S & W Guide Service

May 14th Brainerd Area Fishing Report

Nate Blasing — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:42:53 +0000

May 14, 2012 fishing report.
Another opener in the books. Nice weather and lots of people hit the water in the Brainerd Lakes Area. For the most part, slow fishing was being reported on most area lakes. Gull had lots of fired up walleye fisherman on it Saturday morning, the boat landings were full, by noon there were plenty of spaces to park, anglers went elsewhere hoping to get the elusive walleye. Tim had a six hour trip and opened it up on Round, great fishing there. They ended up getting into a school the last hour and limited out for 3 people. The key was shallow 12-15 feet with a Lindy rig and spot tail shiner minnow. Butch and Nate fished Gull Saturday morning with a big zero and went to North Long in the afternoon. North Long was good right away Saturday morning but died off some in the afternoon. We caught some walleyes but lots of small pike everywhere. Most of the fish marked were in that 15-18 foot range and it was a matter of getting them to bite. We tried rigging and jigging with rigging working the best, with a #4 red or chartreuse hook and spot tail shiners. Sunday morning Nate and Butch hit Round marked lots of fish in that 15-18 foot depth but they were pretty tight lipped, complete opposite of Saturday. Butch did land a 25 ½ incher that was put back with a few keepers to take home. Water temps were from 53-57 degrees, which is thought to be about perfect, only the walleyes didn’t know that. Nate just return from a few hours on the water on Round Lake and it was really good fishing. Hopefully that continues. The depths were the same with 14-18 ft beomg the key. The forecast for this next week is to be very mild and steady weather patterns, this should turn these rascals on! Nate and Butch will be on Gull for an all day trip Friday, we will report on what’s happening there and on other area lakes this coming weekend. If you want to book a trip call Sherrie at the bait shop 218-829-7010, and she will line you up

5/6/12 Brainerd Area Fishing Report

Nate Blasing — Mon, 07 May 2012 01:04:41 +0000

Opener fever has officially set in. All 3 of us had our boats out this weekend making sure everything is in walleye order. As of this afternoon water temps were right around 54-55 degrees on a larger body of water. We ran a little bit of structure and found fish on the sonar from 15-24 ft. It seemed as though the majority that we saw in that short time was in 15-18 feet. We will also be up helping out at the baitshop (S & W Baitshop) on Friday. We always look forward to seeing many familiar faces, telling lots of stories, and sharing in the excitement. S & W does have the best live bait selection in the State, hands down. Feel free to swing on in and pick up some bait and talk a little shop. Once early Saturday morning arrives it’s game on! Good luck to all. We will report back after opener. If you would like to book a trip give a call at 218-829-7010.

3/25/12

Nate Blasing — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 01:06:08 +0000

Well open water appears to be here early for the most part. We were hoping to get a little more late ice crappie fishing in but we’ll survive. Butch was up on Lake Winnepeg a couple weeks ago chasing some big “green backs.” Sounds like they caught some very nice fish but no monsters this trip. Nate will be making a trip up to the Rainy River this coming weekend. Fishing had been pretty good up there for both sturgeon and walleyes although since the rain on Friday it sounds like the eyes slowed a bit. Tim, Butch and Nate are all very eager to get their boats out for the upcoming season. Nate was able to put a few hours of trolling time in on Lake Superior last week and was rewarded with a nice hen steelhead and a couple coho salmon trolling planner boards and stickbaits. That’s all for now. Enjoy the nice weather.

Happy Holidays

Nate Blasing — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 21:49:21 +0000

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and will be having a happy New Years. We have been spending some time on Upper Red Lake and the fishing has been pretty tough to beat. Not only are there lots of nice “eating” size fish but there are some real fat 23-28″ eyes being caught this year along with some big pike. We are normally fishing Mille Lacs pretty hard at this time of year but so far we have not set foot on that ice and don’t plan on it until things get a little safer or there. We will be adding occastional reports though out the winter but not on a regular basis. If you need to get ahold of one of us or book a trip give our cell’s or the baitshop a call. Now it’s time to enjoy some personal fishing for a few months and then we’ll be back at it hard come spring. Take care.

10/26/11 Report

Nate Blasing — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 00:51:54 +0000

Where has October went? It was a month of mixed fishing results, one day you go out and really bang them and the next trip you wonder where did all the fish go. One thing for sure though was the 2 weeks of hard northwest wind in the middle of the month sure got the bigger walleyes going. Although we spent most of our time on Gull, good reports have also been coming from North Long, Pelican, and the Mississippi River. Nate spent the weekend up on Kabetogama with a couple of friends and really did well jigging minnows in 35-45 feet, with many of their fish too big to keep. Butch fished Friday with a group of 4 Nebraska Cornhusker fans who came up early to fish and then take in the Nebraska/Minnesota football game. We had one of the best days of fishing all year, lots of fish in that 17-25 inch range with the biggest measuring 27+ inches, hard to catch fish that were small enough to keep. Butch fished with Steve and daughter Rebecca both Saturday and Sunday and found lots of fish going on Saturday and then Sunday the bite lasted until about 10:00 when the rain and cold set in, wind switched, and they just shut right down. You can catch fish with a jig and minnow but the best has been Lindy rigging with a Red Tail or Creek Chub. You need to start at the weed line looking for fish and just keep moving out deeper until you mark them. One spot they will be next to the weeds and then the next spot your finding them in 35-40 feet. When you mark them, they bite, finding them is the key. Remember when fishing that deeper water, take your time bringing them up so they can be released and not have their eyes and air bags blown. The Crappies have really started to bite also. We will keep fishing into November as long as the weather holds, sounds like next week may even be above normal temperatures. If you still have the itch to catch a few “eyes” give us a call, we’re still booking trips.

