September 30, 2025 "Defrosting Fall Fishing Patterns"

The average first frost date in the Grand Rapids region, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac is September 18th. Back around September 12th, we recorded an overnight low of 37 degrees, but to my knowledge, we have not yet experienced a first, frosty 32 degree reading. So, unless you know something I don’t, this, I believe, will be the first frostless September in my 40 years living in Itasca County.

With unseasonably warm temperatures, and unseasonably calm seas, fishing patterns we encountered on Monday were akin to July, more so than September. Fish of all species were holding tight to the weeds, and fast-moving presentations produced a classic mid-summer-like mixed bag. We caught sunfish, perch, largemouth bass, northern pike, crappies and walleyes all in the same spots, at the same times; that’s the good news.

The bad news was that it took me two lakes to get in on the action. At the first lake, a medium size, multi-species lake in the Walker area, fish were embedded deeply in the weeds. So deeply, and in the thickest coontail, that the few fish we hooked, were almost impossible to retrieve. After losing fish to the coontail a few times, I could see nothing but trouble in our future. Hoping that a lake with less densely formed weed patches would be easier to fish, I took a delay of game penalty and made the move.

When we arrived at the second lake, the glass calm surface water was nearly 67 degrees. There was a moderate algae bloom and water clarity was about 6 feet. Look at the screen shot of my graph, and you’ll see that fish were in the weeds, but there were open spaces and gaps between the plants. Fishing in this type of vegetation was much easier for us, and much more productive because of it.

My crew, Steve and Greg were interested in catching fish, for sure. But they wanted to learn some new techniques too, so we tried several presentations. Trolling with spinners and minnows worked well and was probably our “best” method for catching fish. A close 2nd though, I think was jigging with plastics. Moving at a fast pace of .7 to 1.0 mph, we cast 1/8-ounce jigs tipped with 3 to 3-1/2 paddles tails into the weeds. Using a drop-sweep-drop-sweep motion we caught the same mix of fish that the spinners produced. Eye Candy, Ripple Shads and Keitech’s Easy Shiner all produced fish equally well.

During late afternoon, a breeze developed and that allowed us to try drifting, and jigging. Using a 1/8 ounce jig tipped with ½ night crawler produced some sunfish, but the slower finesse presentation did not appear to be a good all-around method this time. With a stronger breeze, and better drifting conditions, I’d definitely try it again though.

Before we left the lake, I checked out some of the classic fall panfish locations. Open water flats, and steep breaklines adjacent to the lakes deep, mid-lake basin. Crappies that had begun to gather there earlier this month had disappeared. Located near structures like sunken islands, and points held some sunfish. Those sunfish were larger than the ones we caught in the weeds, but they were also less active. For me, catching them wasn’t too hard, but for my crew, the picky biters were difficult to hook. It was time to call it quits for the day, so we headed back to the ramp.

We didn’t have large minnows for Lindy rigging, but I learned in a conversation with a fellow angler at the ramp, that walleyes were responsive to live redtails. Early in the morning, he’d caught a couple of keepers, along with a couple of large fish that he CPR’d.

Before the sun rose high in the sky, walleyes moved out of the weeds and over the breakline outside the edges. As the fish moved back into the weeds, he followed them in and fished in the heavier cover. Largemouth bass, he said, took over at that point and his fishing trip turned into a bass-fest.

Okay, the upshot of yesterday’s trip is that we worked hard at catching fish. But in the end, the work was rewarding, and we did wind up with a respectable catch that will provide protein for a few meals. My crew, I think, enjoyed learning some new techniques, and the benefit will likely show up later, when they fish on their own.

Today’s forecast appears to be more favorable for fishing. More wind, more clouds and a crew staying at the south end of Winnie should give me a better chance at producing fish. Check in tomorrow and I’ll let you know how it turns out. — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email on Facebook on X

September 28, 2025 "Inducting the Induct-Able"

After a 12-day string of workdays, I and the Hippie Chick took a breather to attend the Minnesota Fishing Hall of Fame induction ceremony for 2025. The hall of fame inductees, Jimmy Bell, Don Pursch, Jon Thelen, Nesheim Bait and Ray’s Marine are all deserving, and are all to be congratulated and I hope you’ll join me in doing that.

For me, the hall of fame induction of Ray’s Marine was particularly gratifying because of our long-standing business, friendship and dare I say, family relationship. It was my great honor to introduce them at the ceremony, and for I and Susan to join in celebration with them at the event.

Pictured, left to right Scott Glorvigen, Jeff Sundin, Jeannette Hernesman, Dave Hernesman, Colten Hernesman Becky Hernesman, Jim Hernesman, Mikaela Hernesman, Mary Hernesman, Buddy Hernesman, Jimmer Hernesman.

My hat goes not only to the other very deserving class of 2025 inductees, but also to Brenda Perlowski, and her support staff for their efforts in planning the event, which pulled off without a hitch. The Minnesota Fishing Museum, and the Fishing Hall of Fame runs on a skeleton crew, with a shoestring budget and putting on an event of this magnitude is taxing for all of them. So, I hope you’ll support them in any way you can.

In preparation of my next lengthy string of workdays, we’ve taken the weekend off to get the boat cleaned up and maintained. Yesterday, I replaced the broken rods with new ones, re-stocked the tackle box, resupplied the minnows in my bait cooler and tied some new spinners. So, today amounts to a rare, full day off.

Starting tomorrow, I’m back on the water for the duration of the fall fishing season, which has been scheduled to end on October 20, 2025. With the unusually warm weather we experienced, I’m considering adding a few extra dates to the schedule. So, if you’re pondering one last fishing trip before winter sets in, maybe you should sign up to receive my newsletter. Click the image, or use this link to receive Jeff Sundin's Fishing Guide's Insider Newsletter

What you'll get are infrequent fishing updates, along with notification about last minute openings, cancellations and fishing news releases, all free for the taking. What you will never get are unsolicited ads, sales pitchers, or your email address shared with anybody, ever. Your privacy is important and will not be at risk.

If you're out and about today, you might see the Hippie Chick and I taking a drive to see the fall colors. If you do, be sure to give us a wave, and if you don't check in tomorrow to see the photos, if we get some, of anything pretty that we duscover along the way. Have a fabulous day! — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email on Facebook on X

September 26, 2025 "A Sunny Sunfish Ending For The Reynolds"

Yesterday, I speculated that the Reynolds’, Karen and Kyle, might conclude their 4-day fishing trip by catching some sunfish. As it happens, that is what happened, and with a special guest, The Hippie Chick along for the ride.

The lake, at about 900 acres is known more as a crappie destination than it is sunfish, but there are enough of them to make the search worthwhile. When we arrived, the surface water temperature of the moderately stained water was 67 degrees. With a stiff breeze blowing, that temperature held steady throughout the entire day.

During mid-summer, I write a lot about searching for sunfish using spinners, tipped with leeches, night crawlers and the like. For me, warmer water is preferred, with the best spinner fishing often occurring at 74, 75 or even warmer surface temps. For that reason, I chose to skip the trolling step, instead focusing on locating weed growth on points, flats and inside corners. The first stop was on a small sunken island located adjacent to a shoreline drop-off.

Covered with weeds, the 8-foot-deep hump has held sunfish before, sometimes holding tight to the vegetation. Other times they leave the heavy cover and suspend along the outer edges. On Thursday, they were located well away from the weed edges and suspended over 18 feet of water. We dropped in 1/16-ounce jigs tipped with angle worms.

About 12 inches above the jigs, I added #4 split shot sinkers to help maintain better feel. Almost immediately, Susan hooked up a keeper size hybrid sunfish; it looked like a bluegill-pumpkinseed cross breed to me. Next up, Karen picked up a decent size pure pumpkin-seed sunfish, as you can see from the photo, this sunfish species is very colorful. For a time, action was good, but after catching 8 or 10 keepers. The average size declined though, and the behavior of the fish was finicky, often ticking the lures, stealing the live bait, and disappearing without capture.

Hoping to mitigate the extreme consumption of live bait, I experimented with several plastic lures. In some ways, this was even more frustrating because they tugged at the tails, either cutting them in half, or ripping them off of our hooks completely. While we did hook a few using plastics, it wasn’t long before we chose to suffer the loss of live worms rather than watching the plastics disappear.

For several hours, we moved from one weed point to another, and that pattern repeated itself. We’d locate some fish, catch the best ones right away, and then see the average size and feeding intensity decline. That said, we were still happy, the livewell was filling, and the fish were decent, 8 to 9 inches on average. Getting close to our self-imposed limit of 10 fish per angler, I decided to try one more stop, and motored to a mid-lake hump that tops off at about 10 feet, surrounded by deeper, 25-to-30-foot water.

This final stop was different from all the rest. Sunfish here were located close to the weeds, but not in them. They held in 14 to 18 feet of water and formed a tight school. At this spot, fish were not only active, but I’d say voracious. Doubles were common, and at one point, we even had a quadruple catch. Not only did these fish eat live bait, but plastics were also on their menu too. The 2 inch Strike King Mr. Crappie you see pictured worked well, and so did Berkely's Power Bait Nymph, the Bobby Garland Baby Shad and Keitech Minnows. Here, we finished off our harvest, packed up the jigging rods and re-tooled to try for a northern pike.

After a short break, we began trolling steep shoreline breaks, adjacent to weedy patches. The pike we were seeking were illusive, but the bass were active. I guess we caught upwards of 20 bass trolling spinners tipped with minnows along the breaklines. Rock bass struck occasionally too and to my surprise, even some sunfish. Ironically, crappies were nowhere to be found, we did not catch a single one throughout the day. The 26-inch pike we’d hoped to catch for a meal of coconut pike delight didn’t show up either, but we did hook some smaller ones.

All things considered, it would have been hard to put a better exclamation point at the end of a 4-day trip. The Reynolds’ will be driving home tomorrow and they’ll have limits of pike, walleye, and crappie, along with reasonable numbers of sunfish and perch; that should hold ‘em for a while.

Yesterday’s trip marked the end of a 12-day run for me, and today, I and the Hippie Chick have a different sort of task. Instead of spending the day fishing in the boat, we’ll spend it talking about fishing in the boat when we drive to the Minnesota Fishing Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Here, I’ll have the honor of introducing Ray’s Marine as they are formally inducted into Minnesota’s Fishing Hall of Fame. I hope you’ll join me in congratulating them on this well deserved honor.

After the ceremony, we’ll take the weekend off to get caught up on cleaning, repairing and accounting for the past 12 days. Then, beginning on Monday, I'll start into another string of fishing dates, this time totaling another 13 trips. If you’re interested, I’ll be offering the final string of remaining dates in an upcoming newsletter. If you’re not already signed up, use this link to receive updates about open dates, and fishing announcements. — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email on Facebook on X

Wired2Fish "Cody Huff’s Fall Fishing Strategy"

"Fall fishing often means unpredictable conditions and fast-changing patterns. Professional angler Cody Huff shows how he adapts his fall bait rotation to cover water efficiently and stay in tune with bass movements. Huff demonstrates how speed, bait choice, and versatility become crucial when fish are scattered.

Offshore and Mid-Depth Adjustments: Fall doesn’t always push bass shallow. Huff also explains how suspended fish often relate to bait schools in open water. To tempt these roamers, he rotates to minnow-style baits on various jig heads, adjusting weight and presentation speed to match fish behavior. This flexibility ensures he can connect even when the shallow bite fades.

Docks, Laydowns, and Heavy Cover: Not all bites come from roaming fish. Huff flips compact jigs into ..." View Video to Learn More >> Cody Huff’s Fall Fishing Strategy

September 25, 2025 "Blooming Water = Better Fishing!"

My calendar says that it’s September 25, 2025, and for a time, the fish agreed with that. But the current warm and sunny weather trend has forced a reversal. On Wednesday, I wrote about my suspicion that previously preferred fall fishing patterns were reverting to late summer ones; yesterday’s trip offers a little proof.

