Fishing Report

Good morning from the Quiet Lakes, it doesn’t appear any ice fishing reports will be happening soon😞. The extended forecast shows temps in the 40s for the next 15 days. Only chance of rain I am seeing is Wednesday, other than that clear. I got out and musky fished today on an area lake and we were seeing water temps right around 48-49 degrees. Fishing has been slow although we managed one fish today, a nice heavy mid 30″ fish.

Musky—Most musky have come by suckers lately, although our fish today came on a Bitten tackle Mag Warlock glide bait. We were fishing deep rock edges, but that fish was in 6-8 FOW off of a point. I still believe fish are holding shallower than they should be for this time of year.

Northern pike—Pike have been harassing musky anglers and hitting suckers half their size. Not much on an artificial bait bite, look for pike in and around deep weed edges.

Walleye—Anglers have found some nice ‘eyes on deep rocks in 15-20 FOW. Jigging walleye suckers has produced fish.

LMB—No report on a largemouth bite.

SMB—Anglers are having some luck finding smallies mixed in with the walleye (at least from what I am hearing). If walleye suckers aren’t working for smallies, switch to plastics jigged the same way.

Crappie/Bluegill/Perch—I have not heard too much on any kind of panfish bite as most anglers are targeting musky or walleye right now.

That’s all I have for this week’s report. I did spend Wednesday in the woods and did not see a deer….got a pic of a nice buck taken yesterday from a friend in Seeley. Other than that, it sounds like the woods have been pretty quiet. Have a great weekend and we will talk soon.

Greg

Good evening from the Quiet Lakes, we got some much-needed rain and even a dusting of the white stuff for Halloween. The weather looks to be nice tomorrow, with a sunny high of 53 and then more rain from Sunday through Tuesday. I don’t really see the lakes cooling down quickly as most of our high temps for the next 15 days look to be in the upper 40s and low 50s, and overnights at or above freezing. Water temps are still hovering around the 50-degree mark, and I hate to say it, but at this rate, we won’t be ice fishing until Xmas. The bite has slowed way down, and most anglers are struggling to get fish to bite.

Musky–Musky anglers are struggling to get fish in the bag even on live bait, as I have been hearing reports of musky in super shallow water and wanting nothing to do with any offerings of bait, be it artificial or live. I’m not really sure what to say about that other than try anything and everything. Personally I would be throwing dive and rise, glide baits, or bigger rubber baits and dragging a sucker off of the back of the boat. I would try to find still green weeds and work the inside edges, and work my way out to deeper water.

Northern pike–PIke should be in these same areas and eating most of the same baits. I have not heard anything on a specific “pike” bite, but if I were to target them it would be using the same tactics to try and catch musky.

Walleye–We have had almost no anglers in fishing walleye right now, but walleye should be on deep edges given the water temps. Jigging walleye suckers or fathead minnows on these deep ledges would be the first method to try. Around dusk fish may move up into shallow water and anglers could find them on the top of ledges or shallow sandy shorelines.

LMB/SMB–No report on largemouth or smallmouth right now.

Crappie/Bluegill/Perch–Honestly, not much on a panfish bite either and I would guess they are still in pretty shallow and around weeds. Crappie and perch should start to move deep as the water cools down and we lose daylight. Simple crappie minnows on a jig should work for all panfish right now, although small jigs and waxies or plastics would be best for ‘gills.

This fall pattern has been a confusing one to say the least, and looks to stay that way until these water temps come down. It sounds like most of the public boat launch docks have been removed on area lakes as well so be mindful of that if you are traveling to fish. Have a great weekend and we will talk soon!

Greg