Brainerd area Crappie and walleye report 5-12-7

This definitely had to go down as one of the nicest opener’s weather wise in a long time. Saturday it may have been too nice. I started the weekend by fishing a smaller Brainerd area lake looking to chase crappies. I was on the water shortly after 8. On a tip I started in about 6’-8’ with a bobber, Flu-Flu and a crappie minnow. The crappies were not there. Figuring they didn’t move too far I searched some near by shallow water and found a ton of fish in 3’-4’ that had a mix of sand, rock, gravel and old reeds. These fish would not touch the minnows but jumped all over the small jigs when I broke out the Gulp! Most fish were 10”-12” with the biggest just shy of 14”. When the wind was calm enough you could almost pick out the fish you wanted. Around noon the wind picked up and the clouds moved in and these fish left. I moved to another part of the lake and found more active fish in 6’-8’ that did want the minnows. I did not get any gills of any size, but I did catch over 50 bass while chasing the crappies.

Saturday morning found us fishing the north end of Gull Lake. Our first spot yielded quite a few perch, a half a dozen pike and a couple small walleyes. We moved to our second spot and found more fish. We were rigging shiners behind 1/4oz weights in 17’-25’ on a subtle point with a very sharp break. The fish weren’t huge, but it was action. Most were either 10”-12” or 15”-17”. We also caught quite a few perch that just weren’t quite big enough to keep. By 10am things slowed as the sun was high in the sky with very few clouds. We moved around quite a bit the rest of the day trying areas like the Hayfield and Grassy Point catching a fish here and there.

Big thanks go out to Doug and the gang at Lost Lake Lodge for the invite. This is a yearly trip I look forward to regardless of haw the fishing is. All the bots shared their catch and everyone got some fresh walleye fillets during dinner Saturday evening. If anyone is in the Brainerd area and looking for some fine dining, especially if you have the better half with and want to earn some brownie points, stop in for dinner. You won’t be disappointed. I can’t wait for 2008!!