Arvid's Fishing Report

Jodi, Steve & Scott are in Minnesota on vacation; getting away from the heat of the southwest for a few weeks and we are happy to have them with us for some of that time.

Fishing is good and we have been out to the lake to take advantage of  it.  On Monday, Steve, Scott & I fished the outside of Pine Island during the middle of the day; caught a limit of nice eaters and released that many or more. We were drifting in eight to fifteen feet of water using a spinner with a shiner. Pink and hammered gold seemed to be the best colors. Wednesday evening after the Take-a-Kid Fishing event; Jodi, Steve and I went to the lake and fished from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the same general area using spinners, shiners and some crawlers. We kept nine nice walleyes, three saugers and released several small ones. Jodi, however, had the hot hand. She caught and released walleyes of 19″, 21″, 23-1/2″ and 31″. I’ve had that old boat a long time and that’s the largest walleye that’s ever been in the boat.

Jodi with her 31″ walleye; a beautiful fish

Scott with a nice 16″ walleye

Willard and I tried pulling plug again on Friday for a couple hours, and except for a real nice 27-1/2″ walleye Willard caught on the outside of Pine Island fishing with plugs wasn’t good. The fish we  caught were small and we kept one walleye and one sauger.

Willard with a nice 27-1/2″ walleye

It should be the time of the year when pulling plugs is an effective way of getting a few walleyes, but I don’t think that we are quite there yet. Willard and I have been out a couple times this week and pulled plugs around Four-Mile-Bay and on the outside of Pine Island with limited success. Neither time have we got a limit to bring home, but we have gotten some nice eaters. The first trip out Willard caught one in the slot and I caught a nice small mouth bass.

I understand the hot ticket is to be out in front of the Lighthouse Gap about four miles anchored up in 30 feet of water using jigs tipped with a minnow. Zipple Bays is supposed to be good, also.

Willard with one to big to keep

A nice smallmouth bass

Jonathan, Allison, Rachel & Britta are here for a nice long weekend and they brought great weather with them. They got here and were able to meet uncle Noie and Janice before they left for home. Thursday evening Noie, Janice, Jonathan, Rachel and I fished by the mouth of Baudette Bay for a couple of hours. I was pleasantly surprised; we must have caught twenty walleyes and saugers; most of them small and were released, but we kept a few eaters and Janice had one that was 17″. Rachel caught her first walleye; it was small and she had no trouble releasing it. On Friday morning Jonathan, Allison, Rachel and I fished the same area for just over an hour. Rachel caught two northern in the 20″-25″ range that we released and two walleyes; one 18″.   But, it gets better. This morning the four of us fished the river for about an hour with Jonathan catching a eater and Rachel catching a small northern and two walleyes; a nice eater and a dandy 21″ that she released. On one of the northern she caught the previous day she said she needed help, but we didn’t give her any; she hooked and brought in those fish all on her own. She handled that new rod that we made her this past winter just like an old pro.

Rachel’s first walleye

Rachel with a dandy 21″ walleye

My uncle Noie and his wife Janice are here visiting from Michigan’s U.P. Everybody knows that we are not having summertime weather, but we are dodging some light rain showers and fishing the river in the late afternoons. Tuesday evening we caught about ten walleyes and saugers, but kept only three eaters. The excitement came, however, when Janice hooked and with Noie’s assistance, they caught a 45″ sturgeon. Wednesday we caught eight nice eaters in a couple hours before dark.  We’ve had a nice fish fry and are looking forward to the next couple of days.

Noie with the 45″ sturgeon that Janice and he caught

Janice with a nice Rainy River walleye

Daughter Julie took a break from work and all those daily family activities to go with Diane to a 8oth birthday party for Diane’s mother in ND. They have returned to Baudette and Julie will be here for a couple of days before flying back home.  It gave Julie and I a chance to go fishing together. We both tried to recall the last time that just the two of us went fishing and came to the conclusion that it was a long, long time ago.

Thursday, after lunch, we put the boat in and went up river and anchored in about 15′ of water. There was a cold front coming in and the weather was changing, but it was nice for the two hours or so that we fished. For the middle of the afternoon the fishing was quite good. We were using spinners with shiners; hammered gold seemed to be the color that worked best. We caught about 15 walleyes; kept a limit of nice eaters and released the others. Julie kept track and claims that she caught eight. That’s the story of my life; the women in my family always catch more fish than I do.

Julie with a nice walleye

The Memorial Day weekend; two days  sunny, one rainy. Two out of three; that’s good for northern Minnesota.

I gave Whitey a call on Sunday. It was over due that  I take him fishing again. We met at the boat ramp and were fishing shortly after 5:00 pm. Fishing wasn’t fast, but it sure was ok. By a little after 8:00 we had eight nice walleye which we find out when we arrive back at the dock was pretty good. Reports from two parties that went to the lake were not very good and we did not see  many fish caught by the  boats in our area. So, we were happy and Whitey had what he said was enough to stink up the pan.

Whitey with a nice walleye

Don and Sue called and invited Diane and I to go fishing late Saturday afternoon. It was beautiful weather for the first day of the Memorial Day weekend. Don and I thought that we’d have no trouble getting a limit of fish having our two favorite fishing partner’s along, but it doesn’t always turn out that way. We fished the river and the bite has slowed  a bit. We ended up keeping ten nice walleye; released one 20″ and several small ones.

Don and I had fished on Thursday and he had an interesting one. As he hooked a nice walleye, the fish somehow made a loop around a small stick and with the strong river current we both thought that he had one on for the tape measure.

Sue with a nice walleye

Diane with a “squiggler”  (What she calls any small walleye or sauger)

Don with a fish and a stick

Diane and I went to Bemidji Tuesday; first trip with the camper this year. We had good weather and it’s always a relief when everything works after a winter of storage.

Late Tuesday afternoon Diane dropped me at Terry’s and headed for the Mall. Terry, his fishing league partner, Charlie, and I headed for lake Blackduck.  Reports were that Blackduck was the hot spot. We started fishing sometime after 6:00 p.m. and the first hour produce four or five small northern. A change in location brought immediate results and during the next hour the action was great. We must have caught nearly 25 walleyes; all 13″-15″ and like Terry said “That’s Blackduck walleyes. We kept our limit of 18 and were on our way home before dark.

Wednesday we had a nice fish fry for lunch and  were invited to Terry’s for dinner. When we returned to the campground, I went down to the fishing pier and  fished for an hour before dark . I caught a small perch and a nice 15” walleye. Reports for Lake Bemidji have been terrible (15 league boats caught 5 fish the same night we went to Blackduck). Thursday morning I went down to the dock shortly after 7:00 a.m. and there was a young fellow fishing. He told me that he just graduated from collage and was looking for a job and was hoping to catch on with the Parks. He said that he was one of 57 that applied for a part-time seasonal job at Itasca. It’s not a good year for the college grads. Anyway, we fished together for about an hour and I caught 1 small perch.  I took him up to the fish cleaning house and cleaned the walleye for him that I caught the evening before. He was pretty happy with that.

Charlie with a lake Blackduck walleye

Terry with a lake Blackduck walleye