Craig Riendeau keeps us up to speed on what is happening in the north country.  His view is from Thunder Lake near Remer, MN.  Memorial Weekend treated everyone very well.  Enjoy!

Wow, what a weekend.

On Thunder Lake, surface water temps have crept up into the mid-50’s with the beautiful warm weather we had this weekend. As a result, the fishing is really starting to pick up. Crappies, largemouth and smallmouth bass have been starting to become more active on Thunder Lake, while the pike bite on Big Rice remains strong as well. Our guests have had quite the weekend of fishing.

Crappies are being caught in shallow water on slip bobbers with minnows and leeched. It is purely a protective bite right now as they are trying to protect their nests and beds from predators. They are not actively looking to feed.

Smallmouth and largemouth bass are being caught on crankbaits and also on live bait bobber setups. Today was truly an incredible day for smallmouths. We had a few big smallies that were caught today.

On Big Rice Lake, Northern Pike are still being caught on cane poles and daredevils. An occasional walleye is also being caught there as well as some perch.

On Thunder Lake, Scott from Cottage #3, who was a first time guest with us, caught a 20 inch smallmouth. Believe it or not, it was Scott’s 1st ever smallmouth caught! Good luck trying to top that. Not to be outdone, Nathan from Cottage #10 landed a beautiful 20 3/4″ smallmouth that was his biggest ever also! These are two trophy smallies caught on the same day on the same lake at the same resort. Chip from The McCleary Cabin also reeled in a big female smallmouth as well. Both Nathan and Chip released theirs, while Scott is having his mounted. Chris from Cottage #8 also landed a very nice Thunder Lake walleye.

This might sound like I’m making this up so you will either just have to take my word for it, or ask my guests themselves, but believe it or not, Jerry caught his two biggest walleyes ever on back-to-back days on Rice Lake. The 1st walleye measured at 22.5″ and the 2nd measured at 24.5″. Vern & Donovan also caught some nice pike on Rice Lake as well. Donovan had a bonus JUMBO perch on the stringer to show too.

Click Here to see the photos from the weekend.