nelson, Bemidji Area Lakes Guide Service, panelson@paulbunyan.net - 218.759.2235 .

Fishing Report July 29, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Back In The Boat, Ready For The Second Half! It wasn't exactly planned this way, but it turned out to be good timing to take advantage of a gap in the schedule. Most of this weekend was breezy, chilly and Grey. Maybe that's not an ideal fishing trip for the weekend warrior, but the cool weather made it a lot more fun to roll up my sleeves and get serious about wrapping up some farm chores.
So after spending the weekend taming a mountain of paperwork, fixing some broken stuff and even sueezing in time for a trim; I'm back in the boat and ready to rock for the second half of the fishing season.
(7/29) At Lake Winnibigoshish, Joe Thmpson says; "We have some really smart guests at the Four Seasons! Rather than spending all their fishing time trying to catch walleyes and struggling, they instead fish for what would bite. The northern fishing was really good this past week. Most of the fish were caught trolling or casting. Crankbaits, spoons, and the big stuff, all produced fish. Perch fishing was also very productive. The same program as the past three weeks is working. If it is walleye or bust, some fish were caught on the main lake bars, as well as some in the weeds. Raven's rocks were also good when the wind blew. I look for the fishing to continue to improve as the young of the year perch start to become prey for the walleyes. This starts a good bite on the "flats" and then into the weeds.
We still have openings for our "Fishing Report Special" the week of August 10-17. Mention this fishing report, and get 25% off new weekly reservations August 10-17! >> Click here to check our availability << or give us a call and take advantage of the best special of the year!" 218-665-2231 .
The weather is cool and and it is great sleeping with the windows open! Give us a call ... >> The Four Seasons Resort on Lake Winnie .
(7/29) From Wired2Fish; "I don’t think twice about using the Wicked Wacky Hook around ultra-thick cover or around big bass—I’ve never had one fail me. They don’t get hung up much, but if they do, you can pull and shake all you want to without compromising the integrity of the hook.
They also hold up very well to multiple fish catches. While some other hooks tend to dull after just a few fish, the Wicked Wacky Hook stays very sharp. I’ve used the same hook for multiple full-day guide trips with no noticeable decrease in ... click here to learn more >> Wicked Wacky Hook .
(7/29) From Bob Biegler - Pike Fishing On Lake Winnibigoshish? My older son in particular likes to cast for Northerns and my younger son (15) would also like to join us.
I have only been to Winnie one year prior to this, so I do not know if this is the best lake in the area for Northern Pike or not? I am open to working this lake or another in the vicinity if you think it would be much better.
A) Typically, Lake Winnibigoshish is just about as good as any other lake would be for Northern Pike. In late summer, it's more weather related than anything. When the lakes deep water areas become Oxygen stressed, forage species like Norther Ciscoes (Tulibees) and Suckers move toward the weedlines to catch their breath. Predators, larger Pike, Muskies and Walleye follow the forage into the shallows, where they take advantatge of the easy pickin's.
If this happens to coincide with a naturally good fishing time like an overcast or drizzly day, then the Pike fishing can be out of this world. The full moon of August seems to give the larger fish a boost too and under ideal circumstances, I'd plan my trip for the week that the full moon occurs.
I have had some of my best Pike fishing days on Lake winnie, so if we get a good stretch of "Pikey Weather" and it coincides with your trip, then I think you'll be very happy.
(7/29) On Lake of the Woods, Border View Lodge, Mike Kinsella wrote; "You can’t fight Mother Nature! Wind, rain, and hail made fishing difficult this past week. When anglers were able to cross the lake, they had success near Garden Island and Little Oak. The bite was tougher on the south end, where the strong north winds stirred things up.
Things should pick up this week as the winds calm and the temperature warms. Highs look to be in the mid 70s with plenty of sunshine.
Fall rates are out; it’s time to book fishing dates! We still have some availability through October. The Rainy River water level has been higher this year and we are expecting along with that more current then last year and are hoping huge shiner minnow run." 1-800-776-3474 Border View Lodge .
(7/29) Tannerite® Claims Victory - US Patent and Trademark Office Publishes Iron-Fisted Reissue of Tannerite® Sports, LLC Exploding Binary Target Patent .
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Pleasant Hills, OR (July 28, 2013) – Tannerite® Sports, LLC is proud to announce that its reissue patent has been approved by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The reissue patent provides a much broader ... Read Story >> Tannerite Patent Re-Issue .

Fishing Report July 28, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Fall-Like Weather Tempts Complaints, But Before You Do, Think About This!
During a conversation about how this summer has progressed so far, a good friend of mine, a resorter, asked me a question last week. It was; "Why do you think this has been such a slow week for everyone?" My answer didn't shock him, but I was shocked that he hadn't already thought of it himself;
"The reply was that probably it's because everyone who was visiting our region at this time last year, found themselves snack dab in the middle of a disaster area!" So it's a little slow right now because most folks who were here then, didn't sign up to come back now. It's just human nature, if you're having a great time, then it's on your mind to come back. But if your trip was a downer, then there's no big rush to get your name in the reservation book.
The stormy summer of 2012 will go down in my record book as one of the worst "weather seasons" we've ever had. In fact, I'm still trying to dig myself out of the mess that the July 2nd storm dumped in my lap.
So if we have a little rain, a little cold weather, well I'm sorry, but you're still gonna find me grinnin'! Put on a jacket, some warm socks and get outside. It beats the heck out of cutting broken trees when it's 90 degrees and humid!
We'll soon see how the cooler weather will influence fishing, but my guess is that it will slow down the weed bite and boost activity on mid lake structure.
For Today; I AM on a roll, so I'm gonna keep on rollin'! Gonna clean up a few loose ends around the office. Then I'm gonna hop on the tractor, head for the back 40 and do some more nesting!

Fishing Report July 27, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Fall-Like Weather Tempts Complaints, But Before You Do, Think About This!
During a conversation about how this summer has progressed so far, a good friend of mine, a resorter, asked me a question last week. It was; "Why do you think this has been such a slow week for everyone?" My answer didn't shock him, but I was shocked that he hadn't already thought of it himself;
"The reply was that probably it's because everyone who was visiting our region at this time last year, found themselves snack dab in the middle of a disaster area!" So it's a little slow right now because most folks who were here then, didn't sign up to come back now. It's just human nature, if you're having a great time, then it's on your mind to come back. But if your trip was a downer, then there's no big rush to get your name in the reservation book.
The stormy summer of 2012 will go down in my record book as one of the worst "weather seasons" we've ever had. In fact, I'm still trying to dig myself out of the mess that the July 2nd storm dumped in my lap.
So if we have a little rain, a little cold weather, well I'm sorry, but you're still gonna find me grinnin'! Put on a jacket, some warm socks and get outside. It beats the heck out of cutting broken trees when it's 90 degrees and humid!
We'll soon see how the cooler weather will influence fishing, but my guess is that it will slow down the weed bite and boost activity on mid lake structure.
(7/27) Mercury OptiMax vs. Mercury 4 Stroke For Fishing From Dale Parker, an email question; Jeff, I don't know if you'll remember me, but I saw you out at the boat dock on Lake Winnie last week. I'm the one that asked about your 4 stroke, that turned out not to be a 2 stroke. Your engine was really quiet and that got me interested in a 2 stroke, but what do you think about the fuel economy and performance compared to a 4 stroke?
A) Dale, this question comes up a bunch of times every summer. First of all, I would never try to steer anyone away from a 4 stroke if I knew that's what they wanted. The true answer is that they're both good. For me though, speaking strictly as a fishing guide, one with tunnel vision about my goal of helping my customers catch the most fish; Choosing the OptiMax is a no-brainer.
Here's a re-print of a lengthy answer that I wrote earlier this spring. I hope this answers your question and be sure to let me know if you need more information. click to read >> Mercury OptiMax vs. Mercury 4 Stroke For Fishing .
(7/27) Finding Active Walleyes on a windy day can be done. - One of the toughest things about fishing in the wind is staying on a productive spot.
When you find a productive location like the edge of an underwater weed bed, use a drift sock in combination with your trolling motor to help you hold your position.
In many Midwest lakes, weeds will grow in ten to twelve feet of water during the warmer months. If you find weeds at a given depth, the can likely be found at the same depth all over the lake you're fishing. Click to view >> How to Catch Windy Day Walleye .

Fishing Report July 26, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Good News, Bad News. Fish Bite, But Only For Expert - In terms of fishing, some days just go more smoothly for me than others. But my most frustrating days are the ones when I fish with really nice people and want to show them a fantastic day; But somehow we can't quite connect the dots.
For me, a good fishing day is one where the customers catch more fish than I do. After all, if anyone wants to watch someone else catch fish, they can just go to You Tube and watch Jon Thelen catch Walleyes all day long. A good day of fishing, the kind I like the best, is when the fish cooperate enough so that I can teach a newcomer the basics and still have enough time to actually gather some fish for their effort. Sometimes though, the fish won't help out.
On Thursday, Ann Shears and Laura Tendrop just wanted to have a nice relaxing day and catch some fish. In the end, we did catch some fish, but the problem was that the Walleye were hungry enough for me to catch 'em, but they weren't cooperative enough so that everyone could share the same good luck. That was frustrating.
We were fishing on one of the Marcell area's deeper, clear water lakes and by most accounts, our bag would have been considered good. Especially for a clear, sunny day without much wind blowing. We wound up with a half dozen nice Walleyes, some Largemouth Bass and had one chance at a real whopper that somehow slipped off the hook.
Surface temperature on the lake was 74 degrees, reflecting a continuing downward trend. The cooler water may have slowed the Bass action a bit, but in comparison to past performances on this lake, the Walleyes seemed fairly active to me. I don't like fishing these smaller lakes too many times each summer, because I think they're vulnerable to pressure. But if it was on the schedule, I'd try it again with confidence that we'd catch at least some fish.
What we did that worked best, was to fish the deeper weeds and grasslines using 1/16 ounce jigs tipped with night crawlers. When the fish pick up the bait, we feed line they same way that you'd fish with a Lindy Rig. After 30 seconds or so, we gather the slack, feel the fish and set the hook to capture our prize. That is assuming that we realized that the fish was biting, before the worm was already gone.
The situation was complicated by the presence of small Sunfish and Perch. These tiny fish actually hit harder than the Walleyes do and it confuses anglers by tricking them into thinking that there is a larger fish trying to eat the bait. That's what happened a lot to us, a little too much trickery and not quite enough certainty. So for this day, we had to be happy with the ones we caught and forget about the ones we missed.
We caught enough for a nice shore lunch, sent some fish home for the family fish fry and managed to dodge the rain. Next time we'll pick up where we left off and those tricky fish are gonna be in for a little surprise.

