Cass Lake Fishing Report

March 14, 2012

Still a struggle trying to find schools of jumbo perch on the big water—lots of sorting going on to find your keepers. Anglers report finding nicer-size perch fishing shallow. NOTE: Pay close attention to the currents with the warm weather. Keep a Tight Line!

March 7, 2012

Anglers report catching good numbers of perch using glow jigs tipped with minnowheads or small minnows. A lot of sorting going on to find the keepers. Reports of fish being produced in 9' and less. Honestly, Anglers, your best bet right now is Pike Bay to consistently be finding the largest numbers of jumbos. Keep a Tight Line!

March 5, 2012

February 14, 2012

It's been a tough bite out there, but at least anglers have had some decent weather to get out there and catch some rays. Pike Bay has been the lake to fish with anglers reporting high numbers of decent perch. Keep a Tight Line!

January 2, 2012

Starting to get some good safe ice reports! Many are driving full size trucks—just beware of your location on the lake—currents and pressure ridges. Obviously, the deeper water has thinner ice. Anglers are fishing for walleyes and discovering some awesome perch—and then switching gears a bit. Not saying the walleye bite has been slow—but the perch fishing has been a lot more active. Anglers are producing fish jigging 14-18’, 4 inches off the bottom, using a jig tipped with a minnowhead. Best color has been glow green. As we all know, the DNR opened up spearing on Cass Lake—so far there’s no evidence that having it shut down for 14 years created the trophies that people were expecting—but a lot of beautiful muskies are being seen!
Keep a Tight Line!

August 23, 2011

The walleye bite on Cass has picked up significantly. Anglers are fishing a bit deeper (most fishing 15-32'). You won't find large schools, so to produce limits move frequently. Pulling rigs seems to be producing the best numbers right now. Anglers are using larger minnows such as redtails, or leeches and crawlers, working shorelines or midlake structures. Larger walleyes are being caught in the deeper columns. So fishing shallow, you may have to weed through the smaller walleyes to find your eaters. Perch are being produced using jigs tipped with smaller fathead minnows. Some nice perch are being caught, folks, in 6-11'. The south side of Star Island has been my favorite spot lately. Muskie update – does this lake get hammered or what? Keep a Tight Line!

August 16, 2011

Higher numbers of both walleyes and perch have slowed down, but anglers are still catching limits – working hard for them. You can blame that on the hot weather we've had so much of this summer. Anglers are producing walleyes using live bait rigs - pulling mostly leeches and some redtails in 6-19'. At night walleyes are being found at 15' off Tom's Bar, Buck Bar, and Turtle River Bar. A lot of mid-lake structure fishing – just outside the weedlines. Reef Runners and other crankbaits such as Rapalas are producing walleye fishing mid-lake structure and following shoreline 9' and shallower. Perch are being produced using jigs tipped with smaller minnows south of Star Island and off Stony Point in 6-9'. The musky bite continues to be on the slower side. Cowgirls seem to be the most productive – lots of follows. Muskies should really be turning on in the next couple of weeks! Keep a Tight Line!

July 12, 2011

The walleye bite on Cass is decent. Some anglers are saying it's slow, but the bite has moved more shallow. The bite was at 18-32' and has now switched to 6-14'. Rigging with leeches or crawlers has been working well to produce walleye at these shallow depths. Follow weedline structure while rigging – doesn't matter whether it's mid-lake or shoreline structure. A lot of limits are coming off of The Kettle, and also the shoreline east of Cedar Island. The perch bite is phenominal using jigs tipped with fatheads on some of the mid-lake structures, and we're talkin' real jumbo perch, folks. Upcoming cooler temps may push the walleye deeper but it won't happen overnight. Muskies are being seen, but very few are being caught. A lot of follows and no takers. Good luck and keep a tight line!

July 7, 2011

Cass Lake seems to be on-again and off-again according to many anglers. But, listening to a lot of the guides, anglers don't need to go out there with all kinds of fancy tackle. What has been working consistently is drifting with a large leech on a snell or a slow troll, if lake is flat, fishing mid-lake structure from 18-32'. The leech bite is ON! Keep a Tight Line!

