Arvid's Fishing Report

Memorial Day weekend is usually a little late rock fishing for lake trout and especially this year when the ice went out early in April, but trout fishing this past weekend was surprisingly good.

Two of the Bosch boys, Tom & Jim, came up from Michigan and Jim’s dad, Bill, came from Denver for a weekend of trout fishing in Whitefish Bay. Jonathan brought one of his daughters, Britta, to stay with grandma Diane while he went with us. George and I were the two locals that witnessed the early spring and were really concerned about the lateness of the trip. We drove to Sioux Narrow on Friday afternoon; fished Saturday, Sunday and half a day on Monday. Because I didn’t catch much of a trout,  I won’t go into any details about who caught what and how many, but “WE”  caught  35 lake trout over the three days. George caught the big fish, 36″, but there is a little controversy; Tom caught and released one that he says was a tad bigger than George’s and George says it was a tad smaller. The trout we caught were from 24″ -32-1/2″ and quite a few were from 29″ – 32″. Monday was a good day; we only needed one for our possession limit to bring home and after catching that one early we caught and released fifteen. We also caught a few pike; some were in the mid 30″ range; that’s in the slot and were released. Every once in a while Jim, Tom and Jonathan would go and cast some plugs for smallmouth bass and northern pike. Good weather, good company, good fishing;  it was a great trip.

Jim, George, Bill, Tom & Jonathan with a daily limit of lake trout

Jonathan with a 32-1/2″ lake trout

Bill with a 31″ lake trout

Many of the fishing openers are cold, windy, sometimes snow and once in a while there is still ice on the lake. The weather on this opener was summertime perfect and there were some fish being caught.

I didn’t rush the opener; right at the crack of 8:30 was early enough. I fished by the airport for about two hours. The water level is low and not much current. The action wasn’t fast, but steady. I kept three nice walleyes;  two small saugers and released four or five little saugers and walleyes.  After an early supper, Diane and I went back down to the same area. Not much at all going on for the first hour or so, but in the next hour, “WE” caught five nice walleyes and released a half-dozen little ones. If Gale (writer for the Northern Light newspaper) were writing this she would probably point out that the “missus” caught four and the “mister” caught one. The “mister” did catch and release  a 36″ sturgeon.

Gold seemed to be the preferred color, but I think patience was the key. There were several boats around when we started and they were coming, going and nobody was catching any.  George was in the boat next to us. He had his daughter Lisa, a friend of hers and Alton with him. When the fish started to bite we were the only two boats around. George’s boat  had five or six nice walleyes when we decided to leave and there was plenty of daylight left.

Alton with a nice walleye

Diane with a 17″ walleye

We have settled into a pattern of typical early May weather; wet and cool. What was supposed to be a partly sunny, high near fifty, turned into a day with  snow showers and a temp in the low forties. The weather service missed that one.

Topper invited Martin and I to a day with him on Crow Lake. He’s a great guy, taking a couple of old farts like us along and he knows Crow Lake well. I’ve been a little hesitant to mention anything about his guiding ability for fear that he’d end up in such demand that he might not have much time for us. Well, yesterday proved to be a challenge. The water temperature was colder than when Topper and I were there two weeks ago. We spent over four hours on two different rocks without a run and trolled for over an hour with Martin getting the only strike and a nice lake trout. In spite of the weather and slow fishing it was a good day.

Martin with a nice lake trout

Topper found another day of vacation and we spent it on Crow Lake; a wonderful day on a beautiful lake.

It was chilly, about 28 degrees, as we crossed the bridge on our way to Crow Lake, but it warmed quickly;  to almost 40 by the time we reached the boat landing. We started fishing about nine; trolling Rapala’s for about an hour without a strike and then stopped on an island for a short break and didn’t get a run. We then picked up and headed for the island that we caught our two fish the other day. We hadn’t had our lines in for more than a few minutes when I got a run and a nice trout. Almost three hours passed without another run and we were considering giving the Rapala’s another try when, in the next 45 minutes, we had three runs and three more trout. All four trout were really nice; from 29″ to 32-1/2″. We were back in Baudette by 6:30; not a hard day at all.

