Timberjay country offers some of the best fishing in the Upper Midwest, including outstanding walleye and northern pike waters, as well as plentiful smallmouth bass. Lakes such as Pelican Lake offer exceptional bluegill fishing along with walleye, northern and crappies, while Lake Vermilion now sports a healthy muskie population in addition to its famed walleye and northern action. For trout anglers, numerous small lakes and streams sustain native and stocked populations of rainbow and brook trout, as well as splake. And lakes such as Snowbank, Burntside, Trout, and Bailey's Bay on the north arm of Basswood offer some of the only inland lake trout fishing in the lower 48 states.

Giving walleyes enough time to take the bait is always good advice and that is especially the case early in the season, said veteran Lake Vermilion and Trout Lake guide Jack Sparks of Tower.

Sparks said with cold water temperatures early in the season, anglers need to take a somewhat different approach to bait presentation.

"I use a Lindy rig, with a 6- or 7-foot leader," Sparks said. With that rig, Sparks said, he will backtroll slowly in four to eight feet of water, taking advantage of the longer leader to give the walleyes that may have been spooked by his boat to return to their usual patterns before the bait is pulled through the area. Sparks said early in the season, using smaller bait, such as 1-inch rainbows or chubs, is the way to go. The same holds true for using leeches on the lake. "On Vermilion you want to use a certain sized leech," Sparks said. "You want to go with large leeches, rather than jumbos." Early in the day or later in the evenings are the preferred times to go after walleyes, Sparks said. "Time-wise, a situation where you're fishing in shallow water with direct overhead sun is not as productive," he said. "Early in the morning from 7 a.m. to 10 or 11, and then getting back out about 7:30 or 8 in the evening are the best times for fishing." Until the water temperatures start coming up and the walleyes are able to settle into their summer patterns, Sparks said the north shore of a lake, or shallow bays on the receiving end of the wind, which tend to warm up faster, will often be the best places to fish early in the season. He said in those areas it's important to look for breaklines, areas where larger rocks give way to smaller rocks or gravel, where walleyes are likely to congregate. Sparks said there is a lot to the claim that fishing from a dock in the early spring provides the best opportunities for catching walleyes. "This time of year, the walleyes are migrating," Sparks said. "And they'll be swimming in the shallow water parallel to the shore. There's a lot of good dock fishing going on now."
As the season progresses and the warmer weather starts bringing the water temperatures up, the deeper water near the ends of reefs will begin to attract walleyes, Sparks said. In other words, the later in the season it gets, the deeper anglers have to go to catch walleyes. Sparks said by late season, between Labor Day and mid-October, he's fished as deep as 40 feet to find walleyes.