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RLG, thanks for the shout-out! Jeff and I are still trying to wrap our heads around what happened this past weekend. We are humbled and full of gratitude for having won 'The Classic' for a second time. We practiced through all the rain on Thurs and the wind on Friday and found six different spots holding big fish. Fishing was good on both days with several 'overs' in our catch...but would it hold up for another day? We didn't know. On tourney day, we made a long run to our first spot where I lucked out on a 26.5"er on my second cast. Jeff followed up with a thick 27" er a few minutes later, which turned out to be the big fish for the event at 7.26lbs. We finished out our limit and weighed-in at 10:30 am for the welfare of the fish in our livewell. There were some big weights in this event which would have won in most other years, but - for whatever reason - this was our day. Everything just went our way. Again, we are just super grateful and humbled by this success. We also want to congratulate all the other anglers who did well and give a big 'thank you' to the tournament organizers who put on such a great event!

Jeff and I poked around a bit on the 4th before being joined by my son-in-law on the 5th. The action wasn't fast, but some quality fish were biting. Highlights for the weekend was an absolute monster of a Frazier Bay walleye Jeff caught on some deep rocks, along with my son-in-law's PB pike and first ever musky. Overall, not too shabby!

It's been a month since I posted a fishing report, so thought I would share our results this past weekend. The water temperature has dropped to as low as 41° in the shallow bays, though some of the deeper bays were still at 45. Friday night and Saturday Jeff and I targeted walleyes and caught 95 of them with 13 over the slot, the biggest being a couple of 27 1/2"ers. All of them were caught casting and all of them were released. One of our 'overs' struck a 6 inch swimbait so violently that it blew the bait completely through her gills, where the lone treble hook stuck on the outside of the fish, halfway down her body. Amazing... On Sunday we targeted smallmouth bass and got 54 of them, with a handful in the 4 pound class though most were in the 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 pound class. We also caught a musky and a 26 1/2 inch walleye as a bonus by-catch while bass fishing. That musky picked up a little finesse jig/craw worked on bottom in 20 feet of water. All in all, it was time well spent on beautiful Lake Vermilion. To do that with my son made the trip that much more special..

My cousin and our good friend just returned from 3.5 fabulous days fishing beautiful Lake Vermilion. Things appear to be 2-3 weeks behind "normal" based upon fall foliage and air temperatures. When we arrived, water temps were 71.5 degrees and when we left yesterday morning they had dropped to 67.5 degrees. Checking my journal, I found that the temps I have listed most over the years for this time of year has been high 50's to low 60's. As a result, our normal live "go to" bait of big pike suckers wasn't the bait of choice for the fish we found. Actually, we caught walleyes on crawlers, leeches, and minnows and the preference varied by the day. We found fish on the mud in the mornings in depths ranging from 21' to 28'. Our best luck was in the rocks during the late afternoon/evening trips in depths ranging from 17'-20'. We caught fish using jigs, 1oz bottom bouncer with a 3' leader, 2 red beads and a white floating jig head, and a plain old lindy rig. We always add colored bead(s) to our colored hook set-ups and sometimes it makes a big difference as to color choice. My favorite is 2 red beads while my cousin prefers a light green and white bead combo. The fishing was phenomenal! We boated 172 walleyes during 3.5 days and numerous "others", such as smallmouth, jumbos, northerns, and, believe it or not, bluegills (4 to be exact). The best walleye was 24" and we boated several between 20.5" to 24". The overwhelming majority of our walleyes ranged in size from 14.5"-17.5". We had to be careful when getting a hit so that we didn't let the fish fool with it too long or we would end up with a gut hooked fish. We had to cut the line on a few so as to not kill them. I found that the floating jig head was the ticket for not gut hooking. We ate fish twice and found a tiny worm in the stomacks of a few that we cleaned. I have no idea what the very tiny worms were. The weather during our visit was, for the most part, ideal. I was amazed that during our numerous outings on the lake, we never saw one loon, juvenile or adult. The eagles were doing their thing and that always makes for interesting viewing. Lastly, the "big one always gets away" rang true for yours truly once again on this trip. I'm not going to bore you with the details of my latest fiasco but suffice it to say, this walleye was a real big one. I put new line on my reel and during the process, I must have inadvertently tightened my drag. The big walleye made a power turn at the boat and pulled the hook because the drag failed. Serves me right for not checking it. Oh well, we'll be back in a couple weeks for round 2. I'm going to check it before I go out next time. Good Fishing, MarkB Here's a couple pictures from our trip... Greg Sept 2024.jfif Sept 2024 trip.jfif

The walleye bite is picking up, at least for me. Saturday evening a handful found their way into the boat, including a 27 and a 26 1/2 inch. Yesterday, quite few more - mostly slot fish - and three 27"ers. The one pictured below ate a hair jig, but they were eating everything from bladebaits to jigs with plastic. After dark I checked the Crappie bite and things are looking up there as well. Tonight muskies are the target. Sure love Fall fishing!

