Detroit Lakes Fishing Report: Extended Edition (9/2/25)

It’s a fun time to fish for smallmouth bass, walleye and bluegills in the Detroit Lakes area.  The best part is they are often hanging out in the same depths so you can fish for all 3 at once!  The depth range to which I’m referring is between 20’-25’ on the edge of deep weedlines.  We've also found big schools of walleye roaming as deep as 35' around rock piles and sandy humps, far away from and not connected to shore. Some are near bottom, and some are 10-12' off the bottom. In these spots it has been strictly walleye, with few other species in the area.

Be careful when fishing deeper that 25', as it can be traumatic for the fish. We have been avoiding barotrauma by either avoiding those depths in favor of shallower water, or by slowly retrieving them from depths of 25' of deeper. It can be a lot of fun, slowly fighting the fish, but anglers must know how to do it correctly to avoid killing their catch. The slower the retrieve the better, to an extent. If it takes you more than 15-25 seconds to reel it up from 30' deep, that is plenty slow. Anything longer than that will actually stress or kill the fish by wearing it out.

If fishing a jig, the only way to effectively fish thick, deep weedlines in late summer is to use the lightest weight you can get away with, while still feeling the bottom.  For example, when we spot fish near or just inside the thick deep weeds, we have been using a 1/8th oz. jigs in depths up to 25’.  The light weight helps to keep the jig out of those weeds, and when they do get snagged, it isn’t nearly as bad as a ⅜ oz jig at the same depth.  A jig tipped with ⅓-½ of a crawler is your best bet–the fish will come to you! Lighter jigs also fall more naturally than heavier jigs. If you are using forward facing sonar, you can easily see the difference in speed when you watch your jig falls to the bottom!

In summary, I recommend fishing with jigs tipped with crawlers near deep weedlines, and on deep bars and mid-lake humps for walleye. The same setup with catch you big 'gills in those depths, and even bigger smallies. If you want to switch it up, slip bobbers and drop shots are also catching fish.

Thanks for reading and good luck fishing!

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