Fishing Report July 25, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Let's Be Adult About This ... and ACT LIKE KIDS! - I AM TELLING YOU, Wednesday was a lucky day to help out my long time friend Matt Mattson. "Uncle-Cousin Matt" had the program dialed in perfectly for putting smiles on the faces of his visiting niece and nephew Mabel and Josh. His uncle, Art was just along the for the ride, but don't worry, he got his giggles too!
It all started when Matt called and asked if I would be part of the entertainment while his relatives, visiting from Arizona were in the neighborhood. Just find some fun fish to keep the kids busy; "It doesn't matter what kind", he said. Let's just keep 'em busy. Well in case you've wondered, or if you're thinking about bringing some kids fishing anytime soon; Anyone who wants to get kids off to a fantastic head start, then take note, Matt's attitude is the perfect recipe for doing it.
All we really needed was enough fish for a shore lunch and if we really got lucky, a few extras for Grandma and Grandpa. Luckily, I just happened to have a spot in mind where we would be busy, even if the fish weren't all whoppers. Still, if we just kept on fishing, there was always a chance to get a big one too.
At the lake, the scene was pretty as a postcard. Bright Blue skies, calm seas and a surface temperature locked in at 75.8 degrees. I rigged everyone up with Little Joe Spinners, light sinkers and a variety of baits and we headed for the weeds. We trolled the spinners in and around the Cabbage weeds in 12 to 15 feet of water. Today, I noticed that the fish were holding tight in the weeds, so we had to do a little tugging on the veggies if wanted to get bit. That was a little bit tricky, but it was workable. In other words, it wasn't a fast start, but there was steady action and as we got our system dialed in, the action began improving.
Moving from one weed patch to another, concentrating on points and inside corners, we caught the Duke's Mixture. Sunfish, Rock Bass, Largemouth a couple of small Pike and 3 Walleyes. The cooler was full and our stomachs were empty, so we motored off to find a spot to cook. Unbelievably, the campsite that's never available, was available and soon, Matthew and crew had the campsite engineered and the fire burning. Soon, our stomachs were full and the cooler was empty. Time to get back out there and work on Grandma's fish fry.
By now, there was a breeze blowing and there were some clouds moving toward the lake. It must have given those fish a tingle because the afternoon was pandemonium! It seemed like every spot I tried had some fish, albeit most of the time, they were a mixture of Rock Bass, Small Largemouths and the ever-present, 7 inch Sunfish. Nothing for Field and Stream, but it was certainly keeping the crew busy and every so often, WHAM ... A Walleye, Pike or larger Bass would give us something to hoot about.
By days end, we'd managed to capture a half dozen more Walleyes, one better than average Pike and dozen of the better (maybe 8 to 9 inch) Sunfish. Along the way we released a few larger Bass too, including one really nice Smallmouth that Art caught. Which by the way, is the whole point; Keep the kids happy and somehow, dad just happens to get some giggles too. Granted, most of the fish we caught, would barley get noticed by the hard core fishermen, but if you don't start your kids with something that's fun, then they'll never become "hard core fishermen". So if you ask me, our Rock Bass and Little Sunfish couldn't have been any prettier, they were Beautiful, Perfect!
Oh and by the way; There are 1000 lakes in Itasca County. According to the DNR, 60% of them contain Sunfish. Probably almost all of them have small Pike and who knows whatever else... Be adventurous, pack up the kids and go give some of 'em a try. WAIT, better yet, pack up the kids, bring 'em to me and we'll do it together ... :)!!

Fishing Report July 24, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Clearing Up Post Cold Front Issues - I could see this one coming. Fishing a shallow, dark water lake after a major cold front is never a good idea, but this time, I was trapped.
My fishing trip on Tuesday was scheduled for Bowstring Lake, where my crew lives.
They wanted a chance to see the lake from my point of view, get some new ideas about how to fish there and learn where some of the better areas are. None of us could help the fact that Monday's gale force winds blew in a 8 degree drop in the surface temperature. None of us could help that we were faced with the classic post cold front, Bluebird day; Sunny, Bright and calm. Right from the start, before we ever left the dock, I let them know that I was worried about this one. I was hoping to be wrong, but I wasn't.
We tried as many spots as we could squeeze in, finding some scattered patches of weeds that hosted Perch and small Pike. But even they were tough to catch, they were finicky as kids in a Brocolli eating contest. So at lunch time, I kind of twisted their arms and suggested we head toward a deeper, clearer, mixed bag lake. I Know, that doesn't sound right, Deeper? Clearer? How can that be better?
Well here's the deal; Clear water lakes tend to have much deeper weed growth than shallow, dark water lakes do. Deeper water is less affected by a drop in surface temperture because the water temps at the base of those deep weeds is already cool by comparison to the warm surface temps. It's the reverse of the reason why the deeper, clear water lakes are slow starters in the spring. It takes longer to move the temperature one way or the other.
When a cold front hits, fish that had been roaming the shallow shorelines are forced deeper into the weeds and the end result is that there are more fish on the deep weed edges. In other words, even if the "bite is off", there are still more fish on the weedline and your chances of catching some, still increase.
That's what happened on Tuesday. I could tell that the bite was off since the last visit. The size of fish was smaller and the strikes were less frequent than they were on Saturday. But at least we were catching some fish. Roaming the weedlines at about 14 feet, using Little Joe Spinners, we found a hodge podge of fish including Bass, Sunfish, Pike and a few Walleyes. We tried tipping the spinners with a variety of baits and dicovered that the panfish liked worms and leeches, but the Walleyes like minnows.
My trolling speed was a bit slower as well, .8 to 1.0 MPH was the ideal range. Concentrating on areas with heaviest weed growth was important and focusing on the tips of shoreline related points was the best for 'bigger fish".
After a few hours, the rescue mission was declared a success. We'd added a nice catch to the cooler, including some Sunfish, a couple of Walleyes and a small Pike. The larder would be enough to feed the family of 5 kids and they'd be happy to see mom and dad come home with smiles on their faces. Not the best day ever, but good enough for us guys.
(7/24) From Wired2Fish; "This weeks giveaway is a chance to spool up a few of your reels with new and improved line from Berkley. 4 winners will get 3 spools of the latest line offerings Berkley showed us at ICAST 2013.
(7/24) Gus Sheker, Gus' Place Resort on Ball Club Lake; "Water level is good with the lake temp in the mid 70s.
Last weeks heat has pushed the Walleye into 17-22 feet and slowed their bite, however live bait Lindy rigs are still taking fish early and late in the day.
Crank baits trolled along the North side of the East-West sand bar have also been producing Walleye. The Lake Master map calls this sand bar, "Gus' Bar" if you are looking for it.
Recent warm weather has really kicked up the lake weeds along the shoreline, it's a good place to look for Perch & Northerns in around 8 feet, both are very active and feeding on minnow presentations, spinners, jigs or bobber fishing methods, all will work right now.
Perch & Northerns are biting throughout the day and anglers are taking limits.
I prefer drifting with spinners and live Sucker minnows for Northerns when the wind runs parallel to the shoreline in 8-12 feet. - Fishing is very good right now." Gus Sheker. Gus' Place Resort .
(7/23) Bemidji Lakes Area, Paul A. Nelson, Bemidji Area Lakes Guide Service says; "The surface water temperatures in the lakes were dropping in the Bemidji area this past week, with a much cooler weather pattern taking the place of the hot and muggy weather of the past couple weeks.
There is a slight green tint starting to be visible in Lake Bemidji, but nearly all of the lakes are still very clear for this point in the season.
With falling water temperatures in the lakes, it will take another extended period of hot weather at some point in August to get the algae to bloom in most lakes this summer.
Winnibigoshish and Lake of the Woods have been the two best walleyes lakes within reasonable driving distance of Bemidji.
Winnibigoshish has been good on the bars and humps, with anglers having to figure out which humps are holding slot fish and which ones have some keepers mixed in with the larger fish.
Lake of the Woods has been good around most of the reefs and humps, with the fish moving shallower in the mornings and evenings and further off the sides of the reefs during the day.
Both Bemidji and Cass Lake have been slow for walleyes recently, with the best fishing in the mornings and evenings or on the days with some wind or cloudy skies.
The full moon is July 22nd, so most of the clear water lakes should have a decent night bite for walleyes this week.
Anglers can troll shallow diving minnow baits or crankbaits in clean bottomed shorelines or on shallower mid-lake bars and humps with longer stretches of good trolling water.
Anglers with homes or cabins on lakes or visitors staying at one of the local resorts can try a few casts with a floating minnow bait or use lighted slip-bobbers with a leech set a couple of feet under the bobber right off the end of the dock at night. They might be surprised with what they catch." - Paul A. Nelson, Bemidji Area Lakes Guide Service, panelson@paulbunyan.net - 218.759.2235 .
(7/24) At Lake Winnibigoshish, Joe Thmpson says; "The walleye bite on the west side of Lake Winnie has definitely slowed up. Even the slot fish have been fewer and farther between. The good news on the fishing front is that the northern fishing has picked up just in time for the "northern fishermen" to arrive. This week the trollers and casters found good action along the weedlines on the south end of the lake. If you were looking for larger fish, Sugar Bay was the better area. The numbers of fish were caught in 8-13' of water. Something that flashed was the best bait for the northerns. The perch continue to be very reliable. The breakline between the River Mouth and Judd's is the best area for nice keeper perch. Jigs and fathead minnows has been the best bait.
For some reason, one of our traditionally strong weeks shows several vacancies. So our loss is your gain. Mention this fishing report, and get 25% off new weekly reservations August 10-17! Check our availability on our website and give us a call. The prime units won't last long, so call today". >> The Four Seasons Resort on Lake Winnie .
(7/24) From the Lake Winnie Region, Nik Dimich says; "As we fished out of Joe and Kelli Karau’s Williams Narrows Resort with the Daikin-McQuay group spearheaded by local guide legend Charlie Worrath, fish and fishing techniques were all over the place, literally. Fish were found not only on Winnie, Big Cut Foot, Bowstring, Ball Club, Pokegama, but also on a few more lakes that for some reason did not have names.
Fishing varied between excellent to “scratching away at them,” like Charlie Worrath says. Believe it or not ..." Read >> Lake Winnie Region Fishing Report .
(7/24) From Cutfoot Sioux, Eagle Nest Lodge - Bryan Harris said; "The great fishing continues on Cut foot Sioux and Winnie! Walleyes are biting in 8-12' on lindy rigs with leeches or crawlers. Our bay and the battle-seelye bar have been solid. We're not seeing too many keeper perch, but nice northern are showing up now. We are very busy the next 2 weeks, but have several openings the last couple weeks of August." .

Fishing Report July 23, 2013, Jeff Sundin - From Heat Wave To Ice Box in Two Easy Steps! - Ya Gotta Love Northern Minnesota! Only a few days ago, we were in the midst of a heat wave, spending most of our days thinking about jumping into the lake. Yesterday, we were all wearing hoodies, jackets and rain pants. Back-to-back cold front's have set the surface temperatures into downward motion; Plunging from the 80+ degree mark, down into the low 70 degree range. An adjustment that didn't go un-noticed by the fish.
Apparently, the second cold front wasn't on the radar screen too early either, because Monday's forecast didn't mention that we'd be sitting in 4 foot waves, shivering. In fact, it was a little too breezy for most folks in the Northland and the lakes were pretty darn quiet. At least the larger lakes were.
We did our best, fishing on the calm side of Bowstring Lake. But truthfully, we were pinned into the only area that I could fish. If you can't control the boat, then it's not fishing, it's just floating around, so it's hard for me to call that a "real fishing trip". Still, we managed to turn in a score that gave the day a passing grade.
The morning wasn't too bad, we were able to scrounge around in the weeds, picking up a mixed bag of Perch, Walleye and Pike. By the time we cooked lunch, there were 8 Walleyes and some of the better size Perch in the cooler, so it seemed like we were on track for a decent afternoon. We freshend up our spinners with some new bait and attempted to pick up where we'd left off.
I guess we had done a little too good a job of straining the small area in the morning and now we were down to catching Perch and small Pike in the PM.
I attempted to fish on the breezy side, but that was a rude awakening, a big mistake and we only lasted a few minutes before realizing that it was time to head back for the calm shoreline. So that's it, we got some fish, had a nice lunch and sent enough for another meal home witrh the crew. But it was hardly the kind of day that my crew was dreaming about the night before.
It did prove one thing though; Even on a tough day, a little persistence goes a long way and between the fishing that was "good enough" and the whitewater boat ride, we still made an adventure out of it.

