2020 Detroit Lakes-Pelican Rapids Fishing Reports - Lake Conditions

[RK]

Hey Brian -

Never noticed and correlation with moon phase....but, I've never looked for one either. Could very well be one.

After fronts? Most definitely. After a cold front or after a storm is when I seem to see it most often. The night I described above is a good example. A fairly hard t-storm rolled through, then it got flat calm and sunny afterward, and there were fish porpoising all over the lake.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[fisherdog19]

Trowbridge is mostly a panfish and bass lake. Not much for walleyes, but there are a few along with tons of slimers. The crappies and sunfish are decent sized if that's what you're after.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

Got out last night with Watersguy! Had a heck of a fun night, we caught some crappies, some absolute beefy northerns . Actually they were some of the smallest northerns I have ever seen, but the crappies were pretty decent 10"-11". watersguy caught the only walleye of the night but we had more fun shooting the bull maybe next time I'll keep my mouth closed long enough to actually catch some fish !!!!

[Cicada]

Hey Leechbait, an old high school classmate of mine came up this weekend and is staying until Tuesday. I will be able to fish with him on Monday and he wants to fish up north. I don't know if you know him but he coached Mahnomen to state in basketball years ago. Anyway, I fished White Earth and Tamarac Lake last week with limited success. Lots of mayflies on WE and the bass ran smaller than I have caught in previous years. He would like to try smallmouth, walleyes and/or muskies.

Thanks

[Jim Panfish Uran]

Juggler and Long lost are the best smallie lakes around my area. The bugs are out on Tulaby now, so it slowed quite a bit.. As far as Muskies go they have been stocking the hell out of Many Point for the last 5 years w/muskies, even with adults. I haven't heard any reports on them or haven't tried for them my self out there yet.

[fisherdog19]

Got out yesterday on a lake I have not fished in the summer yet and we got into the crappies pretty good. Found them in 7-10 fow just out from what looks like a good spawning area. The wanted a set bobber 4 feet down and some meat on the hook so crappie minnows were the choice. Fish averaged about 11" with some up to 12.5". We were pushing the fish down the shoreline and once we started catching smaller fish, we'd move down the shoreling 30 yards and started getting bigger ones again. We made 3 moves until we got pushed off the lake by lightning and rain. My 4 year old son is becoming quite the fisherman; he's been practicing his casting skills a lot and caught a lot a fish by himself yesterday. I even taught him to put is own minnows on yesterday so now I don't have to do it anymore!!

[Paul]

YOu better watch out Peter, before you know the boys are going to be asking for the keys to the boat all by themselves.

[Cicada]

Thanks Leech, Juggler is definately on the list. He is also leaning towards Elk for the long critters. I'll bring up Long Lost and see what he thinks. I think he had Tulaby in the back of his mind, so good to know about the hatch. Little Elbow is also a possibility for largemouth. I'll post results early next week.

REPORT- On the way up to Elk, he remembers a little lake that he bass fished in the past. I think the name is Pickeral, it's on Pine Island Lake Road. Some would call this an adventure, it was plain goofy. The road back to the public access is flooded and there is a stretch where you are actually driving in the lake to get back there. We only caught a few bass and had some sunfish hit our buzzbaits. We headed out for Juggler about 1:00. Caught 16 largemouth between the two of us and two northerns and one rock bass. He outfished me, so there was a bit of chirping going on in the boat. Saw one smallmouth, but didn't catch any. I think with the weather we've had lately, we needed to fish deeper and maybe on some sharper breaks for them, but we were having fun with the buzzbaits.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

Nice report Cicada, so you WERE able to get back to the lake on that landing road at Pickeral? I wussed out when I seen it a month ago, I switched lakes and scored big time that night. I may have to try my luck out at Pickeral but for a different species!!!! Any follows on Elk?

