Hey Bill…glad you asked. The fish were not schooled very tight and as they chased the school of shiners they moved up and down the break as well as moving along the breaks. Bait rigs with a 4ft leader and an active shiner did the trick. With a few that did get in on some shallow fish, casting 1/8 oz jigs tipped with shinners did the trick. On Pine the big fish came out of 32ft of water on 3/8oz chartruse jigs tipped with big fatheads. As the temps get to the upper 50’s the crawler and leech bite will start to go as well.

I just visited with a guy from Rochester that opens every year on Leech. The 9 of them caught 54 walleyes for Sat and Sun. All the fish were in the 20-23″ year class out of 10-12ft of water on jigs and shiners.

Thanks for the congrats. We finished 11th even though the live leaderboard said 10th. We’ll take it! We also tied for 5th in the team of the yr race. We’ll give it a chase again next year and we look forward to the 2005 WWC!

Thanks for the nice comment Jon. I have been “guide of the wk” with the paper before also. I appreciate the press. As you can see by my pic…..there is a reason I don’t include my pic here. I think this site has attraction standards! We have seen the 2nd mayfly hatch come and go and I believe we will get one more. The break in the weather has helped with the bite. Big D turned some dandy fish last night for my clients and myself….8 16-20″ers. 3 on jigs and minnows and 5 on crawlers. (15-17ft of water on the midlake) Sorry about my irregularity of posts. I have been busy with guiding am and pm. I was also gone for 6 days to Winnebago for the MWC (finished 42nd out of 220)LATER

The great aspect of being at Shell is that you can be on Island or Big Toad in 5 min. One of them is usually going. Shell is a shallow basin lake and holds quality fish of many species. The eye’s relate to weeds and pockets in the weeds. If you are a good weed fisherman you can have some good success. It is much like fishing Tamarac (that is going also) or Height of Land (going also).I don’t like taking most customers due to their inexperiance with fishing the slop. Otter Tail is going great and Pine was great to the anglers last Sat, but tough on Sun.With the other lakes so close, don’t waste to much time on Shell if they aren’t going….bring lots of bait for the hammerhandle northerns!

Some area early season classic crappie production lakes include Sallie (spillway area), Pelican (Stroms/Kohler resort bay), Grahm/Wimmer Lake (by Frazee, roadway between lakes), Big Toad, Island (north mud weedlines),Cotton lake (east bay of island), Rock/Rice, Cormorant (two main east shore bays)…lots of the Lake Park area shallow lakes. This should give you lots of options. Check with John at Quality for tips on current hot bites.

Rock and Rice were ice free on the 14th. You will be hitting the shallow water crappie bite perfect in 2 weeks. Only lakes still with ice in our area are Otter Tail, Rush, Cormorant, Rose, Long(Vergas), and Big Pine. It won’t be long for them as we have had several days of wind, 50+ degree temps, and rain with rain and wind in the forcast for the next couple of days. Some shoreline fisherman are already spanking some crappies on some of the early ice out small lakes in the area. I love this time of year!!!!

Rocketman you must be psychic.As of about 7:30 last night there was still a quarter of the lake covered and pushed to the east shore. The wind came up and stacked it and chewed it up. They had great footage of it on the 10 pm news. At 6 last night I would have thought it woud be Fri night or sometime Sat. Black coffee, no sugar or cream…..waiting for you at the baitshop. Crappies here we come!

Rainy bite is struggling now. It is a blast when you hit it right. I can’t believe how busy it has become. I liked it more when it was still a great secret.

The 15th or 17th are looking good. Still warm and some all night thaws and heavy winds the last couple of days…..but, mom nature can always throw a curve!. I am to broke, cheap, and tight to put a wager other than pride on the line…..I’ll treat you to coffe at Quality from the “baitman” if your correct!

Rock and Rice are still iced. Some small ponds are open. 60 yesterday and today. Lots a wind. Looks good for the early ice out dates. I know we always get a cold snap and a winter surprise that slows things down. In the last 20yrs or so the 2nd week of April is the earliest I’ve seen and May 5th was the latest> I like my chances with the 22nd. Still 3ft out there and ice away from shore is minimal…..We’ll see!

Never been there. It must be by Hallock. That is a little north of my coverage area. Hallock is not the end of the world, but you can see it from there. What is the word on Bronson? I know he did some great movies in the 70″s!

Should be a good series. James/Dustin and the boys run a quality operation. They did a great job with the LPO last year. I myself will be headed to Spring Valley ILL for the 1st MWC of the year. Hope someone gets hold of you. You could also put a note up of your interrest in the baitshop…….LATER

Scotts Bait out of New York Mills has a tourney on Ottertail in June. Contact Scotts for brochure and entry forms. Battle Lake has a tourney the end of June on Battle and you can contact Bens Bait in Battle Lk for info. Big Detroit has a tourney the second week in June and you can contact the Detroit Lakes Eagles club for info on that. FM walleye runs a 120 boat tourney on Pelican out of Fair Hills Resort the 1st weekend in June and a 120 boat tourney on Cormorant in early Sept. Cedar Crest resort on White Earth has a 65 boat tourney the next weekend in Sept. Always some local “thow in” and area fishing leagues. Check with Bens Bait, Scotts Bait, or Quality Bait shops for league and other info. FM Walleye also has a number of club tournaments on OT and Becker Co lakes. Contact FM walleye for membership info (the also have monthly mts and great programs and presentations!)

