Pursuing Multi Species Fishing

Each November, I assemble the best photos of my fishing trips throughout the region. I then upload the top twelve to a photo site and make a calendar for my parents and grandmothers as a Christmas present. While showing the 2009 edition to an extended family member, my grandmother shared in her second cousin’s awe at the variety of fish my brother and I manage to catch each year.

“She stated that she had only seen walleye, perch and northern before,” my grandma relayed to me in a recent conversation, “but I told her you catch everything in between, like trout, crappie and largemouth.”

I was once again reminded how good it is to be an angler in the upper Midwest. With proactive agencies stocking and managing fisheries with a variety of species, only the number of waters limits the available options. As an angler travels throughout the Dakotas and Minnesota, the number of alternatives becomes greater and the chance to catch a variety of species grows.

From Bowman to Brookings to Brainerd, the walleye is king. There is no doubting that fact. The tasty fillets and elusive nature of the fish draws anglers from around the globe to the swollen waters of a flooding Devils Lake and a recharged Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota, Lake Oahe and Francis Case along the Missouri in South Dakota. One doesn’t have to travel far to find a marquee walleye water in Minnesota – Vermilion, Mille Lacs, Leech, Winni, Cass, Lake of the Woods, and so on across the land of 10,000 lakes. These prized fish are found in waters both big and small, and many lakes and reservoirs throughout the region boast fishable populations to match local angler enthusiasm. But despite all the hype, old marble eyes is not the only species that anglers get amped up for.

That same excitement grows each year for anglers pursuing muskies. I have witnessed first-hand my brother's conversion from your average fisherman into a muskie maniac. Where our conversations once focused on bass tactics, he now drafts up a new order for big spinners with me each spring, in hopes of inducing heart-racing follows by 50-inch fish at boatside, and a strike on his fervent figure-eight. Viable populations of trophy caliber fish are becoming well established thanks to high minimum length limits and aggressive stocking programs over the last two decades. But big fish aren’t our only pursuit.

Panfish, such as crappie, bluegill and perch are universally popular among anglers throughout the region and tighter limits over the last several years reflect the increased pursuit of these pint-sized Pisces.

Largemouth and smallmouth bass, though not as sought-after in northern climes as they are south of the Mason-Dixon line, still provide some of the best recreational fishing in this region. From prairie stock dams to large mesotrophic lakes of central Minnesota, bucketmouths provide an opportunity for excitement on a regular basis from May to October. Meanwhile, smallies are well known as river fish that inhabit flows draining into the Red River, and are exciting to fish in the tannin stained waters of northern Minnesota.

Stocking of various trout species adds a cold-water aspect to the local fishing scene in addition to sustained brook and brown trout in regional small streams. These salmonids are planted in lakes scattered throughout the region and can be found in the creeks of the Black Hills in South Dakota, the spring fed flows of the North Shore of Lake Superior and the “Little Montana” region of southeast Minnesota.

Pike, white bass and catfish round out the variety of gamefish species anglers can hook up with and less-heralded rough fish species like carp, drum and bowfin provide added challenges for area anglers. There are so many sporting qualities to both native and stocked species that fishing for just one type would limit an angler's enjoyment. Summer provides a change to take advantage of all the variety that can be found.

Get to know the lakes and flows around you this summer and take a trip somewhere to target a new species and add a few pictures to your photo album. The trip might not be as far as you think, and a new opportunity to get hooked on angling all over again might be just down the road. Variety is the spice of life, and the wide range of fish to chase throughout the waters of the upper Midwest will certainly add some flavor to your fishing experience...in our outdoors.