I’d offered reports about discovering and catching crappies in deep, open water cover on several lakes last week. In recent days, I could see the schools of fish thinning out and disappearing from typical fall locations. Yesterday, I wrote about discovering them in shallow, 5 to 7 foot deep, weeds on Tuesday. I’d reported too that likewise, Winnibigoshish walleyes found on mid-lake bars last week, had disappeared too. Fish that we found there on Monday, were in weedy cover, and only in weedy cover.

 With another sunny, calm day forecast for Wednesday, I decided to get rid of the idea that this is fall and operate with the idea that it is mid-summer instead. The shallow western Itasca area lake I selected is known for having heavy algae blooms, lots of weed cover and a mix of pike, walleye, perch and crappies. With a crew that fishes for 4 days, and likes harvesting any, or all of those species, it was the perfect choice. On my way out the door, I told the Hippie Chick that I hoped for the pike to keep us busy, and that if I got lucky, we’d pick up a few walleyes too. If the plan worked, it would relieve the “last day pressure” I sometimes feel when we have not yet met our quota of any certain species.

When we arrived at the lake, the surface temperature was 69 degrees and had a covering of moderately heavy algae. The water itself was murky; water clarity was less than 4 feet. There was still plenty of weed growth, but some of the weed varieties had disappeared. I suppose the cold snap we received a couple weeks back took out some of the northern water milfoil, and the other weather sensitive varieties. The remaining cabbage and coontail plants now had open gaps and spaces between them. This was good for us, and made fishing weeds easier than it was last July,

As I rigged up the Ugly Sticks with spinners and minnows, I expected something of a search to find fish. I hadn’t been on the lake for a couple months, and it might take a few stops to locate them. Nothing could have been further from the truth, within minutes of starting to troll, Karen rolled up a nice crappie. We released that, and then Kyle caught a small pike, which we also released. Then there was a perch, a few more pike, and then a nice walleye. For almost 2 hours, we fished the same ¼ mile stretch of shoreline and enjoyed steady action.

For the rest of the day, the process repeated, sometimes there were lots of fish, other times only a few, but always, there were some. As expected, Northern pike dominated the action and that was good for us because the Reynolds’ enjoy harvesting them. We bagged 16 of them, all under 22 inches, and none over 26. Crappies came along at random intervals, but we already tagged out on those last Sunday so none were harvested. Perch, some of them keepers, also appeared intermittently, but most were small, and we only kept 8 of them. The “couple of walleyes” that I’d hoped for turned out to be 7, which was better than I expected. Combined with the 5 we harvested on Winnie earlier this week, we are now at capacity for those too.

The presentation was simple, trolling spinners, at the edges of shallow weed growth. Key depths ranged from 5 to 7 feet, and I used 6 feet as the target in most areas. Minnows and night crawlers worked equally well for dressing our hooks. If there was any advantage to either one, I could not notice it. I suspected that jigs and minnows might have worked too, but they were unnecessary, so I didn’t bother with them.

Okay, so pretending it was July again worked well for me on Wednesday. Maybe the same tactic will work out for you this weekend too, if you like. But if we do get some overcast, and breezy conditions, some of the recently reported fishing patterns for Winnie will be effective too. Yesterday, I heard from friends who were fishing there, and they too had a good day on the lake. With a little breeze, fish activity picked up and jigging the shoreline breaks was rewarding.

No matter where we find them, fish are in the mood to feed at this time of the season. Sometimes they just don’t do it while we are there, fishing for them. When it’s calm, daytime fishing might be tough, but evening and early morning can still be great. Obviously, when weather conditions are ideal, we can expect better daytime action as well.

In past reports, I’ve offered that the first cold snap of the fall often triggers a “false start” to the fall migrating and feeding season. Followed by a period of calm and warm weather, the one we’re currently enjoying, fish activity historically slows down. The next cold snap that blows our way, as a rule, be the trigger that starts the official fall feeding period. So, be optimistic, from here on out, every day on the water could be a really good one, even if there are a few zingers mixed in.

Today, with most of Kyle and Karen’s take home fish already packed up, we’re planning a “fun day”. We might harvest a few bluegills, if we can. Maybe we’ll CPR some bass, or pike, of who knows what? I’ll let you in on the results tomorrow, see you then. — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email on Facebook on X

September 24, 2025 "Beauty in the Eyes of the Beholder"

I learned a new term on Tuesday, “Driving Iron”. My customers, Dave and Kim, with a K, tell me that it means to set the hook with authority. They say that their friends, who love to fish for musky, use it to describe the power required to drive large hooks into the bony jaws of monster-size fish.

I like the term, and I wouldn’t mind doing it myself, but I’m gonna have to wait for a better day than the one we enjoyed yesterday. While we may have had “Driving Iron” in mind, the fish had different ideas, something more aligned with the term “Nap Time”.
Catching fish wasn’t impossible, it was just more difficult than usual. The calm water, sunshine and increasing water clarity combined forces to encourage fish to relax, rather than feed. This is nothing new, you’ve heard it all before.

The bluebird day may have been one reason for a slow fishing day. Another one though, was my own uncanny knack for picking the wrong presentation at the wrong time. It started at the very first spot. Because of my experience on Monday, trolling spinners through a school of fish holding over the tops of low-lying weeds seemed like the best idea. On Tuesday though, the fish did not want to see that. After a couple of unproductive passes, we switched to jigs and minnows and almost immediately Dave caught a nice pike, a keeper in his opinion. That was soon followed up with a keeper walleye.

If I’d switched the presentation sooner, we’d likely have caught more fish at the first stop. We may have caught more if we’d stayed there, but wanting to find “something better”, I made a move. Checking on some fish that I’d found earlier on the steep, east side breakline, was a failed attempt. There were a few fish out there, but neither jig and minnows, or a Lindy Rig and creek chub combo triggered a strike. Another stop, on another “proven spot” on a mid-lake bar was similarly unproductive. So, I decided to make another move.

Now we drove to “the crappie hole”, where we again, based on recent experience, began fishing in open water territory using spinners, tipped with minnows. Here, there were just enough fish to make the idea seem like the right one. Kim caught a couple of crappies, and we may have kept catching them, but the action was slow, and I began searching for more fish in the open water. That search never led to anything better than we’d already found.

I was almost ready to leave, but remembering past falls, when weather patterns changed from cold, then back to warm, I decided to try fishing the weeds first. Moving to a shallow patch of mixed cabbage, coontail and pondweeds, we began casting small jigs tupped with plastic tails. The result, a short-but-sweet spurt of action. Crappies, small perch, pike and tiny bass held together in the shallow cover. Again, we caught just enough fish to make it seem like a great idea. Again, I spent more time than I should have, and soon, we were forced to make yet another move.
By days end, we had amassed a modest catch, but I couldn’t help but think that I could have done better. If only I’d jigged more shallow spots, skipped going out to “the bars”, tried the crappies in the weeds sooner, or avoided trying to do too many things in the same trip, we could have been more productive. It was a reminder to keep things simple, and to be creative, continually.

My crew, fortunately for me, found appreciation in things less obvious than whether or not we were “Driving Iron”. The beautiful weather, seeing new spots, chatting about a variety of techniques and sharing fishing stories all added up, for them, to be a rewarding experience. They measured success in terms of enjoyment, rather than in pounds of fish flesh in a zip lock bag.

Today, with yet another calm and sunny day in the forecast, I am going to simplify my approach. I’m going to fish like it’s mid-summer and I’m taking my crew to a dark, algae-covered, weedy lake. I’ll alternate between jigging and spinning more quickly, allowing 30 minutes for each presentation at each spot. If I find fish in an area, I’m going to stick with it longer, making sure to check out every angle. When we’re finished, I hope I’ll be happy with the game plan. One way or another, you’ll find out about it tomorrow, see you then. — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email on Facebook on X

Ely Area, Arrowhead Outdoors Fishing Report September 24, 2025

"Walleye - Another week of nice stable weather has the fall walleye bite rolling right along. Lots of anglers were reporting that they were finding active walleyes in 12 to 15 feet of water, right on the drop offs of sunken islands. Again 4 to 6 minnows, tipped on a 1/4 ounce jig or fished on a lindy rig was the ticket to success. Strong trolling bite also continues for many anglers. Here anglers are fishing deep flats from 15 to 20 feet of water with perch colored crankbaits. Anglers trolling continue to catch good numbers of walleyes, but they often tend to be on the smaller side. Hot colors last week were perch, firetiger and gold.

Smallmouth - Smallmouth bite has been holding steady this last week with big numbers reported but lacked the big size. Many anglers are catching large numbers of smallies out on the sunken islands, in 6 to 20 feet of water. Not all humps are created equal, so the anglers who put in the time to find the best ones can really experience some fantastic fishing when they find the right hump. Slow rolling spinnerbaits, deep diving crankbaits, Ned rigs and drop shotting soft plastic minnows are all catching good numbers of smallies.

Northern Pike anglers have been enjoying great trophy pike fishing this last week with several groups catching multiple pike over 40 inches. Large sucker minnows, fished under a bobber, back in shallow bays has been the ticket, but finding large suckers has been harder to find than catching trophy pike. If you can't find any suckers, large swimbaits, large crankbaits, large spoons and even some big topwater baits have been producing big pike for anglers. Anglers have been having good luck fishing river mouths, mouths of shallow bays and weedlines.

Panfish - Stable weather has the panfish working weedlines and weedbeds again. Key this time of the year is to find the green weeds. Brown weeds are no good. Last hour of light continues to be the best time to target crappies as they move into the weedbeds to feed. Beetle spins, jig/twisters or crappie minnows fished under a bobber have been very effective. Sunfish are again being found inside green weedbeds. Small red worms fished under a bobber have been very effective for catching big bluegills.

Stream trout anglers enjoyed some good fishing this last week. Anglers looking to do a little grouse hunting and fishing walked into some lesser fishing stream trout lakes this last week and found hungry, lightly fished trout. Night crawlers fished under a bobber about 5 to 10 feet down, which proved to be the best way to catch some really nice stream trout. Anglers fishing from a boat trolled cowbells tipped with small crankbaits, over deep water for limits of stream trout.

Lake trout anglers have been finding active lakers this last week. Lakers continue to congregate around sunken islands as they prepare to spawn next month. Depth of the humps anglers were finding lakers ranging from ones that topped out from 20-40ft of water. Large tubes, bucktails or jigging spoons have been very effective for anglers." — Arrowhead Outdoors, 218-365-5358

Lake of the Woods, LOW Tourism September 24, 2025

"Walleye action has been excellent along the south shore of Lake of the Woods. The fall bite is setting up nicely, with fish spread out across a variety of locations. Jumbo perch remains a nice bonus, adding variety to the bucket alongside limits of walleyes and saugers.

Anglers are targeting traditional spots like Pine Island, Morris Point, Zippel Bay, and Long Point, but schools are showing up in other nearshore areas as well. Most folks are finding walleyes in 17 to 27 feet of water. Vertical jigging with a frozen emerald shiner continues to be the top producer, with anglers reporting strong numbers of both walleyes and saugers. Jig colors making a big difference this week include gold/red, green, plain gold, white, pink, and gold/orange.

While jigging has been the go-to presentation, some anglers are still pulling spinners with crawlers or trolling crankbaits to cover water effectively, proving all three techniques can produce depending on conditions. As water temps continue cooling and daylight shortens, expect shoreline activity to strengthen even more in the weeks ahead.

On the Rainy River, emerald shiners are starting to show in the river, and walleye fishing in the river this week was good. The bite will only improve as the shiner run builds. The most effective presentation remains a jig and frozen emerald shiner, worked along current breaks, holes, and sand flats.

Sturgeon activity is also strong this fall. A sturgeon rig loaded with crawlers, sometimes tipped with a shiner, has been the winning setup. Remember, the sturgeon harvest season is open through September 30, 2025 switching to catch-and-release October 1, 2025 through April 23, 2026.

The Rainy River offers 42 miles of navigable water from Wheeler’s Point through Baudette and east to Birchdale, with numerous boat ramps for access.

