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Cass report for Oct 17-20


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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Well a bunch of my family and friends spent the MEA weekend on Cass Lake looking for eyes and a few perch. The weather was pretty tough with relentless rain and wind for two plus days. Here's what we found.

During the day the walleyes were working depths of 15-20 feet of water relating to schools of baitfish. The walleyes we caught were mixed in with 3-8" perch off of wind beaten structures. A jig tipped with a shiner or rainbow coaxed several nice eyes to bite.

Once it got dark it was time to target eyes in shallower water by trolling crankbaits. We found walleyes in 4-12 feet of water willing to hit a crankbait trolled between 1.8-2.2 mph. Flats and breaklines with scattered weed patches produced best. Productive lures were floating and suspending rattlin rogues, floating rapalas, husky jerks, thundersticks and bomber long A's.

Water temps were in the low 50s ranging between 50.5-52 degrees. Water levels were in good shape and should actually go up a bit after all the rain this week.

Hanson will post a few photos of a few of the fish we were able to connect on when he gets a chance.

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I'm sure Borch has been anxiously awaiting photos so here it goes. grin.gif

We made the trip up to Cass Lake on Wednesday evening and the plan was to fish through Saturday night. I'm pretty gung-ho when it comes to this type of trip but I came down with a nasty, nasty cold on Monday which really sidelined me for the entire week. Watery eyes, running nose, fever, chills, body aches... yuck! I had enough but I couldn't shake it so I decided to fight on through.

I bundled up like I was ice fishing to keep myself warm in the boat Wednesday night and then it started to rain! frown.gif My Lord... did it rain... for what seamed like 4 straight days. I have to throw big props out for my Arctic Armor Guidewear. I know it can keep me warm in cold weather but it did the job in this mildly cold, damp, miserable stuff we experienced on Cass.

Enough with the bad... onto the good! Walleyes!!

Did we catch walleyes!! The primary technique employed was night trolling crankbaits as Borch discussed. I'm still pretty new to the crank trolling game so I was along for the ride. Borch did the dirty work.

We pounded the fish Wednesday & Thursday night in the rain. Fish size was predominantly in that 16-19" range but we had plenty that were 20-22", and a bunch that were 23-26" as well. We found a real diverse range of walleyes size! Good sign of a healthy lake!

Somewhere around the middle of Friday, I started to shake my cold and found enough energy to hit the water mid day in search of perch. And we found them! We went through a solid scoop of rainbow chubs in an afternoon catching them little critters and actually put 10 walleyes or so in the boat as well in the process.

Here was a dandy one I caught on a jig & minnow.

hansoncasseyeoy0.jpg

Trolling bite made a big switcheroo on Friday night with the rain blowing off, the sky clearing, and the wind laying down. Guess what? Fishing changed as well. We caught one little 18" or so slimer that night. Least I caught a fish Borch! wink.gif

For Saturday night's trolling run... Borch put on a clinic! He had 1 crank in his box which was the ticket and he didn't have another one and I surely didn't have anything like it either. Even a similar crank (diving depth & color) couldn't catch a fish.

Here's Borch with a real beauty from Saturday's trolling!

borchcasseyeri2.jpg

But any good fishing trip needs a fish story and I've got one! Thankfully its not "the one that got away" story as this one did not get away!

Last night of the trip... We're creaping into the early hours of the morning when Borch decides to slide his trolling runs a little deeper in search of "big fish". That seriously was the goal. So I thought BIG, and clipped on a Rapala Husky Jerk size 14 in Firetiger. This bait was going to run the perfect depth in that range we were targeting!

We trolled for a little while picking up a few ticks & thumps which were the edge of the cabbage that we were following. Not sure how long I had my HJ14 in the water when tap, tap, tug, tug harder was happening on my line. Thinking I pulled through a clump of cabbage, I glanced at the depthfinder and realized there was no way we were in the cabbage at those depths. "Fish On!" I yelled as I realized it was thumping back and quickly stripping line off of my reel!

I was cranking what I thought was a "heavy" fish into the boat when we realized it was a big muskie as it got closer into the light from our headlamps. The time we got a good look at it was when it tarpon jumped and tailwalked its way around the bow of the boat! At this point, Borch says hang on, I need the other net while I'm letting the fish play me at boatside. Thankfully, the net job went smooth and we got a real nice fish in the boat!

My first muskie!

hansoncassskikp9.jpg

It took awhile to sink it but I'm still in shock that I caught that fish this weekend. Seriously! Something tells me this won't be the last though!

Thanks for the great weekend Borch! Its a memory that will be etched in my brain forever!

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Borch/Hanson...

Great Job!!!!! Wish I could of joined you guys out there... Borch, did any of the spots that we talked about work out for you?? I think PBC and I may hook up this week sometime to go out and find the biggies...

Again--GREAT JOB GUYS!!!!!

Beef

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Great report and photos. That makes fighting through a cold a lot easier. Been there, done that. grin.gif

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Quote:


Borch/Hanson...

Great Job!!!!! Wish I could of joined you guys out there... Borch, did any of the spots that we talked about work out for you?? I think PBC and I may hook up this week sometime to go out and find the biggies...

Again--GREAT JOB GUYS!!!!!

Beef


One spot didn't have any quality fish on it when my brother checked it out. A few decent perch but that was it. We then decided to hit a couple of my early ice spots in Allen's bay which have held nice perch in the past in the fall. The perch were smallist but there were eyes mixed in with them so we sorted perch until a walleye thumped the jig.

I tried calling PBC Sunday but wasn't able to get ahold of him. Give me a call after school and we'll discuss it in more detail.

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Shoot me your phone number through email... Use my guide service email.. I was out last night and found some eye's.. They were not bad but I was looking for the grandma... I think our biggest was 23"...

Beef

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