September 8th, 2025
***Fishing Report***
Walleye - Big cold snap has the walleyes going deep in search of warmer, more stable water temps. Sharp drop in water temps also have the best walleye reports shifting from crawlers to minnows too. Best reports from anglers have bigger walleyes being found in 23-30ft of water now. Bigger minnows in that 4-6” range have been on fire for many anglers. Anglers have been lindy rigging these bigger minnows with about a 3/4oz sinker to get to these depths. Jigs have also been a popular method for catching these deep walleyes. Anglers have been using 1/4-3/8 jigs now in orange/chart, pink, white and gold. Anglers should be looking for walleyes at the base of humps and deep drop offs.
Smallmouth - Smallmouth bass are really stacking up out on sunken islands now too. Sunken islands that top out in 10-20ft of water have been the best ones to target right now. Deep diving crankbaits, drop shotting slow rolling heavy spinnerbaits and even a big minnow on a lindy rig have all been deadly this last week. Cisco colored baits have been the best color to be throwing right now.
Pike - Reports of giant pike being landed keep coming in as pike enjoy cooler water temps. These trophy pike are looking to put weight so big suckers or large creek chubs have been very popular and very effective at getting their attention while being fished under a bobber. Large swimbaits, large spoons and large crankbaits fished around weedbeds, river mouths and mouths of shallow bays have been very effective.
Stream Trout - Stream trout also enjoy cooler water temps, so it’s little surprise anglers reported catching good numbers of rainbow trout this last weekend. Nightcrawlers or angleworms fished 10-15ft under a bobber were very effective. Anglers also had good luck trolling small crankbaits or spoons behind cowbells, while trolling over deep water.
Lake Trout - High winds kept many lake trout anglers grounded this last week, so as a result lake trout reports remain few and far between. Limited reports from anglers were that they had some luck trolling large spoons about 30-50ft down over 70-100ft of water.
Panfish - Crappies and sunfish did not enjoy the cold snap. As a result many anglers reported having some success finding both crappies and sunfish out in 15-25ft of water now. As weather warms back up sunfish and crappies should start to be found again in deeper weedbeds and weedlines. Anglers had some success with crappie minnows and jigging twisters for crappies and small red worms fished under a bobber for sunfish.
