Fall fishing outlook

[Lee Borgersen]

              Fall fishing outlook is optimistic are you

By Glen Schmitt, glens@outdoornews.com 6:01 p.m. CDT October 11, 2014


have struggled of late. With consistently strong winds blowing across all of Minnesota, for what was nearly a two-week stretch, weather conditions haven’t allowed for much time in the boat.
Toss in some rapidly dropping water temperatures, which seems to have most fish species scattered all over the water column, and it’s been an unusual and difficult stretch for many anglers.

The irony is that when the wind has died down and Mother Nature provided a few days of stable weather, the fish bit. Unfortunately, those days have been few and far between and the general consensus among the state’s anglers and bait shop owners is the best fall fishing is just around the corner.

Todd Mortenson owns Mort’s Dock on the south shore of Upper Red Lake and he says that with the exception of a slow bite in late August and early September, walleye action has been good all season. He believes it would be right now as well if people could get on the lake. But the aforementioned winds have covered Upper Red with white caps for more than a week, bringing fishing opportunities to a halt.

“This has been one of the longest stretches of strong winds I can remember,” Mortenson said Thursday. “It’s really taken the entire lake out of play and it’s churned up so it might take a few days for the fish to start biting again.”

Hopeful for bites

The forecast this week is calling for warmer weather, and with it, Mortenson is hoping for less wind. He says the walleyes will remain shallow, 4 to 7 feet, for the remainder of the open water season and they will bite as soon everything calms down and people can fish again.

“We’ll get a nice stretch of weather, we always do in October, and it should provide good fishing,” he added.

At Lake of the Woods, fishing main lake areas has been a dicey situation with all the wind as well. But anglers have found refuge in the Rainy River where shiner minnows have started to filter in and the walleyes are following.

The river bite should only get better over the next couple of weeks as water temperatures continue to cool and migrating walleyes move into it to feed on shiners.

This bite will be strong until ice covers the river, according to Penny LaBore of Lakeroad Lodge in Baudette.

“We haven’t had much activity on the lake because of the wind,” LaBore said. “But the river bite is getting good, so everything is changing fast out there.”

The traditional nighttime crankbait bite during the latest full moon didn’t take off at Mille Lacs as it usually does. Angler participation was extremely low.

Terry Thurmer of Terry’s Boat Harbor on the west side of Mille Lacs said the deep, mud flat walleye bite with slip bobbers and leeches has been better than the shallow, shoreline bite with crankbaits. But regardless of where the fish are biting or weather conditions, boat traffic has been light this fall on Mille Lacs.

“Really, it’s been that way all season — just not many people up here fishing,” Thurmer said. “The wind has been miserable, but we’re not seeing people when it is nice.”

The night bite on Leech Lake was much better through last week’s full moon phase. While the wind prevented anglers from making long runs to main lake areas, it did settle down enough at night for anglers to troll crankbaits and the walleyes cooperated.

Temperatures drop

Cory Brock of Reeds Sporting Goods in Walker pointed out that it was difficult to get on Leech during several recent days due to the wind, so many people took advantage of the night activity when the lake wasn’t quite as rough.

He expects the daytime walleye and perch action to also be good once people are able to start fishing again. Water temperatures have dipped below 50 degrees now and that usually gets both species very active for the remainder of the fall.

“It’s been a night bite lately only because it was so tough getting out during the day,” he said. “But on those few days that have been calmer, perch and walleyes were biting in shallow water and I expect that to continue.”

In the Grand Rapids area, the wind and colder weather that accompanied it meant a sudden drop in water temperature, almost too much of dip in a short amount of time, according to Ben Kellin of Ben’s Bait Shop.

Crappies seem to be doing what they should this time of year — starting to be found suspended over deep water on most lakes. But walleyes don’t seem to know where to go with some fish being found deep and others in depths as shallow as 6 feet.

Kellin expects a traditional fall walleye pattern to develop just as quickly as the water temperatures changed.

“We went from 60-degree water to upper 40-degree water in less than a week and combined with all the wind, the bite has been tough,” he said. “As soon as we get a couple days of consistent weather, I expect the fishing to be as good as it’s been all fall.”

Empty lakes

Sherrie Wicktor of S&W Bait and Tackle in Nisswa couldn’t offer much in the way of a recent fishing report. She says there just haven’t been enough people on the lakes in her area to get a handle on the bite.

Wicktor’s days over the past week or so have involved few minnow sales at her bait shop on Highway 371 as anglers waited for the wind to stop blowing. She says they’re eager to go as soon as the weather allows them to get back on the water.

“I’ve never seen anything like this, I mean we always get some windy days in the fall, but not this many in a row,” she said Friday. “The weather looks like it’s going to improve this week and I have a whole bunch of fishermen around here that can’t wait for that to happen.”

At Mike’s Bait & Tackle in Eden Valley, owner Mike Lies also struggled to come up with some current fishing information for the Central Minnesota area. With limited opportunities to fish due to the wind last week, all he could deliver was what took place before the winds started to blow.

Lies knows there’s still plenty of good fishing to take place this fall. There just hasn’t been much of a window for people to get out lately, but he suspects they’ll find fish once they do.

“We had some good fishing, walleyes and panfish before the weather changed, but I don’t know what to say right now,” Lies said. “It’s going to take a few days for everything to get straightened out after all that wind.”