August 10, 2025 "Guaranteeing the Guarantee-Able"

I get a lot of questions and comments from folks who are planning their fishing trips. Commonly, they’ll follow similar themes like “I want to be sure my trip is worth the long drive.” Or “I don’t want to come when my favorite species isn’t biting.” Or maybe, “I want to be sure that my favorite seasonal pattern will be in full swing when I get there.”

They ask questions to help zero in at the right time to plan their trips too. Maybe I’ll get an email asking something along the lines of “When is the best time to fish Lake Wishiknew? Or What’s the best month to catch walleyes? Or maybe, when can I find crappies in shallow water? When you boil it all down, the underlying question is this. How can I get guaranteed results that I’ll catch my preferred target species on my next fishing trip?

The answer is easy, just plan your trip so that the weather will be perfect for catching your target species.

How the heck am I supposed to do that, you’re asking? Well, I’m not sure, as hard as I try, predicting future weather patterns, especially long-range patterns, just isn’t working out for me. This year especially, the weather forecast always seems to be off, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. So, what I do know for sure is that there is no way to guarantee any fishing trip will come together perfectly as planned.

Here’s something else I know for sure, if you’re willing to go with the flow, there is almost always something biting. Anybody who loves catching fish can catch fish if they’re not “stuck” on the idea of pursuing any single “target species” of fish. Let me give you some examples from the past week.

One day, the target species was crappies, but the sunshine and calm water had them hunkered down in heavy weeds. Instead of catching crappies, we discovered that the sunfish were on fire. So, we spent the afternoon catching them and sorting out a nice bag of good-looking bluegills. The very next day, not even 18 hours later, the Hippie Chick and I drove our daughter and grandson over to the same lake, hoping to get in on the sunfish action.  Guess what, we hardly caught any bluegills, but it was cloudy and breezy so this time the crappies were on fire! We didn’t harvest any of them, but we could have brought home a bunch of nice ones, if we needed them.

On Thursday, my charter customers wanted to fish on Lake Winnie. I gathered reports from friends, and a couple of other fishing guides were fishing out there and they agreed, walleye fishing had been great there on Wednesday. There was wind, and fish were on the prowl, catching walleyes was no problem for anybody.  On Thursday though, the sunshine and calm water gave Winnie walleyes a major case of lockjaw. Catching them was a huge problem for everybody. For me, trolling the heaviest winds I could find yielded some perch and pike, but no walleyes.

At midday, the wind started blowing, and there was a chop on the water. I decided to get back into the search for walleyes, but not long after that, the wind went calm again. Long story short, we never did find the walleyes. My mistake was leaving the weeds and going back out into “walleye territory” when I could have simply stayed in the weeds catching whatever would bite. In the end, we would all have been happier, but looking back, I didn’t know that at the time.

Fast rewind to yesterday when I fished with the Parrish family. Remember the crappie and sunfish lake I mentioned? After a rain delay in the morning, it seemed like the perfect way to squeeze in a quick trip to a small lake. If the crappies weren’t biting, we’d get sunfish, or vice versa, I reasoned. Guess what, this time the panfish bite was off and neither sunfish nor crappies were cooperative. I got lucky though because this time the largemouth bass were on fire, and the kids loved it! I can’t say how many, but we caught a lot, and they pulled hard, and everybody was smiling.

There were some northern pike biting too and as a bonus, Ty Parrish caught the beautiful Esox lucius that you see pictured here. This one, a very solid fish in the 12-to-15-pound range made the whole family smile.

The results of some other trips have been less cut and dried. Sometimes we catch some of what we’re looking for, along with some of what we’re not looking for. Sometimes, we’ve caught the right fish, but they were the wrong size, protected slot-walleyes for example, or bass that were deemed too big to be tasty for harvesting and the like. On those days, alternative species have kept us busy and for the most part, our fishing days have ended happily.

The point of today’s report is, I guess, that we shouldn’t lose sight of the joy that comes from fishing itself. Whenever we’re willing to roll with punches and catch whatever bites, we wind up being happy. But whenever we put too much emphasis on the “ideal plan” and fight against Mother Nature’s influences, we wind up being “less happy”.

There is absolutely no harm in planning a fishing trip around a preferred target species, or around a specific seasonal pattern we like. But sometimes we lose sight of the fact that we’re lucky to be catching anything at all. Fishing is always “worth it” even on the days when the plan doesn’t come together. The conversation, the scenery, the knowledge that comes from pursuing your target, it all adds up.