This is kind of odd but our best walleye presentation was a small tube while bass fishing mid-depth rock flats. My young nephew had muskies-on-the-brain when he flew up from Oklahoma to fish with us this weekend. Fortunately, we found one willing to play. He was really happy with this one.

We just returned this afternoon from 6 days on Vermilion. We arrived Saturday and enjoyed 3 fantastic days of walleye fishing. My cousin, our friend Greg, and myself fished several of our spring spots and found fish on all of them. Water temperatures were pretty much 65-67 degrees everywhere we fished. The wind was variable and made boat control a challenge at times. Bait was not an issue and we had success on crawlers(Tim), leeches(Greg), and minnows(me). If I had to pick one of those as catching the most fish, it would be crawlers. Our best day totalled 48 walleyes, 4 smallmouth, and 2 big JUMBOS. We ended up with over a hundred walleyes, 12 jumbos 11"-13", and 10 smallmouth to 18". Our biggest walleye was 24.5" and the balance went from 13"-22". There are lots of 14"-16" walleyes this year which are perfect eaters. The mayfly hatch was in full bloom in some areas but we found very few mayflies in the water column over rock reefs. We caught our fish in depths ranging from 10' to 32'. I didn't fish in any area where I could see mayflies top to bottom in the water column. Slow trolling in the .3mph to .6mph worked and we caught nothing using slip bobbers. Terminal tackle was a 3'-4' 10# flurocarbon leader, 2 lime colored beads, and a plain #6 Gamakatsu walleye hook . Snags are always an issue when fishing in and around the rocks and when the fish are biting they are acceptable. NOW, for the bad news.......Tuesday was a day I won't soon forget. The area suffered devastating torrential rainfall. Lightning was non-stop for several hours and when things settled down, flood damage was everywhere. We checked our rain guage on the side of the cabin and we got 7 3/4 " in a little over 4 hours! Breezy Point road washed out, Mud Creek road washed out as did several others in the area. Cooke business area was completely covered with flood water. I would consider it a disaster area and should be declared as such. We couldn't find a dock anywhere that wasn't covered with water. People were stranded behind flood covered and washed out roads. Dock decking, limbs and such were floating everywhere in the big water. My group sends our prayers to the people of that beautiful country that lost their businesses, homes, and suffered damage to their lake properties. The people of that north country are resilient and we have confidence that they will recover. We stayed our final 3 days but didn't fish at all Tuesday. Our last 2 days showed the effects of the storm. Water temps dropped to 64 degrees and our premo fishing became 10 walleye days. We did manage to catch a dozen really nice jumbos. We plan on returning in September and we pray the area will have returned to normal by then. I haven't figured out how to transfer photos from my phone to my computer yet so no pictures at this time. Good Fishing and God be with you. MarkB

From your fingertips to God's ears... Finally got some snow! Several inches of new snow fell before and during the weekend. Sunday eve when we left, the high winds had already begun to create some drifting on the lake. It was fun riding for sure. Lots of folks on the lake this past weekend too. We fueled up the sleds at Shamrock and saw as many people fishing in that area as I've ever seen in the Winter on Lake Vermilion. Our weekend results were decent. Jeff and I and a buddy caught probably 50 walleyes between the three of us, mostly fishing a jig/plastics with our three biggest being 24", 25", and 25.5". We also got one large pike of unknown length. During the midday on Sunday, we targeted whitefish and Jeff managed one big one. We released all of our fish, except for three small walleyes that our buddy wanted to bring home for a meal. Definitely a fun weekend on Lake V!