At the Northwest Angle, fishing is excellent, with strong numbers of walleyes and saugers keeping anglers busy. Crappies are also in the mix, and many are being found around islands and over basin mud. Structure such as reefs, neck-down areas, and mud-to-rock transitions remain key. Muskie activity is ramping up as water temps cool, with both follows and successful hook-ups being reported. Pike and smallmouth bass remain solid backup options, with pike coming from weedy bays and smallmouth relating to rocky points and shorelines.

With dropping water temps and shorter days, the bite across Lake of the Woods will only continue to get better. The 10 day forecast shows warm temps and very low precipitation, a great stretch of fall weather ahead." — Lake of the Woods Tourism, (800) 382-FISH

September 23, 2025 "Weed Whipping Walleye Pike and Perch"

The walleyes on Winnie, at least the ones that my friend Captain Jake Premo could see, were in 4 feet of water, feeding on minnows. “There are hundreds of them swimming, being chased by one boat, to another and then back again. Everybody can see them, and everybody is trying to catch them. We’ve thrown jigs and minnows and paddle tails at them and sometimes one will chase the lure, but they won’t take the bait.”

The sunshine, flat calm and warming water tempted schools of minnows and small perch to move into shallow sandy flats. Walleyes, realizing the feeding opportunity, followed them and that’s why folks could see the fish cruising around. I’ve seen this occur myself and experienced firsthand the frustration of trying to attract fish to strike and getting nothing but the cold shoulder. I think that maybe the first angler to find those fish would have caught some, but anglers arriving afterward would have struggled.

For me, Winnie Walleyes were aloof too, but the ones we found weren’t that shallow and we did, occasionally, get one of them to strike. A handful of keepers, along with some slot-fish, some perch and northern pike made the action just good enough to keep us interested. The one pattern that worked for me, and I think some of my friends too, was focusing on finding the heaviest weeds possible, and focusing on fishing them. Open water spots like the bars, for me, had gone dead, and so had gravel patches and sand flats. Without cover, it seems, fish in deep, shallow and mid-depth flats alike were all too "boat shy" to be effectively pursued.

Improved water clarity may be partly responsible for that, still somewhat stained, we can see the bottom at increasing depths. For us, the lake bottom was clearly visible in about 8 feet on Monday. The lack of striong winds, along with minimal drainage from streams and low-lying areas encourges clearer water. Cooling water decreases algae blooms too and that increases water clarity.

A few days back, I reported that low-lying weeds on the flats were holding fish. Yesterday, those areas still held some singles and doubles, but the larger schools of fish had dissipated. I think they’ll be back, but it’s likely that those fish were the same ones that Captain Jake saw in the shallows. Whenever the baitfish fall back into the weedy cover on the flats, the walleyes will follow them back out. Walleyes, like the one you see pictured on the screen of my graph were active and struck when encountered. The trouble was covering enough territory to encounter decent numbers of them.

Thicker and shallower growing weeds like eelgrass, clasping leaf pondweed and other dense cover held more fish, and they were easier to catch. Key depths ranged from 6 to 9 feet deep, and while there were several ways to catch them, trolling spinners was the easiest way to deal with the heavy cover.

The mix of fish leaned heavily toward small perch and northern pike but there were a few walleyes in the mix too. The presence of pike was good news for my crew Kyle and Karen Reynolds love both catching and harvesting them. The perch were mainly too small for us, but some of the better ones were also harvested. The walleyes in heavy cover were larger, all falling within the protected slot. The keepers, for us, came from the thinner weeds on the flats.

Even on days when fishing is slow, there are usually some highlights. The Hippie Chick tagged along, and she boated the nice “slot walleye” you see pictured here. Karen had a knack for hooking keeper size pike on both ends of the spectrum. She bagged a few 21-1/2 inch pike and also spun up a nice 28-inch pike. Kyle’s specialty was catching keeper walleyes and protected pike. I even caught a couple of fish, one large walleye on a paddle tail, and a nice fat pike on a spinner.

Today, I have another charter, and the plan is to fish Winnie again. If the NOAA weather forecast is correct, I’m in for another sunny and calm day. So, my goal is to build on what we learned yesterday and skip every other kind of fishing spot except the weediest ones. While I might be in for another day of grinding away, trolling through the weeds all day long might be the recipe for racking up a higher score. I’ll let you in on the results tomorrow.   — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email on Facebook on X

September 22, 2025 "Suspending the Suspend-Able"

As a rule, I look for crappies in the fall at the confluence of shallow flats, deep water, and steep breaklines. First, I look for areas where a steep inside corner meets the shoreline. If they’re not there, I check the weeds to rule out that crappies haven’t moved out yet. If they’re not there, I look for fish on deeper water flats that are spread horizontally, usually along the bottom. From mid-September on, whether they bite or not, one of those 3 locations almost always leads me to the fish. Learn More Here >> Following Out Fall Crappies

This year, I’ve learned to add one more trick to the rules for finding early fall crappies. Suspended just below the surface, spread out horizontally, and over the deepest, mid-lake flats, but not over the deepest portions of mid-lake basins. Got it, simple, right?

The presentation for catching the crappies you see pictured here, along with others that my customers have caught in recent days were caught using large, #4 Indiana spinner blades (pictured), tipped with minnows. The weights we’re using are 3/16-ounce bullet sinkers, and the trolling speeds range from .9 to 1.1 mph. That combination puts the lures about 6 to 8 feet below the surface of the water.

The locations we’re fishing at are mid-lake flats, adjacent to deep water, main basin holes. The holes, like this one, are about 35 feet deep. The flats, like this one, are 26 to 28 feet deep, and the fish, like these, are suspended 2 to 12 feet deep, just below the surface of the water.

Unlike tightly formed schools of crappies that I would typically find using rules 1 through 3, these fish are found in small schools, 1 to 5 fish in a spot, maximum. And when I say that they were spread out, I mean spread across the entire flat, surrounding the entire expanse of the mid lake basin. At times, my trolling pattern would span ¼ quarter of a mile.

If you’re thinking that the search for fish like these could be tedious, you’re right. However, there is one happy part of the tedium, when I see a fish on my graph, even a single, somebody in my boat almost always catches it and when I see 2, see the photo, we catch them both. That means that there is enough action to keep the search interesting. Between strikes, we talk and solve all of the world's problems; that can be interesting too.

It means too, I think, that the reason for fish spreading out in this manner has something to do with a feeding opportunity that they are taking advantage of. What that opportunity is, and how often it occurs is a question for fisheries biologists. Luckily, I know some experts in the field, and I’m reaching out to them for their opinions. I’ll be sharing those, along with whatever I can learn on my own, in coming reports.

In yesterday’s report, I highlighted recent walleye fishing trips on Lake Winnie. What I didn’t mention is that some of the perch we’ve caught in recent days have come from Cass Lake rather than Winnie. Typically, that should warrant a separate report but in this instance it doesn’t. That’s because the patterns and presentations we used were identical on both lakes.

To find fish, we troll spinners tipped with minnows until 1 or 2 “keeper” size fish are caught. Then I spot lock the boat, and we begin fan-casting with 1/8-ounce jigs and minnows. Whenever the action fizzles out, we start the process over, searching for a fresh school of perch. If you didn’t read yesterday’s report, do it now and you’ll find more details.

Today, I’m going into day 2 of 4 with Karen and Kyle Reynolds and with crappies already packed and frozen, in pursuit of some walleyes. Looking at the forecast, weather is predicted to be warm and calm, not only today, but also tomorrow, and Wednesday, and Thursday and on and on all week long. That, if the predications prove to be true, should make it an interesting week. How interesting? I’ll let you know as the days ahead unfold. — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email on Facebook on X

September 21, 2025 "Slow Tapering Into Fall Fishing"

Surface water temperatures rebounded from the lows that occurred after last week’s cold front. A few days of sunny, warm and calm weather brought them back into the 64-to-65-degree range over the lake’s I’ve visited. For me, the longer water temperatures remain in this range, the happier I’ll be.

Why, you’re asking, wouldn’t you rather see the temperatures drop a little more to ensure that the fall bite ramps up even more?

The answer is no, while cooler temperatures “may” help whip the fish into a more intense feeding spurt, the tradeoff would be clearer water, and greater dependency on ideal weather conditions, especially for walleye fishing. Provided that clear water lakes remain stained, brought about by algae blooms, anglers who fish using traditional methods have a better chance of getting in on the action. Clearer water favors the video gamers, and that’s fine for them, but the health of sport fishing, generally, depends more on the average anglers participation.

Without doubt, fish activity in north central Minnesota’s Itasca region is already ramping up. Over the past week, I’ve fished 5 lakes and had fishing charters for crappies, sunfish, perch and walleyes. The rule of thumb has been when I find fish, they are at the least catchable and at the most, some of the fish have been feeding aggressively. I know this is subjective, but in my opinion, if fish are already catchable, then I’m satisfied with catching them at a moderate pace. Additionally, the slower the water cools, the longer we have to enjoy good fall fishing action.
Okay, so what are the trends right now?

Walleyes, on Lake Winnie have been getting more active this week. Even on days that don’t favor greater fishing, we still pick up a reasonable number of them. On ideal days, overcast and breezy, like the one we enjoyed yesterday, encountering fish almost guarantees that the fish will strike. Many of them are moving toward the shorelines, and holding in place wherever the fish find low-lying, grassy cover, and in turn, baitfish. Slow tapering breaks, and flats from about 6 to 12 feet of water were the best for me.

The plant, near as I can tell, is fine grass called water nymph, but don’t quote me on that. It doesn’t matter exactly what type of vegetation you’re fishing, if there’s enough of it to provide cover for the baitfish, then there will also be predators in the area, capitalizing on it. On your graph, it appears as “fuzzy stuff” that grows a foot or two above the bottom. Wherever I find this type of cover on Winnie, I find baitfish, along with a mix of perch, walleye and pike.

Presentations have varied this week, with jigs-minnows, spinners-minnows, and Lindy Rigging, in that order, the most effective for me. Jigging, whenever I know where the fish are, has been the preferred method of catching fish. When I don’t know where the fish are, we use spinners tipped with minnows to find them. As soon as we catch a fish or two, we put away the spinners, pull out the jigging rods and “fine tune” the location.

The troll, then jig method has been effective for locating walleyes, but it has been exceptionally useful for locating perch. Perch, which have been illusive this summer, seemingly coming out of hiding. There are large schools of them but they are dominated by small fish. The larger ones are there too, and they strike willingly, until the hordes of small fish gather and take over the action. When that happens, we start trolling to the flats until the next capture of better size fish. Once that happens, we stop the boat, spot-lock in position and pitch jigs and minnows to catch them.

Also effective for walleyes, the troll, then jig method not only helped us gather fish for dinner yesterday but also lead Carl to the fat walleye you see pictured here. The fish was one of only a few caught while we used the spinners. Once we knew that there were walleyes present, drifting and jigging with minnows produced several keepers.

In the grassy cover, we noticed that snap jigging, using a sharp vertical hop-drop-hop-drop presentation worked best. When you think about it, the jig popping up and over the grass helps attract attention. It also helps keep the grass off of the jig hooks and when they run cleaner, they get struck more often.

I mentioned that walleyes were in transition, and they are. We’ve been able to locate small schools of fish moving from deeper water toward the shorelines. Following the edges of mid-lake bars, the nomadic fish are never in the same place twice. Interestingly, these fish are primarily small, 12 to 13 inch size fish, or else larger fish in the protected slot. Few of them have been keepers, so we’re focusing on getting CPR fish. When I encounter them, Lindy Rigging, using larger minnows has been an effective way to get them. The minnows could be creek chubs, red tails, pike suckers or large golden shiners. I use whatever the bait shops have available and they’ve worked as long as they are lively and swimming.

Key depths on the bars has been shallow, ranging from 15 to 18 feet in many areas. At times, they slide over the edges, into 18 to 22 foot depths. Be prepared to explore, there are not large, concentrated schools of fish on these structures. Instead, there are singles, doubles and small packs of fish scattered all over the mid-lake bars. One note, if you see a few boats fishing in an area, avoid them. The nomadic bar fish allow one pass, maybe two, but once they’ve been pursued, they get lockjaw. So the trick is to be the first angler to fish in fresh territory.