Knowing that Mother Nature does not offer warranty service on fishing trips, it’s a good idea to figure out alternative plans for those days when things don’t come together quite right. When we remember this, unexpected highlights, like young Mr. Ty Parrish’s’ northern pike just seem to come along as a reward. Don’t ask me why, it just seems to happen that way. — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email on Facebook on X

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Cutfoot Sioux and Lake Winnibigoshish Fishing Report August 8, 2025

"During prime time, walleyes go on the prowl and get all the food they need in short, intense feeding bursts. With stomachs full of food, walleyes simply sit out the periods when conditions do not favor productive feeding. This helps explain why it can be easy to view fish on electronics, but difficult to tease them into striking.

Folks who have fished Winnie for a long time know that this situation is about to change.

With every day that passes, predators consume more baitfish. Insect hatches run their course too, further reducing the available food supplies. Sometime during the next few weeks, reduced food supplies, combined with the early influences of fall will begin shifting the balance. More walleyes will compete for less food, and they will ..." Read Full Report >> Bowen Lodge Lake Winnie Fishing Report August 8, 2025

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August 7, 2025 "Can You Tell Us the Name of That Crappie Lure?"

Q) Owen Gunderson wrote, “Hey Jeff, thank you for the fantastic, in-depth reports, I read them all. I think you meant to tell us which crappie lure you were using last Saturday, (see full report August 4, 2025) but inadvertently left out the name. My question is, will you please provide the name of that lure you were using?”

A) Owen, thank you both the vote of confidence and the question. You’re right, in my haste to get the report published and out the door for work, I did forget to fill in the blank about the plastic tails we used to catch those crappies. The lure, Berkely’s 1 inch (2 CM) Power Nymph on a 1/8-ounce Lindy Live Bait is what you see pictured here. On of my fishing customers turned me on to the power nymph a couple of years ago, and it’s been a very reliable panfish lure for me ever since. For crappies, I’ve used the pink/pearl color, for sunfish, the brown/orange color has worked well too.

Strike King’s 2-inch Mr. Crappie tails were a close 2nd this time, but they have also been very effective lures for me over the past couple of seasons. The weight of the jigs, in both cases, depends on the water depth and type of cover we’re fishing over. Deeper fish, like you see pictured here, require the heavier, 1/8 ounce jigs. Shallow water, or for time when fish are embedded more deeply in the weeds, 1/16 ounc1/8-ounceovide more control, and less snagging in the grasses.

On that trip, casting toward the weeds and working the lures back using a slow drop-swim-drop-swim retrieve worked best. As you can see in the image of my graph screens, the fish were suspended. So, it worked best to avoid the bottom, we kept the lures swimming above to fish, in water depths of 6 to 9 feet.

Incidentally, that fishing trip, along with other trips I’ve done this week have prompted me to work on an update about fishing in and around the weeds. The article should be available sometime this weekend, Monday morning at the latest. So, watch for additional information, including more suggestions about tactics, lures and baits that are productive for both crappies and sunfish. — Office Call or Text 218-245-9858 or EMAIL or Facebook or X

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Ely Area, Arrowhead Outdoors Fishing Report August 6, 2025

"Walleyes have really started to spend out this last week. Trolling during the day over large sand or mud flats in 15 to 25 feet of water has been very effective. Perch colors have been very effective here. For a shot at a trophy walleye, the suspended, deep water Cisco bite, during the last hour of light, is your best bet. Large white, blood nose, silver and blue, crankbaits that dive 15 to 20 feet down, fished over 30 to 60 feet of water, have been bringing in some giant walleyes.

Some anglers have been reporting an excellent shallow water bite over shallow rocks in 4 to 7 feet of water. This bite often results in a handful of nice walleyes caught, then nothing, so keep moving to keep catching. Paddle tails have been very effective here. Still other anglers have been reporting an excellent minnow bite with 4 to 6 inch size minnows. Often, this bite is happening out on the sunken islands in 15 to 20 feet of water. With water temps well into the 70's anglers will need to keep their bait cold to keep it alive.

