fishing reports Pipestone Lake Fishing Reports by Gateway North Outfitters

[Ridgerunnr]

Heading back to clear water n pipestone in a few weeks...my last trip yielded nice musky..2 44's a 48 and a 50 in only 3 days. Got to know terry at little moose lodge.. great folks. Taking my son this trip!

[Poor Eddy]

Any recent news on Pipestone Walleyes or Lakers? I'm heading up in a few days to do a little late season fishing.

[superbee]

The weather has changed and fall is in the air. Trout are biting good, but the walleyes have slowed down at the moment. Water temps are falling fast.

[Hoffer]

Superbee

Heading up to jackfish this Monday for 7 nights. If your in the area...stop by.

Its that grey cabin about 1 mile past the cut in West jackfish.

Hope the "slow" walleye fishing doesnt include Jackfish area

But I also think that may be a good thing. As they say..."they have to bite sometime". and maybe in 3 more days...they will start again.

[Rick]

How is Pipestone looking?

[superbee]

The main stretch of Pipestone still has los of open water like a good number of the larger trout lakes. The big section of Clearwater just froze, so we have a ways to go yet.

[superbee]

We got about 5" of wet/heavy snow yesterday. It started off with rain before turning to snow. The lakes have slush starting to come up. Nothing to serious yet, lets hope for some cold to fix this right away.

[superbee]

Good news. The slush that we had from the wet snow has now froze and conditions are great. Opener will be excellent and cold temps keeps making more good ice.

[hookset 31]

Wondering what the ice-snow-portage conditions are going up Pipestone & across stonedam? Planning a trip in acouple weeks - also how has the trout bite been this season, if anyone would like to share that info. Thanks

[GunDr]

Was hoping to head up soon. Are the rumors true that Clearwater & Pipestone piled with snow and slush? I hate digging out buries sleds.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

NoWisers was supposed to go up this week, but their group cancelled the trip. It had to have been pretty cold up there the last few nights, so I would think some of it should have started to freeze up.

[superbee]

It is no rumor. It gets worse the farther you head up Pipestone. Off Lake is like a swimming pool with snow floating on it. The cold temps have not healed it up.

[superbee]

The group that came out from Pipestone today reported catching some nice trout. They were scattered from 30-80 fow and caught them trolling and jigging. Walleye fishing was slow. Weather was windy and rainy.

[NoWiser]

Just got back from Pipestone last night. It sounded like they had some miserable weather before our trip, but it was pretty nice for us. The fishing was very good for trout and walleyes. Fun trip, and you never knew what you were going to catch when you set the hook. My buddy got his first trout ever, and his 4 or 5 biggest walleyes. I tied my personal best walleye. Trout size was very impressive as well. Good trip! Watch out for the reefs! The water is very high and rocks that are normally just above the water are just under it now. One of our guys found this out the tough way. If you stay with someone like Superbee up there, they can fill you in on what to watch out for.

[Tony Mariotti]

We are heading up to Clearwater Lake next week, and plan to try to get over to Pipestone and try for trout. I've never caught one before and it sounds like it is a blast! Any suggestions or tips for a newbie to the lake.

Is the fishing on Clearwater good? I didn't plan this trip, and am just along for the ride....Will we want to go into Portage? What types of places are the fish hanging out now? Suggestions? Thoughts? Help? :-)

T

[Ridgerunnr]

I've fished Clearwater quite a bit...darn good fishing. Exceptional musky waters too. Plenty of diff species for all anglers to have fun. South portage is easy...but the south narrows are sphincter puckering lol but the reward South is awesome fishing ..North into Pipe is easy ..good Lakers in the first stretch of deep water. Far far north is great musky water. Walleye using crawler rigs works great or slip bobber when you graph em. GPS on graph is a good thing as this lake is not charted and dangerous points NOT marked. You can be in 60ft and in 20 yards find a boulder truck sized a foot under the surface. Buddy of mine is at Little moose lodge all summer leasing a cabin. He would help you if you need ANYTHING.

[superbee]

The area around Sand Point is very good for lake trout and the NW Arm is also good. Pipestone does not have many hazards in areas that you wouldn't expect to find them compared to other shield lakes. The dangerous areas are also marked with jugs by the lodges on the lake. Not sure what Ridgerunner is talking about. We have been renting boats to our guests for years without any issues and never had anyone with their own boat have any problems hitting hazards.

[Ridgerunnr]

I've seen one rock marked with a light... use your head n you will be fine. The area below North portage has some nice walleye spots off the points. If you head over that portage there is a time limit as well so watch for that. The channel after the portage gets skinny so watch that too. Well worth it tho..beautiful area.

[jevard]

I am new to the forum, but wanted to join since the information was so excellent!

I am heading up to Bill and Nell's during the second week of September... Wondering how the fishing has been lately... any insight would be appreciated!

[WalleyeChaser]

Jevard-

Bill and Nell are excellent people! Bill will do his best to give you pointers on getting on fish! He may be busy with hunting season fast approaching but he always takes care of his customers! I would start out searching the bottoms of the steeper dropping points. They will be on the move to deeper water soon. Also look for bullrush type weeds along the shores. They will key you in on sandy areas that will be good feeding areas up shallower (8-12 ft) during dusk and dawn! Ad if its cloudy they may move in and out or hang there all day! Keep trying new spots if you don't catch fish. And try them again throughout the day. We have found fish in a spot, went in for breakfast or lunch, and came back to find they moved on. Sometimes just down the shore 50-100 yds. They seem to move a lot on Despair. Good luck! And leave some for me when I get up there in October!

Also sent you a pm

[jevard]

Walleyechaser,

Thanks for the tips... The Bullrush idea is interesting,and makes total sense! We have been going up for about 8 years and have had good success. We are leaving Friday Morning so wish us luck... And thanks again for the tips!

Jim

[superbee]

The lakes have all froze over in the area. Current temp is -24F. We have some slush on the lakes currently from the last snow fall, but nothing too bad. With the temps and time before the Jan 1 opener, we should be set for good conditions and travel. We still have some January trips available for those who are interested in some great lake trout fishing.

[superbee]

Had a great day trip to Kairskons Lake with a group today. I landed 5 trout, lost a couple, missed a few more, and had lots of chasers. Best luck was in 22 FOW on a glow tube. Everyone else had action too. Great to be on the ice and conditions are great! We still have openings this season.

[NoWiser]

This would be a great time to get up to Superbee's place on Pipestone. We just returned from the lake and had awesome fishing every single day. The best part was the great conditions on the lakes and portages. There was basically no slush at all. We got fish anywhere from 100 fow to 15 fow. All of my biggest trout came in less than 20 feet and showed up so fast and hit so hard that you never had time to see them on the flasher.

If you are thinking about heading up, conditions will not get any better than they are now.

We did run in to one guy who said the trout lose their teeth this time of year and that "is why they aren't biting." Didn't have the heart to tell him we were pushing 80 fish landed and just as many lost.

[Rich_Lorentzen]

Superbee---Whats it like by Pipestone and some of the smaller lakes? I heard lots of snow. Is slush an issue anywhere? Any report you can give would be appreciated!

Thanks,