I’m thinkin that report is probably from Dick Beardsley. I know he bases some of that off of info he gets from others. I am going to tell you not to waste your time on Cormorant. If the weather breaks like it is supposed to, jigging spoons will be the ticket. During this cold snap the smaller jigs and minnows under bobbers was the ticket for eyes…..this is from some very reliable sourses. We are supposed ti be in the teens for highs by the weekend. Strawberry and Cotton are deep water (20-24ft) bites. Big DL and Toad are just off the weedlines at about 17-19 on DL and 13-15 on Toad. Don’t Know anything about the others mentioned. I will mention as before….Big Pine is one of the most consistant producers as of late (Dec till now!)

The fishing report is “mostly” accurate. Cormarant is a tough bite. All the lake are producing, but not at the same times…ie Height of Land is max18ft depth and weedline is 13-15. Big Detroit is 90ft with weedline at 18ft, and the bite times are varying, some in the am, some the pm and some at dark 30, and a couple of the shallow stained waters like Rock, HOL, Rice, Marshal etc are day time active bite for some eyes. The lakes turn on and off. Pine has been the most consistant bite. Check with John “Baitman” at Quality Bait and Tackle…844-2248 for up to date info. Maybe we can get Paul or some locals to jump on with reliable info. I have been working on a new building and have not been getting out. My word is from a couple of buddies that are getting out. We just recieved 22′ of new powder and we are -28 today with no forecasted high abouve 0 until Feb 3rd.

Good job! Thanks for the update.

Sorry about not posting in a while men. The fall bite was sporatic. It seemed to be feast or famine with most lakes. It was hard to post about a hot bite as it seemed to change from day to day. My last couple of fishing trips have been to pool 4. That is a happenning bite on plastics. My last trip was the weekend before last. I have not been on an ice bite and won’t be for a while as firewood and building my wifes new shop are taking priority since I don’t guide on the solid surface! I hope others will chime in with info. I have a few sourses that say the early and late bite is picking up for both panfish and walleyes. Ice conditions are good now with 6″+ on most lakes and making ice. I wasn’t getting much response or chatter on the board so it was hard to gauge the importance of the posts. I will be more faithful to post again…….Sound off…..let me know your alive and well folks!

I will drive all the way down for this!

I haven’t been on Many Point for several yrs. I would guess that has been as on and off as most all our lakes. Hard to make that long drive when we have so many for me that are 20min or less away for me. I was on Big Toad last night for 3 hrs and we caught a dozen eaters rigging and jigging rainbows and the bite was a horse apiece. White Earth and Pine are starting to go well now also…..but with our fronts……on and off….have to keep trying and changing. I love this time of yr.

Sat Sun and Mon were slow for almost everyone. The 100 boat walleye tourney on Cormorant had 30 0’s and only a few limits. I will let the”baitman” know about your compliment and your leech disappointment. If you can get back up here for Oct and early Nov you won’t usually be disappointed, but this walleye game is a very weather dependent sport!

Battle eyes are still deep and will stay that way for the most part. This short stretch of cool hasn’t changed water temps or patterns. Unless we see a significant change in weather that will last weeks instead of a couple of days, we are going to have a late transtition into fall patterns. Crawlers are still kickn’ butt.

I will be putting an update post after the holiday weekend. Big DL still has a good early am bite(6-7:30am) and a late evening bite that starts about 1hr before sunset. Coffee bar, center bar, the boot and the humps in front of Fireside and sucker creek are all producing and that bite should continue to hold. You can PM me also. Check with “baitman”John at Quality Bait(new baitshop downtown next to D.Dahls) as he knows what is going on. The bite has been jigs and fatheads and livebait and crawlers in 19-24ft midlake and 13-17ft off the big shoreline flats……LATER

Thanks for the info. good pick of the lil devil too! I will be over for the MWC in Sept.Maybe I will get a “real” look at one then.

Your going to like getting back on OT. It will just keep getting better from now thru the fall bite. A shallow crank bite is happening also on both large shoreline flats and the big midlk flats in 7-9ft of water.

Nice report Tom…..sorry I am such an idiot, but what the heck is a gobie?

Hey young mr stevens….I bet you are thinking it was a on an “up north minnow” or a “wisconsin mud dibbler”! It came on a live bait rig with an “up north” crawler in 24ft of water…..LATER

When you fish the bar in the am and pm , start at the tip and work the top…..and edges (17-22ft) If the wind is quartering into from MW it is when it seems best I have had my best times fishing the windblown side.Daytime check the bottom of the break where it contacts the basin. It turns from hard bottom to soft bottom at about 28-32 ft. Sometimes they are on the transition and sometimes deeper off the bar in up to 40ft. Tons of structure and lots of gooooood fish in Battle

Sorry about being so late on a response about Battle. You are correct about needing to look deeper on battle. Live bait rigging with long (Mille Lacs Lake type) snells and don’t be afraid to check the 32-40 ft water. From the west access head all the way east thru the “gap” and check the long extending bar off the south shoreline about a 1/4 mile past the south point of the gap. That is one of the most consistant walleye producers on the lake (top and edges in the am and pm and deep basin area during the day). Battle has not been much for a #’s lake but is your best chance for a pig. Just 5 min away you have a little jem named Silver….check it out. 20min away you have Otter Tail and if you want some walleyes for the table that is a must. It is a stucture fishermans dream! OT has been good all yr and will be even better in the fall. Battle get better as the weather gets worse. Check with Bens bait for some good feedback on whats happening with the bite in the area.

and another pic

Nice report flipenrip. Thanks. I hope more vistiors start jumpin in with reports and sharing info!