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Woah... it's been way too long in between reports... let's try and get caught up on things a bit...

Been spending the majority of my time targeting bass over the last few weeks... with most of the success coming in the shallows, especially as of late. Buzzbaits, shallow cranks, jigs... but mainly wacky-rigged Comidas continue to produce fish. Also tried pitching some live suckers the other day in hopes of picking up a few monster walleyes in transition but no takers... not even the bass or pike grabbed the live bait, everything came on artificials.

Find shallow rocks and/or gravel lately and it seems like you find the fish too. Mainlake islands or points with shallow hard-bottom flats are hot right now... water temps soared into the upper 60's the last few days which helped some too. However, water clarity is getting worse but I only contribute the excellent shallow water bite partially to those dingy water conditions. No complaints here I guess.

Here are a few fun pictures from the last few weeks... had a good day in the Chisago area with a couple clients...

MarkBass1.jpg

A nice double!!!

MarkBigBass1.jpg

Mark's 6 pounder!!!

MattBassCL10.jpg

A very fat short fish!

Looks like the warm temps are only going to stick around for a couple more days... then 50's for highs and we can expect more toothy critters roaming the shallows... might also see a lot of the smaller bass vacate the shallows leaving only the big toads smile Break out the buzzbaits and jigs and let the games begin!!!

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Made it back out to the Chisago area on Friday. Took out a great family with quite the excited 5 year old boy by the name of Ben! Ben was quite the angler! smile

We targeted a lot of the same spots we fished throughout the previous week... shallow, shallow, shallow! Hard bottom areas also continued to produce the biggest fish. We couldn't muster any giant 6 pounders this time out but we did stick several in the 3 pound range with a ton of smaller fish mixed in. Weather was nice and they all came on wacky-rigged Comidas (senkos).

Water temps dropped in the last few days too... on Sunday they topped out at 67 degrees and yesterday they barely broke 61, with most of the day in the upper 50's. The drastic change put a damper on the aggressive fish and the amount of big ones found in the shallows. We considered moving out deeper but the smaller fish were keeping us active in the shallows so we stayed put.

Here is one of Ben's many fish...

BenBass2-449x600.jpg

Ben was also quite the minnow man taking care of all the minnows in the minnow bucket... and he also touched every fish we caught smile Ben was definitely the MVA... Most Valuable Angler on Friday grin

Looks like we're going to see similar weather the next week or so... with highs in the upper 50's and low 60's... should make for some stable fishing and soon we'll see average water temps in the mid 50's which should help stir more activity...

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • redlabguy
      Mark, Great that you made it back up and great report on another great trip. Sitting here in Urbandale, I am jealous. I’m working on training my new lab, not at all sure he will be ready for pheasants! Thanks for sharing your trip, RLG
    • monstermoose78
      Shot the muzzleloader and I am good. Then saw big groups of woodducks  everywhere. I saw 300 easy as the sunset. 
    • leech~~
      Those darn tournament guys, their always trying new ways to get weight in their fish!  🤣🤣
    • SkunkedAgain
      Hogs! Hogs!!!
    • MarkB
      My 2 cousins and myself just finished up a windy 4 day trip to our favorite lake. It was the last of the year and was eventful to say the least. When we arrived, water temperatures were 61 degrees and when we left yesterday morning the water temps had dropped to 54 degrees. The fishing was fantastic, once again, and we caught walleyes, bass, and northerns on minnows and crawlers(northerns only on minnows). We found the fish adjacent to shallow rock piles(14') in 20'-28' of water. Our best fishing hours of the day were ~5:30 -twilight in the evenings and until ~ 10:30 in the mornings. Although those two time periods were prime time, fish bit all day. For us, the bite was very light and we probably missed or lost as many fish as we caught. Some people think I'm nuts when I say bead color can make a difference and it certainly did this trip. My cousin's "go to" green/white bead combo did zilch on this trip. It was one translucent red bead and a plain size #2 gamakatsu hook with a 3' leader that produced the fish. We ended up with 137 walleyes and 19 bass for the 4 day outing. We caught far more 17"-19.999" walleyes on this trip than on our previous trips and our numerous slot fish measured from 21"-25". My younger cousin caught 4 slot fish in ~20 minutes one evening. We fish exclusively for walleyes and additional species are incidental. With that said, we caught some beautiful smallmouth bass on this trip and they were right down there with the walleyes, usually in the rocks. As usual, everything is catch and release except for the fish we eat while there and the 12 walleyes(3 individual limits) we take home to the wives. While cleaning some eaters we kept for supper, we always check the stomach contents. One of the walleyes had the jig that is pictured below loose in its stomach!  No attached line, no embedded hook, just the jig! It baffled us as to how in the world it could have gotten there . As you can see, the jig is in good shape so the fish must have swallowed it recently .   The boat traffic was minimal this trip and we had a couple days where it looked as if we had the lake to ourselves. Sunday was a brutal day with wind gusts to 50MPH!. We stayed in and ventured out finally at ~5:00. It turned out to be the best 2 hours of the entire trip. This time, the baby loons were around, the eagles were abundant, the changing leaves made the entire lake area look like a painting. If I could make only one short trip a year to the lake, now would be the time. What capped off the trip was the magnificent display of the Northern Lights. We can't wait for next spring to return, God willing, and, in the meantime, good fishing.  MarkB🙂 The jig found in the stomach of a walleye we ate.   My young cousin with his best of the trip.   a chunky 17" smallmouth   19.5" smallmouth
    • leech~~
      Well, since they both say Propane on them.  Not propane QT++ their probably both the same gender!  🤭
    • Wanderer
    • Brianf.
      What an amazing extended weekend. The fish were happy and cooperated nicely.   We also had the unique experience of fishing under Northern Lights each of the last three nights in pristine weather conditions.  I wish everyone could have that experience, even if just once.  The pics below don't do it justice, though you get the idea.  The walleyes are putting on the feedbag and some are getting rather plump.  We caught mostly slot fish with several 'overs' in our bag.  Our two biggest weighed 8lbs 5oz and 8lb 3oz.     The crappies were active at dusk and beyond.  Almost all of the ones we caught were 14" or bigger.  The biggest we caught was a bit over 15".  We lost two muskies at the boat and caught a 38" pike after dark - quite surprising.   Every fish we caught was immediately released btw.  Water temp 54/55 when we left.  All-in-all, another great fishing experience on Lake Vermilion - for which I'm so incredibly appreciative.        
    • JerkinLips
    • leech~~
      The price and the label.  It's that same exact gas.  
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