Minnesota Lake Reports 2016

[ibefishing]

12 minutes ago, punch said:

I got out this morning from 6:30am to 9:30am. Waters about 65 degrees. I was able to catch 7 fish, two big ones, very shallow. I saw a ton of bass cruising the inside shallow side of weed lines.  I was getting most of my bites slowly fishing a chug right along the weeds. Caught a couple on a white chatterbait but the big guys wanted the popper. Biggest was 4lbs. I fished the deep side of the weed lines and didn't get a bite. All my action was shallow. Like less than 4 feet of water. 

Was this on Medicine? 

[punch]

6 hours ago, ibefishing said:

Was this on Medicine? 

No, lake in the north metro. I don't hit Medicine that often. I usually bounce around Anoka county area lakes. 

[NathanDLTH]

New guy here, transplanted from Duluth to Minneapolis for school. I have one bass all season, but I'm shore fishing primarily which limits me greatly. Still looking for lakes, think I need to pick a lake and work it till I learn. I'm new at the bass game too, but been a long time angler. 

My only bass so far.

[punch]

11 hours ago, NathanDLTH said:

New guy here, transplanted from Duluth to Minneapolis for school. I have one bass all season, but I'm shore fishing primarily which limits me greatly. Still looking for lakes, think I need to pick a lake and work it till I learn. I'm new at the bass game too, but been a long time angler. 

My only bass so far.

If you want to drive up to the north suburbs, you're welcome to come out with me sometime on my boat. Shoot me a message. 

[nguggs]

Just got back from a long weekend up north. A little southwest of the Brainerd area. 

Fished mainly in the mornings and evenings. Slower and smaller was key for me. Jerkbait bite was good. Caught a combination of bass and pike on a smaller, 2 treble, firetiger/perch neon pattern. Not sure of the exact color.  Caught another one with a white/chartreuse chatterbait.  Ended the trip last night targeting a bedding bass in about 2 feet of water. Ended up getting him on a texas rigged 6" white lizard. I didnt have a scale but was probably 3lbs. Seemed like they were really into the bright/white/chart colors this weekend, especially with the clear water. 
 

 

[NathanDLTH]

On May 31, 2016 at 9:56 AM, punch said:

If you want to drive up to the north suburbs, you're welcome to come out with me sometime on my boat. Shoot me a message. 

Thanks man, I appreciated that! 

[BassThumb]

On May 25, 2016 at 3:31 PM, FryDog62 said:

If I get a chance to sneak out and fish like 5:30-9:30 am this weekend (before the pleasure boaters are out) What is the nearest lake to the Twin Cities with big pike?  Am willing to drive 1-2 hours in any direction if that helps...

Clearwater Lake in Wright County has a good number of 10-lb-plus fish in it. 

[gim]

What's the word on the smallmouth bite on Mille Lacs right now?  They still shallow in post spawn or what?  I might be heading up there a day this week.  It looks HOT starting Friday.

[dsidle61]

33 minutes ago, gimruis said:

What's the word on the smallmouth bite on Mille Lacs right now?  They still shallow in post spawn or what?  I might be heading up there a day this week.  It looks HOT starting Friday.

That lake is on fire.  Not sure where they are but seems like everyone I see are pulling 4-5s out of there. 

Ive been on the hunt for northern lately doing an online length tourney.  Got a nice 31" out in the west metro last week and a few 28s as well.  Ive got a few bass here and there, some on a wacky rig and a frog still nothing consistent in that category.

[punch]

I went out last night from 5-8pm. It was a little windy so I worked the deeper part of the weed lines on the wind swept side of the lake. I caught like 6 fish pretty rapidly on a vision 110 jerkbait in 10 feet of water right along the weeds. It was a little tricky to keep the boat in position but it paid off. I got one 4.5lb which was fun. 

 

[gim]

I went to Mille Lacs yesterday with my Father and we caught 7 smallmouth and one walleye (by accident) in about 4 hours.  Lovely day out there, about 70 degrees, sunny, light south wind.  There's just no one fishing the lake anymore.  Its basically devoid of any fishing pressure.  I realize that it was a Wednesday morning but there was literally one other trailer in the parking lot when we got there at 8am.  The rumors are true.  There are some MASSIVE smallmouth in that lake.

[NathanDLTH]

Where can I person fish that isn't crowded and in the metro. Everywhere I go people just flock to the spots. The Mississippi is about that isn't crowded. 

[gim]

Do you have a boat Nathan?  Not much you can do between now and about Labor Day on the metro lakes, especially on the weekend if its nice weather.  The recreational riff raff is out there because the water is now warm enough for it.  About the best advice I can give you is either 1) go early AM before noon, 2) go during the weekdays, or 3) go when the weather isn't the greatest.  If your fishing from shore, a river is probably a better option than a lake.  The Mississippi River up by the Coon Rapids Dam is a pretty good spot with a diverse fish population that has a large area for shore anglers.

[nguggs]

Nathan, as gimruis said, getting out in off peak-hours is key. Went out yesterday on Tonka and put the boat in without a problem at like 7am. Only a few other boats at the lunch were all anglers. We took out around 11am, after waiting for 2 boats to launch ahead of us. (We can sometimes wait for up to 8, but that is Tonka) There was only one spot we wanted to hit that had a boat on it. No big deal, though. We try to stay off the main lakes and bays as much as possible to avoid the riff raff, which works pretty well. Smaller bays work well for us, and fishing is pretty good too.

