Minnesota Lake Reports 2016

[OperationEagle]

1 hour ago, Fiske said:

It doesn't but it's kind of a mute point looking at your fishing report.
And yeah,,,even four hrs in a boat with you no doubt would have been invaluable to me.

However,,,my progression as a bass fisherman in the last 3 years or,
more importantly. lack of progression the previous 35 is no doubt a topic for another forum,

Fiske...my sentiments exactly.

 

[punch]

So, me and a friend took yesterday off and took advantage of a glass-calm day on Mille Lacs. Holy crap! The hype is real. The fishing was just ridiculous. We hit about 5 different rock piles around the lake in 15-25 feet of water and fished 3" & 4" swimbaits on round jig heads (1/4oz). We would cast out, let the baits hit the bottom then slow roll them back in. The smallies and walleye were going nuts for this. We got bites on little dippers and kitechs all day. We tossed drop shots and jigs and didn't get a single bite (seriously). My buddy got one 5lber on a tube, but other than that the swimbait-on-the-bottom tatic was the winner. We caught about 14 smallies and the average weight was over 4lbs. Our  "small ones" were 2lbs. We also caught about a dozen walleye, with two big ones over 23".  The bite is just bananas on that lake. We got a couple 5's but most were 4's. 

I would say that having side-scan was required for finding spots. Marking groupings of rocks, or bigger boulders was key. If we drifted off the rocks the bite would die off.. when we got on the sweet spots, boom. Having side scan with deep water rock fishing is just essential. We could drive around a spot and look for the best looking rock groupings, mark em, then slow down and work them. Most of our day was watching the side scan, "there's more rocks on the right.."  "ok some big rocks on the left".. "we're off the rocks". 

My new PB, 4lb 12oz

[shimmy]

On 10/22/2016 at 10:15 AM, Fiske said:

Beauties!

Unfortunately can't make this morn but will be in the area around 1 pm.

Arrived at the P.A. at 1:15
Since you weren't there decided to give your 5 lbers a chance to recoup so they'd be push overs later on in the week.

But getting back to the lake,,,yeah,,,if you were in the area it would be one you'd probably hit,,,quite a coincidence especially since it's the first time I've fished it this year.

The other problem I see is that I'm pretty sure the shoreline/structures pictured behind you don't exist on this lake.

What's the max depth of the lake pictured?

 

Man, maybe we are thinking different lakes but  I could swear your pictures are from the main lake side and your last picture is the reed island in the middle right side of the lake. Lake starts with the letter "N"

 

Thing is, even though I did alright, fishing with 2 is so much easier to find a pattern and then fish less tentatively and confidently. And, is just more fun fishing with others.

[Fiske]

Well I'll be darned!
 Don't fish N much anymore and haven't been back in where I guess your photo was taken in many years.
 Huh! Would have thought to shallow this time of year.
 Establishing a pattern is even tougher when you get on the water around 2 and have the added pressure of diminishing daylight. Slow rolling a spinner bait has been about the slowest I've been able to force myself to go.
 Anyway,,,20 not winterized yet,,, weather decent Thursday,,, I'll review your report and try to be on N by 9,,, will let you know how It goes down.?

 

 

 

[shimmy]

Fiske, I usually start main lakes this time of year, but when back coves have depths that are deep, then the fish will hang around there also and stay in prespawn zones for part of the fall. The main lake should hold them as well, but that was not the case when I fished there...I didn't see anything special on the depth finder like I was expecting. I would fish the outer weed lines in 5-10 feet of water. I would avoid all temptation to fish at the shoreline/reed line and wood. I did not get one bite on any wood. Granted there will be bass at all depths and possibly near wood, the baitfish are in the weeds and that is where the bigger girls are feeding. Flats near spawning areas gave me a lot of bites, but didn't catch all my bites. The fish on that lake were more spread out than I had anticipated. It isn't my favorite lake since a legit 7 is very unlikely, but there is something about catching really short bass there that are soooooooo fat. Always fun to catch those. Please give a report

[gim]

I went out last night in the rain in a friend's boat, metro lake.  Obviously we were the only boat out there.  It was pretty raw.  Water was 54 degrees, air was definitely lower than that.  Hands got cold and wet by the time it got dark.  The fish are still biting though.  We caught 12 bass and 3 pike in just over 2 hours and had a bunch of other ones that either jumped off or simply got off.  Biggest was a 17 incher, rest were 13-16 inches.  I think I'm done for the season now, its just too friggin' cold out there in the raw cold wind in a boat.  Good luck to those still willing to brave mother nature.

[geneoh]

^ Don't say that, Friday is a high of 71!

[rascalP]

Still going strong.  Local lake has the largemouth going after anything moving horizontal.  Swimbaits have been the best, but chatterbaits, jerks, and squarebills have been good too. Shallow cabbage - 4 ft have been holding the majority of the fish. Getting at least one tank (18"+) each time out.

