brainerd Brainerd Fishing Reports

[NorthLongSlayer]

Was out for crappies on Hubert last night in 50 fow in that deep trough in the middle of the lake. In 3 hours I only saw 2 suspended marks on the vexilar. I was out in 45 fow, 15 yds away, a week and a half earlier and saw all kinds of big marks suspended halfway down. They would come and go. I caught a couple of walleyes in that spot, but no crappies. That lake is soo tough to fish. Too much deep water. One of these days I'll be right on top of them. That is the 2nd deepest part of the lake, I thought they would be there this time of year. I know guys that fish 65 ft holes and catch them halfway down this time of year. Just not the right time I guess

[Walleye #1]

Gigidy

Can you tell me anymore about your fishing on Leech last weekend? I am heading up there on Friday for the day in search of some perch and walleye? I was thinking of the snake pit flats, and the areas about Goose Island. Email me if you want.

[email protected]

Hit some action again this weekend on the crappies and panfish. They still seem to be sitting suspended off of the bottom, at least the aggressive ones, but from what I have noticed is that by changing up your jigging presentations and lures you seem to get more bites out of agression more than anything else. Yesterday I had alot of luck letting the jig fall close to the bottom and then snapping it up 6-12" then just a quiver of the bait after that really seemed to get the gills to want to attack the lure and chase. 17' of water has been the location of late, and most fish have been coming on vertical jig presentations rather than horizontal.

[gigidy]

fished leech 3 times this winter 3days 2 nights each,early in jan had perch in 10 to 12 feet off of pine pt almost any where,walleye also very surprised to catch eyes in 11 foot flats,last weekend was a little harder to find fish first afternoon went to snake pit flats there were roads plowed all the way around goose isle,out from pine pt,we tried 3 diff spots with out any results"no jumbo's talked to a guide on the ice and he tipped us about trying to find grassy humps,around snake pit area the perch were eating crayfish he said ,drilled a few holes in diff areas looking for veg.with camera found some set up on the edge of "grass"night fished nothing.,7 to 9 am caught 8 jumbo perch very fat 10 to 12 inch fish 13 feet water jigs fat heads,saw eyes on camera no bites,spent next 2 days out from public access of stoney pt 40 houses out there,fished 22 feet water caught 22 perch kept 18 nice size ,1 fat 34 inch pike missed a bigger pike ,saw on camera ,very cool to see him take large shiner,saw 6 eyes or so on cam only got 1 14" to bite,fun but not the agressive fish of 2 to 3 weeks ago,to be expected feb blues good luck cant wait til mid ,end of march. perch would come in about every 2 hours or so ,we were lazy and sat in wheel house waiting,could have done better.

[Walleye #1]

gigidy

Do you have an email I can reach you at?

Walleye #1

[gigidy]

email [email protected]

[red horse]

was on gull on monday pm

tuesday noon till eight

perch were active but small

wound up with four nice eyes out of that time

out of east side on a resort access

great structure in a small bay

had to use the auger to find the structure

took a while but found a spot they were moving into the weeds and feeding on

it was a short but fun bite .

good fishin

[kingfish689]

Been going out on gull and doing ok getting lots of perch and even enough jumbos for a meal for both of us.(guppy and myself)Going to make the most of this last weekend of walleye fishing heading back out on gull today. The walleyes have not been fast and furious but have been getting some each time out.took home 15 perch between 10" and 12" and three keeper eyes 15" last night. found that pinching the minnow head off right behide the gills worked best. so you have just a round ball of minnow head hooked on a small jigging spoon with a little larva on the other two hooks with subtle jigging and pause

[NorthLongSlayer]

I was out last night on Round looking for crappies. I put the wheel house out and my wife, daughter, and two friends came out for a night of cards and pizza. I was mainly just going to keep an eye on the vexilar all night to see if any suspended crappies cruised through. To my surprise, the walleye bite was steady all night. From 5:00-9:00. Slowly, but surely we had a rattle reel sound every half hour and the walleyes were good size. They were hittin the glow jigs. We didn't get one fish on plain hooks. And we were using crappie minnows and fat heads. Good Luck

[buddha]

Hit Gull on Friday and only managed a few bigger perch. Found some crappies and sunnies on some smaller lakes though. Wasn't able to find any eyes to close off the season but maybe a LOW trip may have to happen!

[Chode2235]

Fished a tough weekend for crappies. Could see a few of them coming through, but very few biters and small ones at that. I gave up and went sunny fishing this afternoon instead.

Boy was it nice out there though. I love days like today.

[whitebassman]

Looking to get out this spring for crappies. I've always had luck on the Mississippi above the dam in Brainerd. Anybody going to be out fishing Rice Lake? I'd imagine the ice would go out first since the Mississip goes through there. I know the Mississippi River is overlooked a lot with all the other lakes in the area. Sounds like Zorbaz/Bar Harbor/Nisswa is nuts in the spring

[Meat-Run]

any crappie's biting or moving shallow yet don't need to know what lake but just want to find out what others are seeing for fish and water temps?

thanks,

mr

[JP Z]

Was at Breezy and was still cold. Don't have the temp as I was shorebound but it was Friday in that wind. No fish though.

