Detroit Lakes Fishing Report: Extended Edition (9/30/25)

Welcome! This Extended Edition of the Detroit Lakes Fishing Report is released every week, and it contains even more tips and insider information than other editions. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading this week’s fishing report!  Here’s the scoop.  Fish are still biting in a wide range of depths.  We’ve boated walleye, bass, pike, and bluegill anywhere between 10’-30’ the past 7 days.  Now, that doesn’t narrow it down too much–I know!  Side imaging and forward facing sonar are the most effective tools you can use to speed up the search process.  If your lake of choice has mid-lake structure, I would start there.  Tips of bars and inside turns with sharp breaklines are holding fish.  You will also find fish anywhere you find green weeds. Look for schools of fish that tend to form this time of year and cast at them from a distance. The goal is to find schools of larger fish such as walleye and cast at them from a distance, but fishing near large schools of baitfish is a solid strategy, too--just avoid using crawlers near baitfish schools to avoid frustration as they peck away at your bait! If you manage to catch small, young of the year perch, walleyes are usually nearby.

Once you mark a school of fish on your electronics, try casting a minnow on a jig to start.  If that doesn’t produce fish, casting a lindy/carolina rig or drop shot with a minnow will do the trick (fish will prefer one over the other most days).  While you might get "pecked" to death as I mentioned above, I’d still have a box of crawlers with you at all times, just in case. If you have forward facing sonar, take time to find your bait on your fish finder screen when you cast it out. Watch how the fish react and change methods if they snub your current offering.

Good luck to all of you that are still fishing!

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