NISSWA 7/17

[Realtree]

NISSWA - Dave's Sportland Bait & Tackle, Jason, 2 miles south of Nisswa at the Intersection of Hwy 371 and Cty Rd 77, next to Schaefer's Foods, www.sportlandbait.com (218-963-2401)

It sure has been busy around the bait shop and in our guide boats.  Over the last couple of weeks we've hosted former Minnesota Vikings wide receivers as well as a bulldog pitcher that brought home a world series trophy for the Twins.  You just never know who you are going to bump into here at the store.  Fishing just keeps going and going.  It has been awesome for the largemouth bass.  Gull, Hubert, Whitefish, and North Long have all produced some great trips for our guides.  Pitching jigs tipped with plastics or minnows has been working.  Weedlines are holding the largest concentrations of fish.  We had a trip earlier this week where the guide and customers started the morning by catching about 60 bass and then switched lakes and went chasing pike.  After another 40 fish they called it a day.  They slept good that night, a 100 fish day can really where out the cranking arms. The pike fishing continues to go pretty good on Gull, Whitefish, and Lake Edwards.  Lindy rigs or spinner rigs have produced along the deep weedlines. We've found pike from the weed edges out to 32 feet.  You can also catch them with a bobber rig and a big sucker minnow.  Coming up are the dog days of summer.  Look for the big pike to get very active. The walleye fishing is still a little spotty.  Seems like we are still catching a few here and there along with the other species.  But it seems a little tougher to go out and target just walleyes.  Mostly we have found
them hanging along the weedlines.  Redtail chubs or leeches have been working best.  The evening bite has been a little better than the day bite. We did have one lucky customer hook a dandy 27 incher the other day out on a trip with Todd.  Catch and release is a big reason why our fishing continues to be the best in the nation.  Let them go so they can grow. The big sunfish have been tearing up leeches and worms.  Many lakes are going good for panfish.  Some of the best are North Long, Gull, Hubert, Cullen, and Whitefish.  You can find sunnies on the weed edge in 12-16 feet. Crappies are starting bite in the evenings in 12 feet of water.  Northland Thumper jigs are the ticket.