[Cicada]

Never got to Elk. Pickeral was a late thought that couldn't miss. Funniest moment was when we pulled up the the little island with the tall pine trees, there was a hawk's nest on the corner. As we approached, they circled screeching and generally going nuts. One lands in the tree and is giving us "whats for" when it decides to make sure we are not welcome. It blows a big load out it's butt, plays the wind perfectly, and paints my buddy, his trolling motor and the front half of his boat with little white specs. He has no sense of humor in the first place, but he did crack a little wry smile as he cussed.

[fisherdog19]

Got out today a for a few hours on Melissa to chase slabs. Found them relating to deep cabbage and managed about a dozen with the biggest being about 12". The wind became non-existent around 2pm and the bite got tough. I'll be out all day tomorrow chasing slabs on a couple lakes, If anyone is out and see's me out in my Triton tiller, stop over and say hello.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

Hilarious Cicada,

Well we made it out on Big Bass last night chasing some slabs ourselves. We found that they were off the first shoreline drop off of the islands out there, they were suspended over the deeper water and than moved in towards dark. We probably caught 30 or so but the avg size was 8-9 inches. Caught a couple foot longers and one of the bigger walleyes of the season. Didn't have a tape but she was over 20". I've got my nieces Bday party tonight so that puts the kabosh to any fishing for me this evening, I might make it out in a bhit to try for some delicious bass and some snot rockets!!!!

[paceman]

Made it out this weekend a few mornings before the pleasure boaters took over. Was pleasantly surprised. Fished Big D one morning and Sallie the next. Simple lindy rig and leeches are still producing walleye. Quite a few shorties but enough eaters to keep our interest up. Along with the usual assortment of northerns, bass, sunnies, perch. Make sure you bring plenty of bait along.

[auggie78]

Paceman- Without giving away your secret spot how deep were you finding the walleyes? Thanks

[copterjohn]

I vowed not to put many fish photos up this year to help keep pressure off the Big D and such, but I am very proud that my little sister Natalie from Phoenix finally got the muskie off her back and hit a nice one after dark last night. My brother had to help hold it for her! Not that long at 49 but a nice big head and belly. Now she can head home to the desert and price replica mounts to blow her savings. For Scoot and Brett, suspended fish over secondary break into deep water. Been seeing that alot this year for some reason. Maybe just wasn't observant enough in the past.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

Nice Fish, congrats to your sister.

[paceman]

auggie the magic number for me was 17'....

[auggie78]

Thanks paceman. I was on Sallie last night trolling for northerns. Will have to bring some leeches and try for walleyes later this week.

[SM1]

Hey pace, you must have spent a fair amount of time taking weeds off your line. There was floating weed pieces all over the place closer to the shores.

I was at our cabin on sallie over the weekend and I ended up catching a few northerns and a couple bass casting spoons and fat raps. I didnt even try for eyes. It was more of a water skiing/ pontooning weekend for me.

One of the best parts of the weekend was watching the fireworks from the middle of the lake sat evening--no bugs, no wind. Great show between dl and all the other people lighting off their stuff.

[paceman]

Yes the floating [PoorWordUsage] is very annoying.

[fisherdog19]

Got out yesterday while taking some of my wifes friends out fishing. We got into the slabs big time and boated at least 80 crappies up to 12 inches. The fish were relating to cabbage in 10-14 fow and absolutely pounding the 2 inch power minnows on a 1/16 oz collarless jig. It was one of the better days I have had in a few years as far as summer crappie fishing is concerned. We also got some nice gills as well.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

Nice report Fisherdog, I got a lake a few miles down the road I will be trying out the next decent weather we have. I hope to find the slabs out there because they are big on this lake.

I went out last night to a lake on the anchor matson trail, just a little lake I got a hot tip about. I did ok I caught a couple of walleyes and a ton of snake northerns. The hot tip didn't pan out but it was fun getting out on a different lake though.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

Went out on North Twin with jr for some snot rockets, he did pretty good. We were just drifting through and around the cabbage beds in about 8 fow and he was casting a black spinner bait, I was casting a spoon, he outfished me big time. He's 5 years old and he has no problem casting and reeling in fish, heck he even takes them off if they aren't hooked too bad. He caught one tonight probably pushing 6 pounds or so. Heres a pic.

