Snows impact/fish spawning.

[Lee Borgersen]

Snow won't impact progress of most fish spawning.

Article:
By Paul Nelson on Apr 28, 2017

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Nearly every time there is an early spring in the Bemidji area, there is going to be a stretch of cold weather that interrupts the warm-up.


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This past week was a return to winter in the area, with freezing temperatures and enough snow to completely cover the ground in most areas.

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Fortunately, most walleyes, northern pike and perch have finished spawning, so the snow and cold temperatures won't impact the progress of the spawn.

 
Bass, crappies and sunfish had moved into the shallows to feed, but the sudden drop in water temperatures was enough to cause many of the fish to temporarily back out of the shallows.

The location of the fish helps determine how far the fish will go when a major cold front hits the area.

Fish in shallow water may drop into a nearby hole during a cold front. They may also back out of the shallows entirely and hold along the shoreline break until the water temperatures in the shallows start to rise again.

Most sonar have built-in water temperature gauges. This allows anglers to track both the short term and long term trends in the lakes based on water temperatures.

Water temperatures are one of the best indicators to help anglers determine what the fish are likely to be doing at any given time during the open water season.

Patterns are repeatable by nature. Fish often do the same things at the same water temperatures year after year. The more experience an angler has, the more they can draw on past experiences to help them figure out what to do in different situations throughout the year.

Guides have to keep a date book to record the bookings they make during the year. At least one local guide relies on a "Weatherguide" calendar to record his bookings and record data about the guide trips.

A weekly date book would also be a good way for non-guides to record their fishing information. This method is an easy way to keep detailed fishing information that can be compiled year after year and referenced easily for future fishing trips.

Most anglers on the lakes this spring have been fishing for crappies, sunfish or perch. Crappies are the most spooky of the three species, with crappies constantly on the move, especially when they are in shallow water.

Crappies tend to disappear into deeper water when they are inactive or when a cold front causes the water temperatures to drop.

Sunfish tend to hang tighter to cover during cold fronts or when they are inactive. Sunfish can be eaten easier than crappies by bass and northern pike, so they have to stay closer to cover when they are inactive to avoid getting eaten.

Perch already left the shallows after they finished spawning and are currently feeding along the shoreline break. Perch usually drop into deeper water when cold fronts hit and then move back up the breakline when conditions stabilize.

Some anglers like to shore fish for suckers in the spring. Suckers are very edible when soaked in a brine of salt and brown sugar overnight and smoked until golden brown.

Anglers looking for other fishing opportunities before the walleye opener may want to fish for sturgeon during the "catch and keep" season from April 24 through May 15th on the Rainy River.

Anglers are allowed to keep one sturgeon per calendar year from the Rainy River. The sturgeon has to be tagged and must be between 45 and 50 inches length or longer than 75 inches to keep.

Another option for anglers in the spring is netting smelt along the North Shore of Lake Superior. The smelt population in Lake Superior is up this year, with good numbers of prespawn smelt running into the rivers and streams this past week.

Most anglers use fine meshed nets with long handles to net the smelt by sweeping down current as the smelt are trying to swim up river.

Smelt netters in the right areas at the right time can get more smelt than they want to clean in a short amount of time.