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


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I haven't been on the water in over a month and I'm getting depressed and sadly with things going on around here I will be lucky to fish one more time before freeze up.  

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I'll be heading out to Ottertail this weekend to do some night fishing under the full moon. Have been out a couple times the past few weeks and have done fairly well. Using both jigging raps and slow death rigs right next to the weedline in 15-19 feet of water. Haven't been out for two weeks so hoping I can find them again this weekend as I plan on doing some fishing during the day too. 

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  • 2 months later...

Fished Ottertail Thursday and Friday, 8.5 to 9.5" ice. Caught 4 walleyes on Thursd., lost a nice one at hole. Didn't get a single bite yesterday.

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Got out  this morning.  Fished till about 1pm.  Hooked two decent eyes right as sun was coming up.  Both on a dead stick with medium size sucker minnow.   Looked like it would be  good and then nothing else the rest of the day.   16 fow with sharp drop close by.  Seen a good number of eyes on camera but couldn't get any to go after the first two.  A lot of tiny perch trying to steal bait also.  10 inches of ice where I sat.  Didn't move at all.  First time out so was just happy to be there and fish.

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I was out on Saturday evening from 3pm-5:30pm and didn't have any luck. Set up in 18'-19'. I had a good 10" of ice where I was on the West side of the lake. Had a couple other buddies out there that were fishing shallower and they caught a couple. Best bite seemed to be from 3pm-5pm. 

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Fished the morning and evening bite on OT Saturday, picked up 15 or so in the morning, another 5 or 6 in the evening, almost all fish between 10-13 inches.  14.5 was biggest.  We just hopped around on humps in 18-24 feet, marked fish most of the time but they were picky, most fish coming on medium shiners on a deadstick.  Travel on the lake is slow going in spots with all the stacked up ice on the North side. 

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Ottertail  Sunday  caught and released a 23' and 21' walleye...  kept 7 others in the 14-16' range.  

lots of them on the dead stick which was unusual.

Tuesday , during this cold snap  only caught 1 and lost a monster !

 

has anyone caught a keeper perch on ottertail in last few years?  man it sucks they are so small.

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Fished Ottertail on Friday and got out early in the morning. Fished a hump out from Amor Point and there was a lot of small fish in the area. Caught 25-30 walleyes in two hours but they were all 10"-13". Moved around and fished 8 different spots with a jigging rap and did not have a bite, was kind of disappointing. Decided to go do some sight fishing up shallower and caught several decent perch that were around 10". Also had a big Pike come in and just hammered one of the perch that was by my hook. Moved a couple hundred yards away after the Pike went through and caught several more perch. Also had three walleyes go through but was only able to catch one of them which was 18". Not many eater sized walleyes in a full day of fishing. Hoping the warmer weather will help the bite a little bit.  

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Fished an Ottertail hump on Sunday in 24-25ft of water. Got out there at around 9am, had a few walleyes swing and miss at my deadstick w/fathead early on only to  lose interest and swim out to deeper water.

Couple 10-11" perch. Had a sturgeon swim through, guessing it was 40-50" (tough to tell on the camera). Made my day, and also got a video of it.

From 11-2 I only saw small perch come through. 2-4:30 I had walleyes all over me, but couldn't get them to bite on a deadstick, or jigging. Switched colors, lures, tried heads, full minnows, dorsal hooking, lip hooking, laying the minnow on the bottom, everything. They were interested but just had a case of lock jaw. 

All in all, a great day. I bet I saw close to 40 walleyes swim through. A few decent sized ones (guessing 20ish") but most being that 12-14". I'll be back out this Sunday, and hopefully with the "warm up" they'll be more aggressive and bite! 

Yes, wheelhouses and pickups are all over the place. 15-17" of ice where I was at. NE access in decent shape yet. 

Edited by bowhuntermitch
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Got out saturday morning and decided to chase Tuilibees.  I struck out not even a nibble.  Buddies were hoping around on other lakes they were striking out on crappies.  They were on Big Pine and they had 18" of ice, they switched to a McDonald driving out they heard a ton of cracking in their Tahoe stopped only had 8" of ice.  After I struck out in the morning I tried to watch the Bison game, lets just say every time I was in the house they played nasty so I decided to dig the perm house out and got it ready for the ice.  Went out around 2 pm and dropped the house down and started getting a few LIGHT bites.  Downsized from 5 mm jigs to 4 and 3 mm jigs and what a difference it made.  Pink with dots, Green with dots, and Wonder Bread were the top colors.  We were tipping them with a 3/4" soft plastic and a wax worm.  I set the house up in 33' on a 36' hole and the fish were suspended between 20-31' but very touchy so light gear and slow presentation.  We had definite year classes since we were catching a ton of 4". 6-8", 10-11", and a few hogs.  Our biggest ones were 14", 2-13.5", 13", 12.5" was a lot of fun but minnows were not helping us catch ANYTHING!  Once dark happened they definitely slowed down and we left about 7 pm with our best action being 3/3:30 to 5:30/6.

Sunday I set back up in the same exact spot and fished from 7-10 with only a few 10" and we set back up from 11:30 till 3:30 and we got one 11.5" but other then that one our biggest crappie was maybe a 10" but we had a ton of fish fly through.  When one of the schools came through I got bit and it ended up being a tuilibee or white fish still not 100% sure.  See what the week happens but we wont be back out again till maybe Saturday or Sunday.

