dsidle61

it has its benefits that's for sure! but you can definitely get plenty of places my trolling motor wont chew through!. Nice video btw, my boat transportation will be arriving Saturday. Have been eyeing up a few lakes that I need to get it on ASAP

kingsalmon--hey man welcome to the site! Good to see Minnesota guys getting on here, there aren't nearly enough! What part of the twin cities are you in?? Im not a kayak guy but my 10 ft jon is my version just with a trolling motor!

kayak I sent you a pm

nice video man!! I live in the western metro area, have a little 10ft jon (my version of a kayak). Im new to the area so looking to get out here soon once I get all my stuff moved in. Where abouts are you located in central mn?

hows everyone doing w this rain!? I tried to find some banks today w my jon sitting in the garage til the beginning of next month waiting for my truck to arrive but had no luck with the crazy high waters. Speaking of banks, im looking for some small ponds that are easily bank accessible in the Plymouth or even just western metro area. I know people are crazy secret about their spots so im accepting pm's lol!! Just a guy new to the area and looking to get my lines wet!

I know your pain, had this problem a lot but usually only on the t-rig. wacky rigged I used a regular 3/0 hook no wide gap or anything, id say I had 90% hook rate with that. T-rig was a different story, you definitely need a wide gap hook, size 4/0 or even 5/0. Im not a big fan of burying the hook unless I am fishing an extremely thick patch of weeds and then I just barely hide it. Id much rather have to pull some weeds off on a cast than miss a fish bc I have the hook buried to far. These were all on 6" senkos also, never had any luck whatsoever on anything smaller even the 5", don't know what that extra inch does but fish love it.

Boat and gear is going to be here June 1st (couldn't fit inside my pod during the move). Excited to get out on some of these waters I have been driving around looking at for the past 2 weeks. Going to be living in Plymouth on the northwest side of the twin cities. Been scoping out some ramps and talking to a few guys about what they are catching. My month of June is going to be fish fish fish. Anyone interested in meeting up and showing the new guy around id appreciate it!

Hey guys, im currently a Floridian (not native) and have been on this site for a bit in the southeast forum. I am going to be moving to MN on may 10th. I don't have an exact location yet but I am looking at places in Minnetonka, St Louis park, eden prairie that general area. Ive got a little 10ft jon that I have been using for pond hopping down here and some of the smaller "big" lakes. From reading through this page looks like im gonna be adapting to a new kind of fishing on the big lakes ( im originally from PA so I used to fish lakes there but not from a boat). Im moving w/ my wife and we are basically going on an adventure. We don't have any friends/relatives/family in the area so I figured id start here and see if anyone is in the general area where im gonna be and who loves to fish! Ive been strictly fishing for LGM down here bc that's about all we have and they are pigs but I used to go for smallies back in PA. So any tips, locations, people whod want to meet up and get their lines wet just let me know!

So your saying you'd launch up at the 13 bridge and work towards Clark's rather than launch down at Clark's? My boats only 10ft w a trolling motor I could definitely navigate the area as far as I can see around Clark's. I saw some of the small creeks off the main water on google earth I'd definitely hit those.

I'll have to try it out sometime. I've been to Clark's several times and just thought it was to far north on the river. Doctors lake is a little big for my current size boat.

Isnt the FBI building the one that's posted for no fishing?? Or am I thinking of something else. If its fishable I like the sound of 10lbers and places for small boats

ever had any luck in julington creek for bass?? Ive been thinking about putting my boat in there but worried its too brackish. Fished Governers creek down in Green Cove last weekend not knowing much about it and had a guy at the boat ramp tell me bass are few and far between bc of the brackish water. Saw a bunch of Gar in there and that's never a good sign lol

pretty slow weekend here in jax.. took the boat out today, got chased out of our first stop due to howling winds and thick cover creeping towards the surface that made my trolling motor almost worthless. Stopped at a new spot missed a good one right off the bat on a u vibe and after that it was dead. pulled in a dink and missed a few more. 2 stops later I was fishless and called it a day. Nothing worse than a windy day trying to toss soft plastics and taking me all over a lake.

hey guys been MIA for awhile just got back from a snowy vacation in WV. The wife wants to go on the boat for the first time this weekend. Was thinking of heading out to Santa Fe bc her grandmother has a house on the small lake. I know some people on here have said they are struggling on there but was hoping for some areas on the small lake due to my small trolling motor being the only thing pushing me around lol. She lives smack in the middle of the small lake. If your looking at a map she is to the left around the corner of the ramp right next to the little point there where the docks end. Thanks guys, ive never fished it before so ill see how it goes.