Smallmouth bass have now largely set up out on sunken islands. If you're looking for numbers of big smallies, you're going to find them out on sunken islands in that 15 to 25 feet of water, often suspended just off these humps. Swimming large swim baits for crankbaits has been very effective. If you can't find sunken islands or don't have any on your lake, shorelines are still holding good numbers of bass. Early morning topwater bite has been very effective. Once the sun gets up, switch to spinnerbaits, squarebills, wacky worms or chatterbaits to keep catching smallies. Downed trees, large boulder flats and sharp edges are all good places to find active bass.

Panfish - Crappies and sunfish continue to be found right in the thick coontail beds. Often time crappies and sunnies are being caught in as little as 2 feet of water, so don't be afraid to go really shallow. Jig and twister or crappie minnows under a bobber have been very effective. For sunnies, wax worms or angleworms, fished under a bobber has been very effective for them. Downed trees are also another great spot anglers should be looking for fish.

Stream Trout - Rainbow trout continue to be easy pickings for many anglers this last week. Anglers fishing from a boat seemed to have the best success. Trolling was the name of the game for these anglers. Trolling brightly colored, small floating raps, small trolling spoons or small spinners were all very effective this last week. Key is to get the bait down 10 to 15 feet and troll it over 30 to 80 feet of water.

Pike - Cooler temps this last week had reports of some bigger pike coming into the shop. Anglers fishing deep cabbage beds with cooler deep water close by, often reported catching or at least hooking a big pike. Large spoons, large spinnerbaits or large minnow baits often produced the best results for anglers. If you're just looking for pike for a meal, throw spoons in and around weedbeds, river mouths and mouths of shallow bays. Shouldn't take long." — Arrowhead Outdoors, 218-365-5358

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Lake of the Woods, LOW Tourism August 6, 2025 "NEW! Real-Time Wave Height Data Now Available"

"Lake of the Woods Tourism has deployed wave buoys on Lake of the Woods! Boaters, anglers, and guides can now check real-time wave height data from three key locations: Big Traverse Bay West, Big Traverse Bay East and the Northwest Angle. Whether you're planning your next trip across the lake, a charter outing, or just curious what the lake is doing, this is a great new tool. To access the data and buoy locations, follow this link to use the Lake of the Woods Wave Height Tool.

On Lake of the Woods' Big Traverse Bay, the Deep Mud Bite is Hot! Summer fishing continues to shine on Lake of the Woods, and Big Traverse Bay is delivering excellent walleye action! The current trend? Targeting walleyes over the deep mud basin in 30 to 35 feet of water. Anglers are watching their electronics closely and finding big schools of fish scattered across the basin.

The go-to technique this week has been drifting or trolling crawler harnesses at speeds of 1.0 to 1.25 mph. Hammered gold blades paired with red, pink, orange or chartreuse continue to be solid producers. Not only are anglers catching good numbers of fish, but plenty of protected slot size walleyes (19.5 to 28 inches) and trophies are also in the mix.

Trolling crankbaits is also catching fire. Anglers are using leadcore line, snap weights, or downriggers to get their cranks down into the strike zone. This technique is not only helping to cover water but is producing some of the biggest walleyes of the season so far. In the stained waters of LOW, firetiger, pink UV, chrome/blue, and gold are go-to colors.

Those who enjoy forward-facing sonar are finding good numbers of big walleyes over the deep mud basin. The basin is loaded with walleyes, and for those wanting to work on their electronics game and land some giants, now is the time.

On the Rainy River, the mixed bag fishing and Sturgeon season is in play. Summer on the Rainy River offers something for everyone. Anglers are catching a nice variety of walleyes, smallmouth bass, and pike, especially near current breaks, deeper holes, and shoreline structure.

Sturgeon fishing is also in full swing. The keep season is open through September 30. Anglers with a valid sturgeon tag can harvest one sturgeon per calendar year that measures 45 to 50 inches or over 75 inches. Soaking a combination of nightcrawlers and frozen shiners on a sturgeon rig continues to be the best presentation.

Northwest Angle, consistent Action. Up at the Northwest Angle, both the Minnesota and Ontario sides are producing excellent fishing. Anglers are targeting walleyes with a mix of techniques: Pulling spinners with crawlers, trolling crankbaits around reefs and points and jigging with minnows or plastics in neckdown areas, around structure, and on the edges of mud and rock transitions.

Bonus species like smallmouth bass, pike, perch, and crappies are showing up as well, providing exciting multi-species action. Muskie anglers are tight lipped, but reports have been consistent with anglers seeing and boating good fish. Some fish are exceeding that 50 inch mark.

