Detroit Lakes Area Fishing Report

This report is a bit of a recap of my outings over the past week, during the Christmas Break. My windows of oppurtunity were somewhat limited during this time but I did my best to take advantage of what time I had out and managed to do some exploring of new spots as well.

The walleye fishing this year has been a bit hit or miss in the times I have been out. Even fishing the same areas, the bite has been different day to day.

I did manage to get a few on a Blue/Glow Lightning spoon tipped with shiner heads in one spot I tried late last week during the early morning hours. The fish I marked were aggressive and I even missed a few that came screaming up and hammered the bait. I did not have a tip-up or set line out during my hole hopping, but wish I would have to see if I could have pulled a few more fish thru the ice.

The bite changed in the other areas I tried, as the fish have only come on the bobber rod. Lucas and I managed a few in the evening last week and the set line was the ticket. Even then I had fish take the bobber to the bottom of the hole, only to miss them on the hookset.

The depths I have been working have been 18-28 fow, with most fish coming in around the 22-25 fow range. One spot that held some fish was out on some midlake structure, so I am going to start to check out a few more of these areas in my future outings.

The panfish bite, both gills and crappies, has varied from day to day, based on the conditions mother nature has thrown at us recently. There are alot of small perch in some of the area lakes, so sticking close to the weeds or in the weeds has kept the perch away. From what I was finding, if you got out into open basin areas during the day you would be overwhelmed with tiny perch pestering you. Get back close to or in the weeds and the perch were no longer a burden.

The bluegills I have been finding during the daytime hours have been right in or on the edge of the weeds. Seems like you have to keep moving to stay on them, but the ones I found have been active. Either jigging down in the weeds or just above them, then continuing to work the bait up has coaxed them out of the cover. Having a flasher, such as a LX7 or LX5, has helped to figure out the mood of the fish, as well as see where they are hiding out. Many times you can use this to watch the fish in the weeds to see where they are hanging and figure out where you need to start working the jig to get them to take your offering.

My son, Lucas, joined me for a few hours in the afternoon last week. I barely got to fish because he was getting fish on just about every drop, which gave him plenty of practice in watching the bobber, setting the hook and reeling in the fish. Many fish in the 5-7″ range, but we did find a few pushing the 9″ mark. There waa a nice mix of sunfish and pumkinseeds in this particular lake. Lucas had a blast, though he was hoping we could have taken a few home to have for supper that night. All fish were released for someone else to enjoy!

I have not been able to get on the crappies during the daytime hours like I would like to either. I have a few areas in mind that I will be trying in the future, as anything in the basin areas have just held perch. As soon as the sun goes away though, the perch are gone and the crappies move in.

I was out yesterday and when the “witching hour” came around I got a handful of crappies to show up. All were on the aggressive side, as I jigged either a CJS Chekai tungsten jig or Demon spoon with a waxie above the weeds and they came shooting out to get my offering. I tried red spikes to no avail with the crappies, though the gills earlier in the day were enjoying them. I did try some 1″ plastic minnow bodies but they were not interested in those either.

The lakes are starting to get busier around the area as well, as truck traffic is starting to get common on many of the lakes. Please continue to use caution if you aren’t sure of the conditions on the lake. I have still been toting around my sled and using that when possible, which has allowed me to stay mobile without having to worry as much about the ice conditions.