Minnesota Lake Reports 2016

[A-Jay]

38 minutes ago, punch said:

Well, I'm in the market now for some rods & reels.. My boat was robbed Monday night. I live in Andover. They took 5 rods/reels and my entire 8 tray tackle bag with all my hard baits and terminal tackle. My boat sits next to my garage outside and I take my gear out 99% of the time, but I went on the lake for an hour Monday night with my dad and when we got home it was a bit chaotic with my kids and some other things.. and I didn't take out my gear. I went out Tuesday morning and it was like a kick in the stomach. They left 4 rods and my HDS7 thank god.. but they made off with some pretty good combos including my Avid X finesse rod and dobyns cranking rod. Luckly they left me SOME rods and I had a few good ones in the garage (like my flippin stick).

 

I'm going to have some spendy trips to Cabelas and Gander to replace some must-have's for the rest of the season. Bunch of ****in savages out there.  

 

I'm also in the market for a new frog rod and some reels. If anyone has some stuff laying around or knows of some deals, let me know. 

That is bogus. Sorry hear that.

Did you notify the police and will your home owners insurance help defer some of the replacement cost ?

A-Jay

[punch]

Did a police report, and I have a 1k deductible and the value of what was stolen is around 1600.. so it's not worth making a claim. Sadly my agent says it's best to eat it. 

[NathanDLTH]

d**n dude

[Turkey sandwich]

d**n.  That's awful.  Keep an eye on Craigslist, pawn shops, etc and talk to any local tackle shops.  Losing tackle like that sucks. 

[FishingMN]

that sounds like more than 1600, are you sure it isn't worth it with insurance?

[dsidle61]

Some people are unbelievable.  On another forum some guy posted that his truck was wiped clean at the boat ramp at Whaletail.  Sorry to hear about your stuff man.  If you can make it through the fall, hit Cabelas and Gander mountain for the winter clearances. 

As far as fishing goes, just got back from Maxwell Bay tonight, was hoping the bigger pike would be active with the cool down.  Was tossing spoons and redeyes with no luck.  Found one on a spinnerbait but that was it, maybe 25" or so.  Anyone care to share some bays out there?  Heard that further south is better with the clearer water, but its big place!  Just looking for a good starting point. 

[punch]

I went out on Lake George in the drizzle/rain this morning (with the rods I have left) and found a good bite in 8ish feet of water off points & drop offs with spinnerbaits and a few on a 4.8" swimbait. Got a few on a DT4 as well. The bite was pretty active, they seemed to really like my gold war eagle spinnerbait. I LOVE tossing spinnerbaits in the rain, the fish can't say no. 

There was NO bite up shallow, which seems to be the common theme lately. Few dinks but the bigger fish are off the bank. Once the weather starts cooling the big boys will be back shallow. Water's still pretty warm. 

[FishingMN]

I've seen 69-75 degree water temps lately.  What temp starts bringing them in usually?

[gim]

Punch, if the value of your stolen stuff is around 1600 and you have a 1000 deductible, isn't that worth submitting a claim?  Maybe its not worth it if they jack up your rates.

I noticed that the water temps went from the 80's down into the 70's the past 10 days.  We got some rain and it started to cool off (slightly).  My tactics didn't change though, still couldn't get a fish to take a moving lure.  They only bit on really slow moving soft plastics.  Almost painfully slow

[NathanDLTH]

Over the last couple weeks from the shore it has been nothing but dinks. Square bill cranks in silver shad color patterns for me. Red eyes seem to help. Steady retrieve followed by a pause then steady with increased speed helps. Can't get anything bigger than 8inches... 

[dsidle61]

Was out earlier this week in the west metro.  Was slow bouncing wacky rigs and lizards.  I was getting a bunch of short strikes, just taps on the senko and when I switched to lizards I was getting tail bite offs.  Switched from 8" to 6" and was still getting the tail bite offs.  Eventually just gave up for the sake of saving bags of lures. 

Will hopefully be getting out for an evening this weekend.  Hopefully the cooling waters will bring the bass up shallower and get the bigger gators active. 

 

On a side note, Punch have you had any luck tracking down any of your things? 

[pitchin fool]

The last 2 weeks on my local lake, I have been having great success in the channels.  We have fortunately received an awesome duck weed crop this year and the channels have been nice and full of the stuff.  Frogs have been slamming as long as there are trees and coontail mixed in with the duckweed.  5-11 has been my biggest followed by 5 four pounders, and numerous 3's and 2's.  Anyone else been having the same type of luck?

 

My 5-11

Got salad?

[dsidle61]

Good work Pitchin', I love throwing frogs at that stuff.  I'm going to head out this evening ahead of the rain hopefully.  Not sure where yet, I'm hoping the weather will keep some people off the water despite the holiday. 

