Hi all,
I'm planning to enter Mudro and do the loop up around the Basswood Falls and Crooked Lake, etc. Does anyone have any past experience on what artificial bait techniques landed some early September walleye? Any tips and advice are appreciated. Can't wait to get up there. :-)

Walleye have been tough as of late, but with the rapidly dropping air temperatures the water temps have started to cool off and the walleye fishing should improve. Here's the most recent fishing report just posed about 4 hours ago for the Ely area:

"Walleye fishing has been steadily improving as water temps fall into the 60’s. Anglers have been reporting that they are finding walleyes either out deep in 20-30 feet of water, around sunken islands or in water 10 feet or less on main lake points. Regardless where anglers are catching them, minnows have been out producing all other baits as of late. Best way to catch walleyes has been with jig and minnow or trolling spinner rigs, during the first two hours of daylight or last two hours of daylight. Trolling deep diving crankbaits during the evening hours is also worth noting."

I went out last week during some warm weather and struggled to find any fish, but the little success I did find was trolling large Rapala Tail Dancers (30' deep-diving) over deep holes on a trout lake. I only caught two walleye in two days, but they were a very healthy 19.5" and 23.5." I think for the rest of the year these larger walleyes are going to be out searching open water for larger baitfish like Cisco, Whitefish, suckers, etc.

If you are looking for trophy Walleye, deep diving crankbaits or sucker minnows with big jigs should be your best bet. If you're looking for a fish fry, I would spend time in shallower water (8-15') with a jig and minnow, slip bobber and minnow from shore or jigs and soft plastics, working rocky points, inside/outside shoreline bends, moving water and windblown shorelines (especially in the two hours after sunup and two hours before sundown).

I've also had luck with larger soft plastics and heavy jig heads in deeper water this time of year. 3/8 - 1/2 oz jig heads and a 4-5" soft plastic always catch fish. The tough part is finding structure where they are stacked up. As always with walleye, work quickly until you find them, then camp out on that spot and work it over more thoroughly. The biggest mistake I see people make is over-working a spot that isn't productive. If you work a spot for 10-15 minutes thoroughly with a jig and minnow/soft plastic and don't have any luck, move on. Also, once you find them at a particular depth, try to target that depth in other areas, you will likely find more.

Here's a write up from my May trip to Crooked this year - totally different time of year, but the water temps were similar to what you will see in the next couple of weeks. We relied heavily on live bait, but did have luck trolling crankbaits and fishing soft plastics from shore. Hopefully something in there will help you find the fish.

https://chasingfarwater.com/fishing-report-crooked-lake-bwca-may-26-29-2020/




Crooked Lake Fishing Report

Thanks so much ericinely! Exactly what I was looking for. Heading North in the AM!