Awesome to see another OP guy on here. How often do you fish?? Well have to share some spots around town.....via PM of course lol to many spot stealers on here.

I missed the saltwater part in your original post, in that case yes you definitely made a good buy. Make sure you check the weight restrictions on your raft. Those batteries run 50-60 lbs each so if you plan on carrying an extra make sure to distribute the weight evenly (maybe put the spare battery up front).

As far as registering your boat, only if it has a VIN number (just like a car) do you need to register it. If it doesn't theres no way for them to know the different between your raft and the next one. As far as your trolling motor, id have told you to go smaller but since you got the big guy might as well stick to it. I have a 30lb thrust on a 10 ft jon boat and it pushed me and a passenger perfectly fine. I can go a whole day without coming close to draining the battery, with yours im not sure bc obviously youll use more for that bigger motor but my guess you can easily get 8 hrs out of it as long as your aren't burning around in 5 all day.

Im very jealous of you frog luck you've been having. We cant get a consistent bite up here. I missed one last weekend night fishing and other than that its been more than a month since ive caught anything on the frog......its coming soon though. Maybe end of april/may then it will be game on.

Are you just rubbing it in bc I asked about this a week ago and found out I can't get on it lol monster fish especially in a 8 day period!

funny bc there is a house for sale on the pond that my wife and I really like. we are in an apt about .1 miles away right now and are in the beginning of home searching and I wish I had the money to buy it just out of spite lol. Id go buy a nice little 5hp for the boat and show her what a motor actually is and make sure to buzz by her house in the middle of a good night fishing trip.

I hear you man, to be honest until she approached me last month which was at least 8 months into me fishing there I hadn't the slightest clue there even was an HOA bc of the lack of signs or just anything there. Everyone was super friendly asking me how they were biting and what I was using and their fishing stories then this lady pops up. Its an absolute joke.

central, id go with the 7-8lb range also. They are never as big as they seem lol im guilty of this more than id like to admit. Nice that you found that honey hole, I got kicked from mine today. Ive been fishing this spot since last summer never ever had an issue. Started putting my boat in and these people are coming out of the wood works, not even people actually its one lady. Ive met several people around there that are nice and one guy who even fishes there too and is a nice guy so she stopped me about a month or so ago feeding me this story that I cant put a boat in the lake bc motors aren't allowed on it and its not deep enough?? Keep in mind I have a 10ft jon w a 30lb thrust trolling motor and this pond is a good 15-20 ft in most areas. I let her have her 5 minutes of fame and moved on. Today was out on the pond and she stops in the middle of the road to start yelling over to us asking where I live and what not. She starts her HOA rant telling me she pays 500$ a year to live there and maintain the lakes. There are no signs posted anywhere which she assured me will change (like she told me a month ago) so until then she cant keep me off. And if signs do appear I have some plans to befriend the guy who approaches us when we are fishing to ask for some tips bc she said if we have permission from someone inside the community we can fish. I don't mean to offend any of you that may be in an HOA but those people are cult-esque. There isn't a single sign posted anywhere about an HOA or anything and not a single sign on the water but these people think they own the d**n water. We aren't destroying anything, we throw every fish back and we park in a house that's been abandon for at least a year, if anything im doing them a favor bc people driving through will see me parked there and think someone lives there instead of it being an abandon house. It blows my mind that these power tripping people can control who can and cant fish their waters even though they have never touched a fishing pole and are living on one of if not the best producing spot for me. I cant even count how many fish between 4-8 lbs ive caught out of there. so that's my rant lol but we fished the pond anyway and I pulled in two 5+ fish and one small, AK produced a small one and a nice 15" crappie. Sorry for the sideways pics I don't know why tinypic did that lol top one was 5lb14 bottom one was 5lb4 both on zoom lizards.

Was wondering if anyone on this site has ever been out to Kingsley lake out on camp blanding (Jacksonville, FL). Heard some good things about this place but I don't know if there are any restrictions with it being on a military base. Ive been doing as much reading as possible trying to find the answer before coming here and all I got was a yes you can fish it and a no you cant fish it. So anyone on here with any knowledge please help!

Never fished it, but I work for the company that runs the place. I visit out there on calls a few times a year, honestly didn't even know there was a pond there. If I ever get back out there ill have to check it out, that where you pulled out those fish?

I think that's what I'll do, I have a med heavy spinner that I can return to academy w no receipt for store credit and I'll just get a med heavy caster so I'll have med and med heavy BC and still have my med spinner