Lake Minnitaki
Fall 2008
Reality check…Yes, I am at work! And no, I do not have a rod and reel in my hand anymore. DOH!
Driving back into the states as we crossed the border into International Falls I felt a sadness knowing our week in Canada was over. However as I thought back on the week I couldn’t help but smile thinking about all of the good times we had.
The week started off with warmer temps and lots of sun. I think we all had a pretty good tan after the first 3 days. The sun and warm temps were nice but they didn’t last long. By day 4 we were wearing heavy coats in the morning and temps were hanging around mid 60’s. This wasn’t too bad as the fishing just got better and better.
Walleyes were all caught drifting jigs in 20-25 FOW water using crawlers and GULP leeches/minnows. The GULP really performed awesome and the fish just gobbled it up especially after a re-charge.
Pike fishing was a little slow for the week but we did manage to catch several mid 30’s fish while jigging for walleyes. There were no shortage of hammer handles up in the shallows but the big fish seemed to be in deeper water or in big weed beds. Never the less almost all of the quality pike fell victim to a jig and twister with an occasional big fish hitting crankbaits or swimbaits.
Bass fishing is never really a huge priority while we are up north but with all of the fish in the cooler the day before we headed home, we hit the water for a relaxing day of smallie fishing. The bass were in 2-6 FOW water, rocky shorelines and very aggressive! Most of the time you would cast and have a fish hit it within half a reel crank. The bass didn’t want anything special. We cast ¼ jigs on clear/blue fleck tails and they inhaled them!
Overall it was a great week and I can’t wait to go back. I think I’ll need a few days of rest now that we’re home before chasing the fall bite here in Iowa.