My 2 cousins and myself just finished up a windy 4 day trip to our favorite lake. It was the last of the year and was eventful to say the least. When we arrived, water temperatures were 61 degrees and when we left yesterday morning the water temps had dropped to 54 degrees. The fishing was fantastic, once again, and we caught walleyes, bass, and northerns on minnows and crawlers(northerns only on minnows). We found the fish adjacent to shallow rock piles(14') in 20'-28' of water. Our best fishing hours of the day were ~5:30 -twilight in the evenings and until ~ 10:30 in the mornings. Although those two time periods were prime time, fish bit all day. For us, the bite was very light and we probably missed or lost as many fish as we caught. Some people think I'm nuts when I say bead color can make a difference and it certainly did this trip. My cousin's "go to" green/white bead combo did zilch on this trip. It was one translucent red bead and a plain size #2 gamakatsu hook with a 3' leader that produced the fish. We ended up with 137 walleyes and 19 bass for the 4 day outing. We caught far more 17"-19.999" walleyes on this trip than on our previous trips and our numerous slot fish measured from 21"-25". My younger cousin caught 4 slot fish in ~20 minutes one evening. We fish exclusively for walleyes and additional species are incidental. With that said, we caught some beautiful smallmouth bass on this trip and they were right down there with the walleyes, usually in the rocks. As usual, everything is catch and release except for the fish we eat while there and the 12 walleyes(3 individual limits) we take home to the wives. While cleaning some eaters we kept for supper, we always check the stomach contents. One of the walleyes had the jig that is pictured below loose in its stomach! No attached line, no embedded hook, just the jig! It baffled us as to how in the world it could have gotten there . As you can see, the jig is in good shape so the fish must have swallowed it recently . The boat traffic was minimal this trip and we had a couple days where it looked as if we had the lake to ourselves. Sunday was a brutal day with wind gusts to 50MPH!. We stayed in and ventured out finally at ~5:00. It turned out to be the best 2 hours of the entire trip. This time, the baby loons were around, the eagles were abundant, the changing leaves made the entire lake area look like a painting. If I could make only one short trip a year to the lake, now would be the time. What capped off the trip was the magnificent display of the Northern Lights. We can't wait for next spring to return, God willing, and, in the meantime, good fishing. MarkB The jig found in the stomach of a walleye we ate. My young cousin with his best of the trip. a chunky 17" smallmouth 19.5" smallmouth

What an amazing extended weekend. The fish were happy and cooperated nicely. We also had the unique experience of fishing under Northern Lights each of the last three nights in pristine weather conditions. I wish everyone could have that experience, even if just once. The pics below don't do it justice, though you get the idea. The walleyes are putting on the feedbag and some are getting rather plump. We caught mostly slot fish with several 'overs' in our bag. Our two biggest weighed 8lbs 5oz and 8lb 3oz. The crappies were active at dusk and beyond. Almost all of the ones we caught were 14" or bigger. The biggest we caught was a bit over 15". We lost two muskies at the boat and caught a 38" pike after dark - quite surprising. Every fish we caught was immediately released btw. Water temp 54/55 when we left. All-in-all, another great fishing experience on Lake Vermilion - for which I'm so incredibly appreciative.

Was on Basswood last week camping and fishing.

Mother Nature gave me quite a thrill on Father's Day.

We got the auger back! The person who found it didn't want me to mention his name, we can't thank him enough! Still good, honest people around. He called Spring Bay Resort and asked if they heard of anyone losing an auger and they sent him a screenshot of my post. So, thanks to Dayis and Steve at Spring Bay Resort for that! Thanks again everyone for getting the auger back to us!

We had difficulty finding any walleyes this weekend. The previous two weekends I marked a lot of fish with few takers. Didn't mark many this weekend but, caught this 24" mark.

I'm gonna try this picture thing again. Please bear with me. Our buddy Greg with his best of the trip. Above: Pike River bridge the morning we left. Below: My cousin Tim caught these the morning after the storm.

Went back up Thursday to avoid the weekend rush. Cold start at -22°F with a good wind. Happy to be inside a permanent house. No fresh snow so no more drifting. Ice was very noisy with the cold weather. Saw a big pickup truck drive off of plowed roads from McKinley Park to Ely Island without getting stuck, but the truck had very wide tires and a good size lift. A light snow is predicted Friday night with a 5mph wind so there could be more drifting this weekend. Temperatures this weekend look a little cool, but not cold. Fishing was much better 3 days later. Caught my biggest yet this winter at 26 inches. She bit very light and didn't resist much until she saw the hole. Then she peeled out a lot of line before I could bring her in and conduct CPR (catch, picture, release). Fished from 7:15am-6:00pm and had good bites from 8:00-8:40am and 1:30-2:10pm. Outside of those windows I had very little action. Chubs were much more productive than shiners this time. Marked many suspended fish but couldn't get them to bite. Had better action when I would lower my minnow to the bottom and lift it up slowly. Found a good way to reheat Zup's polish delites on my buddy heater. Tasted great after my one-week low-fiber diet. I counted 40 permanent houses from McKinley Park to Ely Island and Birch Island. I assume more houses will go out this weekend, but I bet a lot more will be pulled off the ice before the last week of the season. Beautiful sunset to end a great day on the ice. Good luck fishing, be courteous, and please pick up your trash. Just 9 days left of the season.