Fishing Report July 22, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Jackie Jares Introduces Lake Winnibigoshish to Generation "W" - It's not every day that I get to take credit for introducing somebody's kid to the world of Walleye fishing. It's even more rare that the first day on the lake goes really smoothly. More rare even yet, is that an 11 year old would jump right in, feet first and take over control of the lake. But that's what happened on Sunday while fishing with my new friend Jackie Jares, 11 year old daughter of my other new friend, John Jares.
It started out as a routine fishing trip; John wanted to do some Walleye fishing, but first he wanted to take his daughter out for quick spin to give her a little introduction to fishing. You Know, just a few hours and then she'd be satisfied and ready to head back home and then we'd go back out to do the heavy lifting. Well, 9 hours later, when we said our "see-ya's" at the Bowen's Marina dock, we all knew .....
Luckily, I don't have to say too much about the fishing. We did the same stuff I've bewen writing about all week. Spinners in the weeds and jigs on the rocks. So you can just scroll down the page and find out the presentations.
That gives me a few extra minutes to say how much fun it was to fish with that little girl. She had her anxious moments, just like I do. You know, times when you wish the next bite would come a little faster. But the big picture, she tackled everyting I asked her to do and accomplished it better than a lot of grown-ups do on their first outings.
Maybe it's because she's so smart? Maybe she's just so cute that the fish just cave in? Or Maybe ... it was just time for Lake Winnie to be introduced to Generation W?
After all, I'll bet that it's been quite a while, maybe even a couple of generations since the "Big Pond" has seen anything like this. Welcome aboard little girl, welcome aboard!
(7/22) On The Iron Range, From Greg Clusiau; "The recent hot weather has helped to create one of my favorite fishing patterns of the open water season and that my friends is “weed-line jig-worming.”
This pattern, which will last all summer long, can offer fishing as good as it gets, even if you’re new to the sport. Grab a spinning rod and reel, preferably spooled with 6 to 8 pound test, tie on a jig tipped with ... " >> Read Greg's Full Report .
(7/22) On Lake of the Woods, Border View Lodge, Mike Kinsella wrote; "Ready for a summer cool down! The forecast this week shows highs at about 74 degrees! It’s time to get away from the heat and go fishing!
Fishing with leeches and crawlers is going great! Our charters have mostly been fishing north of Garden Island where there have been great catches and many trophy Walleye being caught.
Highs will be in the 70s this week! For late July that is sounding good!
Fall rates are out; it’s time to book fishing dates! We still have some availability through October. The Rainy River water level has been higher this year and we are expecting along with that more current then last year and are hoping huge shiner minnow run." 1-800-776-3474 Border View Lodge .

Fishing Report July 21, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Grand Rapids Area, Multi-Species Smackdown - Showing up on Lake Wabana the first day after a cold front, under clear blue skies and barely a breeze, probably isn't the first idea that crosses my mind for an action packed fishing trip. Somehow though, in spite of the odds being stacked against us, this lake gave us a good day on Saturday.
After a little tour of the lake to figure out which was the right dock, the one where my shipmate Greg Past was waiting, we finally connected and got the show on the road. The mission was to try and find some of Wabana's elusive Crappies, maybe some Walleyes and to learn more about the lake. Looking back on the day, I learned more than I ever expected; This lake has a way of doing that for me.
I Am the first to admit that looking at a list of Crappie fishing experts on Wabana, my name would show up nearly last on the list. Still, I'm a sucker for a challenge and it sounded like fun. Plus, no matter whether we found 'em or not, there's no way that anyone can spend an 8 hour day on Wabana without catching something. In fact, we caught everything there is to catch .... Except Crappies.
Checking the deep edges of every Cabbage Weed patch I could think of, we casted small jigs with action tails in search of the "Specks". We caught small Largemouth Bass, Rock Bass and Sunfish by the bushel basket, not a Crappie.
We switched to Night Crawlers, hoping for an encounter with some Walleyes, but in all of the "usual spots", We continued to catch Largemouth Bass, Rock Bass and Sunfish by the bushel basket, not a Walleye.
Since the usual spots weren't producing, I decided to try some "unusual spots" and started scanning open water territory. I found a school of of fish on the Humminbird and we dropped in on 'em using Lindy Rigs, one tipped with a Leech and One with a Crawler. OOH, this time they were Smallmouth Bass, nice ones and they were a blast to catch, but soon, it was time to get back on track.
We made a stop at long weedline and trolled using Little Joe, spinners. Simple #2 blades one rod with a Gold blade, one rigged with a Silver blade. The calm water allowed me to hug tight along the weed edges by backtrolling with the MinnKota. This brought a whole new meaning to the term "Quiet Power"! We honestly couldn't keep fish off of our hooks, they were biting as fast as we could get baits into the water, but except for a couple of baby Walleyes, the mix was still Largemouth Bass, Rock Bass and Sunfish by the bushel basket.
By now, we'd fished just about every likely spot. I remember telling Greg that I wouldn't be able to sleep last night unless I tried one more spot. The one where the fish are supposed to be only during the spring. It was a long shot, but what the heck, we had nothing to lose and maybe, just maybe? When we got there, the surface temperature was solid at 80 degrees and the water was calm as glass. But guess what?
Okay, now I don't want to make it sound too good, but I will say that persistence does pay off. The Cabbage weeds were alive with fish, mostly Sunfish, but on the tips of the points, there were some bonus fish. A half dozen Walleyes and a couple of nice Pike that when added to all of the other action, made it seem like a really great day. No, we did not figure out where the Crappies were, but that just means that it's gonna be all the more fun when we finally do.
If I was passing out advice about what to try on Wabana, I think I'd say that the spinners were about the best method we used on Saturday. Tolling the weed edges at anywhere from 13 to 15 feet at speeds of 1.0 to 1.3 MPH, kept us in
the action for most of the afternoon. Don't expect the Bass to be whoppers, they're not. But if wanted to keep a couple of kids busy, I'd be making a bee-line for the spinner store and get myself back out there.
Oh and by the way, I remembered something else. "The glass is 2/3 full!"

Fishing Report July 20, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Wrapping The 2013 Fisharoo On Grand Rapids Area's, Multi-Species Lakes - My crew had Pike and Bass on their minds as we heading toward wrapping up the fisharoo.
It made sense to try a small lake South of Grand Rapids where we usually get more than our fair share of bite-offs whenever we're Bass fishing. All we'd need to do is rig up for Bass, work the weeds and whenever the Pike found us, we'd re-rig and work on them for a while too. It was a great idea, but somehow the Pike never got the memo.
Largemouth Bass were catchable, but not aggressive and after a morning of wishing that I could re-live my last visit to this little lake, I decided that it was a good idea to head on over to Pokegama Lake instead. That way, we'd be able to rig up with live bait and work on any kind of fish that would happen come our way.
After setting up the crew with Lindy Rigs and medium size Creek Chubs for bait, we started working shoreline related points in water depths of 15 to 20 feet. The fish were cooperative, giving us numerous chances to spring into action. The fish that struck, were a mix of Pike and Smallmouth Bass. I sighted a few schools of fish that I believed were Walleyes, but they weren't interested in this particular approach. Our primary goal was Pike, so I didn't work too hard at locating or catching Walleyes.
With more practice, we could have done better at landing more fish, but by days end, we still had some moments of greatness and a decent highlight reel to turn in at Fisharoo headquarters.
Oh and by the way, I learned something interesting on Day 5 of the Fisharoo. Just in case this ever happens to you; If one of your crew wants "action", another one wants "big" and the third one says; "I'm just riding along to go fishin'", Yes! You guessed it, lay your money down for #3 !
(7/20) From Wired2Fish; Smallmouth and Largemouth Bass fishing is in full swing right here in the Northland. I like braided line for Bass fishing, but I like clear fluorocarbon as a leader too. I needed to learn a good knot for connceting the braid to my Fluorocarbon leader. I found a good demo by Kevin Hawk, check out this video on W2F... Click >> How To Tie Modified Albright Knot .

Fishing Report July 19, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Wrong Way Corrigan, A Role Model? Well, we weren't exactly crossing the Atlantic Ocean and we were in a nice Lund boat instead of flying a beat up, rattle trap airplane. But I still did my best to make as many wrong turns as I could on Thursday, especially in the morning.
I had this plan; I told my crew that we were gonna beat the strong winds that were gonna pound Lake Winnibigoshish. We'd get ahead of the big waves by high-tailing it straight for the South end of the lake. I explained that there had been a nice school of fish on "The Main (Bena) Bar" and if I kept and Eagle Eye on on the Humminbird, we'd find 'em and catch 'em. If not, then we'd be able to work our way back home with the waves. It sounded a lot better plan than getting trapped on the windy side of the lake, with nowhere to go and nothing to do.
So off we went, heading South from Cutfoot, passing by all of the other guides who were fishing the giant weed flat and eventually arriving at the section of the Bena Bar known as "Little Musky Bar". By now the wind was already producing White Caps and the warm surface water was cleaning my splash guards. It was okay though, because within minutes, one of my crew, Jeff had a nice Walleye in the net and it was just barely legal to drop into the cooler. Now all we'd need to do is stick with this school of fish and catch some more, right?
Not. For reasons known only to those fish, they were not gonna bite, they showed up on the screen, staying with them was no problem, but eating wasn't on their agenda. No problem, we'll just start covering some territory and find a new school of fish. Big Musky? Not. The Big Bend? Not. Eelpout Bar? Not. The Pocket? Not. How about the Backside? Yes, there they were ... a nice looking school of fish that gave us a sneak preview. A 19-1/2 inch slot-fish that would get the ball rolling, we'd be back on track ... Unless the wind would die, the surface would go flat and the school of fish would vanish from the screen of my Humminbird. Another stop at Center Bar revealed nothing.
By now, I'm thinking that I'd have been a lot better off going in for a Mani-Pedi and saving these boys the trouble of this long boat ride. I didn't make it much easier on myself when I called my buddy Cubby to see how the rest of the outfit was fairing. Remember the weeds? The ones that I passed on my bee-line to the South end? Yes, you're right, they had been catching fish over there for most of the morning.
At this point I told my crew that they were really lucky. When asked why, I explained that they were gonna be on hand to watch and find out how I dug myself out of this hole. I did what I could do, apologized and promised to keep working at it until I got it figured out. Sometimes I can follow clues, you know, find a little birdy to the right spot. This time, it was gonna take a whole flock of birdies and luckily, they started showing up!
Since the lake had gone flat, it made some sense to work my way back by stopping at a series of mid-lake humps. One by one, we started scanning the edges, watching for a school of fish that would save the day. Slow, but steady, we started picking up some fish and luckily, they were perfect. Except for a couple of "slot-fish", we were getting some nice 16+ inchers and in spite of my effort to keep these boys away from fish, the cooler was getting prettier to look at all of the time. Unfortunately, it wasn't much longer before the strong winds showed up again and forced us out of our pattern. But we ended on a rally.
It wasn't perfect, we missed a few bites, had some tangles and left a few fish behind. But we'd had enough time to satge a comeback and these guys did get to see me dig out of the hole, at least a little bit.
By the way, this was a great crew, among the best ever! Everyone was smiling, happy just to be out there, glad that the wind blew just to help keep us cool. Not only that, now thay've got this fishing story about "Wrong Way Sundin". They'll be telling this one for a long time and that's good too! THANK YOU BOYS! and .... Thank You Birdy ... !!
Oh and by the way, except for the rise in surface temperatures which pushed over the 80 degree mark on Thursday. The fishing patterns that I've been talking about all week are still in play. Scroll down the page and you'll find most everything and if you don't, you can always ask a question, just shoot me an email .

