Northern Minnesota Lakes

[Jessico09]

I am a northern Minnesota angler who loves chasing smallmouth and largemouth equally. I was wondering if anyone else has fished and/or enjoys some of the great lakes we have up in the northwoods, and if so, what are some of your favorites? I'd be happy to share mine.

[BassAssassin84]

hey man what part of norther MN you from do you ever make it around chisago lakes area ?

[Jessico09]

Hey man, I am actually from north of Grand Rapids. Never fished down by Chisago actually

[BassAssassin84]

i have only fished a few lakes up north of here fished a few lake in Hovland MN and some in grand rapids, mora, hill city

[NebraskaBasser]

I am a northern Minnesota angler who loves chasing smallmouth and largemouth equally. I was wondering if anyone else has fished and/or enjoys some of the great lakes we have up in the northwoods, and if so, what are some of your favorites? I'd be happy to share mine.

 

Maybe provide a little more detail on the general location?  I'm from Nebraska, but have spent a LOT of time in the Park Rapids, MN area... is that "north enough" for your needs?

[dwtaylor]

Winnie has some pretty good largemouth, but no smallies. Finding bass isn't too hard there because the abundance of shallow weed cover, at least in the summer. My biggest there was about 20" on a live leech rigged weightless and weedless on a reed edge. The only problem is the pike, which seems to be a common issue up north.

I also hear leech is pretty good and so is pokegama. No one fishes for largemouth up there so typically they aren't lure conditioned.

[Scott F]

I've spent a week on Lake Vermilion chasing smallies every year for the last 25 years.

[Bdub47]

I'll be heading to the BWCA in June- haven't picked an entry point yet so any tips of BW lakes?

[Bdub47]

Well, I ended up picking ham lake off the gunflint trail.  We'll be able to hit frost lake, tuscarora, and cherokee.  More smallmouth, lake trout, and brook trout in that area I think.

[Swamp Johnny]

I'm a dedicated tournament bass angler. Pokegama, Leech, Vermillion, Whitefish Chain, Island (near Duluth), Pokegama/Cross (near Pine City), Mille Lacs, ETC, ETC, ETC.

 

Mn has some great Bass fishing. (And thats coming from a guy who spent most of his life in Florida!) Why is MN so good? Nobody really targets Bass here. In Florida (and all around the South/North East) Bass are the #1 fish species targeted. In MN, Bass are considered "by-catch" for most- most guys are targeting Crappie, Walleye, and Pike before concentrating on Bass. 

 

That leaves many of our "10,000 Lakes" with unmolested bass who've never seen many real bass fishing techniques and lures.

 

My company sponsors a team- they won the MN Pro-Team Tourney last Sunday with (a one day weight) of 30.07 LBS on Lake Vermillion. Check out my blog on my website for further info. 

 

As much as I love Florida and the surrounding waters in the South East, because Bass are "ignored" here, I find the fishing in MN to be some of the best in the country.

[Swamp Johnny]

Tips for BW lakes???

 

Topwaters- (Spook Jr's and Spooks)- Rarely do fish ever SEE a Topwater lure on the BW- esp "Walk the dog" type. I have stayed ON Gunflint Lake and Topwater lures have saved the day for us many times. Use the Topwaters to "find" concetrations of fish. Then slow down and thoroughly work the area with other lures. The Topwaters work esp well the last 3 hours of the day. 

 

Suspending Stick baits- (Rapala Husky Jerk HJ10, Etc)- For Pike and Sm Bass a suspending lure can be absolutely devastating. Again, most fish rarely see that presentation.

 

Berkely Gulp Grubs on a 1/4 - 1/2 OZ Jighead ( Black)- Instead of live leeches, you can't beat a 4" (black) Berkely Grub- they catch everything. Bring 20 bags PLUS- you'll need them. (If the conventional way of rigging them doesn't work, try fishing them in conjunction with a Slip-Bobber rig. The Slip-Bobber/Jig method can be deadly- esp in deeper water.) 

 

BRING Fluorocarbon leader material (15 LB and 10LB). The water clarity can be extremely clear on some lakes. Having Fluro available will help in those conditions. 