10/17/11 Gull Lake Fishing Report

Nate Blasing — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 01:59:21 +0000

Wishing we invested in windmills at this point. The wind has just be relentless lately. But…..if you can fish in it, the fish are biting good. This wind has really cooled down the water temps the past few days. This is a good thing. The past few days the fish seem to be migrating toward deeper water. Fri the key depths were 20-22 ft, and then Sat and Sun the key depths seemed to be 36-40 ft. Lots of chunky 16-20 inch fish. Nothing monsterous yet but I think they should be showing up in numbers any day now that the water temps are around 50. Also the bite is a fun one, there is no messing around and you’ll know when a fish bites because they throttle it. The bigger the minnow the better. It seemed that a good 4-5 inch chub was the key. Again we’ll keep our boats out until early Nov. so if you would like to expirence some fall fishing give a call.

10/9/11 Gull Lake Report

Nate Blasing — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 00:22:29 +0000

Fishing has been pretty good as of late. The past couple days were more spotty but thinking alot of that is due to the wierd weather we expirenced. We are catching many bigger fish as of late. Nothing monsterous yet as far as walleyes go but a number of them in the 24-27 inch range along with a lot of nice chunky 15-20 inch fish. Yesterday morning it took us 7 spots before we found some very aggressive fish and it was pretty fast and ferious that last hour of the trip. Again fish are spread out from 13-40 feet of water. It really takes more time to track them down now with them spread out in differing depths. The water temps went up again and I think that is why the fish are still spread out. We are near the full moon so it will be interesting to see how the guys trolling cranks at night will do. We usually enjoy sleep too much to enduldge in late night fishing but if it is nice we might have to give it a whirl Fri or Sat night. We will still be guiding most likely through the first weekend of November so if you have a fishing itch, give a call and we’ll scratch it for you.

Sept 19, Brainerd Fishing Report

Nate Blasing — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 01:54:25 +0000

Fall is here baby. Lots has happened since the last report. The weather has changed. The walleyes are starting to cooperate with more regularity. Nate sold his boat and Butch is putting his up for sale soon. So it looks like there will be some new exciting rigs for next year. We are still doing trips this fall though at this point. We fished Gull, Whitefish, and Pelican over the past week and a half. Some real nice fish have been caught. We are now getting walleyes from 13-34 feet of water. It really seems to vary from spot to spot. Also those little buggers are on the run, many times after catching a couple they make small moves and you have to track them down again. Happy b-day to Katie. She and her friend were troopers fishing in 20-25 mph winds and cold temps. They were rewarded with a nice batch of “eater” walleyes and had a true monster pike up to the boat 2 seperate times. It wouldn’t fit in the net and I estimate it to have been 40-43″. At least we got to see it! If you would like to book a trip give the baitshop a call. Enjoy the season! New pics are being posted as well.

9/10 Brainerd Lakes Area fishing report

Nate Blasing — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 00:52:03 +0000

Sorry for the delay in reports. The past few weeks have been nuts. If we weren’t fishing we were fighting boat mechanical issues other than Tim, lucky him. On to fishing…..The water temps are starting to drop in the low 70′s. The walleye bite is picking up and becoming more consistent. We have been fishing Whitefish, Round, and Gull mainly. The walleyes are still shallow on Gull for the most part, 13-16 ft is key. It is amazing how spooky they are though. It seems you can pull one or two and they move and you have to chase them down again. The bass really seemed to have made a major transistion to deeper water. We are still getting some nice bass on the weedlines but 25-35 ft is more common now. We are starting to see some of the walleyes transition close to some of their fall haunts. Lets keep the water temps dropping for a while and the bite should take off. Tim is back in school and getting ready for hunting. Butch and Nate are still guiding and probably will up until late October. It is amazing that tomorrow will be 10 years since 9/11. We are thinking of all those who have been effected.

8/22/11

Nate Blasing — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 00:34:58 +0000

The temps are starting to cool and we are sliding toward fall. Water temps went from the mid 80′s to the 70-72 degree range. This seems to have turned on the walleyes on several lakes. We have had good walleye results on Whitefish, Gull and Round this past week. Depth seems to vary anywhere from 10-24 ft. Trust your electronics while running structure looking for fish. The bass and northern bite is still crazy. Lots of bass in the 16-19 inch range along with some big gators. Gull has been producing lots of smaller walleyes, you have to sort through if you want some 15-17 inch eaters. The big girls will should start showing up with regularity soon. I would also like to thank Bo and Remmy for tricking me into tasting a “night crawler” flavored jelly bean. It was terrible and tasted like a combination of dill and dirt. Give a call if you would like to book a trip. Enjoy the beautiful weather!