A couple of us just got back from the 4th weekend on Osakis. We really didnt spend as much time on the water as i thought but in about 12 hours total fishing friday and saturday we caught 75 walleyes. I've never been on Osakis this time of year so we started out on a midlake bar to see if we could get a few nicer fish. Most were shorties but we actually did poke a few 18-22" fish off the corner of a bar we had to ourselves. They hit both crawlers and leeches on lindys. We then headed to a weedline i wanted to fish to see if there was a bit more consistency in size. And there was, the fish that were short were in that 14-14 3/4" range and about 1 in 4 fish was a keeper. The fish were hugging about a 50 foot area of the weedline. Crawlers were preferred near the weeds for us. It was a mild pain cleaning weeds off regularly but persistence paid off. Saturday we headed to the weedline and boat control was a nightmare in such a small area with the wind and the fish had seemed to move as we didnt mark anything on the graph so we went searching. We headed north to check out a few spots but it was fruitless. We did find a small hump that had fish on it but we couldnt get them to go so we headed in until late afternoon. I finally had to get back out about 4pm as i had an itch to try something with the big waves. We put on some floating raps and started pulling them in 6-7' and the walleyes smacked them. They were holding in a couple of small areas but we would hook a fish, drift back while playing and unhooking, and go back over it and repeat the process. Most again just short of 15" but we caught 30 walleyes in 2 hours doing this. I was really surprised we didnt get a more slimers doing this. We only got 1 along with a 15" smallie. I've only spent a total of about 10 days on this lake and man i've got to find a way to get up there more often. Its been good to me the few times i've been there. And there are so many places to find fish that a guy can find fish away from the crowds. On the 3 spots we really caught fish we didnt fish near anyone.

Sounds like a great weekend. I'm heading up there next weekend with my wife and kids for a week on the lake. It will be our first trip to Osakis, so glad to hear the fishing is good!

That sounds like a great report. Were the mornings better or the afternoons? Did the wind have to blow for the fish to bite or were they active when it was calm? Heading up this week and debating for an afternoon or early morning fish. What side seem to be the best action?

Thanks,

Sounds about right. We also caught high numbers but the size is commonly short of the 15" minimum. We boated a couple of keepers using leeches and slip bobbers in the evening but that was for 25-30 fish total. We set up to slip bobber on several bars but the action and size were similar on each. Because of the small size we had to start setting the hooks quickly and went barbless to minimize damage to all the 14" - 14 7/8" you must put back in the lake. Because of the need for quick hook sets we likely missed another 25 on the bobbers.

During the day we had some action outside the weedlines casting shallow diving cranks (the kind that dive 12"-24" at most) over the weed tops but again size was disappointingly small and like james reported, if you got outside a small area with the right type of weeds, hangups made it a frustrating effort for fish consistently 1/4" - 1/2" short of the live well.

Early-mid afternoon we got fast and furious northern pike action in the weeds south of the outlet on red/black spinner baits. Size was decent and the hits were to put it mildly savage. I mean just furious strikes. Hold on to your rod. The northerns were hungry and just attacked a spinner bait.

My son topped his largest northern ever (31 inches) and I had my largest bucket-mouth this weekend casting 5" senkos into the curly tail.

Wow nice job James. My party did really well tossing spinners for bass along the reed edges.

Time of day didnt matter. We werent on the lake before 9 am either day. Friday when it was dead calm we caught fish late morning into early afternoon and than again in the evening until dark. Friday around noon with dead calm water we hit the weedline and caught some nice keepers. Funny enough when the wind blew hard saturday we had a rough time for a few hours. I had a feeling with the wind blowing as hard as it was there should be a bunch of fish shallow so thats when we started pulling raps with success.

Yeah the bite is on right now. Even with lots of boat traffic out there on the 4th we got quite a few walleyes. Mostly 14" like the other post but we did get some nice keepers in the same areas. With the water being as green as it is the bite was good all day long. We got fish both in shallow and deep water on the bars. Wish i could go back up this weekend but other items on the agenda. i would think the outside cabbage edge in 14-15' of water should be going really good with live bait or cranks. Lots of deeper weed edges to be had.

i was there to on the 2nd-4th i found most off my fish on the midlake bars. everytime i got close to the weeds got northerns hate them! thing is though i didn't see to many 14" ones. more like 13". but did catch over 60 fish myself. even caught fish during the fireworks. did manage some nice sunnies, thing was they were one place one day and totaly gone the next. love that lake so many places to fish and plent of fish to have fun. we stayed at linwood have for 8 years now. good place to stay in a RV. i did have a guestion why isn't there more places for RV camp grounds there. seems like they are all going to seasonal.

I think you answered your own question, seasonal is guaranteed money. Rentals or weekend business is dependent on the weather and fishing quality etc. You might make a bit more when things are great, but can make a lot less when things are not. Seasonal business reduces the risk.

Thats what we found on the bars also, lots of 12-13" fish. We found the fish on the weedlines to be more in the 14-14 1/2" range with about 1 out of 4 being over 15". We didnt catch any northerns at all, nothing but walleyes. A half a crawler was all that was needed. We also stayed at Linwood from the 3rd to the 6th.

Heading back up to the lake this afternoon. Continue to work the same pattern for eyes that we've have success on, edges of bars or weed line for best action and chance of 15" plus.

Any change in the sunfish pattern ? Are they coming out of the reeds yet ?

Are crawlers still the bait of choice? With this weather anyone been out at all? Looking at going out tonight. To nice of weather today to not go out.

Been doing good on both leeches and crawlers. Cranks and spinners are working too. Just depends what area of the lake you are working, bars, reefs, weeds. I found nothing on leeches in one area but dragging crawler spinners work great. In other areas I get nothing on a crawler spinner but if I anchor I'll get plenty of pull downs on a slip bobber and leech.

Thats the thing I like about this lake, its not just one kind of fishing technique as there are so many different ways to go about it.

Looks like a challenge. Has anyone been doing well at night. I think I might be out late.

Haven't tried after dark at all this year but I've heard cranks in the shallows at night can be very effective in certain areas of the lake. But everytime I've stayed out to 10pm we get an annoying hatch of little midge flies or something that push us off the lake after about 15-20 mins of swarming all around us.

I've doing well during the day and evenings so putting up with a layer of bugs all over my shirt and hat seems unwarranted, at least until I see proof of 25"+ fish biting regularly at night. Let us know how you did after dark.