Wow what a great week of fishing in the Park Rapids area with water temperatures warming up to the mid-70s the fish have become more active than ever. We have caught numerous large walleyes in the shallow weed areas of most of the lakes we fish in the Park Rapids area. Depth ranges from 8 to 15 feet trolling along the weed line. We have also been catching walleyes on deep sunken islands down to 40 feet using live bait rigs and leeches. With a few musky trips under the belt last week we also boated three fish over 45 inches using skunk colored bucktails. Another fun pattern to try to catch a large northern pike is to fish the suspended pike using the thermocline over midlake structure. Depending on the lake this can be anywhere from 18 to 25 feet in depth. We are using large jigs and plastic swim baits and vertically jigging until the fish attack. The average fish we have caught so far have been in the 36 to 39 inch range not a bad pike for North Central Minnesota. Have fun out there and be safe Captain Josh and Minnesota Fishing Guide Service. 218-732-9919. Minnesotaguideservice.com
