Minnesota Bass

[FryDog62]

4 minutes ago, Scott F said:

Where did you get the sweatshirt with St Croix's name printed backward?

I guess I'm just "Slysdexic"

[FrogFreak]

On 4/2/2015 at 5:21 PM, BigSkyBasser said:

Hey guys, looking to visit Leech lake this year around mid June. Wondering if there are any other waters in Northern Minn that anyone would care to recommend. I respect the idea of not giving me your favorite spots and lakes. Also really enjoy pond fishing too!

Hey BigSky,  PM me and I can give you some options. I spend my summers around the Park Rapids area and have probably fished most of the smaller lakes between there and Leech. There are some hidden gems for smallies and largies with very little pressure and beautiful shorelines. I do agree with other posts though, it's hard to beat Leech.

[MinnRick]

Evening MN!  Up with the family near Walker and decided to give Woman Lake a try yesterday (7/2).  The Northstar Trail had been in there a month ago and some the bags were shockingly large, with bags over 25# and multiple individual fish weighed over 6# (have to assume they were smallies).  Anyway, I was on the water by 6am and spent the next 4 hours moving from hump to hump throwing surface plugs, tubes (various colors) and spinnerbaits, both up on top and around the edges/drops.  Nothing.  Decided to try graphing some shoreline on the west side and found some nice stretches with scattered rock..  nothing.  I just couldn't find a smallie bite to save my a**.  Went to some rice later in the day and flipped a couple of decent largies but I'm still chapped that I couldn't get anything going with the lake's big time smallmouth population.  If anyone out there knows Woman and can give me a clue what I should have been doing and (in general terms of course) where, I'd be grateful.  Water temps were slightly over 70.  I'm sure a big part of this was user error   ;-)   but it'd still be nice to know if an early July bite is typically this tough!  Thanks in advance.

-- Rick

[FryDog62]

On July 4, 2016 at 0:44 AM, MinnRick said:

Evening MN!  Up with the family near Walker and decided to give Woman Lake a try yesterday (7/2).  The Northstar Trail had been in there a month ago and some the bags were shockingly large, with bags over 25# and multiple individual fish weighed over 6# (have to assume they were smallies).  Anyway, I was on the water by 6am and spent the next 4 hours moving from hump to hump throwing surface plugs, tubes (various colors) and spinnerbaits, both up on top and around the edges/drops.  Nothing.  Decided to try graphing some shoreline on the west side and found some nice stretches with scattered rock..  nothing.  I just couldn't find a smallie bite to save my a**.  Went to some rice later in the day and flipped a couple of decent largies but I'm still chapped that I couldn't get anything going with the lake's big time smallmouth population.  If anyone out there knows Woman and can give me a clue what I should have been doing and (in general terms of course) where, I'd be grateful.  Water temps were slightly over 70.  I'm sure a big part of this was user error   ;-)   but it'd still be nice to know if an early July bite is typically this tough!  Thanks in advance.

-- Rick

Was there almost the same time you were a year ago and had similar results.  I think they scatter post-spawn and are either in transition or gone deep...  eventually they'll be on/near the rock humps --

[Beesch]

Hello all. New to the forum as a poster.  

 

Heading up to Park Rapids to Long Lake for the week on Saturday. Was there last year and caught good numbers of largemouth.  Was wondering if anyone had any other nearby lakes worth trying during the week?  Any info is appreciated.   Thanks!!

[NathanDLTH]

Question for everyone: What are some must have baits? Looking for a three or four must to round out my collection as that has what it's become lol! 

 

[MinnRick]

Thanks FryDog, that helps (my ego, at least  ;).  Tight lines!

[MinnRick]

Question for anyone who knows Medicine Lake here in the Twin Cities..  I was doing some graphing earlier this season and found a handful of scattered rock areas out in the 14-18' depth range - well off the outside weed edge (Medicine's is around 9-10').  I'm wondering if any of the big girls prowl out that deep, in and around those rocks, even though there isn't any weed cover immediately nearby.  I have it in my head that productive water ends, depth-wise, at the weedline.  Do I have that wrong, specifically when it comes to deeper-water rock?  And if so, how deep is it sensible to go in a stained-water lake like Medicine?  Or how about in clearer water like, say, Wayzata Bay in Tonka?  Thanks in advance!

-- Rick

[sully420]

Mnnrick, only one way to find out fish those rocks and see if there home good luck

[punch]

17 hours ago, NathanDLTH said:

Question for everyone: What are some must have baits? Looking for a three or four must to round out my collection as that has what it's become lol! 

 

Oh man what a loaded question haha. For shore fishing or out on a boat? 

[NathanDLTH]

Either. 

[gim]

16 hours ago, MinnRick said:

Question for anyone who knows Medicine Lake here in the Twin Cities..  I was doing some graphing earlier this season and found a handful of scattered rock areas out in the 14-18' depth range - well off the outside weed edge (Medicine's is around 9-10').  I'm wondering if any of the big girls prowl out that deep, in and around those rocks, even though there isn't any weed cover immediately nearby.  I have it in my head that productive water ends, depth-wise, at the weedline.  Do I have that wrong, specifically when it comes to deeper-water rock?  And if so, how deep is it sensible to go in a stained-water lake like Medicine?  Or how about in clearer water like, say, Wayzata Bay in Tonka?  Thanks in advance!