I am up against the clock right now, and have to get ready for today’s trip, but I’ll pick up from here again tomorrow morning. Stay tuned. — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email on Facebook on X

Cutfoot Sioux and Lake Winnibigoshish Fishing Report September 19, 2025

"This week, summer-like weather returned, water temperatures rebounded into the upper 60s. Under sunny skies and warm temperatures, algae blooms held up and water, while clearing, remains moderately stained. So, in most regions of the lakes, the schools of migrating fish remained in place, and can be found on all 4 sides of the lake.

At the same time, travel conditions on Lake Winnie and Cutfoot Sioux have been favorable. We can’t say that the action has been fast, but on most days, folks who search for active fish have been able to capitalize on an uptick in feeding activity; particularly improved has been perch action. Perch locations vary, but there are 2 main strategies for finding the best spots.

First, shallow patches of wild celery, known also as eelgrass are a preferred habitat for perch. Key water depths range from 2 to 6 feet and most common locations are in the outer flowages, and back bays. Explore the vegetation by either drifting or slowly trolling while fishing with jig and minnow combinations. Once encountered, anchoring, or “spot-locking” works well because the tightly formed schools of fish seldom move away from this type of cover.

Second, flats that feature low-lying grasses also hold good numbers of perch, mixed with walleyes and pike. Keye depths vary but generally range from 6 to 12 feet deep. On the screen of your graph, the vegetation appears to ..." Read >> Bowen Lodge Lake Winnie Fishing Report September 19, 2025

Lake of the Woods, LOW Tourism September 17, 2025

"On the south end of Lake of the Woods, walleyes are setting up in good numbers, relating tp water depths of 22 to 27 feet of water. Reports coming from anglers indicate that the bite is excellent as we move deeper into fall. Water temperatures remain in the low 60s, and fish are starting to slide into a variety of locations adjacent to the south shore. As the days shorten and the waters cool further, expect shoreline activity to steadily increase. Anglers are already reporting limits of both walleyes and saugers, along with some jumbo perch showing up in the mix as well.

Vertical jigging with a frozen emerald shiner has been the most popular and productive technique, but anglers are also having success pulling spinners with crawlers and trolling crankbaits to cover water.

The areas in front of Pine Island, Morris Point, Zippel Bay, and Long Point area are all holding fish. Jumbo perch have been in very good numbers all year and are a welcome bonus.

On the Rainy River, there are some emerald shiners that have entered the river, but the big push has not arrived yet. Still, anglers are finding walleyes in the system and catching fish fairly consistently. It will only get better as water temps cool down and days get shorter.

The go-to presentation remains a jig tipped with a frozen emerald shiner. Working fishy areas in the river such as holes, bars, current breaks, and flats will produce walleyes.

In addition, sturgeon activity is picking up as fall progresses. A sturgeon rig with a load of nightcrawlers, sometimes paired with a frozen shiner, has been the winning setup. The sturgeon "harvest" season runs through September 30, 2025, with catch-and-release beginning October 1, 2026 and running through April 23, 2026.

There are 42 miles of navigable river from the mouth of the river at Wheeler's Point down through Baudette and east to Birchdale with many boat ramps along the way.

Up at the Northwest Angle, fishing remains excellent with big numbers of walleyes and crappies keeping anglers very busy. The incredible variety of structure—islands, neck-down areas, reefs, and mud transitions—is producing fish consistently.

Muskie anglers are also reporting success, with both follows and catches coming as fish ramp up feeding in the cooling water. Pike remain a mainstay in the mix, while smallmouth bass continue to provide action around rocky points and shorelines. As the waters continue cooling, anglers can expect the shoreline bite and river action to only get better in the coming weeks." — Lake of the Woods Tourism, (800) 382-FISH

Wired2Fish "Live Bait Fishing for Perch"

"They’re older, wiser and very selective. But they’re also incredibly tasty and respectably sporty light tackle targets.

That’s why Brian “Bro” Brosdahl doesn’t mind putting in the time to track down the jumbo yellow perch that often require more than the usual treatment. Plenty of perch fall for jigs and other artificials, but when dealing with the pickiest of perch, the Minnesota guide knows that nothing fools ‘em faster than the real thing.

“I always bring live bait, because even on big water, the bigger fish have had a lot of baits dropped on them,” Brosdahl said. “They come up on those flats and they ..." Read Full Story to Learn More >> Live Bait Fishing For Perch with Brian (Bro) Brosdahl

Ely Area, Arrowhead Outdoors Fishing Report September 17, 2025

"Walleye - Stable weather has the walleyes back on the fall feeding binge. Big minnows in the 4 to 6 inch size range have been getting the vast majority of bites now from both small and large walleyes, right up to the trophies. 3/8 ounce jigs have been very popular as anglers are finding walleyes in 20 to 30 feet of water now.

Anglers are reporting that walleyes can be on the sharp breaks that drop into 30 feet of water or are located near the base of these sharp breaks. Good reports from anglers trolling crankbaits continue to also come in from anglers. Anglers trolling are reporting that they are catching walleyes in 25 to 30 feet of water over deep sand or mud flats. Perch, silver/blue and gold have been popular colors.

Smallmouth Bass - Anglers are reporting that the big numbers of trophy smallies are now covering sunken islands. Smallies are being found on humps anywhere from 10 to 25 feet right now. Depends on the day and location of the humps, but once you find them that day you will catch them. Deep diving crankbaits, heavy chatterbaits, spinnerbaits and drop shotting have been very effective at catching lots of smallies right now.

Panfish - As stable weather returned, anglers quickly noticed the panfish started returning to any green weeds that they could find. Anglers are reporting that both crappies and sunnies are being found on the weedlines in about 12 feet of water. Swimming a 1/16 ounce jig tipped with twisters, along the weedlines, has been very effective here for crappies. Anglers targeting sunfish have been catching good numbers of them with red worms fished under a bobber.

Northern Pike - Many anglers reported that trophy pike continue to be caught. Many anglers fished with a large sucker, dead or alive, under a large bobber along weedlines, mouths of shallow bays and river mouths. Large swim baits, spoons and large crankbaits also produced good numbers of large pike.

Stream trout - Stream trout anglers continue to report catching good numbers of rainbows this last week. Trolling with cowbells, tipped with a small crankbait, continues to be the best way to go. Anglers fishing from shore continue to report that they are catching trout fishing a night crawler under a bobber about 5 to 15 feet under the surface.

Lake trout - Finally some calmer winds gave anglers a chance to get out and target lake trout. Anglers reported that they were catching and marking lakers on or near sunken islands that ranged in depth from 25 to 50 feet of water. Trolling large trolling spoons around these areas produced lake trout for many anglers. Anglers unable to use down riggers had good luck jigging heavy tubes and bucktails over and around these same areas." — Arrowhead Outdoors, 218-365-5358

September 16, 2025 "One Windy, Wavy, Wobbly Walleye Report"

There’s more than one way to do almost everything, especially when it comes to catching a walleye. Bugs Benton, Dana Cooke and I did our best to prove that in as many ways possible this Monday (9-15-2025).

There was a strong south wind predicted for the Bena MN area, so we planned to start our trip at the south end of the lake. As we rolled out onto the water, the surface water temperature was 64 degrees, and would rise throughout the day. Thanks to a full day of sunny, warm weather, I was seeing readings as high as 66.5 by late afternoon.

In the morning, the breeze was steady, but not overwhelming so fishing on Big Musky Bar was “do-able”. Using the drift sock and backing into the waves allowed us to slip along the breakline in 16 to 20 feet of water. At speeds of .5 to .7 mph, 2 of us were able to fish using ¼ ounce jigs tipped with minnows. The 3rd, Dana in this case, fished with a Lindy Rig behind a ½ ounce egg sinker. The leader, plain mono, 6 feet long and using a #4 octopus hook, tipped with 4-to-5-inch minnows was equally easy to manage.

A few days ago, I wrote that fish were scattered along the drop on the east shoreline. Similarly, there were walleyes scattered along this drop off too, that’s the good news. The bad news is that most of them occupied 2 ends of a scale that did not include many “keeper” size fish. There were some 12- to 13-inch-long fish, along with some 20-to-22-inch fish and they were entertaining but not adding to the larder. After a couple of hours, we harvested 1 14-inch fish, and 1 23-inch fish.

I knew that a move was in order, but which way to go was sort of a confusing question. There were reports, including mine, of decent fishing along the east side of the lake. But there were also reports of decent fishing on the west side of the lake. The wind, blowing from the south side of the lake would provide a chop on either side of the lake. Because there have been some nice perch biting on the west side, I chose to go that way, instead of moving east.

When we arrived at the west shoreline, there were 2-foot waves rolling along the shallow breakline. We could drift fish with jigs if we chose to, or we could troll backward using spinners if we were in that mood. And for me, experimenting with jigs and plastics was an intriguing idea too. Long story short, we wound up doing all of those things, and all of them produced some fish. What worked best for us yesterday was trolling with spinners. Not so much because the fish preferred them, but because they required less attention to detail. In the large, and growing larger waves, finesse presentations were increasingly difficult.

Eventually, the waves won the battle and boat control became a major problem. We’d had just enough success before we moved, to warrant exploration in calmer water. There were 7 walleyes and maybe a dozen perch in the livewell. If I could find another spot along the south shore, we could finish the day with style, I reasoned.

There were lots of fishable spots between Sugar Point and eastward to Little Stony Point, and we fished many of them. Whether it was due to the sunshine, the calmer water, or my bad timing in choosing spots, none of them produced the desired result. So, closing in on the finishing line, I made one more trip to the sharp drop off on Big Musky. This time, we spotted some scattered fish, but they were reluctant to strike. I was almost ready to pull the pin when Dana said enthusiastically, “fish on”. The nice specimen you see pictured here struck on the Lindy Rig tipped with a medium size creek chub.

We were already in extra innings, and the large walleye offered the perfect grand finale’ for out trip. So, we headed back to the landing and wrapped up the day.

One takeaway from Monday’s trip, I think, is that fish can be caught in a variety of ways and in a variety of locations. Another one is that it was a very good day to be Dana Cooke!

Here’s Dana with a nice walleye he caught using a spinner and minnow, another walleye he caught on a jig and minnow, and the grand finale’ walleye he caught on a Lindy Rig and small creek chub. We didn't photograph any of the nice pike, or perch that he caught, but he was busy with those too.

So, if you’re headed toward Winnie soon, experimenting with locations and presentations will be required.

With a sunny, and much calmer day forecast today, I anticipate more experimenting myself. I have a feeling that pitching jigs and minnows will work out for us, but I am going to pack some larger minnows too. The Lindy Rig and larger minnow combo worked effectively yesterday to warrant further experimentation.

The minnows we used were nothing special, they were found in the River Mix that I picked up on Saturday. There were some small creek chubs, some large rainbows, and a few leatherbacks in the mix. Today, I’ll buy, if they’re available, a supply of larger minnows and do some pre-meditated rigging with creek chubs, redtails or whatever I can find. I’ll let you know soon, how that plan works out.

— Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email on Facebook on X

Wired2Fish "Bass Tactics for Walleyes"

"The drive took five hours, all spent traveling straight north from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The final 60 minutes were a slow slog along a bumpy and dusty dirt road. When I finally opened the truck door, 187 square miles of water spread out in front of me. This lifelong bass angler with more than two decades of tournament experience was in unfamiliar territory.

Cabonga Reservoir, with shorelines that stretch 2,800 miles around bays, creeks and main lake, is deep within Quebec’s Le Verendrye Wildlife Reserve. It’s home to two outfitters offering accommodations and three main species of fish. Lake trout and Northern pike are plentiful. But its walleye receive the most attention, and that’s what I traveled all those kilometers to catch. Now I had to figure out how to fish for walleye on this body of water.

