Brainerd Minnesota Fishing Vacation Gull Lake Walleye


The Fish of Gull Lake

Walleye
Easily the most popular fish on the Gull Chain, as well as being one of the most challenging to catch! Look for them in deeper water in areas with hard bottoms. Don't forget to try weed beds, especially in the spring and fall. The preferred diet for Walleyes are leeches, night crawlers and minnows. In early Spring, try the upper part of Main Gull, as well as the Narrows going into Lake Margaret for the best Walleye fishing. By the end of May, start working your way south on Gull. The smaller lakes that go off of Bull (Love Lake for example) are also great places to try for walleyes. As the season progresses into July, you will need to look a little harder and a little deeper for these extremely tasty fish, but don't give up because they are out there!

Northern Pike
Wilson Bay is the most consistently good spot to catch Northerns, but if you're looking for the bigger ones, try staying north of Gull Point where the weeds are especially thick. Reed clumps and weed beds are your best bet in the early spring - try 6-12 feet deep with spinner baits and minnows. In the summer, when the temperatures rise, you'll need to go down to about 15 feet. Keep using the same baits, and with a little patience, you'll get your limit or close to of Northerns!

Crappie and Sunfish
In the spring, these delightful panfish can be found wherever the water is the warmest, and they school tightly (probably to keep warm!). In other words, when you find a school of sunnies, there will be more than enough to fry up for dinner. Best places to find sunfish are in channels, under docks and backwater bays. Give the bridge near Bar Harbor a try in early spring, and Gull Point south a try later in the summer. Nightcrawlers are the diet of choice for both Crappies and Sunfish.

Large Mouth Bass
Look for thick weedbeds that drop off sharply for the best Bass fishing! They also like docks in weedy areas during the summer months, but usually, you'll have to go deeper (at least 8 feet) when it's warm. They love a diet of red-tail chubs and sucker minnows. Try Wilson Bay and the Narrows by Zorba's for some really nice size bass. The implementation of the "Catch and Release" program has made it easier to find some really big bass.

Perch, Rock Bass & Bullheads round out the possibilities of edible fish in Gull Lake.