This week’s Grand Rapids, MN area fall fishing report brought to you by Tom Neustrom, owner of MN Fishing Connections. Think about next year’s Fishing Trip and give Tom a call for a memorable fishing trip in 2022!

The beautiful fall weather is about to change and open water fishing days are limited. Water temperatures are cooling off and are now in the mid 50’s.Walleye fishing continues to be good on area lakes and jig and minnow combinations with a shiner, chub, or rainbow are your best choices. Times of the day have started to change for the best opportunities with late morning and late in the day being preferred. Some of the better lakes that may be good choices in the next few weeks are Big Cutfoot, Big Winnie, Splithand, Wabana, Trout, and Moose.

Crappies are starting to show up in their late fall and early cold water locations. Soft bottom bays and depths of 20 to 30 feet should be checked. With the use of your electronics find schools of crappies can be the ticket to success. Once located try to stay as vertical as possible with small minnows or plastics on 1/16^th to 1/8^th ounce jigs. Keep your bait slightly above the school for crappies and several other species feed upward and most often never down. If you aren’t getting a bite change colors and weights of jig. Oink and glow, black, chartreuse and glow are great colors to try. Some of the lakes in the Grand Rapids area to try for late season crappies are Big and Little Splithand, Cutfoot, Bowstring, Jessie, and Little Turtle. Northern Pike and Muskies are becoming very active as the water cools. Many trophy pike and muskie anglers will carry large Sucker minnows along and when a large fish is spotted they will free swim the bait right in their nose to get a bite. It’s a method that has been a stable presentation for decades. Quick strike rigs can be used to insure hook ups and easy release.

Talk to Andy Walls at Thousand Lakes Sports in Grand Rapids about the quick strike rigs they have available. Some of the lakes to try especially for a trophy Muskie are Deer, Moose, Big Cutfoot, North Star and Blandin Reservoir. All of the mentioned lakes have trophy Muskies available. Get out and enjoy the last weeks of open water fishing . It’s a beautiful time to be out in the outdoors.

Sunrise on another day in beautiful Grand Rapids

The weather has started to change a bit and the location of several species of fish has also moved. the walleye fishing continues to be good. Look for depths from 6-12 ft on most of the area lakes. The only difference is on deep clear lakes where the walleyes tend to be on offshore structures. A jig and minnow are the prominent presentations for success. But many anglers like to go out in the evening to troll crankbaits. Look for that bite to continue to improve as we get closer to the October full moon. Croppies and Blue Gills have moved off weed lines and are migrating to areas along with the first break. They will continue to move to their late fall- early winter locations as the water cools. Water temperatures of 48-54 degrees trigger their movement to these pre-winter locations. Look for bays that have soft, muddy bottoms for their preferred food sources. They prefer bugs and larva that come off the bottom in the fall and winter. Use your electronics to comb these areas to locate schools of fish. Bass fishing still has options, but the Smallmouth Bass season is closed in Northern MN, but there are options for Largemouth Bass. Grand Rapids is blessed with many Largemouth Bass lakes. Look for those to be on the deeper weed lines instead of the shallow cover. As the water continues to cool, they too will seek their winter locations which are most often depths near the last break line.

Northern Pike is an option right now for they too are on the move looking for food but Muskie fishing has been one of the species that have attracted anglers to the Grand Rapids area. For the best information on location to find Muskies and available tackle, stop in 1000 Lakes Sporting Goods downtown and talk to Grant Prokop about your best options.

If you haven’t winterized your boat yet, make sure to call your local dealer and make an appointment. Once the weather turns really cold your options for getting it down in a timely fashion are less. Their schedules are very busy and you’re getting into a limited time frame. Make sure you charge your batteries up before you put your boat away for the season. Grand Rapids is a 4-season community and will continue to serve the people visiting but also the folks that live here. As you can see by this photo Grand Rapids lakes are the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

This week’s Grand Rapids Fall Fishing Report brought to you by Tom Neustrom. Tom is a professional fishing guide that owns, MN Fishing Connections guide service. Header photo caption: Bob Mickelsen from Chicago caught these nice crappies while fishing on a Grand Rapids, MN area lake with Tom Neustrom.

