I spent the last weekend fishing Lake Bemidji. It proved to be fruitful, but was definitely on the slower end of the spectrum with many of the fish being very scattered and only really finding two different concentrations of fish.
All of the fish that we caught were in 6-9 feet of water, and were very picky when it came to presentations and bait selection. Shiner minnows definitely out fished all (big surprise there) and a live bait rig out-fished jigs by a pretty good margin – they were definitely wanting a slower moving presentation. With the water temps being 39-43 degrees, I have to believe a lot of fish are either spawning or just getting done spawning and are not quite where they typically would be during this time of the year. Areas near old reeds and bullrushes all produced some fish, as well as shallow sand and gravel.
With warmer weather on the horizon these fish will start showing up where they should be, instead of the fish being way up tight on the flats, they should start sliding out onto the break lines in 10-16ft and will become a lot more fishable. It’s funny how you don’t realize how much you rely on your electronics until all the fish are in 5 feet of water and you cant mark them!
Overall we caught 15 fish between 16-22″ on Saturday and with 30 degree mornings and 40 degree water temperatures, i’m not complaining!
