Except for bass, fishing slows down

You knew it had to happen sooner or later. The fishing action in the Ely area slowed to a near crawl as lakes were flooded with plenty of food from minnows to leeches in the late summer time period.The annual Ely-Winton Hawg Fishing Contest saw very few entries with the top walleye just over six pounds and the top northern under 14 pounds. While the weather was cooperating, out on the water, the fish were not. From Burntside to Basswood the reports were the same - slow. Two days of trolling Rapalas all over the east end of Basswood produced no walleyes and a local guide on Burntside said he could not get a walleye to bite even after knowing they were on the reef by using an underwater camera.With that in mind, we head into this week’s entries for the Angler Fishing Contest and to no surprise the walleye division is a bit light, as in non-existent.Bass, however, were there for some anglers. Top smallmouth went to Nick Hr-nyak of Grand Rapids, MI who caught a 20.5-inch, 4 lb. 8 oz. bass in Shagawa Lake and brought it in to Skube’s Bait and Tackle to enter the contest.Gabbro Lake was the spot for John Schmidt of Ellis, KS for his 4 lb. 3 oz. smallmouth caught on a Rapala Husky Jerk. Spirit of the Wilderness took the info..A 3 lb. 2 oz. smallmouth was caught in Vermilion by Tommy Bryant Jr. of Summer-field, FL on a Tiki Stick and taken to Vermilion Fuel and Food for the registration. We had a 4 lb. largemouth caught on a jig by “Florida Charlie” Muttschall of Cape Coral, FL on Bear Island Lake while staying at Timber Wolf Lodge. A 2 lb. 8 oz. largemouth bass was caught on a nightcrawler in Garden Lake by Henry David Grant of Hanover Park, IL and checked in at Deer Ridge Resort.Top pike of the week was an 8 lb. 8 oz. northern caught on a Mepps #5 by Matt Leiffert of Runnels, IA in Eagles Nest Two and entered at Spirit of the Wilderness on the east end of Ely. A 6 lb. 6 oz. 30-inch northern was caught in Shagawa Lake on a minnow by Rachel Haaverson of Ely and also entered at Spirit of the Wilderness. Steven Berg of Osceola, WI registered a whopper crappie he caught on a leech in Bear Island Lake. The panfish went 15.25-inches on the ruler and 2 lbs. on the scale at Timber Wolf Lodge. The Catch and Release entries included some real nice bass. Diane Dorman of Fairport, NY released a 20-inch smallie caught in White Iron Lake and entered at Timber Trail Lodge.Bill Dorman of Corning, NY caught and released a 20-inch smallmouth back in to Farm Lake and entered the contest at Timber Trail Lodge. Ty Schmidt of Rochester, MN used a Kastmaster to catch a 30-inch northern in Turtle Lake and released it. Spirit of the Wilderness took down the info.