Walleye fishing continues to be excellent on the area lakes in Grand Rapids, MN. Most of the transition baits have gone to the jig and minnow which continues to produce walleyes right now. As long as you are not fishing a deep clear lake such as Deer, Trout lake in Coleraine and Wabana and Pokegama. Continue to fish shallow on most other walleye lakes. Good examples are Big winnibigoshi and Cut Foot Soux. The walleyes seem to be feasting themselves on young of the year perch. If you notice sometimes, you will see the young loons and terns crash the surface of the area lakes feeding on young of the year perch and shiners. It’s a key factor in watching these birds and the location they are, to find walleyes feeding right underneath them. It’s a fall tradition that has happened for many decades. Bid Winnie continues to be the lake of choice in the area, and the resorts and bait shops are providing good information for anglers coming in from outside of the area. With the extended warm weather of late the crappies have not really moved into their lake fall and winter locations. Water temperatures are still in the low 60’s but look for that to change as the temperatures drop another 4-8 degrees.

Right not it seems the best crappie fishing is early and late in the day. More of a late summer pattern than fall. Make sure you check out areas away from the weed lines. For the crappies and sunfish are not there. Depths of 12-14 feet and in some cases 20 feet are prime locations for crappies and sunfish. Small jigs with a plastic action tail or small minnow will be the bait of choice. If it is windy, it become very difficult to stay on top of schools of crappies and sunfish. Try to find calm areas to find better opportunities to catch crappies and sunfish. Some lakes to consider are Little Cut Foot Sioux, Loon, Pokegama, and several of the smaller lakes on the Edge of the Wilderness Scenic Byway.

For the musky fisherman it has been an interesting month. Anglers are starting to see several fish in a day and to the diehard musky fisherman a follow-up is as big as catching one. A good place to stop for information on where to catch musky, is Thousand Lake Sporting Goods. They are the musky fishing destination for the Grand Rapids, MN area lakes that hold muskies. Lakes to consider are Deer, Moose, North Star, and the Blandin Reservoir between the damns on the Mississippi River.

The fall colors are near peak, and it is the perfect time of the year to come fish, hunt, and enjoy the beauty of the fall.

This week’s Grand Rapids Fall Fishing Report by Tom Neustrom. Tom is MN Fishing Hall of Fame and Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame inductee. Tom is also a professional fishing guide, MN Fishing Connections.

As the water continues to cool the fishing has taken another turn, and it is all positive. Walleye fishing continues to be very good on area lakes. And depending on which body of water you target there is location changes. On deeper lake like Trout in Coleraine, Pokegama and Deer Lake the fish are moving onto offshore structure in deeper water. Fairly common on clear lakes that has a food source that occupies those depths. Walleyes will continue to seek out these locations on this style of lakes. Other bodies of water within Itasca County that are shallower than nature have created a different style of location. Most walleyes now and have been for several week in depths of less than 10 feet. The jig and minnow is the presentation of choice to catch walleyes in the shallows. There also is nice northern pike available mixed in with the walleyes and jumbo perch. Keying in on birds crashing the surface has been important to watch for. If you notice this happening in depth 4-10 feet make sure you go and investigate and fish these areas. You may be surprised at what you will catch.

Musky fishing has been very good on Itasca County area lakes. Anglers are seeing numbers of fish per outing more so than they did earlier in the year. Some of the lakes that are excellent to try for muskies are North Star, Deer, Moose, and Big Cut Foot Sioux. The best presentation for muskies this time of year is large bulldogs, jerk baits, large crank baits, and inline bucktails. For more information concerning musky fishing opportunities give Grant Prokop at Thousand Lakes Sporting Goods.

Crappie and Sunfish are moving off the weed lines into depths of 14-20 feet. Several lakes they have already shown up in their pre-winter locations of 20-25 feet. Using your electronics to find these schools of migrating fish. Make sure when you are going to target bluegills and sunfish check the bag limit on the MN DNR fishing regulations website for the lake you intend to fish as it may have changed. Small jigs with either small plastics or a wax worm for bluegill and sunfish. For crappies also a small plastic with a jig, but also don’t forget to bring some crappie minnows with you. This presentation will work well for the rest of the season.

Header Image Photo Caption: Mark Vavra from Duluth caught this nice 22 inch walleye on a Grand Rapids area lake while fishing with Tom Neustrom.