When it comes down to it, bass and walleye aren’t much different. They cohabitate many of the same waters, often swimming around the ..." View Video to Learn More >> Bass Tactics for Walleyes

September 14, 2025 "Humiliating the Humiliate-Able"

It seems like a person, to have humility, would have to have been humiliated first, right? Humiliation comes in a variety of forms, and is the process, I think, that produces soft spoken, humble and sincere people. I, Cub Reporter, Staff #003-IHBFBB, consider myself to be one, a humble person I mean. But it’s been a while since I’ve offered you a good “humility update”, since the report of October 7, 2022, I think. So, I guess it’s high time for a refresher course on the subject; here’s how my latest dosage of humiliation came about.

Saturday, the wrap-up of my 2025 “Fun with Dick and Paul” fall session started off innocently. We could only legally harvest a couple of walleyes, so that was not the priority. We didn’t have their full limit of crappies, but we didn’t need many of those either. Perch were a long way from filling their larder, but they love catching them, so in my mind, if we could find some, that would be high on the to-do list.

The weather forecast called for “partly sunny” and breezy, with east winds blowing at 5 to 10, with gusts to 15 mph. This is where I decided to get “cute” with my game plan. Now I tell the boys, “I’ll launch the boat at Little Cutfoot, we’ll catch a few crappies, then we’ll head out to the big lake, drift fish along the north shore. Somewhere between the gap, and Stony Point, we’ll run into some perch, and probably a handful of walleyes too.”  Sounded like a solid plan to me, I thought.

Small packs of crappies that were scattered around Little Cutfoot last week had seemingly disappeared. After an hour and a half, I’d checked out 3 or 4 spots where we’d come up with some decent size pike but came up empty on crappies. Watching the game clock tick away, I decided to wait on them, and come back for another look on our way back from Winnie in the afternoon. We secured some of the gear, and had begun the ride out when I received a text message from a friend; “The perch are here, in the shallow weeds”, it said. The heads up would make the search easier, I thought, so we changed course and headed his way.

Okay, now we arrive at the “perch hole” just as my buddy is wrapping up. They caught the perch while the breeze was blowing, but now, it was calm, and for us, the perch bite never happened. That was disappointing, but not the end of the world because just around the corner, there was another spot where walleyes and perch were biting. I knew that because I could see it happening from where we were, and the area, a shallow flat, with a slow tapering breakline covered a lot of territory. There was room for several boats, including mine.

Friends are there already, and they are catching fish on spinners. Trolling in water depths of 7 to 9 feet, we can see them catching a mix of walleyes, pike and nice size perch too. As we troll through the area, we see them catching fish on both sides of our boat. We know that we’re in the right spot, and that we’re using the same lures, but for us, almost nothing happens. The more we fish, the more the other boats catch; we keep watching, but for us, the scenario doesn’t change.

Amidst all of the action, I see one group catching more fish than all of the others. From where we sit, it appears that somebody in their boat has a fish hooked up almost always. As our paths crossed, I asked their captain what they were using. “Eye Candy”, he said. “Okay, I don’t have that brand, but I do have a lot of plastics on board, and we’ll give that a try,” I told him.

I told Dick and Paul to stow their spinner rigs and pull out their jigging rods, and then I pulled out my bags of plastics. Before we got to the next stage, our path crossed again with the other boat and a voice from over there said, “I’ll give you some of these lures if you want them.” “Okay, next time we get close, I’ll pull alongside for a chat,” I replied. The next time we got close, both of us stopped and the conversation with our fellow anglers began.

You know how sometimes you go into a store, and you ask an employee for a certain item and she or he says “it should be somewhere in aisle 13?”  But then other times a store employee drops whatever they’re doing and takes you by the hand and walks you to aisle 13 points at the item you’re looking for. Tim Meyer, owner of Beauty Bay Lodge in Nevis MN was the operator of the other boat and he was exceedingly helpful, gracious and generous.

Meyer not only showed us the lures he and his crew were using but also gave us a small supply of them to try for ourselves. Northland Tackle’s Eye-Candy, Paddle Shad paired with their 1/8-ounce Smeltinator Jig was the lure they had set up. Their method consisted of trolling at about .7 to 1.0 mph while they fished the jigs using an aggressive sweep-fall presentation. “You can’t jig it too hard,” Meyer advised.

Once we got rigged up with the lures, and became familiar with the correct jigging motion, fish began to cooperate with us. As you can see by accompanying pictures, we caught perch, walleye and pike using them. I’ve written about using plastics for walleyes before, and often, the theme is that I can catch fish on them, but my customers, not often highly skilled anglers, tend to struggle with them. This time, there was still an imbalance, the lures worked better for me, than it did for Dick and Paul. That said, it did work for them, and by my standards, this was impressive.

You might be thinking, “Okay Jeff, you already said that there were other boats catching fish in the same area using other presentations too.” Yes, that’s right, I did. Spinners tipped with minnows was working, and so were jigs tipped with minnows. This is one of the few times that I observed, firsthand any artificial lures that were working better than live bait. It was clear to me that Meyer and his crew were catching fish faster than anybody else who was fishing in that area.

Okay, just so you know, I asked Meyer if Northland supplied him with the lures. No, he said that these were bought and paid for by him. Judging by the size of his collection, I’d say that Meyer is a true believer in these lures. He had dozens of jigs, along with many bags full of paddle tails to use with them. Likewise, I don’t have any professional or financial reason to promote the items either, so you can consider this an unsolicited, third-party endorsement.

It's too bad that we got in on the tail end of the bite, instead of participating in it from the beginning. As the sun rose higher in the sky, and the wind faded away, the action slowed way down. I think that if we would’ve gotten there earlier, and been offered Meyer’s guidance then, we’d have brought a lot more fish topside for Dick and Paul’s grand finale.

As it turned out, we still had a nice day, finishing up with a few walleyes and some nice perch for the trip home. Along the way, there were more northern pike and larger walleyes released too. Believe it or not though, the best part of the day for me was the fishing lesson by Myers. Despite the humiliation of being the boat that wasn’t keeping up with the others, I walked away from the day better educated than I was at the beginning of it. Thank you for that Mr. Meyer, I’ll take the lesson as a win! — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email on Facebook on X

September 12, 2025 "Fun with Dick, Paul and Winnie Walleye!"

I was drifting off to sleep when the Hippie Chick asked, “was it windy out there today?” “Yes, it was blowing pretty good,” I said. “Did it rain at all?” she followed up. “Nope, no rain, but it was foggy and cloudy, sort of damp,” I replied. “It must have been cold out there?” she queried. “Yup, it was perfect, I hope the weather is just like it again tomorrow. Night sweetie,” I concluded.

Ironically, I’d had a similar exchange with Paul earlier yesterday. I was talking about how beautiful the weather was, how the clouds and wind and whitecaps were making me happy. “You realize how backwards and odd that sounds, right? Paul asked.

Yeah, I know, it’s not the weather that most folks appreciate, they’d prefer sunshine and calm seas. If you love to catch walleyes though, pulling up your hood and bracing against the waves with a bent fishing rod in your hand just feels so good! I wish the weather was just like this every day of the fishing season!

The surface water temperature on Winnie was locked in at about 62 degrees. A typical point of resistance at this time of the season. Like I said, the brisk southeast breeze stirred up some whitecaps but was not so strong as to hamper boat control. Our drift speed, with the aid of my drift sock averaged .6 to .8 MPH, perfect for fishing with a jig and minnow. A presentation that was working well, not only for us, but for most of my friends who checked in throughout the day.

Fish location varied, some of the better spots included fishing in patches of vegetation along the shoreline. Here, the key depths ranged from 6 to 8 feet, I think it was the presence of weeds, rather than the water depth, that produced the best results. Whenever we could feel weeds tugging at our lures, there were fish. Clear stretches of sandy bottom produced nothing, not even small fish or perch.

In the shallow water, 1/8-ounce jigs tipped with minnows worked for us. The minnows I had were from Fred’s Bait, and they call it “river mix”. Golden shiners, rainbows, small creek chubs, dace, fatheads and other minnows make up the mix. If the fish had a preference for any one of them, we couldn’t tell, they struck all of them, it seemed. Size of the minnows was not a huge concern either, if we didn’t use the smallest ones in the pail.

The largest minnows in the mix are too large for effective jigging, so I used those on Lindy Rigs. Every single one of the large minnows were eaten by walleyes and many of them were hooked. The problem was that most of them did not make it all the way to the boat. Some combination of a small hook, over-eager smaller fish and my unwillingness to “over-feed” the line meant that the hook ups were not solid. That’s okay, I would rather lose some fish rather than hook them too deeply. Especially when there’s a high percentage of fish that we intend to release anyway.

There were some fish scattered on deeper, steeper breaklines too, that’s the good news. The bad news, if you want to call it that, is that fish are spread out over long distance. On Thursday, we made on drift on the east side drop, some folks call it Moxies Hole, that spanned almost 4 miles. Occasionally, we’d encounter a small pack of 3 to 5 fish and have a short flurry of action. Most often though, we picked up singles that were holding along the steep breakline. Some of them were holding high, in 16 to 17 feet of water. Others were holding slightly lower, with 22 to 23 feet of water the most common.

In the deeper water, ¼ ounce jigs tipped with the same river mix worked fine. If there is a magic color, I can’t say what it is. We used blue-glow, perch-glow, green, yellow and pink-glow, all with equal results.

Whether shallow or deep, the fish sizes were all over the map. We caught some walleyes as small as 12 inches, and also a handful of them in the 20-to-23-inch range too. For dinner, we kept some fish that, when stretched, reached the 14 inch mark on the ruler. And for the trip home, we added 2 walleyes that were 15.5 and 16.5 inches respectively. If you’re thinking that’s not much of a haul, especially on a day when the fish were active, you’re right.

That is just the way it is on Winnie right now, mid-range, 15-to-17-inch fish are in short supply. The strong 2018- and 2019-year class fish are mostly all in the protected slot now. Fish in the 18.5 to 20.0 range are common. Also common are the 13-to-14-inch fish which appear to represent a fairly strong year class from 2023. Theoretically, those fish will be ideal keepers during the 2026 fishing season, that is if folks don’t harvest too many of them this fall.

As of yesterday, there were still quite a few folks trolling with spinners. Early in the day, it did not sound like that was a stellar presentation. That might have changed throughout the day though, and I will try to learn more about it today.

So far, day 3 was the most fun, of the fun with Dick and Paul, fall session. I’m going to take a serious run at improving on that today because I see the forecast calls for another breezy and cloudy day. Wouldn’t that be nice, another beautiful day on the lake? Oh man, I love this job, I can hardly wait to get to work this morning! — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email on Facebook on X

Wired2Fish "Mastering Late-Summer Bass Fishing"

"Bob Downey targets late-summer offshore bass on humps, points, and rock transitions near deep basins. He starts with a crankbait. Then he shifts to a Carolina rig and a drop shot to clean up finicky schools. He stresses casting angles, bottom contact, and reading bluegill beds as bait cues. Expect a fast start, a slow grind, and a midday rally.

Offshore Gameplan: Downey scans small mid-lake humps first. He notes sand, rock, and boulder edges. He also watches late-summer bluegill beds for life. These cues mark bait and bass. He lines up the best casting angle before firing. Downey stays mobile and works multiple points around deep basins. Covering water efficiently while protecting high-percentage lanes is key.

Bait Rotation: First comes the crankbait to cover water and reach depth. He contacts bottom, ticks rock, and changes lanes until a school fires. If bass ignore the crankbait, ..." View Video to Learn More >> Mastering Late-Summer Bass Fishing

September 11, 2025 "Fun (In The Sun) With Dick & Paul, Fall 2025 Day 2" Crappies move, Sunfish Don’t, Perch and Walleyes Hunker Down.

Day 2 of Fun (In the Sun) With Dick and Paul featured warm sunshine and calm water. As I headed across Hwy 2, my brain was telling me not to try fishing for perch and walleye today. My heart was telling me that I might get lucky, especially if fish that I found in the weeds last week were still in the same locations and were willing to bite.

An optimist by nature, I imagined that crappies, another species that I’d found in the same locations last week might still be there too. So, I listened to my heart and headed toward that lake again, but not without a Plan B.

