2020 Detroit Lakes-Pelican Rapids Fishing Reports - Lake Conditions

[Jim Panfish Uran]

Huntnfish, I live 10 minutes from White Earth lake, I won't be staying there but fisherdog will be.

I'm sure I'll be out there Saturday if me and Burt get on the same page, if not i'll be living the dream out in the hills,

[RedDog3]

For you boys going to Cedar Crest, when you're swilling some cold ones in the bar, check out the pictures on the wall... there's one of me from last year... 23" eye... or maybe I said 24"... can't remember.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

in 10 years it will be a 29".. I'll check out the pic, and maybe add a couple myself.. lol yeah right.

[auggie78]

Hopefully the weather cooperates next weekend. If its anything like today it will be chilly and wet out there

[Cicada]

Got out crappie fishing today on Lida. Water temperature has dropped from 59 degrees 10 days ago to 50 today. Caught about 20 crappies, two bluegills and one bullhead that might have gone by the name Shamu. It was a bit slow, but enough to keep interested. Tried that Gulp Alive trick someone schooled me with, but live bait did better today.

[Paul]

Was out on Mellissa Today, Caught one 13" crappie, and one 2" perch. Other than that, I spent the next several hours stalking a loon and a never seen by me before diving duck of some kind. I will be posting pictures in the photo forum when I go through them. 700 in all.

[Redranger]

I will be at White Earth as normal also, Wht and Red Ranger 621.

Will have the kid and the red dog in the boat.

Should be a little warmer than last years opener.

My son went out with me in the AM picked up first fish in about 10 Min.

within 1/2 he had enough, even wearing a snowmobile suit.

Good luck to all!

[Double A]

Was out on Mellissa Today, Caught one 13" crappie, and one 2" perch. Other than that, I spent the next several hours stalking a loon and a never seen by me before diving duck of some kind. I will be posting pictures in the photo forum when I go through them. 700 in all.

Paul, Not a fishing report question but how do you store your hundreds of pictures that you take? Do you have a set of USB drives?

[fisherdog19]

Greg, I suppose the cold water had them wanting something a little more stationary. Once it get's warmer those plastics will heat up again.

[kingr]

Reddog, you'll say about anything to get you picture on the wall. I'll be on Bad Medicine trying to find some trout.

[RedDog3]

Reddog, you'll say about anything to get you picture on the wall. I'll be on Bad Medicine trying to find some trout.

You're right... but I was the only one to catch a walleye last year, so somebody had to do it!

Good luck Kinger... is Gbow in your group, or is he tied down?

[kingr]

Oh heck no, he's only allowed up north with out the fam once a year...this is not the one time. Good luck Saturday.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

Pounded the crappies last night out on one of those little lakes out east. Well actually I didn't pound them but I pulled in 17, and the biggest ones were pushing 14". Those big fat pigs went back into the lake. I kept 5 in the 11" range. Half were in shallow mixed in with the flooded timber, and the other half were out in the growing cabbage patches scattered around in 8-10 fow.

I also pulled in 3 walleyes dancing a jig over the tops of the weeds, the lure wasn't more than 4 feet down over over 8-10 and I'd get smacked half way back to the boat. I missed I don't know how many fish, I bet a few more of them were walleyes than I thought.

Anyone have any better tactics than a jig/minnow for fishing over the tops of the weeds?

[Skitterpop]

I do the same thing but attach it to a slip bobber and I slowly will reel it back to the boat, cast out, and repeat. Have found this to be successful for walleye and crappie.

[paceman]

I have had really good luck in the past casting a shallow running rap.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

I was thinking a shallow shad rap would have worked but I didn't have one in my box!!! Looks like a trip to the store is in order.

The fish I did catch were on a 3" gulp twister tail and an 1/8 oz Lindy Max Gap jig. I'll have to either go buy a couple raps, or switch to a heavier jig and run 'er through a little quicker! Either way, I can't wait to do it.

[RK]

Hey Leechbait -

This might sound nuts, but...try a Beetle Spin, or something like it. A 3" Northland Mimic Minnow with a spinner arm can be pretty good for weed walleyes.

Best option though may be a spinner rig with a bullet sinker instead of a bottom bouncer. I started doing this maybe 7 or 8 years ago after I learned it from a friend who guides around Walker. I use them all summer around here and there are times when you can just crush walleyes, plus I catch a lot of crappies this way too.

Slide on a sliding bullet sinker, tie on a swivel, and make a spinner rig with about 18-24" of 15 lb mono or fluorocarbon (heaver line helps keep you from getting bit off, and walleyes couldn't care less), a #3 Colorado or Indiana blade (I like silver in clear water and gold or flo yellow in stained water) and a #2 or so aberdeen hook. Add a 3" Gulp! minnow and you're set.

You can use real minnows if you think you must, but really, Gulp works just as well and it's 100 times less hassle. Other than the first couple weeks of the season I haven't used live bait for walleyes for years.

I run this at about .8 to 1.2 MPH over the tops of the weeds. Run it back 80 feet or so, and run it so it's just over the tops of the weeds. You can adjust the running depth with the sinker weight. Northland's Slingshot sinkers are great for this because you can change weight without having to tie knots.

