2020 Bemidji Area Fishing Reports

[fishingfool]

I wasnt real clear in my first post either. What i wanted to say was they were crayfish, but I had never seen them in perch before and was wondering if others had observed this as well?

thanks all

[thrax]

Hey Matt, would love to talk to you sometime about your theory on crayfish being a large part of the forage base on Bemidji. I certainly can't rule that out in part, but I'd wager they are not even close to as large a part as other lakes I'm familiar with, like Leech or lakes like Vermilion or Rainy. This could be an interesting discussion, I'd really like to hear your thoughts on this.

[Lee Lane]

crayfish on vermilion?8-) ha ha ha jk

[Matt Breuer]

I think the abundance of them in Bemidji is a lot higher than people think. The spot we're in (rubble bottom) has quite a few crayfish swimming through on camera, and a lot of the perch and 'eyes we clean have small cray's in them, and often-times have spit them up when we've pulled them up. The perch gobble 'em up.

It's nothing like a few other lakes in the area, and of course not like Big V, but the cray's around are tasty morsels to the fish out there!

[cluelessfisherman]

I find crayfish in roughly half the fish I clean coming out of Bemidji in summer - all species, and a little less in winter. I just cleaned a batch of perch about 2 weeks ago that were full them, and have picked up a few off the fish house floor that were still alive after being puked up. Heck, I even caught one on a rattle reel that clamped onto my minnow & wouldn't let go!

[Matt Breuer]

Don't know if this will work, but THIS is on Bemidji...

[scsavre]

I have seen that a few times on various lakes as well. Most of what i have seen were the large insect larvea. Those perch will be growing fast with 1.5 inch crawfish in their diet. cant wait to get back up there.

[sjlund]

I was fishing on the north end of Bemidji on Saturday in 25 feet. Kept 20 perch and 1 walleye. Perch were biting steady until dark. The 1 walleye was caught at about sunset.

[walleyeRyummy]

any body fishin? i hpe to go sunday.....

[thrax]

A buddy and I spent most of the day on Bemidji on Saturday. Got a few decent jumbo's and one eye at mid day. Moved around a number of times, and finished the day on our secret rock bass spot for some fast and fun action, boy my buddy caught some big ones!! He is the rock bass king!!

[RussC]

Slow weekend, picked up a couple saturday night. Got stuck on the way out sunday on our newly drifted over road, it was nasty out there.

[woodman]

I used the shovel today also! Nasy travel!

[so8119]

The wind was really blowing yesterday and made it very hard to get out, but fishing was still pretty good. Came home with 11 nice perch in a 2 hours.

[Up North]

well since there hasn't been any reports for a while I'll throw mine out. Friday late afternoon till dark, few perch in 34ft but nothing spectacular. A group about 50-60yds from us did well with both walleyes and perch in 19-22ft of water. Saturday morning I headed up to URL, but a buddy and his group had 15 keeper perch by noon when I talked to him. They were in 29-31ft. There ya go.

Buck

[Roosterslayer05]

I went out saturday evning. 30 FOW, caught two walleyes between 5-5:45 PM. 13 incher and a 15 incher. Swedish pimple. Marked another fish or two that were acting like walleyes but thats about it.

[woodman]

Fished last evening and tonight until 7 and managed four nice jumbo's each night. Put back some small perch also. We marked some nice red lines at happy hour both nights, but with this front it has turned them lock jaw again. This weekend I predict will be excellent to end the eye season. The kids are of Thursday and Friday so Mommy and kids are going fishing.

[thrax]

Nice Woodman, leave a few of those Jumbo's out there for me, I have a plan for some of those big ones, and I'm not real sure they are going to like it! Weeks of great fishing still to come, although this weekend sounds like it might be a little "northern suburb" action for some eyes and crappies at the same time, and no not URL, but maybe some TRL? Will be sure to put up a report when the weekend is done.

Hope you and the family have a great time, but like I asked, leave a few for the rest of us!

[woodman]

will do, but you will have to tell the kids and mommy that, they love catching them! Moved the house towards where you like to fish. Now I can keep an eye on you!

[Matt Breuer]

This has been a good week on Bemidji. The winds early in the week made travel tough, and slowed fishing down, but it bounced back instantly once the wind died. Renters found fishing to be steady for perch, with 20-50 fish days easy, and the walleyes bit readily when they came through. Into darkness the creatures from the abyss (eelpout) came out to play as well. Some nice fat walleyes coming out this season, as well as a good spread of year classes. Should be a great summer out there!

Good luck to everyone venturing out for the last push on walleyes!

[cbrooks]

Hey Matt, what are some of the longer walleye you have got this year? Any 30 inchers?

[Matt Breuer]

Lots of 20-26" fish, a few in the 26-28" range. I think the longest on the year so far was a skinny 28.5", while a gorging 26.5" took the cake for weight.

[cbrooks]

Those are some nice walleyes. I haven't been out this much year maybe tomorrow. Good luck to you and thanks for the report.

[thrax]

Did you make it over cbrooks? Fished the Blackduck little contest today with no luck. Going to try and fish like a fiend tomorrow, I do have some buddies catching nice crappies tonight on Secret Lake and Invisible Spot, lol.

[cbrooks]

No I never did make it out to Bemidji. I think the time to hit Bemidji is late or middle march crappies. There's a few good little lakes around. There's one lake half between here and bemidji thats been good for crappies:) If I'm looking for northerns or walleyes the rest of the season I will head out to Devils lake.

[TyGuy02]

sorry I didn't see you last sunday matt. made a wrong turn on the lake, got stuck, then settled for the first spot once we got unstuck.

No jumbos on sunday, just alot of small ones. Kept the wife busy. She was able to brag that she caught alot more than me. Fun day but nothing to brag about.

[slayer21]

Would like to thank the guy that gave us a tug on sat..dont know if he was a FMer but it was nice of him..we ended up fishing in about 42 ft of water with a few jumbos and a couple of walleyes to end the day. the gf had a blast with the big perch..

[thrax]

Crappie bite was just off for me on Sunday, although I did meet another FMer on the lake. Tons of fish around, threw the kitchen sink down at them, couldn't buy a bite and only caught one, urgh. Buddies Saturday night got a mess of them and some very nice ones. Still lots of great fishing left for them pannies, next trip I'll probably go perchin to make sure the rod bends a little more!!

[Up North]

we had a grand time out on the ice this weekend. The wife's family was in town so I took a couple nephews out Fri. night to fish with Woodman in his shack, fished till about 1am and just got a couple nice jumbos. Caught one at about 10:30pm and the other at around midnight...what's with that???

Then on Saturday we had about 25 people on the ice, we grilled brats, dogs, burgers, etc., awesome time. Caught lots of perch, many too small, some pretty decent. One nephew was pretty pumped about a 5lb northern he caught...only to be embarrassed later on when he hollered that he had another BIG ONE on!! Only to find out he caught the bottom of his hole... Another nephew caught a 11 1/2 inch jumbo, very nice fish. All the kids had a blast with my 6 year old and Woodman's 7 year old fishing HARD all day long. They fished harder than anyone else and still wanted to stay longer.

Sunday morning I took a nephew and my 6yr old back out for a couple nice jumbos. A very nice weekend for many reasons.

Buck

[fishingfool]

I am hoping to make up there this weekend. How is travel by truck on the lake? Any recent perch action?

Thanks in advance.

[woodman]

Pulled the house off tonight and Northwoods access was still in great shape with a little water at shore. I was only out on the drop, so that is far as I went. There were trucks out from DNR and spread out all over. House is home and in the driveway for the summer. What a emotional evening to take it home off the lake. The kids were sad along with us!