And just like that, the Minnesota Fishing opener is over and the season is underway! With our late ice out, the fishing in the Ely area was tremendous! I am happy to say that all of the anglers I spoke with this weekend were able to have a delicious fish fry! Anglers fishing on Pipestone were having a hard time finding fish under 20 inches to fry, not a bad problem to have!
As anticipated, the Power Dam on Fall Lake was busy with boats and happy fisherman. Nothing of great size was reported but finding fish was not a problem. The Power Dam wasn’t the only place on Fall Lake to produce fish. I spoke with several fisherman fishing in the Boundary Waters, who were having good luck as well. So far, a jig and a minnow has produced the best. I recommend a slow presentation, cast your minnow out and slowly drag it along the rocky bottom until you feel the bite.
Anglers looking to hit Pipestone this weekend will finally be able to fish the Falls! The spawn is finishing up and the DNR will open reopen fishing from Pipestone Falls to Caribou Point. This could be an even better weekend for anglers on Pipestone as the fish will be hungry after the spawn. This past weekend the fish were biting in shallower waters, but with the water rapidly warming I would suspect the fish will be heading to deeper water. Northern pike have also been aggressively biting on Basswood Lake. I spoke with a few different anglers who reported catching pike over 40 inches, one of them even at 48.
Word from Crooked Lake was similar to Basswood, plenty of fish to catch, but most of them were over 20 inches, and in Minnesota, you are only allowed to keep one over 20. I also spoke with some anglers who had great success fishing for Bass on Lake Four!
If you’re fishing the Ely area this weekend, bring plenty of jigs and stop by the bait store and grab some minnows, the fish will be biting! Also, be sure to stop by Packsack with your trophy catch, we will take your photo for our local paper’s fishing edition, “The Angler”.
Good Luck, and don’t horse em!