Surface water temps rise

[Lee Borgersen]

Surface water temps on the rise

By Paul Nelson on May 4, 2017 at 6:00 p.m.

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A return to cold weather in the Bemidji area included enough snow, rain and below freezing temperatures to drop surface water temperatures in most lakes from the low 50s to about 40 degrees, which is a significant drop in temperatures to the fish.

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Most crappies left the shallows and headed for deep water when the cold front hit. A good portion of the crappie population ended up hugging the bottom in water deeper than 20 feet, which was the warmest water they could find.

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Surface water temperatures have slowly been on the rise again this past week. Most lakes are back in the upper 40s and low 50s, which is close to the point where the lakes were before the cold front arrived.


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Crappies, sunfish and bass have slowly been moving back into the shallows to resume feeding. Members of the sunfish family spawn later in the spring, when surface water temperatures reach the mid 60s.

The predator species aren't the only ones that dictate much of their movements based on water temperatures. Spot tail shiner minnows also move into the shallows before they spawn and were just getting ready to move into the shallows when the cold front hit.

Ron from Taber's Bait is optimistic the spottail shiners will move into the shallows before the walleye season opens, but it will be close.

The supply of spottail shiners for the walleye opener will depend on how many shiners the trappers are able to catch in the next week. The supply of spottail shiners should be better by the second weekend of the season.

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Walleyes continue to recover from the spawn, with anglers fishing for panfish starting to catch more accidental walleyes when fishing for crappies and sunfish.

With only one more week to go before the walleye opener, the lakes should be in good shape and the walleyes should be ready to bite when the season opens on May 13.

There were still quite a few docks going into the public accesses this week. All of the public docks should be in the water before the walleye season opens.

No matter how early the ice goes out on the lakes, there is always a rush before the season opens. One thing all anglers should do before the walleye season opens is to put new line on all of their fishing reels, especially if using monofilament or a fluorocarbon blend.

Anglers using braids can get away with using the same line longer than those using mono, but the braided line still needs to be replaced at least once a year.

If anglers have enough braided line on their reels and don't want to change it, they should at least strip off enough line to get to the fresher line deeper in the spool.

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Most anglers use a fluorocarbon leader whenever they use braided lines. Most anglers never tie lures or hooks directly to braided line without a leader, especially if they are fishing lakes with clear water.
Most anglers don't use straight fluorocarbon on their reels either, except during the winter. The biggest issue for most anglers is fluorocarbon line is about three times more expensive than monofilament, but fluorocarbon needs to be changed at the same frequently as mono, which isn't practical for most anglers.

There are several good knots anglers can use to tie fluorocarbon leaders to braided line. The J knot is easy to tie and the Uni knot also works well, but is a little harder to tie. Like anything else, if you don't know how to do it, google it.

One of the most important things anglers need to do in order to tie a good knot is to wet the line before pulling the knot tight, to avoid burning the line.

Anglers can also use a small swivel to connect braided line to a fluorocarbon or mono leader. When using a swivel, the leader should be short enough to avoid reeling the swivel into the rod guides, which eventually ruins the rod guides and damages the line.


Paul A. Nelson runs the “Bemidji Area Lakes Guide Service.” He can be contacted at panelsonbemidji@gmail.com.