-- Rick

I know that lake OK.  I was not aware of any rock piles outside the deep weed line.  I know of some deep water structure (mid lake humps) that I assumed pretty much the whole lake was a soft bottom.  Both Medicine and Tonka are gonna have a lot of bass angling pressure this time of year...and a TON of recreational traffic.

3 hours ago, NathanDLTH said:

Either.

I would probably go with a weedless frog, some sort of spinnerbait, a shallow running crankbait, a jig, and some sort of soft plastics setup.  There's a wide variety of soft plastics out there so you can choose your own.  I'm sure others will chime in with their own selection of a few lures.

[NathanDLTH]

Thanks for the replies. 

[punch]

I'll piggyback on grimruis's post, he had good suggestions. My favorite shallow crankbait in MN lakes is the DT4, in any kind of natural color. Bluegill, olive, shad. It's the single bait that's cost me the most volume of fish (bass, pike and even crappie) in the last several years.It's great around our shallow weedlines and gets bites all year. I almost always have one tied on. 

IMHO the also must-have's is a ribbon tail worm + texas rig, chatterbait with a paddle tail plastic trailer, swim jigs (great around docks), and a topwater popper (chug bug is my fav). Oh and obviously senko's. 

[NathanDLTH]

3 hours ago, punch said:

I'll piggyback on grimruis's post, he had good suggestions. My favorite shallow crankbait in MN lakes is the DT4, in any kind of natural color. Bluegill, olive, shad. It's the single bait that's cost me the most volume of fish (bass, pike and even crappie) in the last several years.It's great around our shallow weedlines and gets bites all year. I almost always have one tied on. 

IMHO the also must-have's is a ribbon tail worm + texas rig, chatterbait with a paddle tail plastic trailer, swim jigs (great around docks), and a topwater popper (chug bug is my fav). Oh and obviously senko's. 

Thanks Punch! 

[nguggs]

Im very similar to Punch and Gimruis, chatterbait with paddltail in white or bluegill-ish pattern is a must for me. I also like a jig (archy) in green pumpkin, a topwater frog (either popper or standard), or a texas rig soft plastic. Finally, the one that has slayed for me this year, wacky rigged senko with the tail dipped in JJ's.

Ill have to pick up some ribbon tail worms, never tried those yet. Punch, have any suggestions on brand or color?

[punch]

1 hour ago, nguggs said:

Im very similar to Punch and Gimruis, chatterbait with paddltail in white or bluegill-ish pattern is a must for me. I also like a jig (archy) in green pumpkin, a topwater frog (either popper or standard), or a texas rig soft plastic. Finally, the one that has slayed for me this year, wacky rigged senko with the tail dipped in JJ's.

Ill have to pick up some ribbon tail worms, never tried those yet. Punch, have any suggestions on brand or color?

Just the standard Berkley power worm on a size 3 offset hook is pretty money mid summer.  Or go big and try the zoom Ole Monster. Both Texas rigged. 

[gim]

I've been out of town for about 10 days but I heard that central MN got some HEAVY rain earlier last week.  They declared a flood warning around the Brainerd area?  I heard they got about 7 inches of rain in a few hours.  Have you guys seen a large increase in flow in the rivers yet because of this?

[NathanDLTH]

Got two decent bass today, both off of baby brush hog in green pumpkin. One of the kids had something similar in black n blue ended up with 3 after he saw what I was using.  Good evening of fishing.  Plastics continue to be my best way of hooking fish especially bass. 

[IamNewbie]

Any ponds with fish in the Monticello, MN region? Everybody swears there isn't any ponds here in town that have fish, SO... looking to pond hop for my first time. Just don't know where to start. PM or reply, would love to Pond Hop anywhere that's probably in a 20 mile radius 

[BigSkyBasser]

I'm moving to the Detroit lakes area from Montana within the next 45 days or so. Any recommendations for getting some good smallies from shore?

[geneoh]

So happy I found this thread. Lots of great info in here.

After about a decade away from fishing I'm starting back up and I'm very motivated. I spend most nights on youtube watching bass videos after the wife falls asleep and I just got a great deal on a 16ft lunker. I went out this morning for the first time on Weaver lake (close to my parents place where the boat is) and just caught a few in the 10ft weed beds. Had a few attack my frog in the early morning but I'm so rusty I got so excited and didn't set the hook properly/well haha. 

I'm looking to fish some relatively small lakes (because I'll be by myself) for bass around the city. Any suggestions of where to go? I was thinking of trying out Crooked Lake after what Punch said. 

[Dale83]

Heading to Moose/portage river north 4th week of may 2017. taking the kayak and canoes out for a few days. I all my fishing is in rivers in Maryland. for small mouth I  use smaller brown/ crayfish color shallow dive cranks, white or blk buzz and spinnerbaits.  what size and baits, color are good bets. Also hoping to get in to some pike/musky/walleye. any tips on rigs, baits,  I.ve never fished  for these teethy beasts so please details are helpful. Thanks keep'm lines tight