Fishing reports from Al Wurm
12/31/09
Ice fishing has started and is in full swing, but ice conditions are not ideal. The season started pretty good, but the last big storm has caused some havoc. There is currently a lot of slush and water on most of the lakes in the Annandale area and it is making lake access difficult. Snowmobiles seem to be working the best. Four-wheelers are having a hard time getting around if you get off a frozen path. I suspect that things will continue to improve after the New Year with the current cold weather.
As for the fishing, I have been doing well on Clearwater Lake for walleye and crappie. Sugar Lake has been producing walleyes. I've been fishing deeper water in the 30 to 40 ft. range on both lakes with some success. I've tried Cedar Lake but the bite was pretty slow with not much luck. Pleasant Lake is producing some crappies and sun fish. French lake is also producing some crappies and walleyes. Northland buck shot spoons have been working well for me on most of the lakes. December 17th-20th we went on a trip to Leech lake. Our first time out we had a few big walleyes and some in the slot with lots of little fish. The perch bite was a little slow but it was still a good time. We probably will head back to Leech next week and will have a full report of the fishing action. Check out the photo gallery to see the updated ice fishing pictures.
12/14/09 The cold weather has finally arrived and the ice conditions are looking pretty good so far. But ice thicknesses do vary from lake to lake. So be careful. Do not assume the ice is the same all over because it is not. Clearwater Lake has about 6 to 7 inches in most areas and 4 to 5 inches in areas that froze over last. Cedar Lake has about 4 to 5 inches but with a open spot in the big part of the lake on Saturday. Sugar Lake is about the same with 4 to 5 inches. I have been fishing on Clearwater and catching some bigger walleyes in deeper water about 30 feet but we have been catching a lot of small as well in the 8 to 12 inch range. Please release these small fish for future years to come. Northland jigging spoons have been working very well tipped with a minnow head. Rapalas are working well also. Sugar lake is also doing well on walleyes in deeper water 25 to 30 feet . I have not heard much about a good pan fish bite as of yet but I am sure it will start in soon. I went to Dans lake on Monday but did not find any pan fish. We are heading to Leech Lake on Thursday the 16th it should be good a bite. Good luck fishing and be careful on the ice.
11/05/09
Fishing has been good this fall considering the weather hasn’t been very cooperative. Clearwater is still producing a good walleye bite using red tail chubs and river shiners in depths from 12 to 40 feet of water. Some days we will find them in 12 feet and some days deeper. Using lindy rigs with about a 6 to 7 foot snell has been working the 
best. Jigs also have been working well. Fish slow slow slow. The bites are lite and the fish seem to look at the bait for awhile before taking it. The crappies bite has been good as well. Look for fish in the deeper basins of the lake 30 to 50 feet. Use your electronics to find these fish . They will be suspended about 10 to 20 feet off the bottom. Jig and minnows or small plastics will do the job. The muskie bite has slowed on Sugar the last two weeks. I caught a couple of low 40”and 48” fish shortly after turnover but nothing in late October. Ice fishing will be starting soon . If you would like to experience ice fishing at its best contact me to book a trip.
8/24/09 The fishing in July and August has been better than expected, especially taking into account the wind and cool weather. The area lakes (Clearwater Lake, Ramsey Lake and Howard Lake) have been producing some large bass in the 18-20 inch range. I have found that northland jungle jigs with 4 in. plastic craws have been most effective. I have also been using northland ¾ ounce spinner baits (white). Slowing rolling the bait along deep weed lines has also been producing large bass and some larger northern pike. The walleye bite on Clearwater has picked up in the past two weeks. Some nice fish are being caught in the 14-25 feet range. We have been using crank baits along weed lines at the edge of the steep breaks. Night crawler and spinner rigs have also been successful when used tight to the weed line.
The muskie action is heating up. Nice fish have been caught on Sugar Lake in the past couple of weeks. Miltona, Lobster, Mantrap, and Alexander have also been producing some nice fish. We had a very successful muskie trip up to Leech and Cass Lake on August 14-16. We started our trip on Leech Lake with high winds and temperatures in the nineties. We boarded a 47 inch muskie and had 6 follows throughout the morning and early afternoon. We left early in the afternoon due to the ninety degree temps. We arrived at Cass Lake around 5:30 p.m. where we boarded a 43 ½ in. and a 34 in. and saw many more fish. We fished all day Saturday and saw numerous fish and had many follows but was unable to land any fish. Sunday proved to be a better day. We started our day with rain and wind which eventually let up leaving us with overcast skies perfect for muskie fishing. We boarded a 36 in and a very large 49 in, with many more sightings and follows. It was a perfect muskie weekend. Check out pictures of our trip in the photo gallery.
The muskie action should continue to get better as we move into September. As always remember to conserve our resource by practicing catch and release.
6/21/09 Summer has finally arrived with warmer temps and the great fishing. Lots of bass are being caught in most of the area lakes. Most of bass I have recently caught have been in shallow water but they are starting to move deeper. Look for isolated weed clumps off the main weed edge or on points. Tubes and jig worms have been working well on the outer weed edge; and buzz baits and jerk shads in shallow water. The walleye bite has slowed a bit with water temps rising but is still pretty good. Clearwater Lake is still producing some good fish in depths from 16-30 feet. I have had my best luck using night crawlers and lindy rigs 6-7 feet long. I also would try using some crank bait along weed edges, and deep running crank for those suspended fish on deeper water humps and main lake points. The sunfish bite is great right now with fish on the beds in shallow water 2-8 feet in most cases, but they sometimes will spawn deeper. I like using a sinking timber wolf fly. The muskie bite is starting to pick up with a few fish being caught on Sugar Lake. Because Sugar is the only official muskie lake in the county, we have to travel to fish muskies. I do not know why the DNR cannot get some other muskie lakes established in Wright County. Some of our area lakes need some large predator fish to clean up lakes that are over populated with smaller fish. This would take some of the pressure off Sugar Lake and give the fish a break. Check out the photo gallery for photos from our trip to Mille Lac Lake on June 20. We caught some great small mouth action with a 20¾ inch small mouth that weighed in at 6 lbs. We had a great day with 30 small mouth and 6 nice walleyes.
5/20/09 Well the fishing opener has come and gone. I must say it a was pretty good one for the most part. We started fishing at about 1:00 am on Clearwater lake in the Annnandale area. We started fishing shallow but didn't have much success working the shallow water. We did manage to land a 25 inch walleye throwing stick baits in about 3-4 feet of water at about 3:00 am. Water temps were about 59 degrees when we started out and about 53 degrees when we left at 1:30 PM which wasn't as warm as I would have liked. About 6:00 am the action started to heat up. We were rigging shiners with 5-6 foot snells which seemed to work best. We also managed to catch some on nightcrawlers and with jigs and minnows.We caught the walleyes at 20-30 feet which is deeper than what I expected for this time of year. Another critical part that helped us catch fish was to stay where the wind was blowing in on structure or through neckdown areas. So charge up those batteries and get out where the wind blows and you will catch more fish. At the end of our opening day we had 13 walleyes and a couple of pike. A good day of fun with good friends. Thats what it's all about.
Fishing will continue to get better as water temps rise. There are a few walleyes being caught on Sugar and Cedar Lakes also. Crappie action is still going strong. Look for crappie to start spawning soon. May 14th we were league fishing south of Annandale on French Lake. The walleye action was slow with only a couple caught. But the crappie bite was pretty good with some in the 13 inch range. French lake is a good lake to try for crappie and walleye. Remember catch and release. It's what keeps our resources strong. Be safe and see you on the water.