fishing reports 2020 Ottertail-Battle Lake-Perham-Fergus Falls area Fishing Reports

[Gordie]

any pike reports about

[Gissert]

Was fishing a smaller lake for gills last Friday and Saturday. There were some good size girls cruising 5-8 feet down off a breakline over 20 FOW.

Thought about going home and getting the ice saw and watching a little NTV.

Tried several presentations to get them to bite, they were not interested. We even bounds some spoons of their heads to no avail.

[Dano777]

I'm heading up to the otter tail area this weekend and am wodering if any lakes are good for crappies in the daytime, any daytime bite information would be helpful, thanks.

[rooster_1]

1048 lakes in OTC,pick one and fish it.They're all good.

[McGurk]

I could maybe help, but that's a LARGE county to cover without narrowing down your specific area!

[Dano777]

my fiance lives two miles away from otter tail lake, so anything within 15 minutes of there, i know there's a lot of lakes there, possibly north turtle or west lost i've heard good things about, but i usually have fished the same lake she lives on, doesn't produce panfish during the day tho. just a lake, i can pop hole to find fish. Thanks

[McGurk]

West Lost and Walker, off the top of my head. Try Pickerel if you want some deep water in a small lake. No reason to go to Ottertail unless you want perch.

[Dano777]

thank you sir

[Borch]

Buchannan also kicks out some crappies during the day based on my limited experience.

[jjohnson5150]

I'm wondering if anyone has any indication of how close the area lakes are from opening up. Is next weekend an absolute long shot? Any updates on area lakes would be appreciated. I have a hunch we'll be putting in boats the weekend after Easter this year. The good news is that some lakes in the cities opened up this weekend, so it shouldn't be too long.

[hockeybc69]

My Dad talked to a guy that used an ATV on Norway lake a couple days ago...

Yesterday I saw guys ice fishing on Moen Lake.

Not a chance of boats going in lakes up there any time soon unfortuneately.

Easter weekend might be a stretch on most lakes if we dont hit some exceptionally warm weather.

[Elkaholic80]

jjohnson theres a good chance pelican will be off this weekend unless the weather turns cold. Had the 4 wheeler out there last Sat. but the edges were really soft.

[GRA]

Were you on the yellow 4 wheeler that went by on the west side? We were up there. Had to pump 3-4 inches of water out of the basement. Too cold to get excited about doing much. My take on the ice--it's gonna be awhile. Ice doesn't have that rotten, honey combed look. Was still solid by our shore. Guys out fishing south of us. Also the temps. look pretty cold in the forecast.

Wife didn't think much of my idea of sliding the dock and boat lift out on the ice and when the ice melts everything would just drop in place. haha.

[jjohnson5150]

After looking at the weekend forecast, it might be best to wait until after Easter weekend. Thanks for the feedback. Gra - did the water get in after the recent rainfall or over the winter? I hope water stayed out of ours after the recent rain.

[GRA]

I think the water probably came from all the wet snow melting and running in. We've got a walkout basement and the area in front of the basement doors is sloped the wrong way. Hooked up a sump pump and garden hose and got it pumped down. Not good when you find a 12 ft. canoe floating in your basement.

Yup, forecast for the weekend sucks. 10 day not so great either.

[whitebassman]

Wife didn't think much of my idea of sliding the dock and boat lift out on the ice and when the ice melts everything would just drop in place. haha.

I know what you mean. I've thought about that too but last spring showed me why thats not a good idea. We live on the north side of the lske so the ice went out the furthest here. Then with a nice southern wind blowing, which will happen in the spring now, the ice came crashing over our shoreline. About 2-3 inches thick. I shuddered at imagining my nice aluminum boat lift and dock being bent and twisted. Best be safe and wait a few days til its all gone! I was thinking of putting it in that very morning too!

[nroff]

i'll look friday but north turtle bay by underwood was breaking up but the main lake has a ways to go. Not to dark yet.

[lakesbison]

OT TOURNEY @ zorbaz friday.

Big fish 7 lb wallyee (2 at 6.5)

Limit 19.8 6 fish.

52 boats. 20+ dead walleyes in cooler and 1 dead 9.8 lb northern.