  Tues. there was a good jerkbait bite on the st. croix and tubes were getting smaller fish deeper, offshore.  Water temps on both river and lakes are right around 49. With the weather forcasts, this will hold for another couple weeks.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

[FishingMN]

12 hours ago, rascalP said:

Still going strong.  Local lake has the largemouth going after anything moving horizontal.  Swimbaits have been the best, but chatterbaits, jerks, and squarebills have been good too. Shallow cabbage - 4 ft have been holding the majority of the fish. Getting at least one tank (18"+) each time out.

  Tues. there was a good jerkbait bite on the st. croix and tubes were getting smaller fish deeper, offshore.  Water temps on both river and lakes are right around 49. With the weather forcasts, this will hold for another couple weeks.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Is the cabbage bite on a lake or in the river?  If it is a lake, is it on flat, point, or just along the shoreline?  Glad to hear you are getting a good bite yet.

 

[punch]

I got out for a few hours this morning. Man, finding the fish in the fall when all the lake's vegetation is dead is HARD. One of my local lakes has no alive milfoil or cabbage.. they did a final chemical treatment about a month ago and it's a barren wasteland. However, the lake holds a lot of bigger fish so I was bound and determined to find one. They gotta be somewhere, right? 

I started with shallow topwater up and down the banks... buzz bait, whopper plopper, popper. Nothing (k one small fish on a chug bug). Went a little deeper with drop shot. Nothing. Started tossing senkos around docks. Nothing. Tossed a chatterbait in every depth, even right up on the bank. Nothing. Tossed around a KVD 1.5 and DT4 in 3-8 feet where I was seeing fish on the electronics. A couple dinks, but nothing amazing.

Then I rounded a point that has a really sandy, shallow flat that's in about 2-3 feet of water. I looked down with my sunglasses and saw some bait fish and a few big clouds of sand. Something big got outta my way in a hurry. I hunkered down in the middle of the flat and started tossing a bluegill T1 spinner with a paddle trailer and BOOM.. like 4 fish. They were everyhwere. Size was there too, all around 2lbs. I look down at my clock and realize I have to be off the water in 10 minutes. Figures! Just when you find a pattern it's time to go. I make a couple final casts, including over some visibly dead milfoil in about 3-4 feet then BANG.. 5lb 2oz fish smokes it. 

 

 

What's funny is I slammed the same spot earlier with a buzz bait and whopper plopper, and had no bites. The fish were there, they just wanted a spinner bait apparently. Moral of the story is get up shallow this time of year and use your eyeballs. They definitely wanted to chase something, I just wasn't keying in on the right depth/bottom. Shalllow + sand + spinnerbait saved the day. 

[Jeff H]

Good job punch!

Water temp? 

I was out Thursday for a few hours on N/S Center.  3 dinks and a gator. Biggest was 14".  Water temps were 49-51.  I'll be going back out there next weekend, I didn't get to do all I wanted to out there. 

[Fiske]

On ‎10‎/‎25‎/‎2016 at 11:32 PM, shimmy said:

Fiske, I usually start main lakes this time of year, but when back coves have depths that are deep, then the fish will hang around there also and stay in prespawn zones for part of the fall. The main lake should hold them as well, but that was not the case when I fished there...I didn't see anything special on the depth finder like I was expecting. I would fish the outer weed lines in 5-10 feet of water. I would avoid all temptation to fish at the shoreline/reed line and wood. I did not get one bite on any wood. Granted there will be bass at all depths and possibly near wood, the baitfish are in the weeds and that is where the bigger girls are feeding. Flats near spawning areas gave me a lot of bites, but didn't catch all my bites. The fish on that lake were more spread out than I had anticipated. It isn't my favorite lake since a legit 7 is very unlikely, but there is something about catching really short bass there that are soooooooo fat. Always fun to catch those. Please give a report

Hey shimmy,,,fished N as planned,,,but not much to report.
I suppose one could conclude lack of ability but i think it was the tough conditiions I was facing.

Pike bite has really cooled with one bite off and one to boat on the
northern end of the cove. Slowed down a bit and worked the area throughly just in case there were some bass hanging around,

On the main lake by 2 where green weed lines were a little more definitive.
At 5  let the wind blow me down the length of the western shore and sped things up a bit with a slow spinner bait.

WT reached 49 by 2 PM but never did make it to 50.
Wind was managablae in the morn but the afternoon was wicked,

Overall it was a day filled with anticipation that wasn't dampened much by not finding bass, Not a bad way to end the season

Thanks for sharing your success on and tips for the "mystery lake"

[shimmy]

Being a high water temps of 49 can make fishing tough. Especially on that lake. That lake is so full of northern. Haven't caught any northern over 8 pounds though but I am sure there are some giant northern in there. The summer can be tough out there when there are a lot of boats. Way to tough it out. Today is warm. Hoping someone gets out today and gets em.

[geneoh]

Yeah, they are shallow for me as well. Was out Friday morning and got my two biggest (3.2 and 2.8) on the bank by timber. 

Going out tomorrow morning and hopefully it will be the same. 

