I’ve been fishing for a long time yet the thrill of hitting a new body of water known for kicking out over-sized walleye still kicks my excitement level into overdrive. Sleep is often lost the night before this type of trip in anticipation… and that’s exactly what I went through last week as I sat in a hotel room in Grand Rapids, MN watching the rain pour down for hour after endless hour.
The area received 7″ – 10″ in some locations and for the better part of a day and a half we went back and forth over should we pull the plug and head for home or should we stick it out and hope the weather would lift enough for us to get out on Pokegama in the hopes that we’d be able to experience some of the great fishing this lake is known to produce.
For the rest of the story… check out the video below. Pokegama did NOT disappoint!
Very Very Nice !!!
It was even cool to see Ben get into a little of the action !!!
Wouldn’t be fair to make a guy that likes to fish watch those big ‘eyes come to the boat without giving him a crack at one or two for himself.
The best part was he never said a word, until he had the fish half way to the boat. All of a sudden he says “This is a pretty good fish get the net”.
Having Pokegama Lake in my back yard is awesome. This lake not only has great walleye fishing but great small mouth and large mouth bass. There are BIG pike and trout as well. Great video.
Great report and video James.
And you’re right, walleyes do fight. Just not as hard as catfish!
Good stuff there guys!
Awesome walleyes as well.
Jealous as all get-out guys! Work gets in the way of a few good fishing trips, but I’ll do my best not to let an opportunity like that get away from me again. Ironic that a work meeting was what got Mike and I talking about doing some fishing in the first place. After a few minutes of shooting the bull, I knew I’d like to fish with him in the near future.
Congrats on the great fish gentlemen, and welcome to IDO Mike! To all you IDO’ers out there, Mike’s an aspiring guide in the Grand Rapids area and beyond. Big walleyes are a passion for this man, and the results speak for themselves. Stable weather? Naaa. Record rainfalls? Won’t be a problem. Congrats again on the great bite gentlemen, and let’s give a big IDO welcome to Mike!
Joel
Mike !!!
I seriously look forward to more reports from you !!!
And Welcome to IDO !!
Great report. So what are the slot regs up there? Is Pokegama part of the Mississippi river up there?
Thanks.
Just looked a map of Pokegama Lake. Cool looking lake. Have driven over it enough times heading south out of Grand rapids. Have always thought it was just a dammed up stretch of the river up there.
Google Maps Pokegama.
There’s no slot on Pokegama. State limits w/ 1 over 20″ apply.
If you like fishing structure and you trust your electronics you’ll love this lake.
This lake has tons of structure and steep breaks off long flats that hold fish. Definately trust your electronics and look for bait holding off breaks or weedlines to find the fish. This lake is a little tricky because the whole lake looks great for structure holding walleyes; definitly plan on spending some time driving around searching for the fish.
Its an awesome lake that has a lot to offer if you put in the time!
Cat is out of the bag I guess. The Pokegama bite/potential has been getting to be more and more public knowledge over the last two years.
It is definitely getting fished alot more the last few yeats. Haha… wish I had it all to myself, but it does fish large for it’s size due to all the structure. I have been fishing it for 22 years and I still find and learn new stuff every year.
Great vid James and those were great fish.
How deep was the structure and your leaders?
26′ seemed to be the best depth and leader lengths were only 4′ – 5′ long. Nothing fancy at all but it did seem to be the best presentation going.
The water on Pokegama is up almost 3 feet since last week, and continuing to rise until the water downstream of the Mississippi crests. Good News is it really has effected the fishing fish are still on the structure and weedlines. I anticipating the night bite to pick up within the next week or two if it hasn’t already began.
Night bite….? You talking long line stick baits or tight wobble shad rap style? Just trolling those flats or weedlines? I lived on the lake while going to ICC, I sure wish I knew this lake had the big fish, instead I was over in cohasset catching walleyes on Bass lake.
Stick baits or raps doesn’t seem to matter, find the bait, and find the fish. I have the best luck trolling the flats, but other fisherman live and die by the weedline. I have heard of fisherman drifting off a troll into deepwater and catching suspended walleye chasing bait in 40+ ft at night.
Nice report ! Great fish…
My son-in-law is up at Pokie right now. He is trying to find redtail chubs at the local bait stores and not having any luck. Are those impossible to find at this time of year or does anyone have any ideas where there might be some? Thanks.
River Rat bait store in Cohasset will have red tails or creek chubs.
I think he tried River Rat for redtails and they had none, but I will tell him to use creek chubs from there. Thanks.
I’ve had good luck with River Rat myself. If they don’t have ’em, you’ll be lucky to find them elsewhere.
Joel
The River Rat should have creek chubs and let him know to focus on deep water reefs, the majority of walleyes that are active during the day are deep right now. If he wants to get in on a good bite have him get in on the full moon bite right now on the inside edge of the weedline along the shoreline near the Golf Course or the humps out there, or on the flats around the islands or the lighted stairs. Yellow and silver have been the reported hot colors; I am heading out the next few nights to give it ago, my buddies have been out all week and I haven’t heard a bad report as of yet but need to experience before I believe it.
Mike, thanks for all the suggestions. I will convey them to him. I am coming up to Pokegama in 2 weeks for our annual vacation up there so hopefully I can find some walleyes then. I have been having good luck with bigger northerns on leadcore down deeper in the schools of smelt the last few years. I told him to try that but he has not had alot of luck yet with that. BUT, they are spending alot of time having family fun instead of just fishing. Thanks again.
Ah, yes the pike bite, my buddy and I were just talking about going out and trying that this week as well. We have not caught any monsters in the deep water yet (biggest was about 15lbs) what has been your biggest so far?
Biggest for me is a 36″ last year. I had a, what felt like alot bigger one on right after that, got off before I could see it. Another big one got away story……….I would like to break the 40″ mark, I am sure they are in there, could be some alot bigger yet. What has been the biggest one out of there that you know of?
I had a buddy who had speared a 42″ few years ago I saw the pics it was a big girthy fish, the biggest open water I have heard is 38″ but never seen the pics. I have heard of a lot of fish between the 12 to 15 lb range over the last few years most of them spearing or ice angling. It doesn’t seem like a lot of people target them open water or I just haven’t heard of it.
Good Luck and if I make it out for them the next couple of weeks I will let you know how I do.