My buddy Dennis Beich invited me to give Banks Lake a try last Friday, and I was quick to agree to go. Dennis and I have had some good days on Banks Lake fishing for walleye, and this was probably the earliest we have made a trip here. We had postponed it by one day to avoid the forecast for wind, and the folks at Northrup said we made the right decision. We headed straight for Barker Flats and started trolling spinners on bottom bouncers. We started at 20 feet and worked our way into deeper water. We trolled all the way across the flats, well past the Barker ramp and only got one bite. We marked a bunch of fish on the north end of the flats so headed back there. Sure enough, the screen showed lots of fish from 25 to 30 feet, but all we got was a smallmouth. We fished a couple of other spots before packing it in. I will blame the poor bite to cold water, only 46 degrees, and that the walleye are going into spawn mode. We’ll give Banks another try later on. I love fishing for walleye and smallmouth on this scenic lake.