[bak2MN]

Just got in from the lake got out about 8:45 and fished till about 10:45. I wished I had went out at night before because I had some luck. Boated 6 walleye and 3 sunfish and had another walleye to the boat and with the rod in one hand net in the other and the cell phone in the ear with the wife, I missed netting it. Oh well it was a good time and I caught some fish. I was just pulling a leech around in 19 to 24 foot of water. The fish were from 13 1/2 to 18 inchers, all caught and released for next time.

[RK]

Hiya -

Man fishing's good around the area right now...

I hit a few different lakes over the weekend, mainly bass fishing. Fish are starting to get on the deep weedlines pretty good, so jigworms and jig and pig are working pretty well, and the crankbait bite should start up pretty soon. Was out with the BOSS Saturday morning, and she caught/released a 30-inch walleye (hit a jigworm up in the cabbage while we were bass fishing...) A little skinny, but still a pretty awesome fish, and by far her biggest.

19-1/2" smallie on a spinnerbait Sunday morning, then spent Sunday afternoon fishing gills with the kids. Stood between my 11 year old daughter and 3 year old son for an hour, and unhooked a sunfish about every 20 seconds. Managed a few crappies when I could sneak in a cast between sunfish. My 3 year old also managed to hook and reel in a 14" or so walleye "all by himself" which he was unbelievably proud of.

(Dad was pretty proud too... ) Weekends like that make you appreciate how good the fishing is in our area...

Kind of interesting - my wife's big walleye makes 4 over 27 inches in my boat in the last 3 weeks, all of them caught on plastics up in the cabbage in 9-12 feet of water. (I haven't caught any of them - boat partners have caught them all...) All of them have been during the day, and 3 of them were between 10 and 3. Wife's big one was at about 8:30 AM. Makes a guy wonder what kind of damage he could do if he fished more walleye-ish plastics like 4" Gulp minnows or Power Minnows hard for a day or two...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Jim Panfish Uran]

Nice report RK! Fishing is awesome around here, a guy can forget just how good it can be.

My brother and I went out to Pickeral lake last night, this is the first time I've been out there in open water. We casted spinnerbaits around the shorelines flooded timber for northerns and bass, we ended up catching a ton of snakes and a few bass, the biggest one was caught of a 1/8 oz jig and a small twister tail, I bet he was a 3 and half pounder, the biggest northern was probably 4 pounds.

About an hour before dark we tried for some crappies, we were in and around 16 fow over the tops of the weeds plucking off bluegills and crappies for about 45 minutes and decided to pack it up. The biggest crappies we caught was a 10"er, sunnies were 6-7"ers. Fun, but no slabbers.

[paceman]

Good Reports guys. I only got out yesterday afternoon for a few hours. Didn't catch much to speak off. A few snakes and sunnies. I didn't have the mojo working so I packed up and went home. I have thought the same thing RK. I'll bet the plastics would do pretty good. I really enjoy rigging though. It is always hard trying new things....

[Jim Panfish Uran]

Makes a guy wonder what kind of damage he could do if he fished more walleye-ish plastics like 4" Gulp minnows or Power Minnows hard for a day or two...

If a guy could keep those pesky bass off long enough, lol! I bet on Tulaby lake this would work, well I bet on a lot of lakes this would work if a person was patient enough.

Do you think they just hang inside the weeds during the day and slip out to the edge and the tops in the evening??

[SJMyers32]

Does anyone have any info about the hubble pond and how to access it? Im guessing one would have to launch at the HOL ottertail exit and canoe in. Is this private?

[kingr]

you are correct at the moment. The bridge at HOL is the only way in as of now. I don't think the access gate doesn't get opened until ricing, but I'm not sure.