Fishing Report July 18, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Some Like It Hot? Well I guess so, even though it's not the typical scenario, some of Lake Winnie's Walleyes responded to Wednesday's calm weather by having lunch.
It was predictable, as the sun rose higher in the sky, Walleyes in the weeds snuggled deeper into the vegetation and after a short flurry of action, those of us who were fishing the spinners and weeds pattern had to bail out in lieu of a better idea. "Keeping It Simple" was definitely on my agenda, but fishing with a family that lives on a great panfish lake and catches plenty of those already, I really wanted to try and help them bag some Walleyes.
Hoping for the best, I headed toward the middle of Winnibigosh and started scanning humps with the Humminbird. There were 3 duds in a row, structures that had either no fish, or just a few fish and were not worth taking the time to stop. Luckily for me, the 4th stop had a good looking school of fish, there were enough numbers to give me confidence that we'd find some keepers in the mix.
Typical of Lake Winnie's mid-lake humps, this one topped out at 20 feet and had a slight hook at the North end and that's where the fish stayed. Creeping along at .5 to .6 MPH, we used Lindy Rigs tipped with air injected Night Crawlers to gently massage a half dozen fish off of the spot. We could have done better, at least in terms of catching fish, if we'd been able to drift a little bit. If you're not paying attention, rigging with 4 lines down, in deep water can get a little "tangly" as it did for us. Still it was clear that if we stuck with it, we'd catch some more.
After a short break at The Birches to stretch out and re-group, we resumed the search where we'd left off. Again, there were a few empty spots, then a couple that were already occupied and finally, another one that had a good school of fish on it. Just like the time before, once we got on 'em, they bit and we were on our way toward gathering a limit.
During late afternoon, a predicted series of thuderstorms pushed into the area, found their way onto Winnie and gave us a good soaking. The fish never quit, in fact they may have even become more aggressive and in spite of our tendency toward tangling, we managed to duke it out until we had a dozen keepers and a few decent Pike. A gap between the rain clouds presented an opportunity to make a run for shore, so we did and that was a wrap.
Lindy Rigging with 1/2 ounce sinkers was the mainstay of the operation and Crawlers were the preferred offering for Walleyes. But just for fun, I rigged up Mary's pole with a Gold Little Joe Spinner and tipped it with a medium size Creek Chub. That was the ticket for picking up a few Pike that were lingering in the area, including one nice one that went airborne, giving us quite a show. It was worth the effort just to see that.
(7/18) From Wired2Fish; Smallmouth and Largemouth Bass fishing is in full swing right here in the Northland. I like braided line for Bass fishing, but I like clear fluorocarbon as a leader too. I needed to learn a good knot for connceting the braid to my Fluorocarbon leader. I found a good demo by Kevin Hawk, check out this video on W2F... Click >> How To Tie Modified Albright Knot .

July 18, 2013 - On Lake Winnie, Walleyes are active and it doesn't matter if you are fishing shallow, deep, or in-between. Bass and Pike are roaming in heavy cover and panfish, especially Sunfish are showing up in the daily mix. Main Lake bars and humps produced well on Monday, but strong winds on Tuesday kept most folks off of those structures. Several of the guides reported catching limits of keepers by sticking with the weed patterns. Almost all of the crews that were out there reported catching numerous Walleyes by trolling with Spinners tipped with live bait. In Cutfoot Sioux, Sunfish are showing up along the weedlines in areas where insect hatches are occuring and some of our guests have found them by . ... >> Read Full Lake Winnie Fishing Report .

(7/18) From the Lake Winnie Region, Nik Dimich says; "Lake Pokegama is much more than a wonderful recreation lake, it is a fantastic fishery as well, housing almost every fighting and savory fish our northland features. Long time area fishing guide Sean Colter and other local fishing gurus like the Olson and Davis families know you don’t have to go to Canada for trophy fish or an action bite. They are right ..." Read >> Grand Rapids Region Fishing Report .

Fishing Report July 17, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Fisharoo, Day Three! Was a warm and windy one on the big lake. Overall, it wasn't a bad day on the water, but it definitely reminded me about why I'll be looking forward to September!
Fishing patterns and presentations were similar to what we've been doing for the past week, so checking the reports from the past couple of days will get you up to speed.
(7/16) Bemidji Lakes Area, Paul A. Nelson, Bemidji Area Lakes Guide Service says; "The mayfly hatches are nearing an end in the Bemidji area, which should help improve the walleye fishing in most of the lakes.
Winnibigoshish has been the hottest lake in the area for walleyes recently, with many of the humps and mid-lake bars holding a mixture of both “keeper” walleyes and larger slot fish. There are also walleyes using the shoreline cabbage weeds in Winnie, although they usually need some wind or cloud cover to bite during the day.
Lakes with clear water have been slow to ‘’green-up” this year, which has made for tough fishing for light sensitive species like walleyes and muskies on the days with clear skies and little wind.
Most of the larger lakes fall into the “clear lake” category in the Bemidji area. Unless the lakes have stained water, an algae bloom is needed to darken the water and give the walleyes a better chance to feed during the day.
Walleyes use their eyesight as their main advantage over their prey, so it is not efficient for them to feed when they can’t see significantly better than their prey. It is better for them to wait until there is less light, so they can ambush their prey and feed more easily using less energy to chase their prey.
Many of the smaller walleyes anglers like to target have been busy gorging themselves on mayfly larvae in deep water. Once the mayflies are done hatching, walleyes and other species feeding on the mayflies will have to find another food source.
With another hot week in the forecast, the algae should continue to increase in numbers in the lakes and there should be a noticeable decrease in water clarity in most lakes in the coming week, which should help walleye and muskie anglers have more success during the daylight hours." - Paul A. Nelson, Bemidji Area Lakes Guide Service, panelson@paulbunyan.net - 218.759.2235 .
(7/17) On Lake of the Woods, Border View Lodge, Mike Kinsella wrote; "The Garden and Little Oak areas continue to produce nice limits of walleyes. Best luck has been on spinners tipped with a leech or crawler in 10 to 30 feet.
Though you have to work a little harder to find the eaters, the south end has been giving up lots of 20+ inch walleyes and some trophies. Anchoring with a jig and a shiner in 30+ feet has been working. Anglers are also having success pulling spinners in 10 to 20 feet along Pine Island.
Highs will be in the 80s early in the week with a chance for showers. As we head into the weekend, highs will be comfortable in the 70s.
Our First Class Professional USCG Charter Captains are ready to go this summer! We have a fantastic crew on the books this year! Captains, Lanny Vollmer, Michael J Fox, Dennis Anderson, Jake Beckel, Darrell Hoag, Jon Geurkink, Steve Slick, Josh Beckel and Tom Geurkink are ready for your requests." 1-800-776-3474 Border View Lodge .
(7/17) On Lake Winnibigoshish, Main Lake bars and humps produced well on Monday. Several of the guides reported catching limits of keepers, all of the crews that were out there reported catching numerous "slot-Walleyes".

Fishing Report July 16, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Fisharoo, Day Two! I guess it all boils down to getting your day off to a good start and for me, it was! Day 2 of the Annual Daikin Mcquay Fisharoo was more like it.
By popular demand, my work assignment was a "Pre-Meditated Do-Over" of Sunday's trip to Pokegama. A couple of guys in my crew have been there before and we've had good results, so confidence in the lake was high. The expecations were high too.
On the water, Pokegama was a lot prettier than it had been the day before. Surface temperatures of 74 to 75 degrees, slate Grey skies and a gentle breeze.
It's funny how things work out sometimes; I just happened to have 4 rods rigged up with spinners from the afternoon before and since I knew that I'd have to come up with a game plan "on the fly" anyway, I quickly tossed the crew some assorted baits to pin on. A couple of Creek Chubs, a couple of Night Crawlers, a quick spin around the corner to get started and WHAM! I'm not sure if we made it 100 feet before Ernie had the first Pike on the line. It wasn't a whopper, but it was a start and for the first half of the day, a mixed bag that leaned heavily toward Pike, but included some Walleye too kept us busy.
Key depths were 12 to 15 feet, just over the top of the grassline, near the weed edges. Our presentaion was simple, a 3/16 ounce sinker, a gold #2 Little Joe Spinner tipped with either a Creek Chub or Leech. Trial and error led us to the decision about using Leeches instaed of Crawlers on the spinners. Small Perch were tearing the crawlers off our hooks as fast as we could get them in the water. So even if the Walleye didn't prefer Leeches, we still caught more of them simply because the small Perch left the Leeches alone.
For me, the fishing trip was in part, a geography test. It was rare not to catch a fish or two at each new spot, but it was equally rare to get more than a fish or two at each spot. Frequent moves to new territory was the only way to keep the action going.
By days end, we'd set aside six Pike ranging from 25 to 30 inches and a half dozen "keeper Walleyes". There were numerous other small Pike, Walleyes and a ton of perch keeping us on the edge of our chairs throughout most of the day.
On Lake Winnibigoshish, Main Lake bars and humps produced well on Monday. Several of the guides reported catching limits of keepers, all of the crews that were out there reported catching numerous "slot-Walleyes".

