March 26th, 2025
***Fishing Report***
Crappie - Crappie fishing continues to improve as we get closer to the best month for crappies, April. Generally speaking the evening bite continues to be the best bite, but reports of early morning bite picking up have been coming in. Anglers continue to find crappies in the traditional crappie holes, in 20-30 feet of water. Wax worms tipped on small tungsten jigs continue to be very popular, but crappie minnows under a bobber and soft plastics on jigs have been accounting for their fair share of crappies too.
Lake trout - Forecasted snow storm kept many lake trout anglers away last weekend. The few reports we got were of good trout fishing. Humps and mud flats seemed to be the areas anglers found active lakers. Blade baits continue to shine as well as minnows under a tip up. Key depths continue to be 25-40 feet of water.
Stream Trout - Splake and rainbow trout continue to be popular targets for stream trout anglers. Splake are being found very tight to shore now in 5 feet of water and less. Small jigging spoons tipped with waxies or dead minnow have been very effective here. Rainbows have been a very different story. Anglers continue to find active rainbows out over 30-70 feet of water, but 5-10 feet under the ice. Small jigs tipped with waxies worms have been very effective here.
***Ice Conditions***
Little to no changes happened to the ice this last week. Trout lakes continue to have between 24-26” of ice while the panfish lakes have between 30-37” of ice. Areas to watch out for are current areas and popular accesses. A few of the more popular accesses with lots of vehicle traffic have started to rot from salt and sand tracked onto the ice.
A happy angler beams inside a dark ice shack holdin' up a solid late-season lake trout caught March 26th, 2025 in the Ely MN area near the BWCA – this bronze-olive beauty sparkles with yellow spots, huge head open wide, and tail curved as she grips it tight in her pink jacket and white knit beanie under the shack's glow. The fish's flanks show that classic deep-water sheen from feedin' heavy on ciscoes or smelt, caught on a Laker Tackle Tube Jig – heavy tube rigged for deep drops, jigged aggressive with lifts, pauses, and slack-line falls to spiral and flutter like injured bait, triggerin' strikes from lakers on structure in 30-60+ feet late March when they're still aggressive pre-thaw. Late-ice laker fishin' in the BWCA region stays prime with tubes shinin' for their controlled descent and subtle action in cold clear water – often white, silver, or glow for visibility, bounced or reeled away to make fish chase. The cozy shack keeps the cold out (heater hummin', dark walls insulated), rod nearby ready for the next drop – pure Northwoods comfort chasin' these bronze beasts mixin' walleye, northern pike, stream trout shallow, crappie slabs, and more. Head to Arrowhead Outdoors, voted #1 Bait and Tackle Shop in MN, for Laker Tackle Tube Jigs, heavy setups, and our popular ice house rentals to turn late-season lake trout hunts into overnight successes with walleye, eelpout, tulibee, whitefish too. Late March lakers like this? Get after 'em before open water!