[gim]

I did well river fishing this morning for smallmouth.  The water was  little higher and murkier than it should be this time of year, but I knew the lakes would be packed for the holiday weekend so I avoided them.  Caught 23 smallmouth and 3 pike.  Biggest smallmouth was 18 inches and biggest pike was 28 inches.

I have had absolutely miserable results using a frog this entire season for largemouth in the slop.  I usually do pretty good with frogs but for some reason they simply won't work.  I can't even get them to strike it.  Its very frustrating because I think topwater fishing is arguably the most exciting way to bass fish.

[pitchin fool]

My last couple years haven't been all that great with frog either, but the last couple weeks changed that real quick. So many boats would pass right by me heading out to the main lake to fish. Hopefully my secret stays with me!

[punch]

FYI - if you got a boat and are free on Sept 18th, you could guide on the 1st ever "Take A Veteran Fishing" event on 'Tonka. 

 

http://takeavetfishing.org/events/event_details/?event=327

 

I might sign up, even though I don't know the lake that well. Might be a fun excuse to hang out with a vet and get out on the water. Anyone doing this?? 

[gim]

Isn't that the final day of the Bassmaster Elite AOY on Mille Lacs?

[Fiske]

On ‎9‎/‎5‎/‎2016 at 10:26 AM, pitchin fool said:

The last 2 weeks on my local lake, I have been having great success in the channels.  We have fortunately received an awesome duck weed crop this year and the channels have been nice and full of the stuff.  Frogs have been slamming as long as there are trees and coontail mixed in with the duckweed.  5-11 has been my biggest followed by 5 four pounders, and numerous 3's and 2's.  Anyone else been having the same type of luck?

 

My 5-11

Got salad?

Nice bass pitch!

Haven't been fishing duck weed but curly tail cabbage beds in 6-9'
of water have really been hot for me this year.
Day before yesterday was a prime example. Wind kept me from fishing everything
but a few small leeward areas of cabbage. In five hrs took 10+ bass on a swim jig
before rain and lightening finally blew me off the water,.
All fish were under 12" except this 19.25 and 18.75 incher,,,respectively.

Biggest pike so far this year,,,a 29 incher that slammed a rageblade over cabbage.

[pitchin fool]

9 hours ago, Fiske said:

Nice bass pitch!

Haven't been fishing duck weed but curly tail cabbage beds in 6-9'
of water have really been hot for me this year.
Day before yesterday was a prime example. Wind kept me from fishing everything
but a few small leeward areas of cabbage. In five hrs took 10+ bass on a swim jig
before rain and lightening finally blew me off the water,.
All fish were under 12" except this 19.25 and 18.75 incher,,,respectively.

Biggest pike so far this year,,,a 29 incher that slammed a rageblade over cabbage.

Nice stuff, Fiske!  I am always in some type of weeds.  Its a rare occasion that I am having any success in my area if there isn't any weeds around.  Hopefully will get out this weekend for another try....if I have some luck, I will post!

[NathanDLTH]

Got out on Lake Johanna today thanks to another bass angler and we hammered them. I caught 2 2lb, 1 3lb, and 4 lb. The guy who took me out caught 2-3 in the 2 lb range, 2 3lber's, a couple 4s, and one 5 at the very end. Probably the best day of fishing I've had in a while. I'll try and get some pics of my bass up.

[geneoh]

6 hours ago, NathanDLTH said:

Got out on Lake Johanna today thanks to another bass angler and we hammered them. I caught 2 2lb, 1 3lb, and 4 lb. The guy who took me out caught 2-3 in the 2 lb range, 2 3lber's, a couple 4s, and one 5 at the very end. Probably the best day of fishing I've had in a while. I'll try and get some pics of my bass up.

I live just a few miles from Lake Johanna, I need to get out there! 

[NathanDLTH]

You should, it was worth the early morning. Just a simple green pumpkin jig dragged across the bottom with zoom speed craw trailer. 

[Fiske]

Cool!
But no 7 lbers Nathan? .

Speaking of which; I was paging through an old 90's issue of In-Fisherman a while back
where Ron Linder was lamenting the fact that in 20 plus years of fishing and
interacting with fisherman in Minnesota he had yet to see a "true" 7 lber.

[NathanDLTH]

19 minutes ago, Fiske said:

Cool!
But no 7 lbers Nathan? .

Speaking of which; I was paging through an old 90's issue of In-Fisherman a while back
where Ron Linder was lamenting the fact that in 20 plus years of fishing and
interacting with fisherman in Minnesota he had yet to see a "true" 7 lber.

Lol no 7 lbers.. The biggest bass I have encountered fishing is a 5 lb bass yesterday. If I do encounter a 7 lb bass while in Minnesota I'll be getting measurements for a mount lol! 

[Fiske]

Yeah,,,for sure!
In fact, I'd be trilled with a six before finally fading into the summer sun.