My son and I are going into Knife lake on 10/7. I would like to get your thoughts on fishing during this time. I realize you don't have crystal balls, but want to ask a couple of what if questions and would like to hear what you think. The weather during that time that we will be there looks awesome, but between now and then it looks cold and windy with some rain. If the lake turns over in the next 4-5 days, what would your fishing strategy for the next 4-9 days after turnover? From what I gather, fish can be anywhere right after turnover so is the best play to fish structure or paddle the lake trolling all day and enjoy the scenery?

Thanks for your advice.

Packrat

I don't think turnover will be an issue. Based on another thread here, it sounds like water temps are running in the upper 50's or so. From what I have read, turnover occurs at 39 degrees. All lakes behave differently and can be affect by rain, wind, etc. Would be surprised if the water turned in the next week or two even with some colder air this week.
Heading up the same time frame myself, but going out of Tofte. The weather does look good.
Good Luck!

Spent several days on Knife in late September. Struggled in the fishing department but was solo and didn't have a ton of time to fish. My best success was trolling deep crankbaits that ran between 15 and 20' down. I caught some nice pike and smallies on those. Also, don't be afraid to fish bait. Bobbers/whole nightcrawlers accounted for some very nice smallies when fished off campsites.

I had no luck on topwater for smallies, even when it was warm and calm. I also had no luck jigging, either for what I thought were walleye in the 20-30' depth range, or for what were probably lakers deeper than that.

Good luck, hope the weather cooperates and you find some fish!

I just spent some time in the South Arm Knife area (9/25-10/1). You won't have to worry about turnover - the coldest surface temps we saw up there were 56.8 degrees. I would doubt they are below 55, probably 53-54 when you will be up here. We were targeting lake trout, but knife was tough fishing (we spent most of our time on Amoeber, Topaz, Cherry, Hanson). I would start deep, and move shallow. Deep diving crankbaits were successful for us, even caught a few giant smallmouth trolling deep with trout spoons and lead weight. In October, the big fish are usually out around the edge of really deep water looking for big meals (suckers, whitefish, cisco) to fatten up for winter. Rapala deep diving tail dancers have been the ticket for me this time of year, otherwise you can turn any lure into a deep diver adding 2-3 oz of lead weight ahead of the lure with a flourocarbon 5-6' leader.
If I were you, I would also bring in live sucker minnows, as they will be easy to keep alive with the cold water temps. I think a big jig head and a sucker minnow, or a slip bobber from shore (in at least 15' of water) will be your best bet. That way, if the weather is rough as it almost always is on knife, you can fish from shore, or find a sheltered area out of the wind to vertical jig.
Hope this helps!

Thanks for all of your thoughts and advice. I tried all of the deep lure options; spoons, Tail Dancers, etc.. but no live bait. We fished the west side of Knife pretty hard on Wed afternoon and all of Thurs last week with no luck. On Friday we travelled to Bonnie lake and had good success with the Nortons all day on 1/4 oz pumpkin seed jig with 5in white Yum minnow trilled near the bottom. Took two eaters back for dinner and they were delicious. Caught a nice size Largemouth on the way out on Birch lake.

Packrat6: "Thanks for all of your thoughts and advice. I tried all of the deep lure options; spoons, Tail Dancers, etc.. but no live bait. We fished the west side of Knife pretty hard on Wed afternoon and all of Thurs last week with no luck. On Friday we travelled to Bonnie lake and had good success with the Nortons all day on 1/4 oz pumpkin seed jig with 5in white Yum minnow trilled near the bottom. Took two eaters back for dinner and they were delicious. Caught a nice size Largemouth on the way out on Birch lake. "

Nice largie! Glad you found some fish.