I just spent a week fishing Big Turtle Lake, MN and I have to tell you that it was a blast!
Getting there wasn't so great, as NWA decided to cancel our flight from Minneapolis to Fargo, but we were able to run from one side of the airport to the other and catch another flight.
On arriving in Fargo, we made the trek on to Turtle Lake, which is about 50 miles south of International Falls MN, and just north of Leech Lake which is the 2nd or 3rd largest in MN.
On the way to Turtle, I saw the first center console boat that I've ever seen in 3 trips to the MN northwoods... and this one wasn't even fiberglass. It was a Triumph that was (apparently) owned by the Leech Lake Tribal Police.
On arrival at Turtle, I inspected the Alumacraft that I'd rented for the week...
The dockmaster told me that she had "a 48 hour leak" due to a 'popped rivet' they had not been able to locate...
I'm here to tell you that at best, it was a "4 hour leak".
Well... to heck with all that nonsense... we stow our gear and hit the lake fishing!
Consult the map... and start hunting!
Not knowing how to fish this lake, I'd taken a small tackle bag loaded with jig heads, BA's, curly tails, Mepps, small spoons, circle hooks and Gulp (saltwater) bloodworms, and a small assortment of Rapala hard baits.
I was soon to find out that my best success for the week was going to be with the hard baits.
I also found that my 6'6" Shimano Terimar / Sustain combo as well as the 7' St Croix Tidemaster / Quantum Cabo were a little large for this lake. However, a local guide told me that if I hooked one of the lakes 'senior residents', I'd be very glad that I was well prepared...
First fish aboard taken aboard for the trip hit on a shallow running Rapala!
And the fishing only got better...
Turtle Lake has clarity to 14', so selecting shallow, medium, or deep running baits depended on the amount of SAV in a paticular area. The advantage of the clarity was that you could watch your bait down deep and vary your retreive to swim over and around the SAV where the fish were.
There is nothing better that watching your bait weaving around the vegitation and seeing a 16+" bucketmouth come up from the bottom and hammer your lure.
It's just something we don't get to see in the Chesapeake...
BTW - all LMB and SMB in Turtle are C&R only! MN DNR and Itasca County does that to maintain the excellent reacreational fishery in this lake.
Enough yammering... Here are photos of some of the fish we caught.
Largemouth, Smallmouth, Crappie, Walleye, Northern Pike, something the locals called a Rock Bass (note the red eyes), Perch (unlike our whites and yellows), and I even got a 12" Tullibee which I discovered was a forage fish similar to our herring.
http://www.rook.org/earl/bwca/nature/fish/coregonusart.html
22" Walleye taken on a jig head and a leech fished on the bottom in 25' of water.
BTW - Gulp saltwater bloodworms do catch in the lake fished on a jig head.
22" Northern
Lake Perch
If you ever get the chance, fishing the Minnesota northwoods is worth the effort.
Getting there wasn't so great, as NWA decided to cancel our flight from Minneapolis to Fargo, but we were able to run from one side of the airport to the other and catch another flight.
On arriving in Fargo, we made the trek on to Turtle Lake, which is about 50 miles south of International Falls MN, and just north of Leech Lake which is the 2nd or 3rd largest in MN.
On the way to Turtle, I saw the first center console boat that I've ever seen in 3 trips to the MN northwoods... and this one wasn't even fiberglass. It was a Triumph that was (apparently) owned by the Leech Lake Tribal Police.
On arrival at Turtle, I inspected the Alumacraft that I'd rented for the week...
The dockmaster told me that she had "a 48 hour leak" due to a 'popped rivet' they had not been able to locate...
I'm here to tell you that at best, it was a "4 hour leak".
Well... to heck with all that nonsense... we stow our gear and hit the lake fishing!
Consult the map... and start hunting!
Not knowing how to fish this lake, I'd taken a small tackle bag loaded with jig heads, BA's, curly tails, Mepps, small spoons, circle hooks and Gulp (saltwater) bloodworms, and a small assortment of Rapala hard baits.
I was soon to find out that my best success for the week was going to be with the hard baits.
I also found that my 6'6" Shimano Terimar / Sustain combo as well as the 7' St Croix Tidemaster / Quantum Cabo were a little large for this lake. However, a local guide told me that if I hooked one of the lakes 'senior residents', I'd be very glad that I was well prepared...
First fish aboard taken aboard for the trip hit on a shallow running Rapala!
And the fishing only got better...
Turtle Lake has clarity to 14', so selecting shallow, medium, or deep running baits depended on the amount of SAV in a paticular area. The advantage of the clarity was that you could watch your bait down deep and vary your retreive to swim over and around the SAV where the fish were.
There is nothing better that watching your bait weaving around the vegitation and seeing a 16+" bucketmouth come up from the bottom and hammer your lure.
It's just something we don't get to see in the Chesapeake...
BTW - all LMB and SMB in Turtle are C&R only! MN DNR and Itasca County does that to maintain the excellent reacreational fishery in this lake.
Enough yammering... Here are photos of some of the fish we caught.
Largemouth, Smallmouth, Crappie, Walleye, Northern Pike, something the locals called a Rock Bass (note the red eyes), Perch (unlike our whites and yellows), and I even got a 12" Tullibee which I discovered was a forage fish similar to our herring.
http://www.rook.org/earl/bwca/nature/fish/coregonusart.html
22" Walleye taken on a jig head and a leech fished on the bottom in 25' of water.
BTW - Gulp saltwater bloodworms do catch in the lake fished on a jig head.
22" Northern
Lake Perch
If you ever get the chance, fishing the Minnesota northwoods is worth the effort.