For some reason this works really well during the day, even on hot, flat calm days. Walleyes absolutely smoke the thing. A 3 pounder can about take the rod out of your hands. It's a great way to fish with kids too. All they have to do is hang on to the rod.

This same rig with a smaller spinner blade is my main search technique for summer crappies too - I just slow down a little to run it off the weedline.

During the summer you can do this and catch just about anything in the lake - walleyes, crappies, bass, pike... It's a hoot.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Jim Panfish Uran]

Great tip Rob, I've got a ton of spinners already made that match your set up. Light bullet sinkers, are we talking 1/16 and smaller? I think that weight would work for running it over the tops of these weeds. I hate being stuck behind a computer at work, but at least I can learn something during the day... haha!!!

[Jim Panfish Uran]

Got a hot tip from fisherdog19 and acted on it. I went to a local lake and plucked a few male crappies off, enough for a meal and threw back quite a few of them. It was fun spotting and stalking the little buggers. They wanted it right in their faces and wouldn't settle for less.

Boy do I wish I was fishing and not working right now, I hope the weather holds up good next week because I'll be off Wed through Tuesday. I'll be a crazy fishing fool.

[paceman]

Took my little dude for an evening adventure out on Sallie. It was pretty warm and calm so we went after Norskies. Caught 3 all over 30". My 5 year old had a blast reeling them in. Of course they were took big and put back in... Saw quite a few boats in the crappie hole.. HMMM.... Man what a sunset last night! It was a beauty!

[RK]

Light bullet sinkers, are we talking 1/16 and smaller? I think that weight would work for running it over the tops of these weeds.

Actually it'll probably take more weight than that unless you're in pretty shallow water or moving very slowly.

With a light rig even a small spinner blade has a surprising amount of lift, and when you combine that with the water resistance on a fairly long line, you get a lot of lift keeping the bait up. It can take a surprising amount of weight to keep it down. I usually start with 1/4 oz and work up or down from there. When I first started doing this I was using too light a weight most of the time. The one time I use real light weights is crappie fishing when they're up high...a foot under the surface is perfect sometimes.

Have fun...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[eskimo9]

Fished Big C tonight from 10:00 to 1:00am. We pulled planer boards in 7 to 12 fow. Ended up catching 2 walleyes one 17" and one 20". Lost a few that we never got to see one that felt pretty good. Anyway bite was pretty slow but it was an awesome night to be on the water I couldnt believe how warm it was out there. Water temp read from 60 to 64 depending on where we were.

[Arkman]

Took my little dude for an evening adventure out on Sallie. It was pretty warm and calm so we went after Norskies. Caught 3 all over 30". My 5 year old had a blast reeling them in. Of course they were took big and put back in... Saw quite a few boats in the crappie hole.. HMMM.... Man what a sunset last night! It was a beauty!

Any suggestions on where to fish for the northern on Sallie? I want to try to hook into some this Sunday with my fly rod. Any help would be great.

[curtistodd]

Leechbait - you could also try a husky jerk. Just a couple cranks gets them down 4 feet and then when you pause they suspend or slightly raise up. A very good bait to toss shallow. Fish usually cant resist and hit it on the stop/pause. But straight trolling puts them down 8-12 feet depending on size. Ive caught alot of walleye/pike/smallmouth/white bass on them this spring in SD. Im sure it'll work here.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

The problem with the husky jerk is it's got so many darn hooks Good tactics that I will get to put to use this weekend. The weeds are probably 2-3 feet down from the surface, and will be emergent vegetation by June. These are the same weedlines I anchor and jig/slip-bobber on in June. Oh I love this time of year!!!

[rattleL]

RK that rig you talked about is awsome i guess ive never trolled it but cast it alot with an 1/8 oz sinker over weedbeeds with a 18 inch leader and it usually makes its time in the water valuable.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

Got out on a local lake this evening and found a good bite, we boated over 20 eyes, the biggest being a 26"er. Most of them were over 20", we caught them on jigs, and lindy rigs with spot tail shiners. They were mostly in 16 to 18 fow. It was windy as heck out there but it was fun, time to go to bed!!!!!!

[INNKEEPER]

RK, this may sound like a dumb question but what are aberdeen hooks, colorado and Indiana blades? I looked at L&M thinking they may have them, but they don't have anything marked with those names. Thanks.

[Paul]

I always fish heavier weights also. My most common bottom bouncer starts at 2oz. I have even gone so far as using a 5oz bottom bouncer fishing in 30 feet of water with lots of traffic around.

[RK]

RK, this may sound like a dumb question but what are aberdeen hooks, colorado and Indiana blades? I looked at L&M thinking they may have them, but they don't have anything marked with those names. Thanks.

Hey Inkeeper -

No such thing as dumb questions man - nobody's born knowing this stuff

An Aberdeen hook is a long shank hook (meaning there's more distance between the eye and the bend) with a round bend. A good example (and the one I use for this, as it happens) is the Mustad Model 3260. It's a pretty common hook so you should be able to find it most places.

"Colorado" and "Indiana" are blade styles. Colorado blades are fairly wide and almost round. Indiana blades are a little more elongated. Colorados spin a little slower and have a little more lift than an Indiana. You should be able to find blades made by Northland Tackle almost anywhere in that area. Look for the yellow packaging.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm