brainerd Brainerd Fishing Reports

[Traxxx]

Fished a spot on the northen half of the mainlake, on Gull tonight. Found 5" of good ice. This area was one of the last to freeze over. Picked up some golden shiners and fatheads from Sportland. We set up in 16 Fow just a couple feet off the weedline. The walleye action was fantastic, started at 2:45pm and continued to about 5:15pm. All in all we caught around 20-25, most were in the 12-14 inch range, with one going around 18". Small glow-perch buckshot spoons, tipped with minnowheads caught about half. Small shiners & plain hooks under a bobber caught the other half. Good Luck and be safe.

[Fred_Bear]

Thanks for the reports Traxx. Were you out on wheelers or still walking out? I'll finally be in the area Friday and be posting up some reports of my own. Good luck to all and keep the reports coming.

[Traxxx]

Question related to Walleye: I seem to keep having trouble catching them in the winter. I use buckshot spoons and others, but when they come in to take a look they do not bite (camera) I have lots of fish come in and look but very few bites. I have tried multiple presentations but seem to get very few "hits" I do catch 1-2 a day but still would like to learn more.

The biggest thing I see people doing is over-jigging for walleyes. With walleye, sometimes you can be aggressive to get them to come in, but when they are present, subtle seems to get way more bites for me. I like to use more of a rythmic jigging with small continuous jigs. If a fish is coming in or up towards the spoon, I'll keep it at the current level. If the fish doesn't bite the first time after a couple seconds, I'll raise it slowly above the fish with small jigs, just a couple inches. If that doesn't trigger a strike, move it up a couple more inches if the fish is following. If I can get the fish to follow upwards, that tells me the fish is nuetral or aggressive, most of the time I can make those bite. If that doesn't work, drop it to the bottom, pound it off the bottom a time or two, then jig it quickly past the fish a couple inches. If that doesn't work, raise it up about five feet and let it free fall and stop it just above the fish. Lastly, raise it all the way up, re-glow it, then drop it back down. Hope this helps.

[Fat Fishie]

Great adviece.. Thanks traxx!

[Traxxx]

Thanks for the reports Traxx. Were you out on wheelers or still walking out? I'll finally be in the area Friday and be posting up some reports of my own. Good luck to all and keep the reports coming.

Walking, I wouldn't feel very comfy out there on the wheeler, just yet.

[Fred_Bear]

Sounds like we have the same ideas Traxx. It's amazing the difference a freshly glowed lure can make on Gull. During the feeding windows I'll often catch most of my fish on 1 line because the action is so fast I'll only have time to quickly reglow a lure after catching a fish and the other and if I don't get one on the other line I'll never have time to reglow it.

[Fred_Bear]

Originally Posted By: Fred_Bear

Thanks for the reports Traxx. Were you out on wheelers or still walking out? I'll finally be in the area Friday and be posting up some reports of my own. Good luck to all and keep the reports coming.

Walking, I wouldn't feel very comfy out there on the wheeler, just yet.

What are some places to walk out of on the north end? I just started fishing Gull 2 winters ago and have only fished the south end and mid lake coming out of the south end but I'm thinking about hitting some new areas this year. Only one I can really think of is the 371 public access.

[Traxxx]

There's a few around, just have to do some exploring.

[Sportland_Bait]

Hit Gull tonight after work. Found 6-9 inches of ice in the area I was fishing, about 200 yards off shore. Pretty good bite from 4-4:30 along the weedline 14 feet of water. Not much for size but pretty good action. Lots of perch too. Northland Buckshots or set lines and shiners, both were producing. Should be a great weekend out there. See you around the bait shop. Good luck!

Jason Erlandson

[storm_rider_1]

just got back from gull, had about the same results, we caught quite a few fish, had to sort through a bunch of small ones to get a few eaters, lots of perch in between the walleyes. caught the first walleye at around 2 and were still catching them when we got off the ice at about 6:30. where are the crappies at?

[Walleye #1]

How big are the perch guys?

[storm_rider_1]

most of the ones we caught were on the smaller side, but we did keep 2, the one i brought home was 10 or so, and the one my buddy kept was a little bigger. not exactly jumbos.

[NorthLongSlayer]

I've heard great reports from Gull Lake in the past 3 days. Guys are getting their limits, but on the smaller side. Today, a friend of mine was out around hole in the day and caught 8 and broke off a couple of dandys. They're definitely goin out there. Also good reports in steamboat bay.

[WalleyeJeff]

Moved house to a new spot. Walleyes where hot around 4-5, but on the small side. caught all on golden shiner/hook. Nothing on jig.

[storm_rider_1]

i was on gull again tonight, same spot, 14 feet of water, caught around 20 walleyes, with the majority of them in the 8-10 inch range, was able to catch a few 14-17 inchers for dinner for the family. caught all of them on a buckshot and a minnow head, missed a couple on a plain hook and shiner. even the little ones were just nailing the buckshot. it has been alot of fun out there the last few days. not as many perch today.

[walleye365]

last night on north long caught 13 walleye all 10to13 in with one keeper they all went back fishin in 18 fow.this morning same thing littel guys until 7am hooked 26.5 in and missed 2 others that had wieght to them. not bad and there all still swimin.

[storm_rider_1]

hit the same spot on gull again tonight, it was wierd, had lots of fish come in and check out the buckshot, then go and hit my plain hook/shiner line. only got 2 on the buckshot, was able to bring plenty home for dinner again. bro in law was fishing 10 feet away and was only able to get 2 compared to my 15.

