The past few weeks have flown by with the first week of the month finding the Minnesota B.A.S.S. Nation Tournament of Champions on the lake.  With 31 clubs sending 200 anglers the boat launch saw plenty of action as pre-fishing was going on.  The early part of the week was warmer and reports were favorable for good numbers and good size bass.  There were also reports of several muskies and walleyes caught.  A cold front came through though and seemed to shake things up a bit, making the hunt a little tougher mid to late week.  In the end, a 2 day ten fish total of 33.25 won the event.  Thank you to the many clubs that made Everett Bay Lodge their home base for the week.

In general, the weather has affected the fishing.  As smallies have now gone out of season, reports of declining water temps (52 degrees in Everett Bay this a.m.) are sending people toward deeper spots, and walleyes are sharing those spots with smallies.  In fact, yesterday a walleye outing surprisingly turned up many good smallies, including the one in the picture, caught on the deeper rocky structure on minnows, right on the bottom.  The Manners crew spent their annual fall weekend, and although the big fish were limited, they caught plenty of eaters for their fish fry for 9.  There were some slot fish released.

While the muskie pressure has not been high, there have been several boated, including a nice tiger musky caught by Josh Lovell.  Fish our guests told us about include:

Largemouth Bass:  21.25″ Josh Lovell

Smallmouth Bass:  20″ Jay Hennon, 19.5″ Josh Lovell, 19″ Jerry Lovell, 18″ Paul Miller, 18″ Mike Manners

Northern: 36″ Jeff Lovell

Walleye:  22″ Martin Chard

Muskie:  41″ Jerry Lovell, 40.5″ Jerry Lovell

Looking ahead to the rest of the month, next weekend we have one spot remaining for the whole weekend, and another that opens up for arrival on Saturday, the 20th.  The trees are beginning to show their colors, and it is great sweatshirt weather.  The weekend of the 26/27th there are some options to choose from.

Lake Vermilion Smallmouth Bass

Jay Hennon with a nice 20″ Lake Vermilion smallie

Have time for one more trip north????