Me too. But it’s over now. All day sit today. Spent much of it watching an 8 pointer chase some does, then bed down where I couldn’t get a shot at him. He left just before 2pm. This guy came out at last light. I love deer hunting but I was ready to be done.

For the dog days of summer decent mid day trip for a buddy and myself. He wanted some fish to take his folks to GoshDam this week for a fish fry. Tried a new lake, mainly on weedlines with jigs and leeches.

Here are a few pictures of water coming into Crane. Plus a couple of bonus pics of some fabulous weather and scenery.

Ice condition didn't change much in the last week as shown in the McKinley Park photo from today. The holes in my house froze all the way down in the last six days; 40 inches of ice now. I drilled my two holes 24 inches and cleared the shavings out before reaching water. Much cleaner way in a permanent house. Fishing was pretty good today. Caught two 24" walleyes, including the 5#-7oz fatty pictured. Also caught a 19 incher. Best bite was from 11 to noon. Much better action with chubs than shiners today. Never tried the pike suckers I had. Good luck fishing the last weekend this winter. Going to be very windy Friday, but drifting shouldn't b a problem since there is no loose snow on the lake. Saturday and Sunday look to be very warm. Still about 35 houses left out from McKinley Park.

9 days since my last trip to Vermilion (took a side trip into the BWCAW). Had 22 inches of ice so we added 4 more in 9 days. Water came up on the ice about 1½ inches so I had to block the house up. Travel on the lake was very good, even with my front wheel drive car. There are two main roads leaving McKinley Park landing; one on either side of the staked snowmobile trail. Either of those roads would provide good access to fishing spots, but please stay away from the snowmobile trail and pull quite a way off the plowed road to avoid flooding the road. Fishing was decent for mid January. Best bites for me were 9:00-11:20 and 3:45-4:45. All of my walleyes were 11-14 inches. I lost one about 16 inches lifting it out of the hole. Dang. Vermilion Fuel and Food didn't have rainbow chubs so I stuck with lively chubs. Didn't even try a single pike sucker that I had left from lake trout fishing. Maybe next trip up. The bonus today was a beautiful sunset. Good luck fishing and be prepared for the cold weather this weekend.

Finally made it back out on Vermilion today. The ice is in much better condition than I expected. The spot I fished last Friday (3/8 mile out from McKinley Park which had only 3-4 inches of ice) had 9½ inches of ice today (top 1½ inch was frozen slush). I walked out a little over 1/2 mile to fish and found 9 inches of ice (top 1½-2" was white ice). I found large patches of slush at 1/4 mile out and 3/8 mile out from the landing, and then didn't find any more. A couple of vehicles found slush at the landing as shown in the attached picture. Any locations with large accumulation of snow are likely to have slush underneath (even after the -20°F temps the last 2 mornings up here. Most of the surface was snow free or hard pack thin snow, very easy to walk on. Lots of ATVs and sleds running around out from the Park, even as far as Ely Island and the small island before Birch Island. A couple of ATVs dragged a small wheel house and a small skid house out of McKinley Park bay on the east side. I'm sure that there will be a lot more vehicle traffic this weekend. I'm going to wait until late next week to drag my lightweight skid house out with my sled. Fishing was much better today than last Friday. Caught 50% more walleyes, and they were much larger than last week. Caught 4 eyes over 16 inches including the 22 inch pictured. I caught one eye at 20 inches exactly but didn't dare keep that one, even though I think my adhesive tape scale measures fish longer than they actually are. Started fishing at 9am and didn't catch an eye until 11am. Then I would catch a couple about every hour. The best bite was around 3pm. If you venture out, be cautious of the ice condition, courteous of other anglers, pick up your trash, and good luck.

Best time of the year. Water temp mid 50s, aggressive fish. Threw back some big ones too

Yes, we did! We kept some eater walleyes. We also ate panfish and walleyes while camping.

Basswood lake at the end of June.

Caught them both East and West. Earliest we started was 0530.

