I’ve been fairly busy as of late, with a trip to the Bemidji area last Thursday thru Sunday, and a few nights on the Ole’ Miss. this week.
The Bemidji area Bass bite was good on longtime friend Dan Reis’ lake, Lake Menotellya, with water temps just starting to climb out of the high 60’s the bite was on. We found fish early, and late in the day relating to inside weed edges (cabbage), and large lily pad beds. Scum Frogs were the ticket for the sloppy stuff, crawling the bait slowly into gaps or breaks in the weeds and then twitching it triggered most strikes. Midday required a short move out onto the weed flats 5′-8′, where Yo-Zuri stickbaits worked erratically over the weed tops brought fish in. We didn’t spend a lot of the trip bass’n, but when we did it was time well spent.
Walleyes around the Bemidji/Blackduck area are on a tear. We spent Saturday night fishing alongside good friend Kenny Cardenas of Cardenas’ Bait (218-835-4718) on Blackduck Lake. The fish turned on in the afternoon on the 12′-17′ break. Bobbers, 1/8 jigs, and leeches where the ticket for a total of 17 walleyes and 2 beefy sheepshead. We didn’t score any big dogs, but the ice cold Buds helped ease the pain.
The next day it was back to Menotellya to chase walleyes on the lake for the first time. The wind was from the SW at 20 mph, which set-up a textbook spot for a mid-day transition bite. The spot was windblown with a sharp drop from 10′-32′, and a clearly defined weed edge at 14′. We anchored deep and let our leech offerings hang right on the edge of the weeds. All species were present bass, northern, panfish, and walleyes! The best of the 14 for the afternoon was a 26″ with alot of low 20’s to keep us busy.
Finally, I’ve been out this week on the Miss. up north of the Coon Rapids Dam. The bite is hot, with multiple 20+ fish evenings under my belt. Over the last couple weeks I have seen everyone doing the exact same thing, pounding the shoreline. Well, I can testify that the best bite is not to be had on the banks. Trolling cranks of 10′-15′ breaks has paid off night after night, not only in numbers but also in size. Glass Shad Raps in Pearl, and Bombers in White and F.Tiger have been the ticket. The ultimate key, find natural rock, landscape stone does not hold fish. This stretch of river is barren, no wingies, no bends, no backwater, just a plain straight stretch. If your bait is not banging rocks, you won’t be banging any fish.
Here are some shots from the week.