Yesterday was great in my book. Caught around 9 fish. Mostly LMB's, but also a Pike. Started with some moving baits, notable a chatterbait which caught our first bass and pike, The rest were all caught on a weighted wakey rig with a green pumpkin senko with the tail dipped chartreuse. Flipped it at docks and smoked 'em. Reeled in a few dinks, some good ones, and lost a potential new pb at the boat. Seems like they are relating to the shallow/shaded cover with the hotter temps as of late.
 

[NathanDLTH]

No boat guys, doing this from shore. One member has offered to take me out. 

[Fiske]

Hi fellows,,,,been a member for a while but wasn't inclined to post until I saw this thread which peaked my interest

I fish mainly  OtterTail County lake country and have always found June to be a little slow..

Last Friday was no exception,,, although did manage to pick up a 17 and 16 plus incher,  a couple of 15's,.and several smaller.

Water temp was 73.4 degrees and I took most of the fish on a Bomber crank.

I've been a die hard basser for over 30 yrs and have taken some very nice fish but a 6 pounder or better has been elusive..

Last September I picked up a 22 incher (which suggested well over 6) on the outside edge of a reed bed in about

8' of water using a 3/8 oz rage blade. Long story short,,, she was long, lean, and mean and came in at 5.47 lbs.

Still my personal best by an ounce or so.

capture

Anyway,,,hope this thread continues to flourish.

 

 

 

 

[A-Jay]

15 minutes ago, Fiske said:

Hi fellows,,,,been a member for a while but wasn't inclined to post until I saw this thread which peaked my interest

I fish mainly  OtterTail Country lake country and have always found June to be a little slow..

Last Friday was no exception,,, although did manage to pick up a 17 and 16 plus incher,  a couple of 15's,.and several smaller.

Water temp was 73.4 degrees and I took most of the fish on a Bomber crank.

I've been a die hard basser for over 30 yrs and have taken some very nice fish but a 6 pounder or better has been elusive..

Last September I picked up a 22 incher (which suggested well over 6) on the outside edge of a reed bed in about

8' of water using a 3/8 oz rage blade. Long story short,,, she was long, lean, and mean and came in at 5.47 lbs.

Still my personal best by an ounce or so.

capture

Anyway,,,hope this thread continues to flourish.

 

 

 

 

Hello Fiske ~

Congrats on your first post & some solid bass

A-Jay

[punch]

Man, the bite has been pretty consistent lately.  I got out Sunday evening and a little bit today between storm fronts. Water temps are up to the mid 70's in the metro and I've found fish holding REALLY tight to cover shallow. Sunday evening I was able to catch quite a few fish in 3 feet or less water right in & around reeds & docks. Megabass pop max was the ticket (my 2nd favorite popper behind the chug bug). The wind got them going I think. 

I snuck out today around dinner time and caught a quick 3 fish in 10-14 feet of water on the ole Vision 110 (seriously, if you don't toss this you're crazy) and the white chatterbait.

Topwater, chatterbait and the jerkbait has been really my main 3 baits for the last few weeks. Been able to catch fish on one or more of those presentations each time i've been out. I'm waiting for that to change once the water warms up to 80ish and I'll have to slow down and start tossing plastics. I keep bringing my flippin stick and senko rod out but I never need to use them.. yet. 

[gim]

Good report Punch.  The weather has been really interesting lately.  90's then storms then muggy and more storms, etc.  If you're catching them consistently on lures like topwaters and chatterbaits there's no reason to slow down to a soft plastic finesse tactic yet.

Have you been running into the recreational traffic yet?  They were thick last weekend when the weather was hot.  Wake boarders, jet skis, tubers, and pontoons everywhere.

[punch]

So, I had the day off of work and I actually remembered to bring my gopro with me this morning! I've been wanting to make an instructional video for a long time, and finally went through with it. I tried my best to make a video about using the pop max (and poppers in general). I'm not sure if I did a good job, but any feedback (and subscribers) would be great. Are there any other MN anglers with active youtube channels? 

 

 

[Ranger518vx]

Mille lacs has been pretty good...

[gim]

I was up there yesterday and it was OK.  Not great like I was expecting.  It could have been the absolutely flat, calm, sunny conditions from about 1:30pm until dark though.  I caught several smallmouth but nothing real big.  The water in that lake has really cleared up.  I could see the bottom very well in 10 feet of water.  Rarely is that lake completely flat like it was yesterday.

[Ranger518vx]

13 hours ago, gimruis said:

I was up there yesterday and it was OK.  Not great like I was expecting.  It could have been the absolutely flat, calm, sunny conditions from about 1:30pm until dark though.  I caught several smallmouth but nothing real big.  The water in that lake has really cleared up.  I could see the bottom very well in 10 feet of water.  Rarely is that lake completely flat like it was yesterday.

Were all the fish off of the beds? Last weekend we were still able to catch some good ones on beds. 

[gim]

They're off the beds now.  I actually saw the beds too and very few fish in 8 feet of water or less.  I saw a couple swimming around in 8-12 feet of water including a real tanker but I couldn't get them to go.  I caught 4 at that depth but none of them were very impressive, biggest was 17.5 inches.  Water temp was about 70 degrees everywhere I went.

[NathanDLTH]

Today after getting off from work I headed straight to the lake and walked over to a spot where I had seen some decent bass before. Tossed my line in with a 5" Gary Y senko in green watermelon texas rigged, this was the result of my first cast. Caught a smaller one then that was it. My guess on weight 2-3lb range. I had seen a muskrat about a minute or two before casting so I had thought I'd hooked him, then realized it was a fish a decent fish at that! I was in disbelief when I reeled it in lol! Nice way to start my days off.