Anyone having a suggestion for walleye fishing in Iowa or MN?

jcyclonee

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Apr 12, 2006
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Minneapolis
Have you fished Red Lake? I've looked at it on the map and often wondered if it would be good walleye water.
I have not personally been there but friends all rave about it. It's pretty isolated so people don't make there way up there all that often.
 

StevieISU23

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Oct 31, 2007
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Urbandale
Any reccomendations for a Rocky/Pine tree/Forested Lake ?

I would love to put together a guys fishing trip Aug/Sept, in MN, Wisc, ND, SD; since Canada is closed.
Most places I have found are glorified ponds surrounded with Lake homes and cabins.
Really looking for something more rustic/Canadian-ish to fish at.

--Needs a Cabin and boats rentals. (BWCA sound fun, but not quite right for this trip).
 

VeloClone

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Jan 19, 2010
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Brooklyn Park, MN
Any reccomendations for a Rocky/Pine tree/Forested Lake ?

I would love to put together a guys fishing trip Aug/Sept, in MN, Wisc, ND, SD; since Canada is closed.
Most places I have found are glorified ponds surrounded with Lake homes and cabins.
Really looking for something more rustic/Canadian-ish to fish at.

--Needs a Cabin and boats rentals. (BWCA sound fun, but not quite right for this trip).
Portage Lake in MN has a small resort and only a handful of houses you can actually see from the lake. All the rest of the shoreline is natural. It is right between Winny and Leech. See my post (#29) above.

Keep in mind that there is more than one Portage Lake in Cass county. It is the one on US 2 between Winny and Leech just west of Bena.

https://www.lake-link.com/minnesota-lakes/cass-county/portage/144046/
 
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CyCloned

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Oct 18, 2006
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Robins, Iowa
Has anyone been to Devils Lake in ND? My father in Law called the other day and was thinking that would be a good place to go after hearing from a friend that went there and did well.
 
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bear24

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Aug 7, 2018
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I have not personally been there but friends all rave about it. It's pretty isolated so people don't make there way up there all that often.

I believe lower Red is on a reservation and can't be fished but we fished upper red Memorial day. It is an interesting lake, shallow with a lack of features, you end up fishing very slight contour lines. People were definitely catching plenty of walleyes.
 
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sfisher

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Nov 11, 2009
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There is an agreement with the Mille Lacs band of Ojibwe that allows them to take a big haul of fish from the lake. For the past few years their haul has been right around or more than is replenished annually in the lake so there has been little or none left for the recreational angler.
I've been up near Mille Lacs fishing and the rumors from the locals is that the Tribe may be intentionally removing more fish than normal to drive the local resorts out of business. They immediately purchase the resorts that shudder, a rumored "land grab".
If you have a native fishing with you, you can fish and keep as many as you'd like, any time of the year even after closed seasons. There is always a HUGE debate between the DNR and the Tribe every year regarding sizes, limits and seasons.
 

StevieISU23

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Oct 31, 2007
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Urbandale
Lake Kabetogama (MN) has caught my Eye.
Can anyone recommend a resort to stay at for a cheap Guys Fishing trip.
Will need fishing boats to rent (nothing fancy).
 

CyCloned

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Oct 18, 2006
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Robins, Iowa
Lake Kabetogama (MN) has caught my Eye.
Can anyone recommend a resort to stay at for a cheap Guys Fishing trip.
Will need fishing boats to rent (nothing fancy).

It is a monster of a lake. I have never fished there, and the only person I know that has even talked to someone was my brother, and someone he worked with went there for a week and did really badly. Which of course with fishing could mean anything from there is bad fishing or you should have been here last week.
 

ZJohnson

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Mar 27, 2006
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On the road...
Just got back from Gull Lake last weekend after spending the previous week up there. Absolute worst fishing in 15 years or so. Everyone up there we talked to was struggling as well. I had some cousins about two hours north on Bowstring Lake and their bite was only marginally better.
 