June 13, 2011

Walleye bite on Cass still going strong. Good numbers being produced by anglers fishing shallow following the shiner run. Lots of anglers fishing with jigs tipped with spot tail shiners anywhere from 5-12'. Slow presentation and finessed jigging seems to be the best technique. Trolling with spinner blades and a minnow is too fast a presentation just yet. Best color choices: blue and white and chartreuse. The leech bite has also been productive in controlled drifts dragging the leech on a snell in depths from 6-18'. Keep in mind a slow presentation with this method is producing best results. A little more difficult working through vegetation, but worth trying. The crawler bite hasn't taken off just yet. Not saying don't try them, but a jig and a minnow will out fish a crawler right now. Keep a Tight Line!

May 26, 2011

With cooler temps the leech bite has slowed down. Nothing going on crawlers just yet due to colder water temps. This is also true for the Mississippi coming into Andrusia. Best bet for producing walleye is fishing shallow using a slower presentation, jigging with a little finesse, fishing weedlines with depths from 4-12'. You'll find green weeds starting to sprout coming up to 2-5' off the bottom in some areas. In these areas you want to swim your jig. Best jig colors have been chartreuse, blue and white, and pure white tipped with a spot tail shiner. Good Luck and Keep a Tight Line!

May 18, 2011

Walleyes are shallow coming out of their spawning stage (4-13' shoreline structure). Good groups of walleyes being found in Allen's Bay. Jigs and shiners have been producing, but there has been a really good leech bite pulling in the 11' range. White and Chart. Jigs 1/8 or ¼ tipped with spot tail shiners or rainbows has been producing well for area anglers. Some big walleyes being caught on Pike Bay late in the evenings pulling rigs and jigging. Keep a Tight Line!

March 30, 2001

Still good perch fishing shallow on the sand flats. Anglers able to sight-fish!! Pick out the ones you want to go for!! (7-9'). Keep a Tight Line!!

March 24, 2001

With the warmer weather the perch have been turning on in the shallows. Work the sand flats, south of Star Island, up on the North End - pretty much wherever there's a sand flat - drill some holes and you should be able to find some nice perch. Waxies and crappie minnows on a plain round head jig are producing well - nothing fancy. Keep a Tight Line!

March 9, 2011

March 3, 2011

With the walleye season now at a close anglers are now focusing on jumbo perch. Colder temps are making the hunt more difficult. A few jumbos are being caught in the Knutson Dam area and by Stony Point with depths varying anywhere from 6-23' depending on cloud cover. Also hearing of a few crappies being picked up in Allen's Bay – not limits – but a few. As far as the jumbo perch bite on Cass, Spot Tail Shiners have been producing some true jumbos on deadsticks using plain red hooks. Pike Bay producing better numbers around the 12-15' range using a more aggressive approach. Larger jigs with minnowheads are working well. Ice conditions on both Cass and Pike Bay are dramatically improved - slush has now frozen and mobility is no longer a problem. On both lakes you'll be weeding through the smaller ones to get a decent meal for the day. Keep a tight line!

February 23, 2011

Perch fishing has turned on and a fair amount of jumbos are being caught out of Jay's Bay and off Sailstar Bar (7-15') with occasional walleyes mixed in. Large fatheads on deadsticks doing well with small Gem-N-Eyes. Pike Bay still producing a good number of large perch (12-18') jigging minnowheads on larger spoons. Mobility is crucial. Keep a Tight Line!

February 16, 2011

Walleyes and perch being found 11-18' using small shiners on a plain hook deadsticking. Jigging Lindy Fliers or Buckshots with a minnowhead also producing. Jig-N-Raps as well. Pike Bay is producing nicer-size perch and good numbers using larger spoons like slip-drops or Slender Spoons by Custom tipped with minnowheads. Keep a Tight Line!

February 10, 2011

Talked with Steve Ballou, owner of Break on the Lake Resort, for an updated fishing report. Steve mentioned the fishing pressure has been slow this week due to slush off the roads and difficulty getting around. Those who are fishing are getting the occasional walleye in 20-22' with perch and northern mixed in.

February 1, 2011

January 26, 2011

Perch, Northern, and Walleye are biting on white or blue swedish pimples or jigging raps tipped with shiner minnows in morning and afternoon in 22 feet of water. Great plowed roads out of Steve Ballou's Break on the Lake Resort in Cass Lake may be used for $8.