Fishing Report July 15, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Soggy Day In The Northland! For me, Day 1 of the Annual Daikin Mcquay Fisharoo began a bit on the soggy side, in more ways than one. In fact, unless you wanted a top ten list of the best ways "Not To Prepare for a Fishing Trip", then my report might be a little disappointing.
Since there was only one thing that could have fixed the day for me, I think I'm better off teliing you how the rest of the outfit handled their day instead.
On Lake Winnibigoshish, Main Lake bars and humps produced at least some fish for most of the boats. Lindy rigs with night crawlers and leeches, fished in typical depths of 20 to 26 feet of water did produce some action. More Walleye in the protected slot were caught than there were keepers though, so many of the guides abandoned the usual Lindy Rigging in open water and headed for the weeds to pull spinners.
The weeds provided a mixed bag of Walleye, Pike and Perch in a wide array of sizes. There were some keeper size Walleye though and most of the boats who stuck with the pattern came in with fish.
Simple but effeective, Little Joe single hook spinners, #2 Gold Blades and a half night crawler was the best presentation for Walleye. We used minnows on some of the rigs and they produced both Pike and Perch, but did not yield any Walleyes on this outing.
Water depths ranged from 10 to 13 feet, but the presence of weeds was more impotant than the water depth. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that weedline fish could be caught all around the lake, wherever the best weed growth would be discovered, regardless of the average depth.
By the time we shook off the effects of our morning and high-tailed it back to Winnie we were playing catch up. By now, the weed beds that had produced fish for the others had been sifted thoroughly and except for some small Pike and Perch, the area wasn't coughing up many Walleye for us. I moved away, maybe a half mile and Luckily, got the scent of a different school of fish. After working that area for an hour, we'd caught several Pike, a couple of slot fish and three keepers. Not a stellar performance, but it was at least a recovery.
The only problem is that by now, the stormy weather that found us early in the morning, was breathing down our necks again. By the time the crew was well into their second soaking of the day, heading for the dock sounded like a better idea than catching a couple of more fish.
(7/15) From Wired2Fish; With Smallmouth Bass fishing in mind, I knew that I'd have to learn a little more about using Drop Shot rigs to catch Smallmouth Bass. At W2F, Brandon Palaniuk demonstrates catching a smallmouth on a drop shot. This is a series on catching big smallmouth on Mille Lacs lake using finesse gear and spinning tackle. Here he is using ... learn more about >> Fishing Drop Shot Rigs for Smallmouth Bass .
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Fishing Report July 14, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Road Trip To Gull Lake Turns Out Lucky! Hey! You know, that I've mentioned good luck more than a few times in these reports and on Saturday, I got more than my fair share of lucky breaks.
My great friend Pete Raquet had something special planned for the weekend. A visit from his daughter Becky meant that he'd have a chance to spend some time with his whole family, but especially with his grandchildren Haley and Grant.
Lucky break #1 - A while back Pete querried me, wondering if I'd come down and spend some time with them on Gull Lake. Nothing too fancy, just to see if we could get the two youngins started out right. I'd have been crazy to turn down an offer like that, helping move a couple of kids in the direction of fishing is fantastic motivation. Spending time with Pete and Becky was a darn good idea too, so we got it all set up.
The only one small problem was that I haven't fished Gull Lake in something like 30 years. Even though I had a few ideas of my own, a helping arm wouldn't be the worst thing that ever happened. Enter my buddy Grant Prokop and Lucky break #2. During a casual phone call about fishing on Leech Lake, I just happened to ask if he had any ideas about panfish spots for kids on Gull Lake. He didn't, but he did know who to call and if he could get in touch, he'd have an idea or two for me. Lucky break #3 came when he did and they did and then he got back to me some ideas.
Lucky break #4 came when I arrived at the lake and discovered nearly ideal conditions for exploring new territory. Calm, overcast, not too hot and not too cold. Perfect for family fishing and since the Nisswa area had escaped any thunderstorms during the night, chances were good that panfish would be active, if we could find 'em.
On the water, surface temperatures were holding steady at 76 degrees and there was a slight chop on the surface. The water has some color, but is quite clear and the Grey skies would help hide us from the fish.
The spot that Grant suggested would turn out to be a trip to the opposite end of the lake from Grand View Lodge, where they are staying. So I thought we'd look around a little on our way down there. We spotted Walleye fishermen, Bass fishermen and some pleasure boaters, but the main lake wasn't looking too "pan-fishy" and after a couple of quick stops, we high tailed it to the suggested destination.
Lucky break #5 came when we found the spot, a weedline that lead out to a point that dropped off into deep water. It took about 30 seconds for Pete to capture a nice Bluegill, it didn't turn out that they'd all be a nice as his first one, but from there on, we were never more than a minute or two away from the next bite.
Trial and error led me to the best presentation for the kids. A 1/16 ounce, Purple Lindy Ice Jig, suspended below a slip float and tipped with cut up pieces of a Leech. We started with whole Leeches, but the small sunfish had a knack for robbing us too easily. Worms worked a little, but didn't trigger the strikes as well as leeches.
All I needed to do was to keep the boat within easy casting distance of the weedline. After that, a hodge podge of Sunfish, Crappies, Rock Bass and Largemouth came in random order to proivide the entertainment.
There is only one professional observation that I can offer. We saw a lot of Bass anglers throwing all of the typical Bass presentations. But in our particular case, a 1/16 ounce Lindy Jig, tipped with a 2 inch Ripple Shad is what lured in the largest specimens. If I was heading back out there today, I'd spend a lot of time throwing these tiny baits toward the weed edges and then swimming them back through the weeds, toward the breakline.
I wish that I could take some kind of credit for something except just showing up. But You Know, that I Know when something just boils down to Good Luck. So Thank You!! That was good!!
(7/14) At Lake Winnibigoshish, Joe Thmpson says; "The fishing on the west side of Winnie has been very reliable providing you are not dialed in to one species of fish. The "keeper" walleyes have been scarce this past week. The "slot" size walleyes have been abundant. So if you are looking for action only, the walleyes have been great on the main bars. Leeches and crawlers on Lindy type rigs are the ticket. If you want a meal, the best bet has been the perch. The shoreline break south of the river in 14-16' of water has been producing 10-12" perch for several weeks. Jigs and fathead minnows are what has been best for the perch. The northern fishing is still lagging behind, but the weeds are starting to show up, so as they fill up with life, the northern fishing should just get better and better. The "keeper" size walleyes will show up along the weedlines, as well. Some of the better weedbeds include Sugar Bay, Mallard Point, and Stony Point. All in all, it has been a great time for the entire family. You can catch enough fish for a meal and the weather has been awesome for all activities on the water and off. We have some openings if you want to come and try your luck on Lake Winnie. Short term stays are available. Give us a call for more information or to book your stay". >> The Four Seasons Resort on Lake Winnie .
(7/14) Summer is in full swing and this new episode of Fish Ed. is one of the coolest ways you can catch more and bigger walleye. "Float Fishing for Big Walleye"
Float fishing or bobber fishing is a great way to target actively feeding walleye. With its eyes positioned on the top of its head a walleye feeds upward. A float will allow you to position your bait precisely above the fish. A Thill slip float will let you make quick adjustments to the depth you're fishing. For this vertical presentation, a jig will give a more natural and lifelike appearance than a crawler or a minnow. Click to view >> Float Fishing For Walleyes .

Fishing Report July 13, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Luring In Mr. Big, The Saga Continues!
After un-expectedly losing part of my fishing team on Friday and making some last minute adjustments, my old pal Don Conroy and I finally got on the water for some serious Bass fishing on his home lake.
I don't have too much too add to the report I put up on 7-12, except for that Don showed me his new trick. He'd been watching one of the fishing programs last winter and made a note about rigging a Yum Dinger with a tiny Willow Leaf Blade at the tail. I can tell you first hand that it out produced almost everything we tried on Friday except fot the 5 inch Money Minnows that I mentioned on Thursday.
With the water temperatures approaching 80 degrees, big baits like the swim baits and flashy baits like Don's Yum Dinger got all the attenion. Whenever I tried to catch fish using small baits or slower presentations, the fish snubbed me outright. Even panfish, like the Rock bass who ate my Money Minnow, snubbed a 1/16 ounce jig tipped with a 2 inch shad tail. They wanted food, they wanted a meal fit for a king!
I'll expand on this tomorrow, but for now, I gotta run! I'm on a road trip to Gull Lake this morning and got me up against the clock. See You! :)!!
(7/13) From Wired2Fish; There’s nothing quite like fishing with frogs—seeing the wake approach the lure, watching the water’s surface explode and wrenching a huge bass from the slop is something all avid anglers dream of. Fortunately, topwater frogs are some of the most versatile baits in our bass fishing arsenal. Effective in water temperatures ranging anywhere from 50 to 90 degrees, it’s a proven technique that catches some of the biggest, meanest bass of the year.
Although bass fishing can be tough in the heat of the summer, heavy cover frogging in >> W2F Summertime Heavy Cover Frogging For Bass .

Fishing Report July 12, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Luring In Mr. Big, The Saga Continues!
Hot on the trail of a monster Northern Pike, I followed a lead from a good friend who's got a few secret gems in the Grand Rapids area. Lakes that he occasionally shares with folks who promise to be protective, I did and I always keep my promises, so I can tell you what we did and then hope that you'll put the information to good use on your own favorite, secret gems.
The lake is typical of the Grand Rapids areas smaller Bass/Pike waters. It's a few hundred acres, has one deep hole a handful of Bulrush points, along with several shallow Cabbage Weed patches. This particular one has a handful of large Pike, the pursuit of which has become increasingly difficult in the Itasca Region.
The surface temperture was 78 degrees, there was a warm breeze, lots of sunshine and a healthy dosage of biting flies. Not exactly the conditions we were hoping for, but with a cheerful crew, anything is possible and we gave this lake a thorough going over. We spent the day hoping that one of us would come up with the magic recipe to entice a trophy into camera range.
At first, a wide array of jigs, worms, gizmos and gadgets were deployed. The presence of nice Bass was apparent right from the beginning The fish were up in the Bulrushes and were hitting a Texas Rigged, 6 Inch Yum Dinger. For a couple of hours, we kept moving more in that direction. Texas rigged worms, weedless jigs and other soft plastics. That was working fine for Bass, but the Pike that usaually plauge Bass fishermen, weren't responding.
One lesson I'd learned from recent Walleye trips is that Warm waters make for fast presentations. So after a little trial and error, we discovered that the Pike were there, and were anxious to attack, as long as we ramped up our presentation.
As soon as I rigged up one of YUM's 5 inch Money Minnows and fished at a brisk pace, Pike and some nice Largemouth Bass responded. It was like flipping a switch, the same cover where we had been catching Bass, had been transformed into Pike waters.
We were never too far away from action, but we couldn't always put our finger on the best spots. For most of the day, we experienced flurries of activity followed by lulls. As soon as I'd discover another fresh weed patch, the game would start all over again.
For the most part, we caught Pike steadily, even during the heat of the afternoon, but on this day, Mr. Big wasn't able to present himself for the camera. Luckily, that just means that the saga continues and we're gonna get another chance to try and catch him later.
Even though we caught Bass on a variety of presentations, Yum's 5 inch Money Minnows were the clear winners for Pike. These swim baits can be rigged weedles with Yums weighted Money Minnow hooks, or you can rig them with a large jig head and leave the hooks exposed. We cast them toward the heavy cover and swim them back at a brisk pace, allowing them to fall at the outer edges of the Cabbage weeds.
For Today; Roll Tape! Mr. Big is still on the prowl and we're still in the game!

Fishing Report July 11, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Mid Summer Monster Walleye - Are on the prowl and if you're looking for a chance to put another picture on the wall, ya better get riggin'. On Wednesday, we did and it turned out to be a good Mothers Day for the Sundin's.
After struggling for years with cold weather and frantic schedules for "The Real Mothers Day", I asked my mom to look at the calendar and pick a date in the middle of summer, when the weather is warm and after the schedule allows a little bit of breathing room. Well, yesterday was the day and where we went was up to me. The only requirements; We needed to look at houses, we needed to see Loons and we had to catch a fish, occasionally.
As it happens, one of the questions that came in by email last night, was the perfect lead in for today's report and since I have a lot of ground to cover this morning, let's just combine them.

Fishing Report July 10, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Mid Summer Walleye - Have been acting pretty darn cooperative these past few days. Deep, clear water lakes with good populations of Walleye are producing fish, even under the "wrong fishing conditions".
Recent trips to Wabana, Pokegama and Trout Lakes have all produced at least some daytime action using Lindy Rigs and Night Crawlers or Leeches. Also think about using small, 1/16 ounce jigs tipped with Night Crawlers to catch Walleye in those "Hard To Reach" places like Boulders or Heavy weeds.
The Itasca areas "Big Lakes" are reliable too. On Tuesday, I fished on Lake Winnibigoshish with my friends Tim and Jace Swanson. It was Jace's high school graduation present, so I had particularly high hopes for a good day on the lake. Luckily, the weather held (mostly), the fish cooperated and the day was a success.
On the water, the surface temperature was 76 degrees, (a number that seems to be locked in on most of the lakes in the Deer river area). Knowing that the boys wanted to gather more information about fishing the deep structure with Live Bait and Lindy Rigs, I was happy to find that conditions were overcast and calm, making the trip into the lakes mid-section, very easy. The calm seas would also make it much easier to scan the edges of structure with my Humminbird. A job that was made a little too easy this time, as there was a great school of fish laying in wait for us at the very first stop.
It was kind of a sleepy morning for one of my crew, so it took a little while to build up a head of steam. But once we got the hang of the system, the fish were more than willing to give ample opportunity to improve our skills. In fact, this "practice session" lasted for several hours, an occurance that's actually quite rare for me and one of the reasons I felt Extra Lucky on this day.
I see that there's a great update about the details on Bowen Lodge's page, so you can get two birds with one stone by following the link over to their page.
(7/11) From my In Box, Andy Bice wrote; "Hi jeff, love your daily fishing report! My dad and I are coming up to the grand rapids area this weekend. We are going to be fishing Trout Lake and Pokegama. Just curious what depth we should be fishing for Walleyes. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
A) Andy, It just happened to work out that we were fishing on Pokegama yesterday. A quick afternoon trip to the lake on Monday had gotten me interested in fishing there and when I was given the assignment of picking the lake yesterday, I chose Pokegama because of my inclination toward chasing big fish.
I told my mother and my brother that even if we only caught a few fish, they'd likely be nice ones. Since there was no pressure about catching and gathering tons of fish, it sounded like a great plan.
We found that after the cool front that passed through on Tuesday, the surface temperature had dropped from 76 degrees on Monday, down to 74 degrees on Wednesday.
Walleyes and Smallmouth were scattered, but catchable. Most of the fish that I spied on my Humminbird were in water depths of 16 to 24 feet. The most efficient depth to hold the boat turned out to be 20 feet. The pattern was to make a stop, catch a couple of fish and then be forced to make a move. I never did locate any large schools of fish in the areas I checked.
There were fish on the tips of shoreline related points, on a few of the sunken islands and weed edges in random locations. Whenever there were fish on the Humminbird, we generally got at least a couple of strikes.
The best presentaion for Walleye was Lindy Rigs tipped with Leeches. We had a little action using rigs tipped with Creek Chubs too and if your goal is "multi-species", then I'd have a few of those in the arsenal too.
On a recent trip to Trout Lake, we discovered that Walleyes were still more heavily concentrated on the weed edges than they were on open water structure. But it's been a while since that visit, the trend on other lakes has been toward deeper points and sunken islands. On Trout Lake, you can never rule out fish that hide in and around the lakes numerous rock bars.