Topper with our four nice lake trout

Four lake trout from 29″ to 32-1/2″

Sunday morning I went looking for Topper to visit with him about some LGF Senior Pontoon issues. He was working on his boat and planned to go trout fishing on Monday. He asked if I would like to go and shortly after 7:00 a.m. on Monday morning we were checking into Canadian Customs on our way to Crow lake.

It was a picture perfect day; sunny with hardly a breeze and the temperature nearly seventy degrees. This was going to be a first for me. After all the years living up here I had never fished Crow lake in open water. It’s a beautiful lake with some of the clearest water in the area. We launched the boat at the Government landing and motored 6-7 miles or so to an area Topper was familiar with. We trolled some rapala’s for a while; I had a nice fish on, but it got off. About noon we stopped on a rock; threw out some cut sucker and were going to have lunch. We hadn’t been there ten minutes and Topper got a run that produced a beautiful 33″ lake trout. An hour later I got a 30″  trout. The next couple of hours we only had one short run that was dropped. We decided to go back and troll for a short time before heading home. Just before we were going to quit I got what I thought was a nice trout on, but it turned out to be a 39″ muskie. We  took a picture quick and released it. Another first for me; I had never caught a muskie before. Two firsts in one day; not bad.

Topper with a beautiful 33″ lake trout

A beautiful 39″ muskie

Two nice lake trout

This morning Diane said “Now the fishing season is closed? I said “yes” and she said “now the women can get some things done”. That darn honey do list; each time I get one thing removed from the list there are two more things to take its place.

Don and I brought the fishing season to an end up by Hattie’s last night. It was a beautiful evening; sunny and over seventy degrees; no jacket needed. We have had strong winds for the past several days and fishing reports have been spotty. We anchored up in sixteen feet of water and began catching fish right away. We caught about a dozen walleyes; kept two; released four or five smaller ones and six slot fish from 20″ to 25-1/2. The bite slowed to almost nothing as the sun began to set. When we arrived back at the dock we talked to another party that fished by the airport and did nothing.We were happy that we made the right decision by going east.

Don with a nice 25-1/2″ walleye

With the end of season in sight, there are a lot of fishermen on the river to finish up the last few days. Good weather and good fishing will make for a busy place around Baudette  this weekend.

Don and I fished the river Thursday afternoon for about three hours. Water conditions are good with very little current. We anchored up in fifteen feet of water and a light, cool northwest breeze moved the boat around easily. The bite wasn’t fast, but good enough to keep us happy. We caught ten walleyes; one pike and a small sauger. We were able to keep our two walleyes each and the other six; 2-20″, 2-25″, 1-27″ & 1-28″ were released. Gold jigs with frozen shiners seem to be a good color, although Don did well using a bright orange jig.

Don with a 25″ walleye

A nice 28″ walleye

It’s not bed and breakfast; it’s Bass & Bluegills, Indiana style. Diane and I were at Julie’s for a few days over Easter. Jonathan and his family were there, also. We had great weather; temps were above average and spring is definitely early. Private ponds are quite common in that part of the country. They are stocked with bass, bluegills, crappies, catfish and other species. One afternoon Darlis, Matthew, Jonathan and I fished a pond that Darlis had permission to fish. Each of us caught a few small large mouth bass and bluegills; all catch and release. It was a nice afternoon.

Diane and I came home yesterday through International Falls. The river looks to be low; not much inflow from the Littlefork, Bigfork and Rapid rivers for this time of the year. There were a lot of boats on the river between Baudette and Birchdale; the landings at Clementson and Frontier were full. The only report I’ve got so far is that there is a pretty good bite; although not great, of big slot fish. It can be a challenge to get two fish to keep. Looks like the weather is going to cooperate for the last few days of the season.

Matt with a bluegill

Darlis with a bass