2020 Detroit Lakes-Pelican Rapids Fishing Reports - Lake Conditions

[huntnfish]

Like Hitman said, White Earth was slow. We only picked up a couple walleyes along with a bunch of hammer handles. Water was 44 degrees. We had the most action from 11-16 feet. I heard most people found it to be slow also but there was one group that said they did well.

[RK]

Hiya -

Fished Crystal a little bit Saturday. It was spotty at best but the fish I did catch were nice. Only kept one fish Sat AM - the half dozen I caught were all over 20", and all males, oddly enough. Found a couple schools of fish throughout the day, and could pick a fish or two from each one but it was overall pretty slow. Caught some big largemouths in 12-16 feet, which kind of tells me things are behind if they haven't moved in from the breaks yet. Skitterpop - thanks for letting the pike go Not too many of those left in Crystal anymore, sadly.

Don't know if it was the weather or the economy, but seemed like very few people were out. Lake was empty for quite a while on Sunday. Heard the same thing from several other parts of the state too. Kind of eerie.

Next weekend will be better if the water warms up a little. Crystal had hardly warmed up at all from the weekend before...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[SJMyers32]

Fished Island lake saturday morning and came up with nothing. Having the gf with and the weather made for a short outing. Fished the east side of Lida sat. night and the same results, everything we tried came up with short bites and not very many of them. Watched some youngster pull a 20 inch walleye out on a stringer, reminded him of the slot, got laughed at, and he still kept the fish. Very upsetting. To bad we were at the public access and your Durango has license plates. Crappies have been on fire last week until the front, havent tried since. They were in less than five feet of water, in the bays that tend to warm up quicker. I would give the name of the lake but it probally wouldnt handle the pressure that the net might generate. Im waiting a few weeks here to see the awesome pics from "CopterJohn". I have a feeling he will be flying in soon.

[Brett Waldera]

It was one of my best openers for size.

Fished Sallie on Saturday from 3pm til 8pm and ended up catching 7 walleyes and 2 pike. Biggest eye was 27.5",ended up also catching a 23.5",21.5", 20.75", and three under 20-inches. Kept the three 14-17" and a 20.75" and released the rest. Should have had one more 14"er but tried to bass flip it into the boat and apparently that doesn't work as well with walleyes...jig popped out mid-air.

Jig and minnow in 14-18 feet. Fished a very light jig, but they were popping it hard when they hit. Found a small pod of fish and just kept working them.

Brett Waldera

[copterjohn]

Yea, I will be up soon. Going to install a perimeter fence around Sallie and Big D to keep all the blossoming muskie guide services away.

[BrianLucky13]

And the non-residents too please!!!JK

[Scoot]

Hey... Brian, what's wrong with non-residents?!? LOL

Weren't you one, not too long ago?

[Dahitman44]

hey Brett --

what was the water temp in sallie?

thanks

[cliffy]

Hey... Brian, what's wrong with non-residents?!? LOL

Weren't you one, not too long ago?

AND Scoot throws in a good ZINGER! LOL! I have shared a boat with Brian when he was still a Nodaker....glad to see he has moved to a good state. JK.

[BrianLucky13]

Only bad thing is the hunting!! Fishing is good though!!

Dahitman: Water temp is 53 on Sallie!!

[Dahitman44]

Thanks, Brian!

[Brett Waldera]

I had 50.5 degrees on Sallie on Saturday. I noticed the water was dirtier than normal for Sallie. I would guess that is due to the high water.

[Gutz]

Got out Sat. Two eye's(one cigar and a chubby 22"), a handfull of snotrockets and 10 cold fingers. Spent Sun. with the fam. Tried again Mon. morning for a couple nice Pike and no Walter's. Sounds like we got another front coming today and tomorrow, but things should steady up a little by this weekend and fishing should get better. I also noticed that the lakes were pretty quiet this weekend. I'm thinking it's got to be the weather. Last year gas was $4.50 and the lakes were packed, I can't imagine guys would give up of fishin' because they're 401K's in the tank. It would be a shame if I had the lake all to myself this summer

[fisherdog19]

Our boat got 14 on Sat, and 12 on Sunday. I boated 9, and we boated 9 over 20 inches so the average size was nice. Got fish in 6-20 fow water but the larger ones were in shallower water. Lots of pig largemouth and quite a few slimers.

