Pacemaker Fishing Forum

My annual trip to MN is a wrap for 2026. Fishing took a bit of a backseat this year due to family occasions and a number of maintenance issues at the cabin that needed attending to, but I got out when I could. Caught all the usual suspects: largemouth, smallmouth, walleye, northern pike, sunfish, and crappies. Saw one big muskie and a few sturgeon too.

Weather was really good. The first week was all mid-upper 80s and the second week was 70s and 80s. Wind wasn't bad and there was very little rain. Mosquitoes weren't an issue until the very last day.



Good largemouth on a jig.



Smallie on a Strike King tumbleweed. My first fish on that style of bait.



24" walleye release. Took a Gulp leech.



The sunfish were really cooperative this year, and the quality was awesome, I didn't catch many under 9".  Got some in the boat and and a bunch right off the docks, all on little jigs aside from a couple randoms on jerkbaits or topwaters. It was a mix of bluegills, pumpkinseeds, and hybrids. I caught a bunch of crappie too but nothing special size-wise.




















Pike on a jerkbait on 10lb test. Caught a couple dozen pike on this trip and somehow never got bit off.



Walleyes for a fish fry.



Didn't do a ton of frog fishing this year, but I got a few.





There were so many bass, sunfish, and crappies just swimming around the dock on calm days. I kept trying to get pictures of them but they never came out well. It was like an aquarium out there.



Another good LM.



4ish pound walleye off the dock at night. Caught at least one eye most nights, most were on the smaller side this year. The number of bass hanging out off the docks this year made it tough to catch anything else, they bit non-stop.



Only made 2 smallie trips this year but caught some nice ones. These two were 2 casts apart.




Tried out the Berkley Nessie.



Zebra mussels are showing up everywhere.



Random walleye on a Staysee 90.



Smallie



Last Day