June 16, 2021

Walleye - Walleye fishing remains challenging for many, as walleye remain very scattered.  Large mayfly hatches on many area lakes only adds to the already tough walleye bite. Anglers having the best luck have been pulling lindy rigs, tipped with a leech or crawler or using a slip bobber and a leech during the early morning and evening hours.  Many of the angler using lindy rigs reported marking good numbers of fish, but often failed to catch more then one from a school walleyes, so these successful anglers stayed on the move to stay successful.  Key depths was 12-14 feet of water during the day and 6 feet of water or less during the early morning or evening.

Smallmouth Bass - Smallmouth bass fishing continues to be excellent for bass anglers. Smallmouth Bass are either on their beds now or have wrapped up spawning and are now hitting topwater or soft plastics in shallow water.  Anglers should focus on sand and gravel transition area in 6 feet of water or less.  

Pike - Pike anglers continue to report catching lots of average size pike on area lakes. Thanks to sky rocketing water temps, weedbeds are already established in area lakes.  Anglers have been finding pike in these weedbeds with spoons, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits and large suckers fished under a bobber. 

Lake Trout - Lake trout anglers continue to catch good numbers of lake trout and lots of quality lakers. Trolling deep divers or down rigging trolling spoons, 20-40 feet down, has been the way to catch lakers.  Anglers fishing in the BWCA have been reporting good luck with heavy bucktails and heavy casting spoons. These anglers have been jigging the bucktails or drifting the heavy spoons over deep water.