Now’s the Time to Visit! Whether you're chasing your personal best walleye or looking to enjoy a classic shore lunch with family and friends, Lake of the Woods is firing on all cylinders. From the basin to the river to the NW Angle, the fishing is excellent, the scenery is stunning, and the memories are waiting to be made." — Lake of the Woods Tourism, (800) 382-FISH

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August 4, 2025 "Best Fishing Presentaions For Kids?"

on August 4, 2025, Sofia Martinez wrote,

Q) “Mr. Jeff, I’m confused. On Friday (08-01-2025) you wrote that the best way to catch fish for 8-year-old girl, Lucy was to fish slow with a jig and night crawler. Then on Sunday (08-03-2025), I read that the best way for the 10-year-old boy, Emmett, was to troll fast with spinners and live bait. We want to help our kids catch more fish and want to know more about the best ways to do that. Will you please explain, why is there a difference between fishing with the 2 kids in your reports?

A) Sofia, thank you for the note and for the great questions. You’re right, the “best” presentations we used for catching fish on these 2 days were completely different from each other. The variations though were not because of differences between the 2 kids; they were due to the differing structures and scale of the terrain where we were fishing. Also, the fish species we were trying to catch were different as well, so lets start there.

Last Thursday, the lake where Lucy and her dad were fishing only had a few fish species in it. Smallmouth and largemouth bass, along with a handful of sunfish are the only fish we could target. On Saturday, fishing with Emmett and his dad, the lakes offered a much wider range of fish species to target, northern pike, walleye, bass, sunfish, crappies, rock bass, perch and others all share the same weed edges.

The second difference between the 2 situations is the size and scale of the structures in the lakes. Lucy’s lake was small, under 400 acres and the spots in it were also small and isolated, some of them were only 20 to 30 yards long. Fishing those small spots using slow, finesse style presentations was both easy, and efficient.

Emmett’s lake, on Saturday, was large, thousands of acres spreading out in every direction. The fishing spots on that lake are large too, sometimes spanning areas up to a quarter mile. Trying to cover all of that territory using slow presentations, it could take hours just to fish one weed line. So, trolling spinners is not only a more effective way to cover water, but the faster moving presentations appeal to a wider variety of fish species as well.

Another factor to consider is the weather, and I have a new example for you that occurred just yesterday.

In both reports you mentioned, the weather conditions were the same. It was sunny, and the breeze was light. Because of the bright conditions, the fish were reluctant to roam freely outside of the weeds. When we first encountered them, they struck our lures, but once they were alerted to our presence, they were much harder to catch. For me, constantly covering fresh territory was the only way to pick off fish before they became “boat shy”. On a cloudy day, fish are less wary, so we have more options of presentations that will catch them.

For example, on Saturday, Emmet and his dad would have been thrilled to catch some crappies, but in the sunshine, we could not get them to come out of the weeds. On Sunday, it was cloudy and breezy and fishing the same lake, in the same spot, crappies were more than willing to strike. Look at the image of the school of crappies on the screen of my graph . You can see the weeds, to the right, and that under dark skies those crappies moved out of the weeds and were located in open water. In this situation, we first used spinners to locate the fish and then stopped the boat and fished for them from a stationary position.

At first we used small jigs tipped with live minnows, Dropping the jig over the side of the boat and letting it fall about halfway to the bottom worked for a while. Then those fish became wary, and casting the same jigs tipped with small plastic tails further away from the boat worked better. There were several artificial lures that worked, but Berkely’s 1 inch … was the most productive. If your kids have trouble casting and retrieving lures, then using slip bobbers set to about 9 feet would have worked well in the situation too.

I hope that you'll think of it this way, there is no one presentation that will always be the “best one” for your kids. But if you learn to understand how some of the basic weather conditions affect fish. You'll learn fast when to use spinners and when to use slower presentations like the jigs with either live bait, or plastic tails. Master these 2 fundamental presentations and you will have 90% of the multi-species fishing situations covered. Then as your kids gain experience, experimenting with other more species-specific presentations will get to be fun, and before long, your kids will be teaching you the tricks about catching fish and doing it “their way”.