When we arrived, the surface temperature was 64 degrees, and the lake was calm as glass. Looking into the water, we could see every blade of grass in the formerly stained, but now clear, Zebra Mussel infested water. Now concerned, but still optimistic, my thoughts turned to the shady cover and how all of those dense weeds would hold hungry fish and that we’d be able to eek out a decent catch.

That was how I imagined the trip would go, here’s how it actually went.

Spot 1, trolling with spinners, catching perch, not a keeper in the bunch. Spot 2, trolling spinners, catching pike, not a keeper in the bunch. Spot 3, trolling spinners, spotting a musky, that was cool, but still not a keeper in the bunch. Spot 4, trolling spinners, catching nothing. Okay boys, I guess it’s time for Plan B, a short drive toward another lake.

At lake 2, there was a light breeze, the surface water was green with algae blooming heavily, as it often does on sunny days after a cold front. Surface temperatures ranged from 63 to 65 degrees depending on specific locations.

After cruising around the lake, searching for schools of panfish, I located a decent looking spot. We began trolling over schools of suspended fish. Some of them were suspended holding about 8 to 10 feet below the surface. Others were suspended, but holding deeper, at 15 to 20 feet of water. The plan was simple, Dick and Paul would run spinners tipped with minnows, behind 3/16-ounce bullet sinkers. I’d run a spinner too, tipped with ½ night crawler behind a heavy, 1-ounce egg sinker.

The idea was that the higher running lures would trigger crappies, while the deeper running rig would attract sunfish, and maybe a walleye. Mostly, the plan worked, especially for sunfish, which were gathered in more tightly formed schools. Crappies were scattered, and it was common to see 1 fish at a time, spread out horizontally across the entire mid-lake basin. Some of them were aggressive enough to strike the spinners, but others nipped at the tails, missing the business end of the hook.

An experiment, suggested by Dick, worked better. Drifting through the same territory using 1/8-ounce jigs tipped with minnows was more efficient, I think. Moving at about .6 MPH and dropping the lures over the edge of the boat about 1-1/2 rod lengths attracted and triggered strikes from the scattered fish. I can’t say that the action was faster, but I can say that the hook up rate was better, and the boys caught more fish because of it. As an experiment, I used a small jigging Rapala, and that lure fooled a couple of fish too, but it was not keeping up with the jig-minnow combination.

The crappie behavior, spreading out horizontally, is common after a hard cold front, and it may be temporary. But it is definitely something to look for, especially if you’ve had crappies pinned down and find that they’ve suddenly disappeared. Conversely, I’ve seen the scenario reversed, fish that were once located over mid-lake basins disappeared, then showed back up in the weeds.

Sunfish on the other hand seem to stay put or at least stay close to where I find them. It might be food related, or because of preferred structure. Either way, once I know where they are in a lake, I can usually find them nearby again.

Okay, so that’s the update. Walleyes and perch were hunkered down, so we switched lakes, and fished for panfish. Later, we arrived at the Big Fish Supper Club with 15 sunfish and 12 crappies, and then they cooked up 10 of the sunfish for our dinner. All things considered, that was a decent day, but we’ll want to try for walleyes again soon.

Today’s forecast, partly sunny, with a high near 74. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph, appears favorable for the south end of Winnibigoshish. Hopefully, perch, walleye, or both will respond favorably to a chop on the water. One way or the other, I’ll let you know tomorrow. — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email on Facebook on X

September 10, 2025 "Reporting the Report-Able"

I have a knack for staying busy and most days, including today, there isn’t enough time to complete everything that I have on my ‘to-do” list. So, I’ll apologize now for being a couple of days behind on my own firsthand fishing reports from the lakes. I do have enough time though to get in this quick update.

The weather began stabilizing on Monday, in the wake of the recent cold front. Winds moderated, blowing at about 5 to 10 MPH throughout the day, but cloudy weather persisted. Surface water temperatures stopped going down, settling in at about 60 to 61 degrees. In my opinion, the fishing trip on Lake Winnie should have been excellent that day. Instead, I’ll call it “okay” for walleye, but “good” for perch.

Perch always respond well to overcast weather, and Monday was no exception. Most everywhere I fished with my crew, Kevin Corwell and Keith Carpernter, pictured, we caught numbers of them. Some were better than others, with lots of fish in the 6-to-9-inch range hitting both jigs and minnows, and spinners tipped with live minnows. Occasionally, one of the perch would be larger, entering the 11-to-12-inch category and by days end, we’d added about a dozen “keepers” to our larder.

Walleyes were biting, and in shallow water were hitting best on spinners tipped with minnows. Out deeper though, in water depths of 16 to 22 feet, ¼ ounce live bait jigs tipped with golden shiners worked better. Fishing the edges of mid-lake structures, moving slowly, and using a deliberately gentle, hop-drop-hop-drop presentation, we picked up several walleyes. A few of them were in the protected slot, a few of them were small, 13 inches and below, 5 of them were keepers, 14 to 17 inches in length.

Overall, we had a good time, and there were enough fish in our livewell to satisfy us that day. What excited me, looking forward to Tuesday, was the presence of perch. With Dick and Paul headed north, I figured on catching some keeper perch on the kick off of “Fun with Dick and Paul” 2025, fall session.
That plan changed when the clouds moved out of the area on Tuesday. The wind stopped blowing too, and for me, perch fishing got tougher. Areas that were loaded with them on Monday, still offered some action, but few of them were solid keepers. Using 10 inches as the minimum size, we saved only 7 perch for the ride home.

Ironically, walleyes that were tough to come by on Monday, under ideal conditions, struck better on Tuesday. Despite sunny skies and calm seas, we harvested 3 solid, 17-inch keepers, and 5 14 inch “eaters” for our rendezvous at the Gosh Dam Place for dinner.  Along the way, we released a few “slot-fish” and maybe a half dozen 13-inch throw-backs. I know, that’s not the best day ever, but like I said, under the circumstances, it seemed pretty good.

Friends fishing around Lake Winnie reported similar results, everybody was catching some fish, maybe not at a fast pace though. I think those reports indicate that there are some good days coming. For me, walleyes biting under marginal conditions means that when conditions turn favorable, the action will be good.

Plans for today, Day 2 of “Fun with Dick and Paul” 2025, fall session are in development. We might be fishing for crappies, unless I see more wind in the forecast. Then we’ll likely go after the walleye and perch mix again. Either way, I’ll get you up to speed about it on Thursday morning. — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email on Facebook on X

Lake of the Woods, LOW Tourism September 10, 2025

"Surface water temperatures are starting to drop into the low 60s on the south end of Lake of the Woods. The wave buoys located on Big Traverse Bay are now showing temperatures in the 61 to 63 degrees. This cooling trend combined with shorter days signals the transition period for walleyes, and anglers are finding fish in a variety of places.

Some walleyes are still holding over the deep mud, but as waters cool, more fish are pushing toward the shorelines. So other schools of walleyes are showing up adjacent to shorelines and on the edges of submerged reefs. This seasonal movement will only increase as the fall progresses.

Three primary methods of fishing dominate on L.O.W. and are producing fish right now: Jigging with a frozen emerald shiner, pulling spinners with crawlers and trolling crankbaits to cover water. Each technique has its time and place, and being versatile is paying off for anglers. The shoreline bite will only get stronger in the weeks ahead.

The first signs of fall are beginning to show on the Rainy River too. Emerald shiners are starting to trickle in, and with them comes an uptick in walleye activity. The big run hasn’t started yet, but anglers are finding more fish in the river each day. Four Mile Bay, an area between Big Traverse Bay and the Rainy River, is also giving up some nice walleyes.

A jig tipped with a frozen emerald shiner continues to be the go-to approach, a tried-and-true method for tempting these river walleyes.

The lake sturgeon bite has also picked up which is the norm in the fall. A sturgeon rig with a ball of nightcrawlers and even a frozen shiner or two is the go-to bait. The sturgeon "harvest" season continues through September 30, 2025. Then, from Oct 1, 2025 to April 23, 2026, sturgeon fishing continues with catch and release.

Up at the Northwest Angle, walleye fishing remains excellent. This region is known for its sheer abundance of fish, and right now it’s living up to its reputation. With countless islands and diverse structure, anglers are working areas such as deep mud, neck-down spots with moving water, underwater points and reefs, and transition areas where walleyes are staging.

Not only is this a great environment for walleyes, but it also holds a wide variety of other species, making the Angle a multi-species destination this time of year. Fall is a go-to time for those fishing big black crappies in this region. Pike and smallmouth bass are staples and are only more aggressive as the waters are cooling. Muskie anglers are also reporting good activity with both follows and catches.

Summary:

• South End: Walleyes transitioning from mud to shorelines; all methods (jigging, spinners, crankbaits) still working.
• Rainy River: Shiners trickling in, walleye activity increasing; jig and frozen emerald shiner the go-to. Sturgeon activity is increasing.
• Northwest Angle: Excellent walleye bite continues, with diverse structure and plenty of fish.

As water temps continue to cool, expect the shoreline and river bite to heat up even more in the coming weeks ..." — Lake of the Woods Tourism, (800) 382-FISH

Ely Area, Arrowhead Outdoors Fishing Report September 9, 2025

"Northern Pike • Reports of giant pike being landed keep coming in as pike enjoy cooler water temps. These trophy pike are looking to put weight so big suckers or large creek chubs have been very popular and very effective at getting their attention while being fished under a bobber. Large swimbaits, large spoons and large crankbaits fished around weedbeds, river mouths and mouths of shallow bays have been very effective.

Walleye • Big cold snap has the walleyes going deep in search of warmer, more stable water temps. Sharp drop in water temps also have the best walleye reports shifting from crawlers to minnows too. Best reports from anglers have bigger walleyes being found in 23 to 30 feet of water now.

Bigger minnows in that 4 to 6 inch size range have been on fire for many anglers. Anglers have been lindy rigging these bigger minnows with about a 3/4 ounce sinker to get to these depths. Jigs have also been a popular method for catching these deep walleyes. Anglers have been using 1/4 to 3/8 ounce jigs now. Good colors are orange/chart, pink, white and gold. Anglers should be looking for walleyes at the base of humps and deep drop offs.

Smallmouth Bass • Smallmouth are really stacking up out on sunken islands now too. Sunken islands that top out in 10 to 20 feet of water have been the best ones to target right now. Deep diving crankbaits, drop shotting slow rolling heavy spinnerbaits and even a big minnow on a lindy rig have all been deadly this last week. Cisco colored baits have been the best color to be throwing right now.

Stream Trout • Stream trout also enjoy cooler water temps, so it's little surprise anglers reported catching good numbers of rainbow trout this last weekend. Nightcrawlers or angleworms fished 10 to 15 feet under a bobber were very effective. Anglers also had good luck trolling small crankbaits or spoons behind cowbells, while trolling over deep water.

Lake Trout • High winds kept many lake trout anglers grounded this last week, so as a result lake trout reports remain few and far between. Limited reports from anglers were that they had some luck trolling large spoons about 30 to 50 feet down over 70 to 100 feet of water.

Panfish • Crappies and sunfish did not enjoy the cold snap. As a result many anglers reported having some success finding both crappies and sunfish out in 15-25ft of water now. As weather warms back up sunfish and crappies should start to be found again in deeper weedbeds and weedlines. Anglers had some success with crappie minnows and jigging twisters for crappies and small red worms fished under a bobber for sunfish." — Arrowhead Outdoors, 218-365-5358

Cutfoot Sioux and Lake Winnibigoshish Fishing Report September 7, 2025

"Walleye fishing, prior to this cold front was better than it had been during the weeks previous. As you’d expect, the action was best on cloudy, breezy days. But even during calm weather, our guests were picking up fish, albeit at a slower rate. The trend, typical of Winnie’s late summer, early fall period was encouraging because it is an early indicator of the start of our “fall walleye bite”. Once folks begin catching some fish on the so-called “off days”, we can count on great fishing when conditions turn favorable.

