I just got back from a great vacation with my wife and 2.5 year old girl. We were in Itasca county and stayed at Jessie View resort, on jessie lake.
The first night I got out for a few hours after getting everything out of the suv. I headed for a very deep clear lake trying to get out of the wind. But there were only a few places to get away from it. I managed to pull a night 3.5 pound largemouth on a frog, then I was able to pick up a 20″ northern on a spook.
The next morning I headed to a lake I had been on before called pughole. I started out with a ragetail shad and got a nice bass and another pike. I switched over to using a buzzbait and nailed the bass that were 14-17″. I was able to get 10 that size before I went back to have breakfast with the family at 8:30. After eating I took the wife and kid out to catch some perch but that did not work out so well. I was the only one to get any fish in the boat and the biggest was only 9″. After dinner I went back to the lake we were perch fishing and smashed the bass. In 2.5 hours I boated 20 bass with the biggest being 4 pounds. I lost a huge smallie on a popper. I was walking the popper over a weed bed and a 5-6 pound smallie smashed the popper but got me in the weeds, and pulled free. All my fish this day came on a mix of buzzbaits and poppers, with one on a senko.
The next morning I was right back on that same lake (little jessie) I got a few small bass on puppers over the weed bed and one nice one on a buzzbait. Then I started working one weedline down the bank. I got a few 14-16″ bass on a buzzbait and I got alot of small bass and 6 rock bass on a 3/4 ounce spinnerbait. during the day we took my daughter to a childrens museum in Grand Rapids and also looked around at the damn. I got a nice picture of a huge smallie next to the damn. After I put the camera back in the car a monster walleye came up to the dam. This thing looked to be in the 8-10 pound range. It dwarfed the Northern that was up there. After getting home and getting something to eat I headed out to Big Island Lake. By the time I found the lake and got the boat in it was already 5:00. I fished one bay for 2 hours and boated 4 fish over 16″ the biggest being a 17″er that weighed in at 4 pounds. This bass had a huge gut. I also boated a bunch of bass that were in the 12-14″ range. All these bass came in a pocket near the ramp on a black frog. I had one monster bass come up two times after a frog and missed both times. The 2nd time he came up and was flopping around on the weeds almost like he was looking for the frog.
I decided to sleep in the last full day we were there. Around 9 I took my wife and daughter out again but this time my wife wanted to bass fish 
We start out using white frogs and I got a small 12″ bass right away. Then my wife started getting huge blow ups on her frog and could not hook up (she was not setting the hook). We worked a bank without weeds and I got a 16.5″ on a spinnerbait and a 12″ pike on a spinnerbait. The northern had a 4″ fish inside its gut. you could see the outline of the fish. We got back into the weeds and my wife finally sets the hook on a fish and got it to the boat. Another 16″ fish. I quickly picked up a 15″ on a frog and lost a nice bass on a spinnerbait (I did not set the hook) 
. That afternoon I went back to big Island and started in that first bay and quickly got a 16″ and two 13″ and I started fishing my way around the lake and got a nice 18″, quickly followed by two 16″. About 10 min later I had another 17.5″ bass and two more 14″ fish. I worked around one point and made a long cast and hooked up with my longest fish of the trip. IT was 19″ but it had a big problem. The bottom jaw was broke in the middle and he only weighed 1.25 pounds. The jaw bone was sticking out one one side and had alge growing on it. I felt really bad for this fish because insted of being 4.0-4.5 pounds it was almost dead. 
That fish would have filled a 6 fish limit for me of all fish over 15″ and it only took 1 hour 
. All the fish that afternoon came on a white frog fishing over wild rice patches. One of the fish that I caught that day had a huge bass follow him all the way to the boat, that was really cool to see in the clear water.
We had a great time and I can’t wait to go back up again. Those lakes in Northern Minn are not really pressured when it comes to bass fishing. So it is a blast. I had a guy that lived on big island tell me he had never seen anyone catch bass as big as the ones I was geting that 2nd night. All but a hand full of fish came on topwater baits so it was twice as much fun. 
If you looking for a great bass trip, make sure you look at some of those lakes.
Jeremy
