Anyone been up to minnitaki/english river?

[Muskydanno]

Hi everyone,
Am heading up next week to Minnitaki has anyone heard of or know of any reports on how the walleyes , big northerns and smallies have been biting? How about water levels compared to last year? 5 more days!!!

[fishyguy]

Was up there at the end of June, so I don't know how much help I will be but the walleye fishing was great for numbers but did not find anything huge. Just lots of slot and a little over the slot. In years past the biggest northerns were caught in the same spots at the walleye. We have never have targeted smallies but have caught some up to 18" and lost one last year that might have been pushing 21".
The water level this spring was 10' higher than last year, which made it 5' above normal. It may have come down some now.

Where are you staying?

[Muskydanno]

fishyguy,
we stay at Donnellys lake minnitaki lodge over on Pickerel arm. Great people and an excellent place to stay for the money.

[fishyguy]

Good luck, I hope you have a great trip. We will be on Wabigoon near Dryden the same week, so I hope the weather holds out for us. It has been a little cold lately but the forecast is better.

[fishyguy]

Good luck, I hope you have a great trip. We will be on Wabigoon near Dryden the same week, so I hope the weather holds out for us. It has been a little cold lately but the forecast is better.

[Muskydanno]

Yeah, i'm a little worried about the weather myself fishyguy. We stop off in Dryden and stay overnight before we go up to the lodge on saturday morning. I hear the water level is better than last year so hopefully i can get my 18 footer back into my little honey hole up there!! Good luck!

[fishyguy]

Musky,

Wondering how you did? Did you stay in the arm or travel out into the main lake? We really struggled on Wabigoon near Dryden that week. Really tough bite with a mixed bag of weather.

[Muskydanno]

fishyguy,

We did allright but not as good as in years past. The walleye bite this year seems to be more geared toward jig and minnow rather than crawler/spinner rigs. The english river was even fairly slow.It seemed like we had our best luck in 24 to 28 feet of water with 5 to 6 foot snells , but some guys were doing exceptionally well with jig and minnow combos in those same depths. The last couple of days the water temp crept up to about 62 from the 59 we had at the beginning of our trip and the smallie bite turned on quite well. The largest walleye of the trip came in at 26 and a half and that one was caught on a musky/pike bait in the english river. Got alot of 22 to 24 inchers. Our group caught several 39 inch pike as well. Water levels are more like what they were two years ago.

Good luck!