The fishing has been nothing short of outstanding in the Brainerd Lakes Area in the last few days. One thing that I really love about the area is we do not seem to get affected nearly as much by the dog days of summer as other areas do. The big thing is to stay mobile and don’t get locked down on one location if the bite is off. With over 400 lakes within 30 miles of my front steps, something is biting some place and we have really been on the good bites as of late.
Brainerd Area Fishing
The bluegill bite was a little bit tough for whatever reason in the last week. We did catch good numbers but the size seemed to decrease a bit but we did pick up a few good dinner plates. Right now, the best locations are still tips of points and inside turns. The big thing is having lots of options for presentations. We caught fish by drop shotting leeches and small pieces of crawlers, vertically jigging tungsten ice jigs with waxies, long casts with bobbers and an Aberdeen hook as well as making casts with lead jigs and crawlers. The pattern was to stay mobile and find pockets of good fish. It seemed when we first showed up to a location, we caught better fish. It was almost like the bigger fish were a bit spooky. I am not sure if it is the low light caused by this smoke or just other predators feeding but something was keeping them from the ordinary.
The largemouth fishing has been on fire. The fish are really relating to the deep edges of the weeds. We are still on a plastic bite. This last week, we seen the reemergence of the Ned rig bite. The faster drop of a tungsten jig triggered the bites. The big thing was to be off the weed edges and make casts parallel to the break line, keeping the lure in their strike zones a little bit longer.
Walleye fishing has been very good as of late. #6 gold spinners in all bodies of water have been spectacular. The big thing is to find the shading that goes best with the gold. We found some lakes preferred red, others preferred a mix of colors and one that preferred black. Keep a good mix of spinners on hand. The fish seem to be on the move a ton right now so don’t get locked down on a spot you caught them the last time out.
One thing that we ran in to this week was the pike bite has really increased on our harness pattern so make sure you bring extra leader line as well as extra hooks. Check your leader line after every pike strike. Even 17 pound fluorocarbon doesn’t hold up to even tiny pike.
The smallmouth bite is getting better every single day right now. It doesn’t matter the body of water, the fish are feeding. We caught most of our fish using a drop shot with a 4 inch ring worm hooked whacky style. We worked the lures quite fast but once they bit, we let them eat it for a bit before setting the hook.
Big pike have started to chomp pretty good. Trolling big wood baits like Suicks as well as some big spinnerbaits. Trolling from 3.0-4.5 have been the magical speeds.
Crosslake Area Fishing
We didn’t get up to the area much this week but we we did find is the whitefish bite is still on. The same patterns are holding and look for them to start to congregate close to their spawning areas fairly soon.
Crappies and bluegills are still on the main lake points and as well as deep inside turns. The crappies are coming towards the surface during low light periods to feed.
Largemouth are being caught off deep weed lines but are also coming towards the surface in the evenings and can be taken of topwater lures. There is a decent lily pad bite going on frogs. Some bass are being taken in thick coon tail on jigs.
Fall Fishing Opportunities
The fall fishing in the Brainerd Lakes Area is absolutely awesome and we have some prime dates yet available. Fall is an often overlooked time to book a fishing trip but some of the best, if not the best fishing is in September, October and November. This is the best time to catch a fish of a life time for most species and we do get into some awesome fish. Mix in the beautiful fall colors and you have a trip that is the best the Brainerd Lakes can offer. Boating traffic is at season lows, and fishing action is at season highs so give us a call and visit one of the best multi species destinations in Minnesota!
Nate Berg
Nate Berg Fishing Guides
218-821-9488
AUG
2018