 

Attached are a few pics

20180106_164427_resized.jpg

cody crappie.jpg

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On 1/4/2018 at 8:53 AM, bowhuntermitch said:

Fished an Ottertail hump on Sunday in 24-25ft of water. Got out there at around 9am, had a few walleyes swing and miss at my deadstick w/fathead early on only to  lose interest and swim out to deeper water.

Couple 10-11" perch. Had a sturgeon swim through, guessing it was 40-50" (tough to tell on the camera). Made my day, and also got a video of it.

From 11-2 I only saw small perch come through. 2-4:30 I had walleyes all over me, but couldn't get them to bite on a deadstick, or jigging. Switched colors, lures, tried heads, full minnows, dorsal hooking, lip hooking, laying the minnow on the bottom, everything. They were interested but just had a case of lock jaw. 

All in all, a great day. I bet I saw close to 40 walleyes swim through. A few decent sized ones (guessing 20ish") but most being that 12-14". I'll be back out this Sunday, and hopefully with the "warm up" they'll be more aggressive and bite! 

Yes, wheelhouses and pickups are all over the place. 15-17" of ice where I was at. NE access in decent shape yet. 

Could literally say the same thing for yesterday, 1/7. Sat from 8am to 4:30. Tallied 52 walleyes seen on camera. Caught 2. A few decent perch. 3 sturgeon came through as well. 

Is ottertail known for a walleye nightbite? 

 

Edited by bowhuntermitch
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fisherman of ottertail co.  I will traveling up on Wednesday, planning on fishing Thursday to Sunday.  With the weather front coming through at that time, fishing will not be ideal.  Planning on fishing Donald, Rush, and Long/Portage.  Any other spots worth checking into, Ottertail?  Let a guy know,  tight lines boys

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On 1/8/2018 at 10:22 AM, bowhuntermitch said:

Could literally say the same thing for yesterday, 1/7. Sat from 8am to 4:30. Tallied 52 walleyes seen on camera. Caught 2. A few decent perch. 3 sturgeon came through as well. 

Is ottertail known for a walleye nightbite? 

I have a perm on ottertail west side... we don't even bother fishing until 430-6pm .  That's it!!! 

I havent see this many house on ottertail in years, im wondering what impact that will have on spring/summer fishing???

 

(mon.tues it was so warm out, but could only get 1 or 2 a night to keep dangit!

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Got out this weekend on Saturday night and Sunday morning around perham.  Saturday night we landed a few crappies with biggest one being 12".  Minnows were a waste of time again and bite was definitely on a wax worm suspended for the crappies.  Tried a #3 Rippin Rap with no luck.

Sunday went back out to the house at 7 am and had marks instantly.  Lost 3-4 Huge crappies two were gracious enough to swim by the hole after spitting the hook.  The three biggest were 13.75", 13.5", and 12.75".  The snow was just starting when I got out to the house and when it was time to come to shore I couldn't see shore at 10:30/11.  I had Christmas to get to otherwise I'd have stayed on the ice.  Fish were there when I started the graph and they were there when I shut the graph off.

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Fished Ottertail Saturday and Sunday morning on a shoreline break. Saturday morning they wanted the dead stick with a shiner and we caught 6. On Sunday morning we caught 5 and 4 of them came on jigging spoons. The morning bite seems to be a very short window from 7:30am-8:00am.

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Moved house on Friday night in the dark.  Got holes drilled and let aired out.  Came back out after supper to fish for crappies.  Only small ones but had some action.  Got up early on Saturday and tried chasing tuilibee's and struck out.  Graphed a few but not a bite.  Switched back to the house around 8:30/9.  Buddies were near the house and had one crappie in the bucket.  Five of us fished till 11:30 without a crappie being bigger than 9".  Went back out after lunch fished till supper and nothing.  Came out again after supper got a 14" and 12.5" in 5 minutes and not a fish after that.  Sunday fished from 7 am till 11 nothing bigger than a 8" crappie. 

Fished 3 hours Friday, 12 hours Saturday, 4.5 hours Sunday with only 2 crappies over 10".  Pretty sad but heard a ton of poor reports all over the area.

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Ottertail is DEAD... last 2 times out   0 zilch nada.

anything happening out there?

 

have we fished out this lake this winter?  its the most houses ive ever seen out there in my lifetime (no snow, better rigs.. etc)

Edited by BisoNation
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out sunday, only 2 Walleyes  15 inchers.  13 feet of water at sunset.  Fatheads.

pretty slim pickings out there ..  i think its fished out for the winter :)

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Fished for crappies Friday night had 3-4 6" crappies bite.  Went out again Saturday morning and caught a 13" instantly when I got there and that was it.  Fished a lake by DL during the afternoon and nailed the big gills.  Fished again Sunday morning and caught again one big crappie.  Got fed up with the neighbors blaring music and strobe lights so moved to the house.  Girlfriends uncle says its a crappie spot but looks like a walleye spot to me.  Tried crappie jigs with shiners down on rattle reels.  We fished from 11-4:30 and caught 3 perch.  Had a few huge marks chase me around but nothing bit.  Story of my life lol.

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why did i see trucks driving out on a tuesday night at 2am on a small lake by battle lake?   so weird.. hmm

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  • 2 weeks later...

anyone know how Battle Lake is doing right by Shoreliner?  there is easily 100 houses right there.. just curious.

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Fished Ottertail Saturday evening without much luck. Was fishing a mid-lake hump in 28' and caught several small walleyes and one keeper. Had a nice one get off while jigging then another one on a sucker minnow that felt like a good fish. 

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  • Official Fishing Report Team - MN

Heading up that way tomorrow on a pan fish Beast hunt hope to have a report when I get back. 

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