For me, answering reader questions, like this one from Sophia, is a great way to help teach folks better ways to catch fish. So, don't be shy, this is your invitation! When you have a question, or comment about one of the FishRapper daily reports get in touch and let folks know what’s on your mind! — Office Call or Text 218-245-9858 or EMAIL or Facebook or X

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August 3, 2025 "A Typically Typical Summer Fishing Report"

If you were 10 years old, and just wanted to catch some fish, you probably wouldn’t care which presentation you used to catch them. It’s likely too that the fish species you catch is not the most important factor in deciding where to pursue them. That’s because for a kid, there are only 2 main species of fish, big ones, and little ones. Now their parents may, and often do, influence which fish species we target, but all things equal, “action”, combined with a chance at “something big” is what really motivates kids. These are the top reasons why the “mixed bag action bite” dominates my fishing reports during mid-summer.

The basic formula for going into the fishing trip with Uriah and Emmet Peterson on Saturday was exactly that. We hoped to keep 10-year-old Emmet busy, but at the same time, hoped to catch a few walleyes, and maybe a nice pike and some crappies.

The summertime presentation you here so much about, trolling spinners over the weed tops, was chosen not because it’s the best way to catch any one of those species. Rather, it’s the best way to serve all of the goals at the same time. Knowing that “the adults” may single out and catch more fish of a given species by using more specialized presentations, serving the needs of the kids ranks higher in deciding the methods.

The reason that I’m bringing it up today is because for a short time on Saturday, I fell into a trap of my own making. My brain was focused on the desire to get more of the higher quality target fish like walleyes and crappies. So, the fishing spots I chose were ones that I hoped would help us accomplish those goals. Usually, we would catch enough of everything else, that would hold the attention of a youngster. Yesterday though, clearer water, combined with sunshine and calm water counteracted the action part of the action bite. So, by about 11:30, it was clear that Emmet wasn’t going to last the whole day unless I did something different.

“Let’s do this, we’ll run back to the landing, let Emmet stretch his legs a little, and then switch to a different lake,” I advised dad. That sounded like a good idea, so we made a move.

We knew going into the 2nd lake that walleyes would now be off the table. But crappies, bass, northern pike and sunfish should keep us busy. The way it turned out, some of those alternatives did strike our spinners, but sunfish were on fire. For a time, we couldn’t go more than a few yards without getting a strike. Every so often, a nice bass, or an occasional northern pike struck too, and they satisfied the need to get an occasional big fish. I would have been happier if Plan A had worked out better. But all things considered, Plan B was a bigger hit for Emmet and truthfully, I felt that it saved our day.

Details about the fishing trip are very typical of recent reports. Surface water temperatures ranged between 74 and 76 degrees. The deeper, cooler, Pokegama Lake vs the slightly stained, shallower alternative Plan B Lake.

Single 2/0 Aberdeen hook, #4 hammered gold spinner blades behind a 3/16-ounce bullet sinker were the lures. We tipped them with night crawlers for the sunfish and used minnows to trigger more pike and bass. Trolling speeds in the warm water were faster than usual for me, 1.3 to 1.5 MPH kept the lures running cleanly above the heavy weed tops.

The harvest consisted of a couple of walleyes that Emmet caught at the first lake. A bunch of sunfish, a few smaller bass and a couple of pike. We would have harvested more northern pike, but many of our better specimens fell into the range of protect slot sizes. We released several 23-to-25-inch fish.

Okay that is the “typically typical” fishing report for today. If there is a key takeaway, I guess it is this. When the goal is to hold the attention of a youngster on a fishing trip, “reading the room” is important. I have fished with kids, adults too, that can go for long periods between strikes. There are others though that aren’t wired that way, for them, something has to happen fairly often. I could have turned the trip into a disaster by ignoring the fact that I was losing my audience. Luckily, the move to Plan B worked out, and the trip turned into a successful one.

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August 3, 2025 "Big Sandy Lake Walleye Slot Limits"

As it happens, today’s report ties into a comment that came from my report about fishing on Big Sandy Lake. From the FishRapper, Fishing Reports Minnesota Facebook Page.

Q) Brian Castellano wrote, “We love camping at Big Sandy, but get frustrated by the (14-to-18-inch keeper range) walleye slot. Any thoughts on why there's so many just under 14" fish Jeff Sundin?

A) Brian, the quick answer to your question may sound simplistic, but nonetheless it is true. Anglers, as a group, have become very efficient at catching fish. Species like walleyes, that are sought after primarily for food, are harvested quickly and efficiently. On Big Sandy, small fish are released, but most fish that reach the legal, 14-to-18-inch harvest size are kept. Because the pressure on those “keepers” is so high, relatively few of them remain in the lake to become trophies.

