FLW-Lake Bemidji recap from Halfen and Sullivan

The dust has settled from the final FLW league event (MN division), held this past Saturday on Lake Bemidji in beautiful north-central MN. This was my second trip to Bemidji, the first being when the FLW visited two years ago. That tournament was perhaps the most fun I’ve ever had with a middle-of-the-pack finish. It was a classic deep-water walleye slugfest, with spinners, rigs, and leadcore all performing beautifully in deep water along steep breaks and main lake structure. That pattern was almost completely absent this time around, so my second visit to Bemidji was like visiting an entirely new lake.

My pre-trip research, assisted by a couple of IDO staff members (who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent), pointed to a reasonable shallow-water weed pattern. When I arrived in Bemidji last Wednesday, the first thing I did was run to the depths to see if they were wrong….they weren’t. There were plenty of beautiful hooks in the deep water in my old spots, but repeated efforts by me and Jason Sullivan (my counterpart on team J-squared) produced one fish over 3-4 days of checking the deep water bite. So, off to the shallows we went.

My first fish of the trip came on Wednesday evening, casting shallow cranks to some main lake reed beds. If you’ve read my recent iDoFishing article on the shallow water cranbait casting pattern, then you’re well versed in the type of area I was looking for. A quick change of gears in this area to a shallow trolling presentation, like we use in the fall for Mille Lacs piggies, produced another short fish and a pike in short order. Heartened, I met Sully at the ramp and declared, "I know how we’re going to put fish in the box on game day." Sully had yet to see a walleye in nearly two days of prefishing, so he was all ears. In fact, most guys on the lake were struggling. One angler, who I have a lot of respect for, told me that his first day of prefishing produced 25 perch and one 12" walleye, all on redtails that were retailing for $1 each at one local baitshop. With a tough bite in full swing, my one piece of hard data, in conjunction with my pre-event research, told me that pulling cranks in the weeds was what team J-squared wanted to focus on.

On my second day of prefishing, I spent the day running all over the lake, looking for stands of shallow weeds that I could run a crank through. I identified two areas that looked promising. One was an extended shoreline flat that had some cabbage here and there, and one was a relatively small breakline area that held a very well-defined band of cabbage. One of these areas was on the downwind side of the lake, and one was on the opposite shore, protected from the wind. I figured that, since the wind forecast looked steady for the next 3-4 days, I could likely fish one of these two areas, depending on how the wind affected the bite and my boat control.

I pulled a variety of crankbaits along the weed edges and through the weed patches themselves. Fishing by myself, it took me some time to sort through the losers and find one bait that I developed a lot of confidence in. It turned out that getting bit wasn’t the problem….but getting the right bite took time. The areas I focused on had TONS of beautiful 8-12" perch that were not shy of cranks, in addition to MORE TONS of pike in the 22-30" class. I also found that going too slow resulted in more perch, and going too fast produced only hyper-aggressive pike….but that there was one "sweet spot" in terms of speed that would produce walleyes too. Check out tournament-tested tackle tip #4 to see how I managed my boat speed under some challenging wind and wave conditions.

After the prefishing period ended and the pairings were announced, the two members of team J-squared sat down over dinner at the Ground Round (excellent all-you-can-eat ribs, by the way!!) and developed our plan for game day. We would work the crankbait/weed pattern as long as it took to get our fish, and then try to swing for the fences on the deep bite. After talking to a few guys we trusted, and having a small amount of deep success ourselves, it was clear to us that a deep bite for quality fish was possible, but numbers of those fish were very limited. A quick trip to the baitshop to load up on the key crankbait (we bought the entire remaining stock) and some boat rigging and cleanup, and then it was off to bed for some pre-game rest.

Dawn broke over Lake Bemidji on Saturday with clear skies and west winds, forecast in the 10-15 mph range…perfect for our weed bite. My co-angler and I spent 8 hours straight working the shallow weed pattern. It’s funny….I came off plane at 7:08, fired up the T8 kicker, engaged the Troll Master, and didn’t touch the main motor ignition key until 3:08…..8 hours on the kicker, and for a troller like me, I loved every minute of it.

Our first walleye hit the net at 10:15. A little later than I was hoping, but with the tough bite on the lake, I was pleased as punch to see that nice 14.5" fish swimming upright in the livewell. At 10:45, he was joined by a fish flirting with 15". Then, at 11:15, a double of walleyes, one 14.5" and the other at 14.001", gave us a total of 4 fish. With almost 4 hours left to fish, I was confident that I could find the magic, limit-completing 5th fish, but that was not to be. We sorted through countless pike, perch, and even a few undersized walleyes, but couldn’t find a 5th legal fish to bring to the scales.

As I was bagging up my fish, I heard Sully on stage. He had just weighed his 5-fish limit, and for a brief time held the lead on the event with over 6 lbs. His bag looked like mine, except he had a chunky 18 incher to fill his limit that moved him up in the standings. I was (and still am!) so proud of my teammate, and knowing that there would be many zeros and one-fish bags in the event, I was hopeful that my co-angler and I would have a chance at a decent finish with our 4 fish bag. When the smoke cleared, Sully stood in a tie for 4th place, and I finished in a tie for 13th. Not bad for a couple of WI boys with limited experience on this beautiful MN lake.

When we started the season, Sully and I had one goal: reach the championship on Lake Wissota this September. Sully has lived on or near the lake since moving to the area some years ago, and as many of you know, I have been guiding on the lake for a few years now. If we would EVER have the inside line in a major event, this was our chance. We both steadily crept up through the standing after each event, and both finished the season strong. In the end, Sully and I both qualified for Wissota, ending the season in 16th and 18th place respectively, in the most highly-subscribed (92 different boaters fished this year), and perhaps the most competitive division in the FLW walleye league. We worked seamlessly as a team, helping each other prepare as much as we helped ourselves. We eliminated water and techniques, and found patterns and locations that provided fish at every event. Looking back at the totals, we caught the exact same number of fish in the events (12 each), with Sully holding a 1.5 pound weight advantage over me. In mind, our season is a great example of how a team is supposed to work, and I’m looking forward to continue working as a team through the Championship and into the future. My hat’s off to you partner…but our work is not done.

I want to close by thanking everyone who helped us during the season, including Kevin Krumenauer and Mark Steffes on Pool 4, and Dave Vollmer on Leech and Bemidji. I also received some valuable input from some fellow IDO staffers. You guys know who you are….my thanks go out to each and every one of you for helping me this year. Thanks also to my wife Heather and Sully’s bride Kathryn for supporting our pursuit and tolerating our absence this summer. Finally, special thanks go to my sponsors, including Skeeter Boat Center in Chippewa Falls WI, Chippewa Valley Financial, Humminbird/MinnKota, B-Fish-N Tackle, Everts Resort, Absolute Powersports, Beckman Nets, Bait Tamer, and Wave Tamer. These sponsors support the sport of walleye fishing, and they deserve your support as well.

On to Wissota!!!!