Nice work! Here's two words you hardly ever hear anyone say anymore. "grateful and humbled"

If you turn on a movie they survive the 20min ride just fine. After many controlled experiments, I've found that they survive much better if you show "Finding Nemo" instead of "Jaws."

Self satisfaction and the unending admiration of anonymous internet friends

Took another trip into the BWCAW last Friday to fish for lakers. I waited until daylight to drive the snowmobile to the portage so I could safely cross the large pressure ridge in the middle of the lake. There were 4 other parties already parked at the portage when I got there, plus 2 other parties came later in the day (one even after sunset). Walking/towing on the lake was quite easy and I found a spot to fish with nobody close by. Fished for over 10 hours until sunset and didn't catch a fish. I did have 4 hits on jigs, including one I got up to the bottom of the hole before the snap swivel caught on the bottom of the hole and the fish shook off. Enjoyed the sunset in the BWCAW before starting the trek out in dusk. While leaving I saw 3 other people towing sleds just coming onto the lake, I assume to spend the night. While snowmobiling in the dark back to the landing I got slightly lost but was able to correct my rout and make it out before running out of gas (was on empty). Was very nice day in the BWCAW, but it is a tough trip when you don't even catch a fish. May go back to Burntside this week for a much easier trip.

Beautiful day on Vermilion Sunday for the last day of walleye season. Lots of people were fishing in portables, or out in the open. Was entertaining watching many of the wheel and skid houses being pulled off of the lake. Checked half a dozen spots where wheel houses were removed and didn't find any trash at all. Sounds like people are getting the message. I may go out on the lake when the snow is melted to do a further check and cleanup if needed. Fishing was average for this time of the year. Had a decent bite from 2pm to 4pm when I caught my biggest eye (pictured 22 inch). Decent finish to a good season. Now on to lake trout fishing. Hope everyone had an enjoyable and successful ice fishing season. Going to be a long time before this year's open water season.

What a difference a day makes. Fishing was very slow today. Biggest I caught was only 13 inches. Marked a lot of fish but couldn't get very many to bite. The wind was very strong today and did cause a little bit of drifting, but travel is still good on the latke. Just avoid the snow banks and drifts. Saw one house get pulled off the lake, and didn't see any new houses come out before I left the lake at 4pm. Lots of snowmobiles and trailers in Tower. At least the city and lake will be busy with those. Good luck fishing if you go out the last weekend of the winter season.

My son got paid back for a good deed he did several years ago. He found a couple of expensive items at a boat ramp and called me asking what he should do. I told him to bring them home because I was afraid if someone else found them, they might keep them. It was winter and nobody was around. This was when Facebook wasn't really popular yet, I was on several sites like this. First thing we did was make a big sign and posted it at the boat launch, then I posted it on all the forums I was on. Long story short, we never found the owner, but we sure tried. I know to this day, if either one of us found something, we'd do our best to get it back to the rightful owner.

Yes, for sure. A few years back, and unbeknownst to me, a piece of trim came off my sled while traveling over the lake. A fellow sledder and complete stranger found the piece and followed my tracks all the way back to my cabin to return the lost item. Couldn't thank him enough. His kindness will never be forgotten and is something to which I aspire.

Finally made it back up to Vermilion after 20 days off. The ice out from McKinley Park was in very good condition. I walked out 5/8 mile with my portable in the morning and I didn't find any water or slush on the ice. I had 14 inches of ice with only the top 1 inch being white. The ice was a little bumpy in spots and smooth and slick in others. Snow cover was less than 50 % as shown in the pictures below, looking back at the landing and out from the bay. Many full size pickups were driving all over and there were a lot of larger wheel houses out. I hauled my small skid house out with my side-by-side in the afternoon and was very happy to be in it after dark when the wind really started to pick up. Felt bad for the portables around me that were picking up in those conditions. When I drove off just before 7pm, the drifts were getting much bigger and there was much more bare ice than earlier in the day. Fishing was quite good in the morning. Best bite was between 915 and 1045. The walleyes preferred the smaller rainbows and chubs and wouldn't touch a very large rainbow and shiner that I tried for a while. The walleyes were quite small with the biggest being only 14 inches. I did manage to catch a 29 inch northern, my biggest pike in many years. Good luck fishing, enjoy the lake, and please pick up your trash.