[rascalP]

fishingmn,    cabbage bite is in a lake.  4 ft most all around the lake and generally flat.  The lake has good milfoil and coon that sets up deeper, but the active bass seem to like the shallower weed this time of year.

  Going to try to get up to ML this week. We were up there 2 weeks ago and did pretty good on the north side.  Top 5 fish were over 19" with 2 over 20. We wanted to fish the east side, but the wind was a little too much out of the west.

[gim]

I'm kinda ticked I winterized my boat and put it away for the off-season 10 days ago.

[OperationEagle]

2 hours ago, gimruis said:

I'm kinda ticked I winterized my boat and put it away for the off-season 10 days ago.

Same here but with this weekend's weather, I just might take it out regardless to take advantage.  Might be too warm outside to ignore!

If I do go out, my plan is to redo the gear lube flush for the lower unit. Will cost me less than $10 for the extra gear lube....might be worth it for another weekend of fishing. 

Actually it will only be worth it if I catch something!

[rascalP]

Sorry to hear that, gimruis.  We usually fish open water til Thanksgiving. The river stays open into December no matter what.

Tues. the river was pretty good. Started slow, but every spot kicked out a fish or three. Jig/craw and tubes worked best. Very soft bites. Big fish was 18". Water temp was 49-50.

   Mille lacs fell through today, so stayed in the chisago area.   Again, started slow.  Had to go to a jig/craw and a t-rig worm to get the first few. Then, in the afternoon, the bass and pike went on a tear on a swimbait for a couple hours.   All less than 6 ft.   With the calm water, you could see where all the panfish were schooling and thats where the bass/pike were. Seemed like every pike in the lake were in this area. Big bass, a 19 incher, came from dying pad field, 2 fow, on a barely weighted swimbait.  Way Cool.  Water temp was 50-52.   This weather is nice to fish in, but I'll be looking for some wind and weather to get things fired up again.

Edited November 3, 2016 by rascalP

[Fiske]

On ‎11‎/‎2‎/‎2016 at 10:23 PM, OperationEagle said:

 

Actually it will only be worth it if I catch something!

Yeah the age old dilemma,,,if we don't go out it's for sure we won't catch anything,
Fought the idea of going out again all week but   ,,,maybe I'll see you on Swan tomorrow.

[punch]

The smallmouth bite was awesome again today on Mille Lacs. My pops and I put about 16 fish in the boat during the day (plus two monster walleyes), mostly in 15-20 feet of water slowly fishing swimbaits over the rocks. Our average was 3lbs all day, we couldn't find any of the 4+ pounders but my buddy caught a few in his boat.. so somebody got them! I'll take a bunch of 3lb smallies all day, anyday. 

I'm so glad I got to spend a couple full days there this fall, the fishing there is just ridiculous. I tossed tubes, drop shot, lipless and spoons and didn't get bites. They sure liked the swimbaits though. Smaller the better. 

 

[OperationEagle]

Punch what a great day to spend with your dad. What a blessing. And great fish to boot! Keep those reports coming.

I look forward to hitting Mille Lacs some day soon!

[rascalP]

Punch, glad to see you got on some fish.  Love the swimbait. What was your best size?   I'm going to try again this week to get up there. I got some areas on the east side I wanna check out. We chose the north side a few weeks ago for a little calmer water, and it paid off with quite a few nice fish.  What was the water temp?

[Fiske]

I did fish Swan for a little over 5 hours on Saturday.
September haunts were devoid of bass but after a couple of hours
found some on the windward side of the lake's main point.
12-15 fish with roughly 50% 12" and under.
Most were taken yo-yoing a S.K. red eyed shad from 5 to 8' of water.
The two largest, a 19 and 16 incher, were taken on a swim jig and a slow rolling spinner bait.
WT 51.8 degrees

Bass fishing in November and actually catching a few,,,who would have thought???

[punch]

On 11/5/2016 at 11:43 PM, rascalP said:

Punch, glad to see you got on some fish.  Love the swimbait. What was your best size?   I'm going to try again this week to get up there. I got some areas on the east side I wanna check out. We chose the north side a few weeks ago for a little calmer water, and it paid off with quite a few nice fish.  What was the water temp?

The two hot baits are Skinny Dippers in white or shiner, or 4" Keitech Easy Shiners in electric flash or smallmouth magic. Tossing everything on 1/4oz jig heads in either white/black/green pumpkin. Dragging them slow on the bottom over rocks. 

I use those Cabela's "mean eye" jigs because they are cheap and have good plastic keepers. 

[Jeff H]

I'm done.  Was out for 4.5 hrs on Chisago today and banged a bunch of 3 lb'ers on jerkbaits and football heads but no big bites.  Very happy to end season on a good bite.

Also caught at least 8 gators and donated 1 Lucky Craft Pointer 100 to the cause.  I hope that slimebag gets it stuck in his throat and feeds himself to the turtles!

Water temp was 50-51.5.  Pretty warm yet for November so still good fishing to be had. Would love to go again next weekend but I gotta do some hunting.