Walleye fishing on the lake this weekend provided more clues that an uptick in walleye activity has been triggered by the falling temperatures. Evident too, was a trend toward one of the classic fall fishing patterns, jigs and minnows. According to one of the local guides, jig and minnow presentations were far better on Saturday than were trolling spinners, his previously accepted best presentation for walleyes. “Just to be sure, we switched back to using spinners in an area where the fish were hitting. On a block long trolling pass, no fish were caught. As soon as we stopped, and resumed jigging, the action picked right back up again,” he commented.

The habitat, revealed in this screenshot, shows fish of all shapes and sizes that were located near ..." Read Full Report >> Bowen Lodge Lake Winnie Fishing Report September 7, 2025

September 6, 2025 "A Tempestuous Day on the Lake"

Tempestuously, that’s the description of how the winds blew this Friday. Whitecaps, flowing into the gap between Cutfoot Sioux and Lake Winnie stopped us in our tracks, forcing us to backtrack, and look for fish anywhere we could locate calm spots. Even in calmer areas, whenever I figured out a way to deal with the strong-but-steady northwest wind flow, an outburst of even stronger, nastier wind would hit us, blasting my boat backwards.

Surface water temperatures over most of Cutfoot Sioux, driven down by the cold winds, settled in at about 63-to-64 degrees. Later, on Little Cutfoot, we found a somewhat warmer 65 degree reading, which turned out to be the highest for the day.

Readings on the screen of my graph indicated that fish were widely scattered both vertically and horizontally throughout the water column. Most activity consisted of small packs of suspended fish holding about 6 feet below the surface, while other small schools were spread out across the bottom of the lake. Then there were odds and ends, single fish, pods of bait and bits of debris showing up everywhere.

The fragmented nature of fish, combined with the impact of cold air and wind on our fingers and rod tips was the primary challenge to efficiency. Walleyes, I think, were visible on the graph, but did not respond to either jigs and minnows, or wiggle worming. I blame boat speed for the trouble more so than the fish, or their unwillingness to strike. It was just hard to keep my crew in position and running at a slow speed long enough to coax those fish into striking. Because of that, we chose to switch over to fishing for crappies, and or whatever else would bite.

Panfish, in Little Cutfoot were scattered too, singles and small packs of fish were spread horizontally in numerous areas. These fish were willing to strike, but hard to pin down. Vertical jigging, on tight lines dropped over the side of the boat worked better than trolling with spinners. That said, a full day spent using either presentation would have likely produced similar results. Looking back, we would probably have been happy staying there all day long, but we didn’t. Cold fingers, combined with other factors, made a trip to the resort seem like a better idea. After a warmup, we’d drive to another small lake in the hopes that fish would be easier to pin down.

In a sense, that plan worked out because at the next lake, we caught fish more quickly. They were smaller though, and when I cleaned our catch at days end, I found myself wishing that I hadn’t made the switch. An interesting note about the crappies on little lake #2 was that some fish were deep, in 20 to 22 feet of water. At the same time, others were shallower, holding along steep breaks in 12 to 16 feet of water. Still others were holding even shallower, along the out edges of weed beds in 8 to 10 feet of water. The deeper fish responded to jigs and minnows, but the shallowest ones showed a strong preference for trolling spinners.

Like the temperatures we found on Cutfoot and Little Cutfoot, 64 degrees was the median temperature on Little Lake #2. One more interesting factoid, for reasons known only to the fish, northern pike activity was nil. The small lake should have kicked out a handful of keeper pike, but we didn’t get a single one. I’ll have to think about that for a while, I’m not sure what was going on with them.

Okay, so that was the best we could do yesterday. Luckily, there were enough crappies to make the day interesting, otherwise it would have a tough one. Today, I get another chance with the same crew, and hopefully the moderating winds will allow me to be more creative. — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email on Facebook on X

September 5, 2025 "Polar Plunge Into Fall Walleye Fishing"

If you are ready for a shakeup, then this news should make you happy. A head on collision between summer and fall is happening right now and will culminate today with a cold northwest wind gusting to 30 MPH. Water temperatures had already fallen from the mid-70s into the upper-60s and are likely to have dropped even more than that early this morning. So, today’s report is a short one.

When this means to me, it is that any recent fishing report, delivered by anyone, including me, is now obsolete. Whatever happened earlier this week, or even yesterday, should be reviewed only as a historical account. Tomorrow, the flow of information will begin anew. Then we can start making plans for the fishing patterns that will emerge in the aftermath of this cold front.

For lack of a better term, I’ll call the expected uptick a false start into fall fishing. Most years it happens, the full moon arrives, the wind picks up and the walleyes go on the prowl. Just as we begin getting excited about the arrival of fall fishing, the moon wanes, the weather settles, and the walleye bite slows. Then, when the next cold snap arrives, the fish get re-activated and the real fall bite begins.

Optimistic that such a false start will be triggered by today’s wind and clouds, I’ll be headed for Lake Winnie with a smile on my face. I think the weather, combined with the arrival of the full moon, should produce the expected uptick in walleye, perch and pike activity. Now if I’m wrong, I’ll re-run this report, but the pattern, over time, has been pretty reliable. So, let’s see how it goes out there before speculating any more.

Panfish migrations on some lakes, began earlier this week. There was one lake where crappies had already moved out of the weeds and into open water cover. On other lakes, crappies related closely to weed growth, but were holding along the open, outer edges of them. I would expect that today’s cold weather will accelerate movement toward open water, monitoring their whereabouts is on my list too.

If you’re headed for the lake, bundle up and be safe today. Check in here for a quick update tomorrow morning. — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email on Facebook on X

News Release September 4, 2025 "Applications Open MN DNR Advisory Groups"

"The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is recruiting new members to serve on key advisory groups related to fish and wildlife management, recreation, natural heritage, and conservation policy and funding. Interested people can learn more and apply until 4:30 p.m. Friday, October 3, 2025 on the >> Engage with MN DNR webpage.

“Advisory groups are one really important way that the DNR works with Minnesotans to advance the department’s mission,” said DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen. “I encourage anyone who is passionate about our public lands, waters, fish and wildlife to explore how you can participate in one of these appointed roles.”

Most terms begin in 2026 and span three years. DNR advisory groups generally meet four to six times per year, with in-person and online options for joining meetings. Exceptions to this pattern are noted below where applicable.

“The DNR strives for each advisory group to include people from a diverse mix of backgrounds, perspectives, locations and experiences,” Strommen said. “A diversity of knowledge and insight ensures our advisory groups reflect the various perspectives of Minnesotans, fostering better outcomes and helping us be better stewards of our natural resources.”

Natural Heritage Advisory Committee

The Natural Heritage Advisory Committee advises the DNR on issues relating to sustaining the state’s natural heritage, biological diversity and ecosystem services. Members make recommendations to help protect high quality prairies, forests, wetlands and other native habitats, and the diversity of plants and animals they support.

Applicants should be Minnesota residents with knowledge, demonstrated dedication or experience related to natural resource management, conservation biology, ecological education and outreach, and other aspects of Minnesota’s natural heritage.

New member appointments will begin in January 2026 and extend through December 2028. More information is available here on the >> DNR Natural Heritage Advisory Committee Website .

Wildlife and fisheries groups

Seats are currently available on several committees that advise the DNR about important fisheries and wildlife topics.

Applications are being accepted for the Deer Advisory Committee, the Catfish Fisheries Work Group, the Lake Kabetogama Fisheries Input Group, and the Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee.

Members will serve two- to three-year terms. The Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee meets monthly from January to July, while the other groups meet approximately quarterly. Detailed committee and application information for each group is available by following the links below.

The Deer Advisory Committee

Committee advises the DNR on statewide deer management, including policies, research and monitoring priorities, programs, and regulations. >> MN DNR Deer Advisory Committee website.

Catfish Fisheries Work Group

The DNR has six fisheries work groups, each focused on a different species. This year, the catfish work group has openings. The group meets several times each year to discuss research, population, harvest trends and catfish management with DNR fisheries staff. Members represent a variety of viewpoints and work together to address topics such as recreation, water quality, fish habitat, fish management and effects on local economies. Catfish Fisheries Work Group

Lake Kabetogama Fisheries Input Group

Large lakes fisheries input groups recruit when there is a need to update a management plan for one of the state’s 10 “large lakes.” This year, the DNR is recruiting for the Lake Kabetogama group, which will advise the DNR on issues relevant to the state’s management of the lake, provide important stakeholder perspectives, and inform their constituencies of the planning process. Lake Kabetogama Fisheries Input Group

Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee

The Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee makes recommendations to the legislature and DNR commissioner related to protecting, restoring and enhancing fish and wildlife habitat; monitoring and research; communications and engagement; and effective management and use of money in the Game and Fish Fund.

Minnesota residents with a hunting, fishing or trapping license or an active critical habitat license plate can apply. Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee."

September 3, 2025 "Better Pike Fishing Through Zoning Out"

Sometimes, believe it or not, my customers want to target “eating size” northern pike. For folks like the Clevenger family, my crew from yesterday, Northern Pike, not only put up a great fight, but actually top the list of favored fish to eat. So, whenever I see their names on my calendar, I start plotting a trip to one of the area’s better pike fishing lakes. The problem is that often, the better places to catch pike, are not compatible with the goal of gathering ‘eaters”.

My customers have heard me say in jest, “All my life, I’ve wanted to be a big-time pro fishing guide in hot pursuit of little fish.” The reason I say that is because ever since the implementation of the pike zone regulations in Minnesota, anglers who fish here, in the northern zone, must embrace little fish if they want to eat them. The 22-to-26-inch protected slot, on many lakes, means that the only “keep-able” pike we get in a day are those fish under 22 inches in length. Catching fish over the slot, 26 inches or longer, is rare and sometimes even impossible. There are lakes in my home area where I can count on 1 hand, the total number of 26-inch pike we’ve caught in over 40 years of guiding.

Okay, you might be thinking just keep the 21-inch fish and be happy, and I’d probably agree with you if there were enough 21-inch fish to meet the demand. The problem is that 21-to-22 inches is the minimum length of pike that folks begin to show any interest in harvesting them. Unless an individual fish is exceptionally fat, they simply do not accept the idea of harvesting 18, 19 or even 20-inch fish. This means that all of the pressure on fish deemed as "harvestable" is within a 1-to-2-inch size range. You may disagree, but in my experience, there simply are not enough fish in that size range to go around.

The result, on many of my fishing charters has become predictable. Whenever I'm watching folks reel in a northern pike, and hear them say, “ooh there’s a good one” I can almost bet the farm that the fish will be protected, measuring 22.0 inches, or longer.

Speculating whether or not anything can be done about the current zone regulations is outside the scope of this article. At the least, it will likely require lengthy discussion, so for now, let's set that aside. Instead, let's talk about one of my workarounds, which is to seek out lakes that have special regulations that vary from the general northern zone restrictions.

Yesterday’s fishing trip (See September 3, 2025) provided a good example of one regulation that I prefer. The “special regulation” on it protects all of the northerns from 24 to 36 inches in length. The regulation here allows anglers to harvest 3 fish total, with no more than 1 pike over 36 inches long. Most days this means that we’ll capture, if we’re lucky, 3 fish under 24 inches, but occasionally, we do harvest one fish over 36 inches: albeit rarely.

Yesterday, the extra 2 inches at the low end of the size range meant that we were allowed to keep a total of 9 fish, 3 per each customer. Of the 9 fish, 5 were still below the 22-inch, northern zone’s blanket regulation, but 4 of them were between 23 and 24 inches. I know that still doesn’t sound fantastic, but the average size of the finished fillets is much better than we could produce from most of the other lakes in my region. Besides catching more “keepers”, the 24-to-36-inch protected slot also means that we catch and release a good number of larger fish. Yesterday, we caught numerous fish in the 25-to-27-inch range, 1 29-inch fish and 1 30-inch fish. So, in addition to gathering eaters, there were ample opportunities to snap some quick photos of larger pike too.

I realize that there are a lot of lakes in my region that would not benefit from this special regulation. Lakes like Bowstring for example, that have miles of ideal spawning habitat for pike simply produce too many fish. The competition for food and space creates a population of stunted fish.