July 10, 2013 - On Lake Winnie, Walleyes are active. According to Veteran Guides Jeff Skelly, Tom Neustrom and Jeff Sundin; "One key to finding eaters on the bars and humps is to watch your electronics. Keep a sharp eye on the upper edges of structure and insist on seeing larger schools of fish before stopping to wet a line. According to Sundin, it's simple math; "Schooling fish like Walleye tend to stay together as best they can. So young fish tend to be gathered in large numbers. Over time, these fish become thinned out by predators and anglers. The group of aging fish grows larger in size, but smaller in number. Eventually, these fish show up on Sundin's Humminbird as singles, doubles and small groups. Anglers fishing for a trophy size Walleye, should pay particular attention to ... >> Read Full Lake Winnie Fishing Report .

(7/10) Gus Sheker, Gus' Place Resort on Ball Club Lake; "This is the time of year Ball Club Lake really hits its stride, the clear deep water finally moves into the mid 70s, spawning is long over and the bait fish are everywhere, all species are feeding into the "fat".
Your job as an angler is to jump in the middle and present your bait as an opportunity for the next hungry game fish.
The Walleye bite is especially good right now on Leeches and Crawlers, Lindy rigged with and without small spinners in 10-17 feet early and late in the day are the best times.
During mid-day and especially on the brightest days switch over to either Northerns or Perch in 8-12 feet; spinners with Fat Heads for the Perch and spinners and Sucker minnows for the Pike; look for the weed bed edge for the best bite in all cases.
Fish are biting throughout the lake but I suggest concentrating along the shoreline or the humps on the south end. Go Fish! " - Gus Sheker. Gus' Place Resort .
(7/10 On Bowstring Lake, Erin at Geiger's Trails End Resort; Is reporting fish in transition right now. She says; "We are starting the dog days of Summer, not officially, but are seeing the signs.
It appears that the Walleye are starting to go to deeper water. The rainy day that we had today has helped move the fish around. The Northern are in abundance and are hitting hard on the Spoons and Daredevils. Trolling out in front of the resort in about 6-8 feet of water has proven successful for many passers-by. Stop in for Bait, Gas, Pop, Candy, Ice Cream or even a Pizza. We will take good care of you! - Hope to see you on the Docks!" - Erin and Bill Charlton, Trails End Resort .
(7/10) - "With WiFi, anglers immediately inherit the ability to view underwater video on their smartphone or tablet—live, wirelessly and in real time. Working in conjunction with an Aqua-Vu WiFi underwater camera and transmitter, vibrant color video can now be played on wireless devices from anywhere in the boat, shore or ice, with a range of 100 feet plus.
Imagine the applications . . . Network and link to underwater cameras deployed by anglers in nearby boats; view underwater video remotely on ice; monitor fish as they ... view the video >> Aqua-Vu WiFi Remote .

Fishing Report July 9, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Summertime Fishing = Mixed Bag Action For Kids Of All Ages! - Being a gigantic kid myself, it's easy for me to relate to "real kids" when we go fishing. On Sunday, I was lucky because the kids of all ages that I fished with had one thing in common; Big or small, no matter the color, everyone agreed that catching a fish is fun!
On Monday, keeping the kids busy was still the primary goal and after our experience on Sunday, I knew that they'd really like to catch some Pike, Walleye too if we could find a couple of easy ones. The said; "We wanna catch some fish that have teeth!"
It seemed like the perfect time for us to pay a visit to my friend Gus Sheker at Gus' Place Resort on Ball Club Lake. I've been fishing that lake for 25 years and if there's one thing I Know, it's that we can get some Pike when we need to.
On the water, surface temperatures were firm at 76 degrees, the water was like glass and the sunshine was gaining on us. I knew that I'd have my work cut out for me, but I tried a couple of likely Walleye spots just in case. It was easy to see that we were gonna need to pick up the pace for the boys though, so I got myself pointed toward "The Pike Hole".
Next stop was a flat with a large patch of deep Cabbage Weeds and a drop off into deep water. That was more like it, Pike were holding tight in the cover, but they were catcahble. The action wasn't wide open like it would have been with cloudy or breezy conditions, but it was good enough to keep us guys busy. We caught and released a bunch and kept a few to send home with the boys. All in all, a good day.
We caught them using 1/4 ounce Lindy Jigs tipped with minnows and several were caught on YUM's 3-1/2 Money Minnows.
(79) From Wired2Fish; I'm always finding myself trying to get something done in the boat while I'm doing three things at once. The last thing I need is to be messing around with tools that don't work. Wired2Fish has a section full of gizmos and gadgets that will make your fishing trip a little simpler. Before you head out again, click here and check out >> W2F Fishing Tools section.
(7/9) From the Lake Winnie Region, Nik Dimich says; "Once you’ve located these midlake structures, again pay attention to your sonar unit and wait until you mark a fish. If you are on a small bar or hump and your sonar is empty, most likely your livewell will follow suit. Once you locate structure that is holding fish, you’ll have a few ways to catch them. One is by vertical jigging with a" ... Read >> Lake Winnie Region Fishing Report .
(7/9) Bemidji Lakes Area, Paul A. Nelson, Bemidji Area Lakes Guide Service says; "Walleyes are biting much better in the mornings and evenings that they are during the day, especially on days with little wind. Most of the lakes are still very clear for this point in the season, so they need some wave action to allow walleyes to feed in shallow water during the day.
Mayflies and other types of fish flies are still hatching out of the mud basin of the lakes, which is still making the fish in deep water more difficult to catch than the fish in the shallows in most situations.
One of the best bites for walleyes has been on Lake Winnibigoshish, with a mixture of slot fish and keepers on many of the bars and humps. Winnibigoshish has more mid-lake structure than most lakes, so anglers have to keep trying different humps until they find one holding fish.
Leeches and night crawlers have been working better on the bars and humps in Winnibigoshish, but anglers are still catching walleyes on the shoreline cabbage beds with jigs and minnows on the days with enough wind to break-up the surface of the lakes. Anglers can also use a bullet sinker and a spinner rig for the shallow fish with either leeches or night crawlers.
Upper Red Lake has also been a good choice for walleyes on the days with calm winds. Anglers are still catching walleyes in 6 to 10 feet of water on most presentations. A bottom bouncer and a spinner is a good choice to cover water until a productive area is located.
Perch have been a good back-up plan in many lakes when the walleye fishing gets tough. Many perch in the larger lakes are feeding in 5 to 8 feet of water and anglers can catch them on jigs and minnows in most situations." - Paul A. Nelson, Bemidji Area Lakes Guide Service, panelson@paulbunyan.net - 218.759.2235 .
(7/9) On Lake of the Woods, Border View Lodge, Mike Kinsella wrote; "Fishing has picked up in 33 feet of water near the south end. Lots of big walleyes are being boated with a jig and a minnow. Gold has been a great color.
Action continues to be good on the north end. Garden, Little Oak, Bridges, and Knight Island have all been producing. Trolling or drifting, with leeches and crawlers has been the best, but jigs and shiners are still working at times.
Highs will be in the low 80s and high 70s throughout the week. As always this time of year, there is a chance of showers or thunderstorms. It should be another great week of fishing on Lake of the Woods!
Our First Class Professional USCG Charter Captains are ready to go this summer! We have a fantastic crew on the books this year! Captains, Lanny Vollmer, Michael J Fox, Dennis Anderson, Jake Beckel, Darrell Hoag, Jon Geurkink, Steve Slick, Josh Beckel and Tom Geurkink are ready for your requests." 1-800-776-3474 Border View Lodge .

Fishing Report July 8, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Summertime Fishing = Mixed Bag Action For Kids Of All Ages! - Being a gigantic kid myself, it's easy for me to relate to "real kids" when we go fishing. On Sunday, I was lucky because the kids of all ages that I fished with had one thing in common; Big or small, no matter the color, everyone agreed that catching a fish is fun!
Keeping the kids busy was the primary goal and what kind of fish they were came second. With that in mind, I was gonna have a couple of bobbers rigged up, along with a couple of light jigs, tipped with artifical tails. The idea was that we'd do a little casting while the kids watched the floats.
The only problem with that idea was that because of surface temperatures in the high 70's, the fish were too active for the floats. There were fish of all types are tucked into the lush green cover and they wanted to see the baits moving, sometimes really fast.
The plan just sort of came together as we moved around. The Bass, Sunfish and small Pike were mixed along weeds edges almost everywhere we tried, and before it was over, we'd assemble a hodge podge of odds and ends that would up being a cooler full of fish.
The 1/16 ounce jig and 2 inch shad tails were doing a nice job on the panfish and Bass, but watching the kids eyes light up when we bagged a pike gave me an idea. Expanding on the Jig and Shad tail theme, I rigged up one of Yum's 3-1/2 inch Money Minnows with a 1/4 ounce, long shank jig. I used a length of 17 pound test fluorocarbon as a leader to protect against bite offs.
As we trolled the weed edges, the smaller fish attacked the little baits while the Pike singled out the Money Minnows. It wasn't too bad a system; In fact, it worked well enough that I'm gonna try to expand on that theme for our next adventure, the one that starts in about an hour.
(7/8) New LakeMaster® product brings map-making magic to Humminbird® units. Easiest Way For Anglers To Chart (and Own) Unmapped Waters.
Little Falls, MN (July 1, 2013) - Last week news went out that Johnson Outdoors Marine Electronics, Inc. had acquired the assets and technologies of DrDepth, the Sweden-based maker of lake and sea bottom mapping software, setting the rumor mill into high gear.
At ICAST 2013 LakeMaster® will be unveiling state-of-art mapping technology that gives Humminbird users the ability to map their own lakes, reservoirs and rivers.
Unlike other user-generated mapping products on the market, LakeMaster’s new product will be available for a one-time purchase price, no subscription or pay-by-the-lake fees. Anglers can also rest assured that there’s no sharing of user-generated data or map content. You create it, you own it. End of story.
Another competitive advantage; anglers will delight in the ease of operation. Maps are created in three simple steps for immediate use, no waiting to upload data to a server somewhere in the clouds. And that’s just for starters.
The official product launch is scheduled for 10:30 am on Wednesday, July 10, at ICAST booth #122.
(7/8) On The Iron Range, From Greg Clusiau; "One of my favorite presentations would be used, a crawler-harness trolled along shallow weedlines. Fish love the weeds, especially on this body of water.
Actually, weedline spinner trolling is the way I started out walleye fishing way back when, before any electronics were available and guess what? It’s still a deadly approach to this day.
Back-trolling, my boat goes 1.6 mph, which may be pushing the limits for panfish. I could, however, toss out a" ... >> Read Greg's Full Report .