[CaptainMusky]

hit the same spot on gull again tonight, it was wierd, had lots of fish come in and check out the buckshot, then go and hit my plain hook/shiner line. only got 2 on the buckshot, was able to bring plenty home for dinner again. bro in law was fishing 10 feet away and was only able to get 2 compared to my 15.

You were one of the few lucky ones. Everyone we talked to had terrible results. We caught two, one borderline keeper and one about 8 inches. The others we talked either didnt get anything or only one.

A few lookers, but nothing like I expected after hearing all the talk on here the last few days.

[NorthLongSlayer]

Man, the main lake of North long is reeeaaally slow now. I have at least 5 reports that said tonight 1 or none fish. I caught one 10 inch walleye in a spot that usually is killer right now. Not even seein them on the vexilar. Fished dusk 9ft-27ft. I heard Merrifield is gangbusters right now along with gull. What about Round Lake? Haven't heard a word. Anyone gettin em out there. Would be nice to hear about Pelican too. Anyone? I don't need the spot, just the report. Thanks and good luck

[Walleye #1]

Slayer

I am not liking what I am hearing. I was planning on heading up to the the northern part on Sunday late afternoon. Might have to rethink.

[CaptainMusky]

Dont be so sure that Gull is HOT. We were out there tonight and only managed 2 fish both were small. Everyone we talked to had similar or worse results. We didnt mark many fish and those we did mark had no interest in biting. Wouldnt even follow the bait.

I think the shutdown on N Long carried over to Gull as well. I suspect the weather has something to do with it.

[buddah7]

I was on gull in front of govt point last night and did well last weekend but couldnt even muster a bite last night but it might of had something to do with people drilling holes and 300 4 wheelers until 6oclock...

[Hawg]

Round is dead. 3 times out for No Long crappies = o. Middle of big part of No Long last night = 1 ten incher. What the heck is going on???

[firejumper]

i was out on north lomg main lake last night and again this morning only got one little walleye and missed one on a tip up this morning

[smartguy]

Edward is dead too. Not a single bite or marked fish yesterday afternoon/evening. Not even a snake.

[NorthLongSlayer]

You are right about Gull. I was out in hole in the day bay with a friend that caught 8 eyes 3 mornings ago and nice ones. 3 of us went out to the same exact spot at 630 to 930 and caught one 14 incher. Reeeaaallly slow. Just talked to the neighbor on North Long - he puts his house out in the same spot every year. He said they haven't had a bit for 3 nights, but he said this seems to happen every year first ice. They turn on and then there is about a 5-7 day spell where they just shut right off. I hope they turn on soon because we have family up for christmas and boy, does my 9 yr old nephew like to fish. He has fishing OCD kinda like me. haha..good luck everyone. Thanks for the reports. I know this sounds funny, but its kinda nice to hear that everyone else is doing bad too...you start to get down on your fishing. Have a good one and Merry Chrstmas

[kingfish689]

I have been out on gull myself a few times in the last week and last night it all came to an end did not even see many on the depth finder and the ones we saw just looked and left got one nice perch 13" and one walleye 13" there was alot of traffic from 4 wheelers.I think this may have something to do with the lack of fish . so now we just wait till we can drive the rest of the lake and get away from some of the traffic good luck to all and anyone hear where a guy can pick up some pannies

[Sportland_Bait]

The chomp is on bigtime out on Gull. I haven't heard many good reports from the south half of the lake but the north end and some of the mid lake spots are on fire. Morning, evening, right on through the day. It didn't seem to matter.

Yeah there have been lots of smaller walleyes again this year but if you stay on the move hole hopping. Stay on fresh fish. I hit a couple of spots this morning. First spot was great in the fall but right now is a ghost town. After about a 30 minutes I pulled the lines and ran about a 1/2 mile to my back up spot. Drilled a couple of holes and Bingo we had one on the ice. Had steady action right up until I had to head in for work at 10:00. I had the best results with gold or glow red Northland Buckshot spoons. Had a few on deadsticks with a nice golden shiner. The spoons were hot today though.

Still fishing the weedlines but we are catching fish from 9 feet all the way out to 23 feet. Quite a few fish from 13-17 inches this weekend along with some whoppers. A buddy of ours landed a number of fish in 24-29 inches. Most everyone is catching a few and some of the anglers out there are reporting 30-40 fish days. It should be a great week with this stable weather pattern. Just in time for christmas break.

Ice conditions are ranging 6-10 inches out there with about 3 inches of snow.

Good luck this week and we'll see you at the bait shop or on the water.

Jason Erlandson

[NorthLongSlayer]

Well, after all the bad reports I've been hearing I finally heard an awesome report. The neighbor I was telling you about that had 3 no bite nights in a row got his limit tonight on North Long. All keepers and a couple real nice ones in the 20 inch range. It looks like things have turned around for the better real quick. I was going to take a couple days off, but now I'll be out tomorrow.

[Walleye #1]

Fished Merrifield Bay tonight on North Long. Started at Gladstone to try to fish for some crappies and gills, caught nothing except three northerns one of which busted the tip of one of my panfish poles. Took off and fish Merrifield bay at about 2:30. Went out and fish the big hump out in the middle. Marked a ton of fish from 4 until 5, only two walleyes both on the bobber and minnow. They were not reacting well to the buckshot or lindy darter, just would look. The fish were there, just not cooperating. Everyone around me sounded like they were saying the same thing. So two walleyes both around 13 and one largemouth bass. Spent most of my time fishing the break from 7-20ft and did mark a few fish and missed on at 32ft right away. This was my first time ever fishing North Long, being that I just moved to Baxter in August. Excited to keep learning the lake somemore.

If anyone ever wants a partner to fish with, I am basically alone everytime I go. Let me know.

Walleye #1

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