That said, I do think that there are some lakes that would benefit from this, or similar, special regulations. On some of those lakes, the current 10 fish harvest limit works against the goal of improving size structure. Most folks are not greedy, and would happily accept the 3 fish harvest, especially if it meant catching a handful of larger fish along the way.

“Okay Jeff, so what do you do special to catch these larger fish?” You may be asking. Nothing, that’s the beauty of it for me. My customers can catch these fish using the same, or similar presentations that we’d use on most any lake. Tolling spinners works, casting swim baits or spinnerbaits works too and so do many other everyday presentations. The secret to catching larger pike isn’t how we fish for them, it’s that the lake has larger pike in it.

Fish locations are typical too, fishing the weedline in water depths of 9 to 12 feet was the ticket yesterday. Sometimes, pike move out to the tips of shoreline points or will hold tight to steep breaklines in 15 to 20 feet of water. I don’t think it takes much effort to find them, a willingness to move around the lake and experiment with depths should get you to the right spot for the day.

Over harvest, over the years, is the number 1 reason why we can’t catch big pike in most north central Minnesota lakes. If you ask me, we’re gonna have to face that fact and get serious about protecting larger pike. Opinions vary, but for me, eating some fish in the 22-to-24-inch size range is acceptable. Sometimes people would take more if they could, but for most, releasing fish in the 24-to-36-inch size range is generally acceptable too, provided there are some keepers in the livewell.

I believe that the review period for Minnesota’s pike zone regulations is coming up. What are you experiencing out there? I’d love to hear your thoughts about what works, and what doesn’t work for you. — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email on Facebook on X

Wired2Fish "Is Tournament Fishing Dead?"

"Tournament bass fishing in America, once a thriving cornerstone of the angling world, is showing signs of wear and tear. From someone who has been deeply immersed in the scene since 1979, I can say this is not easy to admit. The question I find myself facing more and more lately is: Is tournament fishing dying? And while I don’t believe it’s dead yet, it’s certainly not the same sport it used to be.

Over the decades, I’ve watched the industry evolve — from its golden years fueled by camaraderie and competition, to today’s fragmented environment marked by negativity, rising costs, and a loss of direction. The decline isn’t just anecdotal; numbers in national circuits like the BFL, Federation events, and even local tournaments are dwindling. Trails are folding. Enthusiasm is fading. And no one seems to have the fix.

Forward-Facing Sonar: A Scapegoat, Not the Source: Many blame modern technology like forward-facing sonar for the downfall. While it has certainly ..." Read Full Story to Learn More >> Is Tournament Fishing Dead?

Ely Area, Arrowhead Outdoors Fishing Report September 3, 2025

"Walleye - Many anglers reported good fishing for walleyes this last week as stable warm weather came to the Ely area. Majority of anglers reported that while minnows worked, night crawlers fished on a lindy rig or 1/4oz jig produced the biggest fish and better numbers. Anglers reported finding walleyes from 11 to 26 feet of water. Clear sign walleyes are transitioning from summer to fall locations. Smaller walleye were often found on the sharp breaks while bigger walleyes were often found on the flats above a break or at the base of breaks or sunken islands. Orange/chartreuse, black/orange and pink.

Smallmouth - Smallmouth Bass reports are showing that smallies have begun to move to their fall locations. Majority of the best reports for smallies have them out on sunken islands in 8 to 20 feet of water, close to deep water. Smallies out here are hitting spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and square bills on the shallower humps. For the deeper humps anglers have been drop shotting 3 to 4 inch soft plastic minnow baits.

Pike - Reports of quality northern pike continue to grow in frequency. Big pike have been hitting large, active Creek Chubs, fished under a bobber just off the weedlines. Weedlines with deep water right next to them were the most productive for the biggest pike. Anglers looking to cast or troll hardware have been having good luck with large spoons, large swimbaits, and large spinnerbaits.

Panfish - Crappies and sunfish reports continue to be good. Anglers have been finding them mainly relating to weedlines. Sunfish are still being found in weedbeds but increasingly reports are saying anglers are finding them on the weedlines and a few mixed in with the crappies relating to deeper water just off the weedlines.

Red worms fished under a bobber has remained the most effective way to catch quality gills. Crappies are increasingly being seen out over deeper water during the day. The last hour of light, crappies move into the shallow weedbeds to feed aggressively. Here search baits like small beetle spins or jig/twister have been most effective in finding the biters before the window closes.

Stream trout - Lots of anglers targeted stream trout this last week and weren't disappointed. As water temps continue to drop rainbows activity continues to increase. Many anglers had good luck floating a night crawler 5 to 15 feet deep, suspended under a bobber, right off shore. If anglers were fishing from a boat trolling small minnow baits or small trolling spoons again 5 to 15 down produced excellent results for them. Good rule of thumb is the brighter the bait the better.

Lake Trout - Quite a few anglers targeted lake trout this last week, but reports continue to be slow as water temps remain high for lake trout. Anglers that caught lake trout did so with down riggers set 30 to 50 feet down while trolling large trolling spoons. Covering water was the name of the game for successful anglers" — Arrowhead Outdoors, 218-365-5358

September 2, 2025 "Riding the Roller-Coaster"

The average roller coaster ride lasts only a few minutes, but sometimes “feels” longer. The trip to the peak feels slow as anticipation builds. Then, the car reaches the top, creeps over the crest and suddenly, after a fast thrill, the ride downhill is over.

I know that Minnesota’s open water fishing season lasts a lot longer than a roller coaster ride, but to me, arriving in September feels a lot like one. Here we arrive at the top of the ride, just before heading into the big drop. The days are shorter now; water temperatures are falling and weed growth is receding. The fall fishing season, a time that anglers anticipate eagerly, is upon us. From here on out, the days are going to pass quickly, like the downward slope of a roller coaster.

Labor Day Weekend, the last holiday for me and my family has passed, Over the weekend, we spent a little time on the lake, savoring the tail end of summer fishing patterns, and ushering in the arrival of some early fall trends. Walleyes, for me, are a "work day" fish, so I avoided lakes that have walleyes in them. Northern pike, one of Susan's preffered fish, were the target species. We came close to getting one that we could use for our coconut pike recipe, but at 25 inches, her best one didn't make the cut.

Notable was a reduction in bass and bluegill activity. The warm water fish were active enough to occasionally strike at spinners tipped with night crawlers. Catching numbers of them required slow and intentional presentations using small lures and live bait, delivered almost motionlessly. Too much action stopped fish from striking and they snubbed lures like jig-spinners, twirl tails and paddle tails.

Fish location hasn’t changed; there were schools of the semi-active sunfish holding in and around weeds. Key water depths ranged from 8 to 14 feet deep, depending on the type of vegetation. Once located, the simple live bait jig, tipped with a cut chunk of night crawler and held steady over the edge of the boat easily triggered strikes.

Crappies have begun, in some lakes to transition away from weed cover, into deeper open water. I’ll caution against making an assumption that all crappies, in all lakes, have entered the transitional period though. Last week, on one lake, there were suspended fish holding in 6 to 10 feet of water, over a 20-foot-deep open water flat. At the same time, there were crappies on another lake still holding along the edges of thick coontail patches. On yet another lake, there were crappies holding tight to the rocks, on shallow mid-lake lakes in 10 to 16 feet of water.

Crappies on all three lakes were responsive to trolling using spinners tipped with minnows.

Then there was a fourth lake, a multi species one that is known to have nice crappies in it. Here, crappies could neither be caught, nor apparently located by me. While we caught bass, northern pike and even a couple of walleyes, crappies snubbed us. On that lake, panfish were buried deep in mats of shallow coontail, and northern milfoil. I believe that the weeds held crappies, and maybe we’d have caught some during the evening, but that is speculation. The Hippie Chick did catch a crappie amidst a school of sunfish on Sunday evening, as the sun was going down and that offered some support for my working theory.

It appears that today, the skies will be grey, and maybe rainy during my first charter of September. That should encourage panfish to be more active, and hopefully, northern pike too. I’ll have an update for you about that tomorrow. — Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email on Facebook on X

Lake of the Woods, LOW Tourism September 2, 2025

" It was another excellent week of fall walleye fishing on the south end of Lake of the Woods. Anglers fishing in Big Traverse Bay say that they're catching good numbers of walleyes that continue to hold over the deep mud basin in 28 to 32 feet of water. The walleyes, reported by many, have been very cooperative. Typical of most lakes, not all walleyes focus on similar food sources, other reports show fish sliding up into shallower water, 20 to 22 feet deep.

Anglers are catching fish using a variety of techniques. Drifting or trolling spinners at 1.0 to 1.25 mph with crawlers has been very productive. Top spinner colors this week were gold/pink, gold/red, and silver/blue. Trolling crankbaits is also putting fish in the boat.

Productive colors include gold, chrome/blue, chartreuse, pink, and firetiger. Covering water over the deep mud remains an effective approach. Some anglers are now anchoring up and jigging with a jig and frozen emerald shiner. Once a school of fish is located, this method allows anglers to sit tight and entice steady action.

Jumbo perch remain a bonus catch, mixing in with the walleyes across the basin.

Veterans attending the 12th annual Pay It Forward veterans event caught good numbers of walleyes this week, filling coolers of ice on charter boats along with some trophy fish. A walleye over 31 inches took big fish honors with a handful of walleyes over 28 inches in the mix as well.

The Lake of the Woods wave buoys report water temps at 68 degrees.

On the Rainy River, activity is picking up on the Rainy River. With cooling water temperatures, both walleyes and sturgeon are becoming more active. Anglers with dock lights are reporting increased shiner activity, a sure sign that the annual emerald shiner migration from the lake into the river is just beginning. Bird activity has also noticeably increased, another signal of bait movement.

Walleyes are being caught jigging with minnows or by trolling crankbaits along current breaks and deeper holes. Sturgeon fishing has been solid as well/ Anglers are anchoring up and fishing with 3-ounce no-roll sinker and a sturgeon rig packed with crawlers continues to produce big fish. Some sturgeon over 60 inches along with many smaller fish in the mix as well. Sturgeon anglers report catching some walleyes and suckers while waiting for the sturgeon bite.

Up at the Northwest Angle fishing remains strong, with good numbers of walleyes spread across the deep mud of Little Traverse Bay (east and NE of Little Oak Island). Covering water with spinners or crankbaits has been the best way to connect with pods of fish. Other productive areas include north of Garden Island and west of Little Oak Island, where anglers are finding walleyes, saugers, and jumbo perch.

On the Ontario side, jigging with frozen emerald shiners has been very effective. With 14,552 islands starting at the Angle and stretching into Ontario, anglers have countless spots holding walleyes, saugers, pike, smallmouth bass, crappies, and jumbo perch. Muskie fishing has been consistent, with good numbers of fish reported boated this past week. As days shorten and water temperatures cool, the bite will only continue to improve.

September and October are prime months for fishing on Lake of the Woods. Fish are actively feeding, water temperatures are dropping, and the scenery is unmatched as fall colors take hold. Whether chasing walleyes on the main lake, jigging the Rainy River, or casting for muskies at the Angle, anglers are set up for some of the best fishing of the year." — Lake of the Woods Tourism, (800) 382-FISH

Wired2Fish "Top Tactics For Summertime Smallmouth"

"When anglers think about fishing during the summer months, one word comes to mind: tough!

Being cool-water fish, smallmouth bass tolerate the warm waters of the summer, but don’t exactly thrive. It’s just that time of year that makes you pull your hair out of your head. They are there in many of the spots you probably know but getting them to bite is like pulling teeth.

So what should you do when the water is 80 degrees and the smallmouth aren’t cooperating? Is there a certain technique that works better than others? Is there a magical depth that they love to hide out in? Summertime smallies can ..." Read Full Story to Learn More >> Top Tactics For Summertime Smallmouth

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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. You see, with just a few words about general trends, seasonal patterns or local weather conditions you can help steer your fellow anglers to more gratifying fishing experiences. So, be like Dan and Sean, and become a duly deputized "Cub Reporter", it's good for fishing and that's good for everybody!

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