Slot limits of any type, on any lake reveal the effectiveness of angling on fish populations. Everywhere in the country, lakes with minimum size limits on popular harvest species have high populations of fish that measure short of the legal harvest size. On lakes that have protected slot sizes, like Lake Winnibigoshish for example, many fish in the legal-size range are harvested within a few years of their birth. Then, remaining fish from that year class begin stacking up in the protected slot size range.

The real question is why fisheries managers choose to use one type of slot regulation over another one. That’s why your question prompted me to contact the Aitkin area fisheries office to discuss how, and why the 14-to-18-inch harvest slot was chosen for lakes like Big Sandy, Farm Island and others. Watch for more updates, and as time allows, I’ll follow up on those discussions, which hopefully will shed more light on the specifics about those management decisions.

In the meantime, let me throw in my opinion. I realize that it’s not for everybody, but I actually like the harvest slot on Big Sandy Lake. One caveat, I never fish the lake with folks whose intent it is to catch full bag limits of fish. Rather, I go there with families who want to harvest some fish but primarily seek action over quality size. For kids especially, I can usually count on catching enough walleyes to keep them busy. For the adults, I can usually get enough walleyes to provide 1, or maybe 2, family fish dinners. As always, I just try to match the right people with the right lake. — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email on Facebook on X

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August 1, 2025 "Lucy, You've Got Some Splainin' To Do!"

You’ve fished with kids before, haven’t you? If you haven’t, then you’ve missed out on some “cute and quirky” behavior. It can be hard to recognize when it will happen, but sometimes, the cute little quirks wind up having a profound impact on a fishing trip, maybe even on a lifetime of fishing trips.

Yesterday, here’s what the adults were saying to 8-year-old Lucy Patterson. “First you need to cast the Ned Rig toward the weedline, then let it drop on a tight line, and then when you feel a tick on the line, you have to set the hook, pop it hard. Then once you set the hook, make sure to keep the line tight, then keep your rod tip high, and don’t let the bass swim back into the weeds. Remember, keep your rod away from the boat, no wait, sometimes you have to bring the rod closer to the boat, then reel harder, no wait, reel softer, then reel faster, no, hold on, reel slower and then ...” you get the idea.

Eight-year-old Lucy had a simple question though. “Why can’t I just put on a worm my hook and drop it over the side, and fish under the boat?”

At first, I started down a complicated path, trying to explain about how the little sunnies and perch would pick the worm apart until her hook was empty, but then, I stopped myself. “You know what Lucy? I said, if it makes you happy to fish under the boat, where you can watch the little fish nip at your hook, then go ahead,” if it's fun for you, it's fun for me.

Baited up and ready to go, she drops her jig over the edge of the boat and into the water. “Ooh, there’s a nice bass down there,” Lucy said. “Ooh look, it’s swimming toward my bait and "HEY I GOT HIM!” she exclaimed. That scenario played out more than a few times during Lucy's short afternoon trip. Technically, this was supposed to be the end of today's fishing report because it happened at the end of the day, after the adults had done the “hard core” portion of the fishing day.

Fast rewind to that hard-core, big-time portion of the trip. It began earlier, when Patrick, Landry and I attempted to catch Lake Trout. Long story short, the duration of our laker expedition only lasted about 2 hours. While we were at it, we trolled crankbaits, vertically jigged with tubes and plastic swimbaits, then cast and retrieved big heavy rattle baits and dabbled with other ideas. None of the presentations we tried were successful. Even though there were occasionally fish on the screen of my graph, none of them struck.

Understand, it takes a certain type of passion to keep fishing when nothing seems to be happening. Unless an angler is prepared to spend all day working on a project like this, the urge to find some fish that are biting inevitably takes over. So, by about 10:00 am, bass fishing sounded like a great idea.

The lake, clear and rocky, has all kinds of tantalizing structures like rocky points, sunken logs and even whole trees submerged below the surface. We fished many of them, and there were both smallmouth and largemouth bass on some of them. But the action got more serious when we discovered “the formula”. Small patches of heavier weed growth, lying adjacent to deeper water, but on slower tapering shoreline breaks held the most fish. Key water depths varied, but 14 to 16 feet of water was ideal.