[shimmy]

Hey fellas, i was wondering what the water temperatures are out there in central and/or northern MN right now. I fish Fergus Falls and absolutely love MN. Best place on earth.

[Hagigun]

I am from the Twin Cities but do most of my fishing at cabins of friends up north. We head to the Cass Lake chain (Near Walker/Bemidji) and will fish for Walleyes, but I personally am a Bass guy. We are heading up this weekend and are in some uncharted territory water temp wise. Usually we never have a chance at Spawning Bass, let alone Pre-spawn, but since the water temps are so low, we should have those 2 patterns in mind.

 

Last week we went up for Walleyes as the ice was finally off the lakes. The water temps were high 30's, low 40's. The fishing was terrible. But again, this was a big body of water and this was May 18th and 19th. I would guess things are a touch warmer now, but not much.

 

I would anticipate water temps in the mid 40's to low 50's at most. This would still put us on Pre-Spawn fishing.

 

I think I will try and target the north sides of the lakes that are sheltered from the wind and try fishing right off the shallow flats. I am guessing they will be preparing for the spawn which is to come within a week or two. So maybe just off the main shallow shores (2-6ft)...and try and focus in the 6-12 foot range with real slow presentations. I am by no means an expert, just going off all the great info on this site and some of the Flukemater's youtube vids.

[Hagigun]

OK, water temps were quite a bit higher on the small lake that we fished than anticipated. Temps were 58-62 depending on area...prime spawning temps for both species. We did catch a few smaller LM Bass that were looking ready to spawn. We don't keep any of these fish ever and try to be careful with handling them. We ran into quite a few smaller sized fish and could not locate anything over a few lbs. We tried looking deep (6'-7' and deeper) but did not have much success. Most of our fish were on shallow flats near shore or in the reed beds. It was very windy and tough to stay anchored in a good position with 3 to a boat.

 

I was able to nab a 2.5lbs smallmouth about 30mn before the weekend fishing was over. It's only my 2nd one ever, so that was a nice thrill. I caught it on a weightless Texas rigged Gary Yamamoto 5" worm. Most of the weekend I was trying to use my jig and did catch 3 largemouths on it. My first bass caught on jigs! My other catches were on standard texas rigs with craws and a few came off wacky rigged senkos. The wind made it tough for those lighter applications. It was also my first "real" effort on using a baitcaster. I loved it! I had a few minor backlashes that took just a few seconds to get undone, but no major disasters in 3 days of fishing.

 

I guess the real highlight was some late night walleye trolling where I caught a 25"er night one, then a 25.5"er the next night! Both were personal bests for me. Only 3 years fishing walleyes so not too shabby. Both were released as I will not keep anything 20" and over when it comes to walleyes.

 

Anybody else have any Bass/fishing success up north this weekend?

[USAFBassAnglerClark]

From SW IA but my family has cabins up in Detroit Lakes. We are on the SE corner of Long Lake. Lots of decent sized fish in there. Nothing too big though. Last year I was able to fish Big Cormorant Lake and that was a blast fishing for smallies all day! That lake took the cake when it comes to my favorite lake.  

[Broc]

Lake of the woods smallmouth fishing is a lot of fun.  Soooo much structure.  I've muskie fished LOTW for about 10 years now, but i always make a day or two chasing smallies.  Ive caught some really nice fish over rock piles.  Pulled out a 22 inch smallie last summer.

[FrogFreak]

OK, back to the original question. Here are some lakes up north that I love for bass.

 

Cass Lake, no one fishes bass there and they have some big LMBs.

Long Lake just outside of Park Rapids... Come down during the spawn and we can catch 60 plus 3+ pounders in a day easy.

Ozawindib OK, this is one of my little secret lakes. It's in Itasca Park and the most boats I've ever seen on it is one.... The whole lake is undeveloped. 

Island Lake just south of Nevis. Another small lake that has many LMBs. The launch is off the beaten path so it's fairly quiet. There's a lake owners association there that is pretty good about managing the lake.

The Crow Wing chain of lakes. Again, not pressured for LMBs. They grow em big there.

[Muzzy8124]

mille lacs and kabetogama have great smallie fishing

[MN Lakes Area 14]

Kabetogama, Namakan, and Rainy Lake. Some of the best Smallies in MN!