Fishing Report July 7, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Try The One-Two Summertime Punch! Walleye, Bass Combo - With Surface water temperatures ranging from 76 to 79 degrees on Saturday. It seems like a no-brainer that Walleye Fishermen should be sticking with the spinners and Lindy Rig presentations that we've been using all week long will continue to work for Walleyes.
The baits are simple, Little Joe Spinners, #2 Gold Blades tipped with a half Night Crawler, or sometimes minnows. Try one of each and if one works, and the other doesn't produce right away, make the switch as needed. Lately, Crawlers have appeared to be working better, so I'm planning on having a good supply of crawlers at all times.
Lindy Rigs and Leeches gave us good results on Friday too, so I'm planning to have a fair supply of them and finally, I'll carry some minnows as a backup plan, or in case we find an above average school of Perch.
Fishing rocks can be tricky, so to work around that, the best setup for us was to rig up our spinning rods with 1/2 to 3/4 ounce No-Snagg weights. That way, you we can still use our every day fishing poles, but still be able to fish as if we were using bottom bouncers. The No-Snaggs get through most of the rocks and if you do get one stuck, they're a lot easier to get out than conventional sinkers are.
For us, the key depths were anywhere from 12 to 18 feet and the presence of rocks was more important than the depth of the water. Tips of points were especially good, so were small rock rises on top of larger rocky flats.
Largemouth Bass are responding to the warm water, traffic and the development of heavy weeds by moving out and away from the shallow shoreline cover and toward areas along the weed edges with access to deeper water.
The 4th July weekend crowd surrounded most of the small lake we were fishing, so I was constanly on the move, searching for small pieces of real estate where I could work privately.
On Saturday, deep points, fallen tree branches, Bulrushes and deep cabbage all produced some fish. We found one small 10 foot hole surrounded by a shallower weed flat. There was even a small school of fish in that hole so apparently, even if the deep water lies on a shallow flat, it pays to check it out.
Presentations haven't changed a lot; The Wacky Rigged Yum Dingers are still producing, but the Texas rigged versions aren't far behind, maybe even ahead in some situations.
I ran up against the clock just now, so I'll try to expand on this tomorrow morning.

Fishing Report July 6, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Summertime Walleye Fishing, Just Like A Roller Coaster Ride - But if you wind up in the right place at the right time, it's a hoot!
I had to do some head scratching to figure out where I wanted to go on Friday. We had a follow boat, plenty sea-worthy, but a few notches smaller than my Alaskan. I wanted to be sure that it's captain, Austin T. Jones would be able to steer a straight course toward some Walleyes for his crew.
Leech Lake was tugging at my heart, but knowing that we'd have a long ride in rough seas, I decided against that idea. After hearing some good reports about fishing the mid-lake bars and humps on Lake Winnie, I decided to get on the lake at the Birches and shoot for some structures within easy striking distance.
On the lake, surface temperatures were hovering just above 75 degrees, the South wind was strong, but looked manageable, especially if we headed South to pick up a good drift on the main (Bena) bar. We got there in one piece and so did my tag boat, but I could already see that we were gonna get pinned into that corner of the lake.
Long drift on the Bena Bar? Yes, that sounded like a good idea and in spite of a slow start, eventually turned out to be. We drifted for what seemed like over a mile before I spotted a school of fish. The first ones I saw were inactive, letting our boats float through without touching them. But the second school of fish were different; I remember seeing the fish on my Humminbird and noticing that they were spread out along the bar and that the baitfish were dispersed. I said, get ready, these fish are gonna bite and withn a minute, we'd missed one fish and landed another. That got us started, but the action still wasn't too hot, so we did some exploring.
When we came back, it was a whole new ball game, the fish had moved high up on the break, even on top of the bar and this time they were ready to bite. Austin Jones told us that they'd missed a couple of fish that had struck on Leeches. I got rid of our spinners and night crawlers and set up new Lindy Rigs for everyone. This time, 1/2 ounce No-Snagg sinkers and plain snells tipped with Leeches. That was what the fish wanted to see, the strikes started coming right away. We fished in 13 to 20 feet of water and found pods of fish in every depth in between. For a couple of hours, the action was steady, but eventually, it fizzled out.
By now, we'd boated a lot of fish, taken some nice pictures and had a bunch of laughs. But we still only had two fish in the livewell. I had a couple of ideas about finding more of a mixture of fish, but my ideas weren't gonna be too slick for the tag boat and it made more sense to get out of the stiff wind and head for smaller water.
Next stop; Bowstring Lake, where we picked up where I'd left off a few days ago. Trolling with single hook, Little Joe Spinners, some tipped with minnows, some with crawlers cut in half, we scrounged around the weeds. Tolling at 1.1 to 1.6 MPH, we just started covering territory to see what we could find. The outcome wasn't bad, but was a hodge podge of different fish. You'd like it if you don't mind catching a little bit of everything; There was a lot of action from small Pike, but there were also some Perch, Walleyes and even a couple of Crappies in the mix. I think if any angler spent the whole day trolling every weed bed, then an evening fish fry would be assured.

Fishing Report July 5, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Ready, Set, Back To Work! - After spending a family day on Thursday to celebrate my daughter's birthday, I realize that relaxing is way too much work! I can hardly wait to get back in the boat and dig into my scheduled work assignments again.
While I was off the beat though, friends were out on the water and except for a few "zingers", most fishing reports were generally good.
(7/5) On Lake Winnibigoshish, Walleyes responded to the breezy conditions by staging an Independence Day Rally. Fishing mid-lake structures using Lindy Rigs tipped with Night Crawlers and Leeches was productive.
According to a couple of reports that I picked up last evening, there was a noticeable improvement in the ratio of "keepers vs. slot-fish" on Thursday too.
Maybe it was the breeze, maybe the new moon, maybe the fish just decided it was time to make a move. Either way, it's gonna be interesting to see if the trend continues, or if it was a one time spurt of action.
Locations were diverse, there are fish on the lakes larger bars; But there were also good size schools of fish on the smaller mid-lake humps. Locating larger schools of fish is the best way to locate "keepers". Picking off singles will get you some nice photos though and if that's a goal, then you should try to stop on those singles and doubles that you see on the electronics. Right now, these fish are aggressive enough to use that search and catch method successfully.
(7/5) On Lakes with populations of Nice Sunfish, Anglers can expect to find schools of fish slipping into "post spawn" mode and gathering along the inner edges of weed cover.
You can locate fish several ways, but I like poking along the weed edges and casting small jigs tipped with plastic action tails. Watch for gaps or clear spots that appear within the heavier weed growth, cast your lures into them and when you find a couple of fish, slow down to a crawl and re-work the area. Once you have them pinned down, you will be more productive by fishing vertically and holding a stationary position.
(7/5) Finding Active Walleyes, was Jon Thelen's mission for this week. He found 'em and wants to show you How to Cast Crank Baits for Shallow Walleyes .
As the waters continue to warm up, the fish become more aggressive. Cast a shallow-running crankbait near some cover or along a transition and don't be afraid to crank it fast and move it quickly. Target wind-blown shorelines and Click to view >> How to Cast Crank Baits for Shallow Walleyes .
(7/5) Bemidji Lakes Area, Paul A. Nelson, Bemidji Area Lakes Guide Service says; "Summer finally arrived in the Bemidji area, most of the North Country in a stormy weather pattern this past week.
Heavy rain this spring and lots of snow this past winter have most of the lakes in the Bemidji area with high water levels. Surface water temperatures are near 70 degrees, so summer fishing patterns are beginning to develop for most species of fish.
Mayflies should be hatching from the lakes in large numbers very soon. Anglers have been seeing the insects emerging from the mud basin on their electronics for more than a week.
The explosion of food in deep water with the insect hatches will begin to lure walleyes and perch from the shoreline shallows into deeper water as they search for the next best feeding opportunity once the spotail shiner minnows are done spawning.
Most lakes will have a shallow and a deep bite simultaneously early in the summer, at least until the oxygen levels begin to drop once the lakes “green-up” later in the summer.
The jig and minnow bite has slowed down in most lakes, with more anglers switching to live bait rigs with leeches or night crawlers.
Minnows will tear off the jigs when worked through heavy weeds, so anglers need to use alternative presentations once the weed beds get more developed.
Jigs and plastics are much easier to rip through the weeds, so anglers may want to try jigs and plastics as an alternative presentation.
Some anglers have started to use spinner rigs for walleyes, with a 3/8 or ½ ounce sinker working well in shallow water and a 1 to 3 ounce bottom bouncer better for fishing spinner rigs in deep water.
The wind and the weather patterns often determine where the most active fish are located. Anglers should fish structures with at least some wind blowing into the structure or at least along the structure, to help break-up the surface of the water." - Paul A. Nelson, Bemidji Area Lakes Guide Service, panelson@paulbunyan.net - 218.759.2235 .

Fishing Report July 4, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Leech Lake Rocks! - Or should I say?; Rocks are the place to be for catching Walleyes on Leech Lake. Especially if you're thinking about getting some great summer photos of youurself holding nice CPR Walleyes.
According to my friend Dick Sternberg, Hall of Fame Walleye fisherman, outdoor writer and all around great guy; When the Walleyes get onto the rocks in Leech Lake, the weather doesn't matter, if they're bitin', they're bitin'. At least that's what he told me when we stumbled into each other at the launch ramp yesterday evening, at the end of our fishing trips.
His comment was in response to me telling him that I'd been worried about finding fish with a case of lockjaw on such a bright calm day. I said that I felt like I'd lucked out, discovering that the fish were active in spite of the Bluebird weather.
What he told me was interesting, he said; "The whole system is on fire right now, they're just plain biting'". I took that to mean that the lake, in it's entirety is ramped up and in full summer production. The weather has been stable, most everything that's gonna hatch in the lake either has already, or is in the process of doing so. Young of the year, fish fry are feeding on Plankton, minnows are feeding on fish fry, Walleyes are feeding on .... you get the idea.
Responding to another comment I made; He gave his explanation for why the Walleyes were so dedicated to the rocks. Sternberg believes that the Walleyes, especially those larger ones are out there feeding on the lakes abundant population of Rusty Crawfish. He said that by the end of the day, the bottom of his boat was littered with fragments of Orange Crawfish parts. So that's deal, the Crawfish were on the rocks, the Walleyes were on the Crawfish and Sternberg was on the Walleyes.
That was the trick for us, whenever we found rocks, we found fish. Not always the motherlode, but always at least a couple. Sometimes Walleye, sometimes Pike and sometimes Rock Bass. Whenever I got away from the rock pattern, the action fell flat.
Surface water temperatures were ranging from 76 to 79 degrees, so I stuck with the spinner presentation that we've been using all week long. The baits were simple, Little Joe Spinners, #2 Gold Blades tipped with a half Night Crawler. We tried minnows for a while, but they didn't produce right away and Crawlers appeared to working better, so soon, we were all using crawlers all day long. That said; Sternberg used Lindy Rigs and Leeches all day long and had good results too.
Fishing rocks can be tricky, so to work around that, the best setup for us was to rig up our spinning rods with 1/2 to 3/4 ounce No-Snagg weights. That way, you we can still use our every day fishing poles, but still be able to fish as if we were using bottom bouncers. The No-Snaggs get through most of the rocks and if you do get one stuck, they're a lot easier to get out than conventional sinkers are. In fact, the four of us fishing on rocks all day long, only lost one sinker.
For us, the key depths were anywhere from 12 to 18 feet and the presence of rocks was more important than the depth of the water. Tips of points were especially good, so were small rock rises on top of larger rocky flats.
I was lucky to have a great crew, who shared my opinion that catching them is more fun when they're bigger. Even if that meant that the Lion's share were within the protected slot and had to be returned to the lake. By days end, we gathered 5 nice "keeper" Walleye and 3 Pike. In other words, the highlight reel filled up faster than the livewell, but they still had a nice bag of fillets to take home for a family fish fry.

