Fishing report for Otter Tail Lakes Country

Walleye: Take a good look at weed edges and drops.  Walleye have finally moved off of flats on most lakes and should be a bit easier to find.  Once walleye move deeper, they are easier to locate with sonar and flasher units.  Try any bait and rigging right now—they’re biting.

Northern Pike: Panfish, and especially sunfish are staging on drops on most lakes in the county and northern pike are never too far from sunfish. Post-spawn shiners are also lingering at the edges of flats and over deep drops and northern are still geared to feed on them. Basically, look deeper for larger northern. Spinners tipped with minnows and crank baits are good presentation choices.

Crappie: Have completed their spawn on most mid-sized lakes, which means they are in their post-spawn dispersal—where they kind of wander back to newly growing weed stands near drops.  It’s common to pick up one or two at a time and then you’ll have to move and try and pick up a couple more from eatery stop. Basically, they are not very concentrated right now. Give them a week or two and they’ll get a lot easier. Use Beetle Spins, True Flu jigs, and tubes casted over tall weed beds.

Sunfish: Are pre spawn and spawning. Avoid large bull sunfish right now. They need to be left alone to guard their beds.

Have a great week fishing Otter Tail Lakes Country!

By Ross Hagemeister, meisterguideservice.com