75% of boats had 6 fish limit, 1 boat caught 40 walleyes, none of 19"

[Nodman]

I am new to the site, and will be at a resort on Battle Lake the week of June 18. Will be on the lake for the first time. Can anyone give me some info on what to expect? It is a good panfish lake? How about walleyes and northerns. Any info will be appreciated.

[lakesbison]

Nodman zero panfish unless you like rock bass .

[fballwilly]

Fished Rush Lake 5/16-5/20. It was a decent bite and those that we caught were aggressively biting. Nice mix of Northern and Walleye pulling & drifting spinners w/ shiners in 10-13 FOW over last year's weeds and emerging vegetation. Kept enough to feed 3 guys and sent the rest back. Can't wait to get after it again Memorial Day weekend!

Does anyone have info on the panfish bite on Rush lake? I'll have the kids with me and they love getting into some sunnies and crappies!

[Nodman]

Appreciate the info about rock bass, how about walleye and northerns? May even need to know about BULLHEADS with the kids. Need something to keep them busy. Have fished Ottertail several times and always caught something. Hoping Battle Lake might be the same. Again, thanks for the information.

[TylerS]

Fished Ottertail Lake on Sunday. Aside from the lack of fish, it was an absolutely perfect day on the water: little to no wind, no bugs, and overcast skies. Aside from one perfect 17-incher my pop caught, we were out of luck on the walters. Tried shallow as 8 feet with a floating Lindy rig, and went as deep as 25 feet. All we could scratch were a couple snot rockets and more bait-stealing perch than you could shake a stick at. Three "jumbos" wound up in the livewell with the walleye, much to my chagrin, but oh well. What's the old saying? It can only go up from here!

[lakesbison]

Wednesday.... tried 25-30ft. zero zip.

tried 12-15 ft zero zip.

had 2 boats around me on westside, and we all chatted and no one had a walleye, wondering if the storm from monday night have totally screwed us.

[TylerS]

Going to be out there Saturday. A few days of warmer weather ought to get something on the chomp. We shall see...

[deacon]

Best days have been after 2-3 days of stable weather, to bad has only happen twice so far this spring. Did release 26" last sunday catch on lindy with fathead in 10ft, thought had sturgeon as was pulling drag for 1st couple minutes.

Until stable weather fish will not be consistently active. Expect leech bite to take over next week.

[FM_Mike]

Spent the 1st 2nd 3rd on the tail. All I cxan say it it was slow. Managed 8 fish in the 3 days all in shallow water on the NW side. Kept none fish were in the 12 to 20 inch range. Wind the last week was awful.

Mike

[TylerS]

Well, for the first weekend in June, I thought the walleyes would be a bit hungrier, but we still did OK. Fished from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday on Ottertail. Took a while, but finally found the eyes tight to the bottom in 19-22 FOW of the first main dropoffs. Five-foot snell tipped with a shiner was the ticket. Caught six ranging from 14 to 20 inches. Was tough battling the West wind, but if you could stay in one area and work it slow, you caught fish. They definitely weren't taking the bait hard. All of a sudden you'd feel the slightest pressure and have to give it slack. After a good long soak, you'd still barely hook them. And we easily caught one northern for every walleye. It was insane. Biggest was 29 inches (just shy of the slot...woulda been great canned!). Can't believe how many slimers are in OT. It's ridiculous!

[Bellfisher]

Just got back from Big Pine yesterday - fished turned on late Wednesday 6/8 - kind of wierd with that being a cold weather day after temps in the 90's on Monday and Tuesday, but those two hot days warmed up the water. All of our walleyes came in less that 7' of water and on leeches or nightcrawlers. Panfish (Crappies & Bluegills) were also being caught in the shallows with small minnows and slip bobbers.

Absolutely killed the walleyes on Friday - won't ever make fun of the color purple (spinners or jigs) again. Plain hook was also working - drifting or trolling, didn't matter. Fish ranged from 13" to 22" - it was crazy fun.

[MN_Jay]

Bellfisher, I also fished Pine and just like you, found all of our fish in under 7 ft of water. Seemed that every time I changed colors I would catch a few and then they would shut down. Changed colors again and they turned on again. Yellow was by far the best, then orange and white. I kept alternating the three. Jigs and shiners is all I used.

Funny too because I was pulling fish after fish and there wasn't a boat around me the whole time. I could get used to that