Torks Pub

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Dec 16, 2006
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Just got back from fishing walleyes on Green Bay and fished just off the coast of Oconto, WI. Will go there again regardless of if I can go to Ontario again next year. Smallest walleye we caught was 17", largest was 27.5", average was 23". Only issue is that you have to have the right equipment as they are caught trolling at 1.2 mph with planer boards, 6' snells with crawler harnesses, spinners and chain weights. Easy to get to by taking 151 to Highway 26 to Oshkosh then to Oconto. Only size limit is the fish must be greater than 15' and you can keep 5. Bonus is no hassles from Immigration at Fort Francis, although we stopped going through there and go through Pigeon River instead (without problems).
 
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jmax71

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Oct 21, 2006
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Lake Kabetogama (MN) has caught my Eye.
Can anyone recommend a resort to stay at for a cheap Guys Fishing trip.
Will need fishing boats to rent (nothing fancy).
My boys went on a guys trip to Kabetogama about 5 years ago. They stayed at Sandy Point Lodge and really liked it. Just going off the time they had and we have talked about doing a fall trip there sometime but just haven’t made it happen yet.
 

CyclonesRock

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Jan 1, 2018
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Iowa
Just got back from a week of fishing the Iowa Great Lakes. Spirit Lake has produced great walleye this year, but slowed dramatically as the week progressed, I assume the heat had a lot to do with it. Was also there a month ago and 3 of us caught over 50 in about 4 hours, mostly in the slot which is 17-22 inches. Most were 19-21. You are limited to 3 per day of which only 1 can be over 22. With the bite slowing we switched to Perch fishing, lots of 9 - 10 inch Perch out of Spirit. Daily limit is 25. Walleye are in the perch family so the same great taste but in a smaller size! As the days got hotter we fished East Okoboji and caught several hundred yellow bass. These have no limits as they are not supposed to be there but ae fun to catch and good eating. We kept mainly 7 - 10 inchers. We also fished West Okoboji and caught a few walleye, a couple of Smallmouth Bass that were over 20" and a couple of smaller Northern. One afternoon we found a school of perch on West Okoboji, in 2 hours we caught over 200 perch almost all were 7". We kept about 20 that were in the 8-10 inch range. If you like Sunfish, I personally do not, we also caught hundreds of those over the week, ranging from tiny ones to 10". Several 9" pumpkin seeds which were absolutely beautiful. Lost some tackle every day as these lakes have huge Northern and Muskie in them as well.
 

CyCloned

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Oct 18, 2006
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Robins, Iowa
Has anyone fished on Balsam Lake in WI? My in-laws are celebrating their 65 anniversary there in the middle of August, and they are taking a boat to do some fishing. Looks like a pretty nice place, but might be a bit crowded for fishing.
 

stevefrench

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Aug 7, 2011
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there are many northern Minnesota lakes that are great fisheries (as noted already leech, kab, wini, red lakes, etc). Get a guide, at least for the first day even if you pull your own rig up. Well worth the few hundred for the knowledge they will share with you on the lake and what the fish are doing right now.

if you choose leech and want guide service or lodging we have gone for many years, stay at brindleys or trappers landing and hook up with outright Angling.
 
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Bipolarcy

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Oct 27, 2008
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Years ago, I went walleye fishing in Fairmont when the Minnesota Governor's Fishing Opener was there. I nearly won first place too, which was a motor boat, but the last fish I caught was a quarter inch too small. My guide had offered to throw in one of his to give me four walleye keepers, but he never caught any. So instead of first place, which the fish I had throw back would have given me, I wound up completely out of the money. Didn't even get second or third.

It was really a sweet deal. All my food and lodging was paid for, the guide, boat and tackle were all provided and I got a bunch of goodies too, like a jacket, hat, lures, fishing line and a whole mess of stuff like that, so I really had nothing to complain about.