This week’s Grand Rapids Fishing Report brought to you by Tom Neustrom, owner of professional fishing guide service, MN Fishing Connections.
There are changes in weather that are coming about and we are already seeing changing color on a lot of our trees. We are about 7 to 10 days ahead of schedule when it come to seeing the leaves change. With this, it changes a little bit of the wildlife. Make no mistake, the fish sense changes faster than even humans do. Right now, the Walleye fishing has been very good in the Grand Rapids area lakes, but most often they are in shallower waters than most anglers are fishing for them. We have been catching Walley in less than 12 feet of water. Again, that is the sense of change that fish can accommodate to. Some of the lakes in the area that have been producing Walleye are Bowstring, Deer, Moose, and Lake Winnie. Trolling spinners with a chub or shiner minnow have been especially productive. Also, early, and late in the day some anglers are trolling crank bait. The need for rain is really important right now for accessibility to some of the smaller lakes. Landings are not in the best of shape and caution should be when unloading and loading your boat on several of the access spots.
The Bass fishing continues to be very good, but the fish seemly have moved off to the deep weed line instead of any kind of shoreline structure. The only difference would be with Small Mouth Bass that are tending to move to deeper rocks than they were a few weeks ago. This could be driven by locations of Bait Fish and a new hatch of Cray Fish which provides multiple options for both Small and Large Mouth Bass. If you are looking for good small mouth fishing some of the are lakes in the are for you to try would be Trout Lake in Coleraine, Turtle Lake outside of Marcell, Pokegama Lake in Grand Rapids and Deer Lake located just North of Grand Rapids. Two good presentations for small mouth this time of year drop-shot with a 6inch worm and an NED rig.
Pan fishing has also been good but look for Croppie’s and Sun Fish to have moved off the weed line slightly. Again, another species of fish that sense change coming. The water in the Grand Rapids area has dropped 4-7 degrees. Pan fish sense that change coming and seek other food sources such as blood worms and other types of larvae that come off the bottom. Depths of 8-14 feet should be your target range for Pan Fish as opposed to weed beds which they occupied during the summer. The fall fishing is coming soon, and it is a great time to get out and enjoy the cooler weather that is coming but also the change in the leaves.