October 7th, 2025
***Fishing Report***
Walleye - Unusually warm weather reaching 89 degrees here in the Ely area, had walleyes behaving like it was still August. Anglers reported that jig and half a crawler was the hottest presentation. Anglers continued to find walleyes in 8-12ft of water along weedlines, windy points that drop into deep main lake and sunken islands. Trolling crankbaits in these depths were also very effective for catching good numbers of walleyes, especially if you were trolling along rocky, windy shorelines. Perch, blue/white and gold were all hot colors this last week.
Smallmouth - Smallmouth bass have remained on the sunken islands on area lakes, but like the walleyes, they too are being found very shallow for this time of the year. Anglers are finding them on top in 8-12ft of water. At this depth anglers are throwing deep diving, spinnerbaits, drop shots and even swimming paddle tails and are reportedly catching big numbers of smallies.
Panfish - Crappies and sunnies also continue to be found in relatively shallow water for this time of the year. While crappies are mainly found out in deep water during the day, they still slide up into shallow weedbeds during the last hour of light. Jig/twister or beetle spin has been deadly here. Anglers have been noticing this bite has been slowing, so try it before it’s done. Sunnies on the other hand can still be found inside weedbeds and working weedlines. Biggest sunnies were hitting artificial baits like jig/twisters and beetle spins.
Stream Trout - Rainbows and Splake fishing cooled off some as warming water pushed them down and cooled off the bite. Anglers reported fishing in the early mornings or late in the evening was the best time to catch trout. Night crawlers floated off the bottom were very effective for many anglers this last week. Anglers fishing from a boat had good luck trolling with leadcore to get their baits down to the trout.
Pike - Warm weather did get pike fans in the mood to go out pike fishing this last week. Pike reports were very limited. Anglers that ran into pike found them around rivers mouths and any green weeds they could find. Some real giants that stretched the tape to 44” were caught. Anglers reported good luck using large suckers under a bobber, large swim baits, large spoons and large spinnerbaits.
