February 26th, 2025
***Fishing Report***
Lake Trout - Lake trout fishing has gotten to be a little hit and miss and warm temps settle into our area. Anglers on the trout are reporting that they are seeing good numbers of trout with a handful of hook ups. Increasingly spoons and blade baits are accounting for the majority of trout caught. Key depths are on the shallow side 20-40 feet of water. Humps have been producing good numbers of trout.
Stream Trout - Spake and rainbows were popular catches this last week. Splake have been a little more structure related than rainbows and are being found near points and flats in 20-40 feet of water. Rainbow trout on the other hand have not been very structure related. Rainbows are being found in 40-60 feet of water over deep mud flats. Anglers have been doing better with Splake with a dead minnow or minnow head on a small jigging spoon. Rainbows have been hitting waxies tipped on a small jigging or jigging spoon.
Eelpout - Eelpout are really starting to become a common catch for anglers looking for lakers. Dead bait laying on the bottom, on humps or near shallow flats, has been effective on eelpout. Anglers targeting eelpout have now been able to catch them all day, but generally do best during the low light periods and after dark. Bright glowing, heavy spoons and glowing tubes, both loaded with dead smelt of minnow chunks has been very effective on eelpout.
Panfish - Panfishing was on the slow side last weekend. Two or three days of warm temps generally doesn’t move the activity needle for panfish. With a week of warm temps panfish will start responding. Anglers have been finding crappies and gills in 20-30 feet of water. Gills have been relating more to the bottom and hitting small jigs tipped with wax worms. Active crappies have been suspended off the bottom and have been more inclined to hit soft plastics and crappie minnows also suspended in the water column. Pink, purple and white colored jigs have been effective on crappies.
Famous outdoor radio personality Steve Strusinski "Stru" from The 4 Outdoorsmen Radio Show stands proud on the snowy ice holdin' up a plump slab crappie caught February 26th, 2025 in the Ely MN area near the BWCA – this golden-yellow beauty's speckled sides and fiery orange fins pop against the white backdrop at sunset, mouth open wide like it's still surprised by the hookset. Stru's smilin' big in his blue shirt and dark pants, glasses on, bein' the wild card legend he is on air every Sunday night sharin' huntin' and fishin' tales across Minnesota. The frozen lake stretches out with distant pines silhouetted against the pink-orange sky, fresh hole nearby – classic late-winter scene where crappie school up suspended or near structure in 10-25 feet, crushin' small white or chartreuse soft plastics, jigs tipped with minnows, or spoons bounced slow for that midday-to-evenin' bite. The quiet crunch of snow, glow of the settin' sun on the fish, and thrill of landin' a fat slab make these days special up here in the BWCA region. Great to see Stru enjoyin' the Northwoods action – he'll probably spin this into a killer story on the next show! These slabs mix with lake trout deep jiggin', walleye shiners, northern pike tip-ups, stream trout shallow, and more. Head to Arrowhead Outdoors, voted #1 Bait and Tackle Shop in MN, for crappie gear, minnows, and our heated ice house rentals to chase slabs, walleye, lake trout, eelpout, tulibee, whitefish overnight. Winter's closin' strong – get after 'em!