Typical of most of these clear water trout lakes in the Grand Rapids region, bass tends to be numerous, but not usually the biggest size. That was true of our catch yesterday, lots of fish in the 10-to-12-inch range were boated. There was a fair number of 12-to-14-inch fish, and a smattering of larger, 16-to-19-inch fish in the mix too. Whatever the lake’s fish lacked in size, was more than made up for in terms of the action they provided; perfect for the kids!

The Ned Rigs mentioned earlier worked great for Patrick; he caught numerous fish using a drop-hop-drop-hop retrieve. The color of the one you see pictured here was his early favorite. But when the supply of that color was exhausted, others were tried and all of them worked equally well. For Landry, a Z Man TRD Tube paired with a Ned Rig jig head worked well too. The color, … was the only one we tried, so it’s hard to say if it was better than any other or not.

While the boys fished with those lures, I experimented with alternatives. Wacky worms, swim baits, twirl tails and Texas rigged worms were all tried. Most of them attracted a few fish, but no presentation compared to the rigs my crew was using, except one. The 1/8-ounce live bait jig tipped with ½ night crawler that Lucy used turned out to be a fabulous alternative to the artificial lures.

Before you turn up your nose at using live bait for bass fishing, remember who was using it. Lucy, at 8 years old may not have been ready for the artificial lures that the boys used. But once she had the jig and crawler combo in here hands, she crushed the bass. Numerous largemouth, and a few smallmouth bass came to the net, and for me, that was all that mattered. As Patrick made his last few casts of the annual fishing trip, Lucy topped off the day with one of each, pictured above, and provided us with a smiley grand finale’.

There you have it; the Patterson family fishing trip is a wrap for this year. The crew is heading home with a decent amount of fish but no limits. I think it’s fair to say that if success was measured by the weight of our larder, we could have done better. But not unlike the first time the Patterson’s fished with me some 35 years ago, (when Patrick was “the kid”), everybody experienced something more important than poundage. I think the right word is joy, the joy of discovery, of accomplishment, of memories that last and will never fade.

Before I go, let me mention Nick Rydell, MN DNR Fisheries research scientist. Rydell has been studying, among other things, the impact that forward facing sonar may, or may not, be having on fish populations in Minnesota. At the MN DNR Fisheries Summit, Rydell presented results from surveys conducted in 2023 and 2024. In a nutshell, early findings suggest that forward facing sonar does not impact fish harvest rates.

I interviewed Rydell myself this spring and will present my own formal report about those studies. In the meantime, Rydell’s findings, while preliminary, are making their way into the media.

Gerry Albert, retired MN DNR Large Lake Specialist for Lake Winnibigoshish aent me a special request that I provide a link to an interview with Rydell on the Angling Buzz YouTube channel. The interview, a lengthy 1 hour plus production covers a variety of topics, all of which are, or should be of concern to every angler who fishes on Minnesota waters. The discussion about forward facing sonar appears during the interview with Jeremy Smith. Follow the link to view full video >> Fisheries Management: A Deep Dive with Biologist Nick Rydell

Today, I have scheduled maintanance, paperwork and maybe, if I'm lucky a quick trip to try out another new lake. Saturday morning are typically my "day off" from writing reports, but your questions and comments are always welcome. Tomorrow, watch for a reader Q&A about Big Sandy Lake Walleyes. — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email on Facebook on X

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Wired2Fish "Ned Rigs: The Complete Guide to Ned Rig Fishing"

"Ned rig fishing has become one of the most popular finesse techniques and fishing rigs for catching bass all over the world. It’s a simple, do-nothing looking rig that has proven to have a wide appeal to largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass all across the country and beyond.

WHAT IS A NED RIG? Born out of the midwest finesse niche in bass fishing by none other than Ned Kehde, the ned rig is simply a small plastic, usually 2 to 3 inches long without much else to it rigged on a mushroom head jig. The original was basically half of a Yamamoto Senko threaded onto a mushroom head.

The Ned rig ..." Read Full Story to Learn More >> Ned Rigs: The Complete Guide to Ned Rig Fishing

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You Are Invited To Become A Duly Deputized Fishrapper Cub Reporter Too!

If you've been waiting for a gold engraved invitation to participate in the daily reports, then stop waiting and consider this your own personal invitation.

Helping your fellow fishermen and women stay abreast of fishing conditions in your area is good for everybody and it's easier than you think! You don't have to write a book, you don't have to share your secret fishing spots and you don't even have to mention your lake. But even a few words about general trends, seasonal patterns and local weather conditions can really help.

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

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