Fishing Report July 3, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Sunnier Sunshine, Calmer Calm and Warmer Warm - Was the scenario on Tuesday.
And after two days of fishing Lindy Spinners in the weeds, there isn't much doubt that the pattern is solid. For the forseeable future, it looks like the only problem left to solve will be finding more places to fish them.
When I picked up my crew, Mike and Mike and started my day on Tuesday morning, it looked like we'd be seeing a repeat performance of what I'd done on Monday. Sure, it was a different lake, but the territory was similar and there were plenty of weeds to search here too.
There was only one problem, the spinners were capturing Pike and Perch without much trouble. Walleyes? Well except for one good one that struck early in the game, it looked like the best we could do was to pull in a few really small ones.
Somewhere around noon, the high sun and the glass calm water ganged up on me and I started getting nervous. I could keep searching weed beds all day long; Maybe I'd find an active school of Walleye and maybe not. There were 50 ideas, but not 50 hours to try them all. It made more sense to switch gears and head for the places that I already knew from the day before.
Somewhere along the way, "Mike2" realized that a few aches and pains were setting in and prescribed himself some of Granny's "Rhumatiz Medicine". So a slight detour was arranged so that we could go and pick up the prescription. Package in hand, we were back on track and before long, back on the water.
Most of what we'd done on Monday was still working, except that since we'd already fished these spots on Moday, there were fewer fish there than before. It was even sunnier and calmer than the day before too and I don't think that was encouraging to the fish either. In other words, we still had action, a mixed bag of Walleye, Perch and Pike. But without a signifcant weather change, I'd hate to have to scrounge through the same spots again today. For me, it would be time to search for some new ones where the fish hadn't been pestered yet.
By days end, we had a good head start on the family fish fry. By then, Granny's "Rhumatiz Medicine" had taken full affect as well, relieving Mike2 of the previously mentioned aches and pains. Luckily, as I eased the boat along side the dock, Mike and Mike (and Jose') were all still safe and sound.

Fishing Report July 2, 2013, Jeff Sundin - Warm Water; Put The Petal to the Metal! - Yesterday morning I wrote; " ... the only thing we hadn't tried was acting like "A Bull In A China Shop"! ... "then I fired up the MinnKota and got the boat ripping along the weedlines at 1.5 MPH and we started getting bit. Not so much by Walleyes, although there were a few small ones mixed in with a hodge podge of Perch, Pike and Rock Bass. The point is that once we got ripping, the fish responded. We were having action and all we need next is to figure out the right spots. It was too late to change the fact that I spent most of the day, determined to catch fish "the old way". It was getting late and we're gonna have to find out today, if we learned anything yesterday."
Well, apparently we did and until we get a cold front or a major shift in the weather pattern, it looks like speed trolling the weeds is gonna be the ticket.
Meeting customers for the first time is always a little nerve racking; It takes a little time to get to know each other, figure out fishing styles and personalities. You know, routine stuff that would affect anyone in a service business. When you add some extra variables like weather and live critters, then it can get downright tricky.
It was a Quarter Past Eight and looking at the sky revealed another hot, sticky day ahead. I briefly told the crew about my experience on Sunday, told 'em we were gonna give it a whirl, crossed my fingers and headed for Bowstring Lake.
When we got there, the surface was like glass and the water temperature was already 75 degrees. There were clusters of boats fishing on many of the most popular mid-lake structures and I knew that one of them was Veteran Hall of Fame Fishing Guide, Tom Neustrom. After I scanned a couple of spots and found nothing to get interested in, I spotted his boat and whispered by to see how is morning was starting. "Not the way I want it to", he said. That was all I needed to hear, we decided that we were gonna skip the middle altogether. I told Tom about the weed pattern and promised to let him know if it was working for us or not.
I headed straight for the weedbed where I and Mr. C had found some Walleyes on Saturday, that was a good decision. By the time we trolled through the weed patch, we already had already caught 3 or 4 Walleyes and a few "Bowstring Specials", small Pike. Subsequent passes yielded a half dozen more. I kept my promise, I always do and let Tom in on the secret. But this spot was gonna be too small for two boats, so we headed out to play Amerigo Vespucci and crew, trying to find some new trerritory.
The next stop wasn't the greatest for Walleyes; But we caught some really nice Perch, another Walleye, 5 Crappies and another gigantic dosage of "Bowstring Specials".
Another move took us to a weed bed that had so many Pike around it that we'll never even know if there were any other fish there or not. We were getting snipped off every couple of minutes and I had no choice but to evict myself from those pemisis!
The next series of moves took us to a fish here and there, never a bonanza, but never a complete dead spot either. Toward the end of the day, I was feeling a little low about leaving the orginal weed beds. We could use another good Walleye spot, but with the sun baking down on us and the surface temperature pushing past 80 degrees, it wasn't looking good for many more Walleyes. In fact we were talking about what we really wanted to do, go and get some nice cold Margaritas!
You Know what I'm gonna say next! Just then, I paid attention to a little birdy who was reminding me about a weed flat just like the one we'd fished in the morning. Home to a scattered Cabbage patch in 7 to 9 feet of water that lays adjacent to deeper water, a hole that dropped to about 20 feet deep. That was the ticket, there was another school of Walleyes. Chipping away at the school, we drew closer and closer to the finish line. We may have got to the 18th Walleye if we'd stayed longer, but a combination of factors had us interested in getting wrapped up. When Cole reeled in the most important fish of the day, a Walleye that set the abacus to number 15, we declared victory and headed for the dock.
We used single hook Lindy Spinners and stuck mainly with Gold patterns until the Pike depleated my supply. Then we switched to "Any Color I Could Find" and used most of them up too. It honestly didn't seem to make much difference. We tipped some of the spinners with Night Crawlers cut in half, but most of the time, tipping them with fatheads was perfect. Trolling speed was 1.3 to 1.5 MPH and as long as I stayed near the weeds, we got bit.
(7/2) A Magic Window - "A magic window opens, revealing a whole new world within... Eyes open. Clouds part. The sun emerges and shines out the dark.
Murky waters clear, and hidden fish suddenly appear.
Step through the Looking Glass™ — a dazzling new video enhancement app from Aqua-Vu®— and experience the underwater world in a brand new light..." ... >> View Video .
Field Report July 1, 2013 - Drifting For Crappies . Fishing for Crappies in the spring is easy for most folks, they move in shallow for not only warm water but to feed until they are ready to drop their eggs. Now once this is done they will transition out where the deep basin begins.
They move to the edges of the breaklines where they will filter through the weedlines and the most common weeds they hold in is cabbage. Find cabbage and you will find the crappies.
During the summer months they will hold in" ... >> Read Greg's Full Report .
(7/2) Bemidji Lakes Area, Paul A. Nelson, Bemidji Area Lakes Guide Service says; "Fishing for walleyes has slowed down in most of the lakes in the Bemidji area. Many of the deep walleyes are suspending further off the bottom and are gorging themselves on a mixture of insects and minnows.
Many of the deep walleyes have been in strange locations and have not been relating to hard bottomed structures the way they normally do most of the year.
Anglers are still fishing for walleyes in shallow water on both rocks and weeds, but the shallow fish need some wind to be active.
A good indicator of how the bite will be in shallow water is if anglers wearing polarized sunglasses are able to see the bottom. If the bottom is visible to the eye, then it is probably too bright for most walleyes to be comfortable feeding in shallow water.
The larger lakes are still the best bet for walleyes, mostly because there is more water and more walleyes for anglers to grind through to catch a few fish.
If anglers want to maximize their time on the water, then they should fish for walleyes when the conditions are favorable and fish for other species when the sun is too bright for a good walleye bite.
Species like sunfish, bass, northern pike and perch are better suited for feeding during the day and would make better targets than walleyes when the conditions are bright and the winds are light.
Anglers trying to get walleyes to eat their presentations during poor conditions may have to make several passes through a school of walleyes to get their bait close enough to the right fish.
Anglers can also put on spinner rigs to cover more water and get more reflex bites from the walleyes. A faster presentation can force walleyes to make a snap decision and may help anglers get more bites." - Paul A. Nelson, Bemidji Area Lakes Guide Service, panelson@paulbunyan.net - 218.759.2235 .
(7/1) Release (June 28, 2013); Johnson Outdoors Marine Electronics, Inc. announced it has acquired the assets and technologies of Dr. Depth, the Sweden-based maker of lake and sea bottom mapping software.
“We continue to focus on innovation that provides anglers with a real-world advantage on the water. The user-generated mapping technology of DrDepth is the perfect fit to expand the features of our marine portfolio, which already includes best-in-class products under the Humminbird®, Minn Kota®, Cannon®, and LakeMaster® brands,” said Kelly T. Grindle, Senior Group Vice President – Marine Electronics & Diving for Johnson Outdoors.
Current DrDepth customers will continue to be supported during the integration into the Johnson Outdoors Marine Electronics business. Existing licensed users can continue to use the program as before, but can expect upcoming announcements as the products are transitioned into the Johnson Outdooors Marine Electronics customer support structure.

Fishing Report July 1, 2013, Jeff Sundin - The Dog Days? The bark, might be worse than the bite. At least I hope so!
When the sun comes out and the lakes go flat, it sometimes seems like curling up under a shady tree for a nap would be a better use of our time. But since I can't do that when I want to, I just keep putting one foot in front of the other and try to focus on the job.
On Sunday, we found high blue skies, surface temperatures near 75 degrees and hardly a breath of wind. After motoring around the lake, trying one spot after another, we finally gathered a handful of nice fish, but it was a definite let down from the great fishing we've had over the past few weeks.
After fishing a variety of depths; Some weeds, some rocks, some mud, some sand, I knew that I had to try something different. We had changed every possible combination of habitat; We'd been sneaky and quiet, stealthy and persistent. But the only thing we hadn't tried was acting like "A Bull In A China Shop"!
I don't know why I don't think of these things sooner sometimes; But our fishing patterns had been so solid lately that I think it kept me from breaking out into new ones, at least for a while. While we were talking about the water temperatures and how the fish are supposed to respond by really feeding heavily at this time of the summer, it finally dawned on me to tell everyone to take a break, rig up some spinners and get ready to make some noise.
We got that done, then I fired up the MinnKota and got the boat ripping along the weedlines at 1.5 MPH and we started getting bit. Not so much by Walleyes, although there were a few small ones mixed in with a hodge podge of Perch, Pike and Rock Bass. The point is that once we got ripping, the fish responded. We were having action and all we need next is to figure out the right spots. It was too late to change the fact that I spent most of the day, determined to catch fish "the old way". It was getting late and we're gonna have to find out today, if we learned anything yesterday.
All I did was follow the advice of my buddy, veteran guide Jeff Skelly. He's been using spinners all week long on Lake Winnie and it's been reliable. A #2 Gold blade, a 3/16 ounce sinker and a single hook tipped with a medium fathead. Trolling areas where there are good long streteches of Cabbage weeds seems to best the ticket, but I won't be able to pontificate about that until after I catch up on the learning curve.

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