September 22nd, 2026

***Fishing Report***

Walleye - With water temperatures finally starting to dip into the 50’s on many Ely area lakes, the fall bite has started. Minnows in that 3-5” range have quickly become the bait of choice for walleye anglers this last week. Many anglers reported finding walleyes at two depths. 8-12ft of water and the other has been 25-35ft of water anglers finding walleyes in that 8-12ft are mainly finding them on weedlines, shallow rocks and mouths of shallow bays or river mouths. If these spots are windblown, even better. Most anglers are fishing these spots with a jig and minnow, but some anglers are also finding success lindy rigging large minnows and fishing jerk baits. Anglers fishing out deeper in that 25-35 have been also mainly fishing with a jig and minnow or lindy rigging those bigger minnows. Trolling also continues to be very effective, but anglers seem to be doing it more on those days where the winds are just too much to effectively control their boats. Hot colors continue to be orange, perch and purple

Smallmouth Bass - Smallies continue to eat just about anything they can fit into their mouths right now. Beetle spins, in-line spinners, spinnerbaits and crankbaits continue to catch large numbers of smallies when worked along shorelines with large isolated boulders, river mouths or on top of shallow sunken islands. As water temperatures continue to cool down smallies will continue to congregate around sunken islands that are close to areas they will winter. Many anglers will mainly drop shot their favorite minnows style bait on top and around sunken islands in that 15-25ft depth range. 

Pike - Pike anglers have also noticed a jump in big pike activity as water temperatures continue to drop. Many anglers have been having some really good luck fishing with large suckers under a bobber, right off their dock, along weedlines, river mouths and mouths of shallow bays. Other anglers have been having really good luck fishing with large spoons, large swimbaits and large crankbaits. Regardless of how you fish for them, 8-15ft of water really seems to be the best depth right now. 

Stream Trout - Rainbow trout continue to be cooperative for anglers. Anglers fishing from shore continue to have good luck fishing with a nightcrawler about 5-10ft under a bobber, or if they are looking for splake, floating a crawler about 2-5ft off the bottom. Anglers fishing from a boat continue to troll small crankbaits with either leadcore or behind cowbells, about 15-20ft down, while trolling over 30-80ft of water. Good rule of thumb, the brighter the bait, the better. 

Panfish - Crappie and sunfish anglers both have reported that crappies and sunnies are largely now being found out in 16-25ft of water. Clearly not all fish are doing the exact same thing, so anglers can still find some sunfish and a few crappies in the shallow weedbeds during the day with beetle spins, red worms, wax worms and jig/twister. Crappies are still flooding those shallow weedbeds during that last hour of light. 

Lake Trout - Lake trout reports continue to be few and far between this last week. The few reports we did hear were from anglers that were starting to see lakers relating to sunken islands. These lakers were often seen in about 40-50ft of water. Anglers continue to troll large spoons with down riggers around these sunken islands. 

An angler holds up a nice walleye caught on Basswood Lake near Ely MN. Fall walleye fishing has started with a bang this year and will only get better in the Ely area near the BWCA! Swing by Arrowhead Outdoors – voted #1 bait and tackle shop in MN – for fresh bait, jigs, and everything else you will need to get on the water.