[shooter_mcgavin]

We were on Crystal on Saturday as well. Funny, with three reports from Crystal, that means about 1/3 of the boats that were out there are giving a report on this forum. We had about the same results, quite a few smaller slimers and one walleye. We actually kept five small pike and cleaned them. We did land one pike that was close to 30", but let that one go.

Rob - thanks for the advice. I did try from shore after dark, and ended up with some rockbass. The water is at the highest level I've seen.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

Sounds like you guys did pretty good Fdog!!! With the bad weather all week, I have time to catch up on all my household chores and get everything ready for the weekend. Hopefully the weather stabilizes a bit before the weekend, it says rain rain rain, but I don't put my faith in the weatherperson more than 2 days out. I plan on hitting Tulaby the next decent day we have, I see the DNR down there today fixing the landing thank God!!!

[Kingfisher]

leechbait, they were working on it yesterday also. Two of us fished Little Bemidji yesterday morning, not a bite. We moved over to South Twin in the afternoon, the northern & large mouths were on the bite, but still no walleye. Temp got up to 51 degrees in the afternoon.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

I am going to cruise over there in a bit, I'll post a pic of how it looks!!!!

[Jim Panfish Uran]

well no pics, my camera's batteries were shot when I got to the landing but boy did they fix it up!!!! That awful drop off from the top of the ramp is gone, it's a nice flat angle down to the water!!!!

[Kingfisher]

Thanks leechbait for the update on the landing, it needed some attention. We will be checking it out soon.

[fisherdog19]

We were out on Little Bemidji for opener weekend as well. Found most fish on the primary break and weedline in 6-10 fow pitching 1/8 - 1/16 oz green or chartreuse jigs and shiners. The walleyes we caught smacked them good. I know there were plenty of fish there, but they just werent on the bite an we'd catch the active fish in the pod and move on. One boat in our party went over to Tulaby and they didn't do near as well as we did on Little B Saturday evening, and not may of the boats they spoke with did well either. Things will get better here in the next week or two and the eyes will go on the bite.

[copterjohn]

Flying my non-resident self up this weekend to open up the cabin we have been paying non-resident taxes on since 1974. Wrong weather pattern, but that will keep me focused on projects. Hopefully at least catch a slimer or two and start to secchi disk readings for the year. Thanks for all the reports!

[Tyler Voss]

Fisherdog , what kind of boat do you have? We fished saturday morning on little bemidji, but left because we had to keep trolling in and out of other boats. Buddies went out that night to same place and got some eyes. Also went out sunday night and did well.

[fisherdog19]

I run a Triton tiller and the other boat in our group was the real loud River Pro run by Dave Genz. Saturday evening was a tad better than the morning but overall it did not compare to last year.

[BrianLucky13]

Fisherdog, do you live on south shore drive?? Thats the only Triton tiller I've seen in the area. I go by there a lot!!

[fisherdog19]

That would be me, just a couple hundred yards east of the public access on the wrong side of the road (I'm across the street from the lake) Next time you drive by, if you see me outside stop in and say hello, that goes for anybody.

[BrianLucky13]

I figured that!!! Im about that close to the lake too but on the North side!!

[DEADhead]

I figured that!!! Im about that close to the lake too but on the North side!!

where at, you can't be that far from me

[BrianLucky13]

Kind of by the High School.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

I run a Triton tiller and the other boat in our group was the real loud River Pro run by Dave Genz. Saturday evening was a tad better than the morning but overall it did not compare to last year.

So you were fishing with Dave Genz?!?!?! Dang, I should have stopped by and had a cool one with you guys!! I live like 10 minutes from Rainbow!