Grand Rapids, MN Fall Fishing Report 10-20-21

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.