[bmc2b]

Caught a couple crappies in a smaller local lake tonight in the shallows. Lake went out 3/29. 51F crappie minnow on plain hook.

[swampbuck]

Finally caught them pretty good this weekend. Had great morning today fish where in 7-8 fow with some weeds caught them on a Northland slurpies tube and a mimic minnow small fry (This has been working as good if not better than a puddle jumper) The small fry is like a tiny 1 1/2" fluke on 32 oz head.

[CrappieAttitude]

Nice Fish Swampbuck. Glad you got into them.

I finally made it out this weekend for a few hours. Caught quite a few in 5-7 fow as well. Water temp was 57-58 degrees where I was fishing. Main lake temp was around 53 degrees.

CA

[MOSSY]

my two sons and I caught sixty five crappies in about 45 minutes last night in about 5 feet of water kept some for a meal the rest went back mainly on blue speck puddle jumpers

mossy

[MNUser]

Ditto for us last night. Not as many though. We got out late and it took us about 20 minutes to find them. Nice bite once we did. Fun!

[fishin magician]

Anyone been out in the Crosslake area? Little Pine, Dagget, Rush lake. I am curious to see what the water temps will be this weekend.

Thanks

[eyes1]

I was on the WFC Fri the 16th the main lake was in the mid 40's and the bays I was in were from 52-58 degrees caught a few crappies but it was hard to keep the bass of the hook

[mnfathead]

I've been out the last two weekends, two weeks ago, got a few decent ones, this last weekend we did better, more females had moved in but still in the deep part of the bay, fishing over 8ft about a foot and a half under the bobber. Couldn't catch anything but bass if we tried shallower. Water temps right around 57/58, so I don't think there going full boar yet, once the get going, its gonna be good!

[MNUser]

Was out again last night fishing for the fun of it. We boated well over 100. Kept our limits and the rest went back. Had some really nice ones mixed in. This weather has really helped speed things up.

[WalleyeJeff]

Walleye action was great this afternoon. 2 guys, 12 eyes in 3 hours 15-17 inchers. Can not wait to bring the son out tomorrow.

[Davidjojo]

What lake were you on? I had a great time with the Crappies on Gull but could only come up with one Walleye.

[CrappieAttitude]

Was only able to make it out once for walleyes this weekend with my dad and bro. We ended up pulling cranks on Gull Friday night. Managed to catch 6. Caught them in 6 fow. Didn't get out on the lake until 10:30 pm and fished till 1:30 am. All of them were in the 13-16 inch category. Even though we only caught a few, it was still a great night to be out. The DNR checked us and told us that he was seeing very low numbers that particular night, but of the fish that were caught, most were caught on cranks.

CA

[Moses2531]

Managed to pull a few walleyes outta WFC each day of the long weekend... Nothing huge but solid Whitefish walleyes as usual.. big fish went 26 and hit at about 3 am! That wakes you up! Haha! I still think the bite will keep getting better even though there is a ton of forage! I cant believe the bait balls Im graphing or the jumping minnows on the surface in the evenings.. no wonder the 'eyes are never hungry! :-/

[anchor man]

Moses, do you do most of your fishig on WFC after dark?

[Moses2531]

Yeah, every evening I can I try to put at least a few hours in after the sun goes down... I give the day bite a try as well depending on the weather... a high sun and no wind.. Either bassin time or cruising time! Haha!

[Sportland_Bait]

The first two weeks of the walleye season was a little un-eventful. But this last week we have seen a few signs of life here in the Brainerd area. We actually had one great report from Gull yesterday. One group of anglers reported landing 32 walleyes. Plus a few of the guides that have been hitting the water are reporting catching a few. The fish are grouping up in a few spots. Shallow depths have been better than deep. Most reports claim the walleyes are anywhere from up in the weeds out to about 20 feet. Fishing the weedlines in 13-18 feet is a good starting point now. The best tactics have varied and they all work. Spinners and nightcrawlers, live bait rigs and redtails, creek chubs, or leeches, and jigs tipped with Berkley Gulp Alive have all boated some fish. Gull, North Long, and Whitefish are the top destinations right close. Mille Lacs has been tremendous especially on the rocks in the evenings. 10-14 foot depths. Slip bobbers and a medium to large leech are catching lots of 13-17 inchers. The mud flast are kicking out bigger fish on live bait rigs with a long snell and a jumbo leech.

Bass fishing has been pretty good everywhere. Senkos, jigs, or topwater baits are working well. Pike fishing has been steady on Gull, Edwards, and clark lake. Spinner rigs and medium sucker minnows or big shiners are catching lots of average size fish. Crappies are starting to bite out on the weedlines in the evenings. Northland Mimic Minnows are a great choice for trolling or casting the 10-14 foot depths while chasing crappies. Sunfish are in the shallows and are easy targets with hair jigs tipped with leeches, wax worms, or Berkley Gulp maggots.

Good luck this week!

Jason Erlandson

[whitebassman]

Looking to try North Long, Round or Gull this week. Was leaning towards North Long, but sounds like Gull is finally picking up? Looking to do some jigging perhaps, haven't live bait rigged much, but could learn to!