Actually, I think that I know what you are talking about. There is a large tree in there. After visiting with the neighbors a few years ago, I headed back in my boat. The boat actually rode up on top of the tree and got stuck. It was 11pm and late fall. I tried rocking the boat, shifting between forward and reverse, but couldn't get it off. After about 10 minutes I decide to swim to shore with a rope, tug it off of the tree, and then go warm up. As I went to the back of the boat again, but this time to strip down for the swim, the boat just slid off of the tree and back into the water.

Fished a few lkes yesterday, only got a couple. At dark decided to pull rapalas which is new to me, got 10 in less than an hr. Lot of fun. Water Temps high 60s

Gim, you can certainly name the lake, no serious fisherman fish for bass or muskie anyway!! Nice fish!

I'm worried about the camera stealing my soul.

Your right, most guys are embarrassed by their small-dinks!

Checked the ice at McKinley Park Monday (Dec. 2) afternoon. There was quite a bit of open water before Birch Island and I found only 2-3 inches of ice 10 yards out from the landing. If the lake doesn't freeze over tonight it may not happen until Thursday morning after the snow stops and the wind dies down. I was hoping to walk out fishing Thursday, but I may wait until Friday to be safer. To be very safe I may just wait until next Monday (Dec. 9). The winter is long. No need to rush it.

You're a great steward of the lake. Thank you

Went up a day early to take advantage of the nicer weather. Thursday was a beautiful day on Vermilion; mostly sunny, very light breeze an 41ºF. Glad I went up that day because the skid house was sitting in 3-8" of water. Guess I shouldn't have left the house in water and bank snow around it on Monday. None of the water under the house froze at all. Decided it would be better to move the house to "new" ice toward the hole I drilled outside on Monday. When I drilled holes in the new location I had about 1" of water on top of 4" of new ice, then 4" of water, and finally 25" of original ice; 33" total. I would recommend bringing your auger extension since my Ion auger went past the base auger (32") up to the extension in this location, and you never know what you may find on clear ice (I would stay away from heavy drifts and tall banks because you will probably have lots of water come up on the ice in those locations. With the house on 4x4 blocks, I switched to the extended bobber to easily see the far hole. Works great. The lake looked to be in very good condition if you avoid the drifts and snow banks. Several pickups were driving on the open ice away from plowed roads and seemed to be moving fine. I did see several wheel houses being pulled off the lake on Thursday. Don't know if it was due to ice conditions, poor fishing, or both. Today (Friday) looks very good to be on the lake (no new snow and all the loose snow has found a permanent home on shorelines or hard drifts/banks. This weekend is another story. 4-8" of fresh snow on Saturday with 13mph winds. Drifting is only going to get worse. Next week looks good with no more snow and cold temperatures to freeze any water/slush that is on top. The cold temperatures won't freeze the slush under the tall drifts/banks, so be careful. Fishing was average. caught a few early morning, a couple around noon, then went 5 hours without catching a thing. Finally had a fair evening bite when I caught 4 between 4:45 and 6:00. Finally gave up at 7:10. Unfortunately all of the fish were quite small (9-14"). I may not find another decent walleye this winter. Good luck fishing (only 23 days left for walleyes) and be careful around snow drifts and banks. (Note: I removed all of my blocks and anchors from my original location, and plan to clean up blocks from other people's locations when all the snow melts).

Last day of myself hunting before I help my friend with new clients. Back on the bigger marsh, mainly teal but 5 fulvous whistling ducks. A medium size duck but they fly and decoy like Canada geese, big circles and glide in. They are noisey birds

Headed up to Sauk Centre today to see if Fletchers Bait had bigger leeches. He still has them. Also hit the Sauk lake and found a few fish in 8-11 ft water on windy areas. Got a 22, 15, 15, 13 and half dozen 12 or less. All bit after 10:30am, just like the fish forecast said. At least wife and I can have walleye dinner tonight.

MarkB alluded to this in his earlier post, but 'the bite' seems to have experienced a big setback with all the recent rains and flooding. The mayfly hatch and a water temperature drop - 65 degrees this morning - probably didn't help either. I got a few decent walleyes this weekend, though not many. Only one 'over'. The fish seemed to have made a huge move and largely vacated the shallows. What little walleye success I had was in 15' to 20'. The tough bite prompted me to switch species and I was fortunate to luck into two muskies (48" & 46"). Both fish ate at the boat right at dark. The larger of the two ate the bait as it was dangling in the water at my rod tip while I leaned down to adjust the brightness on my graph. Talk about a surprise! Hoping things begin to normalize and the bite improves for all those coming up for the holiday weekend.

Figured it was safe to post pics with landmarks here. Probably only 6-8 people left that still look at this site