Minnesota Fishing Reports - 2017

[gim]

I went to Mille Lacs yesterday for about 5 hours with my Father.  Caught 5 smallmouth and 1 walleye (on accident).  Not great numbers for being out there 5 hours but all 5 bass were 17+ inches including the biggest I caught at 19.5 inches which was a fat pre-spawn female.  The fish aren't in really shallow yet although that may happen pretty soon because it looks pretty warm for a week.  Major bug hatch going up there right now too.  I couldn't get any fish to hit a jerk bait even though I tried and tried.  Wacky rigs and small tubes were better options.  Water temp 59.5 degrees

[FryDog62]

15 hours ago, gimruis said:

I went to Mille Lacs yesterday for about 5 hours with my Father.  Caught 5 smallmouth and 1 walleye (on accident).  Not great numbers for being out there 5 hours but all 5 bass were 17+ inches including the biggest I caught at 19.5 inches which was a fat pre-spawn female.  The fish aren't in really shallow yet although that may happen pretty soon because it looks pretty warm for a week.  Major bug hatch going up there right now too.  I couldn't get any fish to hit a jerk bait even though I tried and tried.  Wacky rigs and small tubes were better options.  Water temp 59.5 degrees

 

Wow, still a little surprised they are still pre-spawn on Mille Lacs.  I guess at 59 degrees they very well could be.  I think those cold heavy rains awhile back delayed things a bit...

[OperationEagle]

West metro yesterday. 20 between the two of us. Largest at 19 and around 5 between 16-18.  80% came before 930am. 

 

All hit senkos and swimbaits. 

 

A question I have is 11-1pm it was dead.  Do bass just lose interest and not hit anything? And or where do they go?  

 

Couldnt find anything during that time. It took clouds and a cooldown for the bite to pick up. 

 

Just would like some ideas of things to try after the morning bite. 

[punch]

10 minutes ago, OperationEagle said:

West metro yesterday. 20 between the two of us. Largest at 19 and around 5 between 16-18.  80% came before 930am. 

 

All hit senkos and swimbaits. 

 

A question I have is 11-1pm it was dead.  Do bass just lose interest and not hit anything? And or where do they go?  

 

Couldnt find anything during that time. It took clouds and a cooldown for the bite to pick up. 

 

Just would like some ideas of things to try after the morning bite. 

 

Was that about the time the sun was out with bluebird skys? When that afternoon 'warmup' happens when the sun is high fish seem to tuck back into cover. That's the time I start fishing docks, thicker weeds and start working pads with frogs or flipping baits. Fish tend to seek cover and hold tighter to it. Also boat traffic has to do with the bite turning off in some cases. I'm no expert BUT if you're fishing the same techniques that get bit in the morning, then the fish 'turn off' it's usually time to start breaking down specific cover that looks 'bassy'. I tend to start grabbing the texas rig and drop shot and fish slower vs covering water. 

 

Man the water got warm FAST in the metro area. I went out yesterday morning and the water already cracked 70! 

[geneoh]

Anyone ever fished on Fish Lake in Maple Grove? I'm going to be in the area so I thought I'd try it out tomorrow afternoon. Any advice? I like trying new lakes but I might just go to Medicine Lake because I've fished it a few times. 

[Bassn4fun]

I had an interesting day on the water with my son on Saturday.  Our plan was to fish for bass, and we caught a few but when the large sunfish and crappies started following our worms back to the boat we switched gears and started bobber fishing with 1/16oz flu flu jigs with 1" gulp minnows.  We were using the trolling motor to slowly slip along the shore and when we'd catch some we'd drop anchor and fish for a little bit then head down the shoreline again.  This is where is gets interesting, we were catching nice sunfish and several nice crappies, we'd every once in a while catch a bass also, so we're sitting in this one spot next to a tree in the water when a guy fishing bass came around the point and started fishing 50 yards from us, not a big deal but he kept coming towards us until he was about 20 feet away, and looked over and was surprised how close he was to us, so he turned his trolling motor up and latterly circled around us not getting more then 30 feet away, until he could cast his topwater at the tree.  Normally this wouldn't bother me but I thought it was very rude, but after he fished the tree with not a bite, I did have to laugh because I tossed my Flu Flu jig in there and pulled in a 17" bass while he was still right there.  I just looked at him and smiled.....  Sometimes Karma sucks

[sully420]

12 hours ago, geneoh said:

Anyone ever fished on Fish Lake in Maple Grove? I'm going to be in the area so I thought I'd try it out tomorrow afternoon. Any advice? I like trying new lakes but I might just go to Medicine Lake because I've fished it a few times. 

I fish that lake often i like it better than medicine. Bite was slow last week. I have good luck fishing frogs,jigs,senkos. There are a couple rock piles that produce and docks are also productive.

[gim]

20 feet away?  That's too close for comfort bassn4fun.  I hope you held that bass up very clearly so he could see it.

[gim]

19 hours ago, geneoh said:

Anyone ever fished on Fish Lake in Maple Grove? I'm going to be in the area so I thought I'd try it out tomorrow afternoon. Any advice? I like trying new lakes but I might just go to Medicine Lake because I've fished it a few times. 

 

Another item that may be useful is that since its also run by 3 Rivers Park District like Medicine Lake is, there is limited parking - far less than at Medicine too.  Once the lot is full, they stop allowing trailers in there at the gate.  I've been there on a nice sunny day and it can fill up pretty quick with recreational users.  Medicine actually has a lot of spots so it doesn't usually fill up there but Fish does quite regularly.

[NathanDLTH]

Still have yet to find the bass, only pike or walleye. Bank fishing life is tough. I'm off this week so hopeful to find a bass or two. 

[geneoh]

Thanks to Sullys comment, I went to try out Fish Lake. Fished from 11:30-4:30 (only time I could get out) and had a pretty fun day. Caught probably 20 bass, a few around 3 lbs. The bittersweet part of the day was I 100% had a new PB on but she broke off right after I got a good look at her. Easily over 5, I think she could of been 6lbs. It was totally my fault too, I'd been meaning to change out the 8lb line I've been using on one of my setups and I was using this setup I an area I shouldn't of be throwing 8lb line. She dove to the bottom and broke off and I proceeded to freak out. Still fun, I hadn't hooked up with any big bass this year so it was nice to know I wasn't jinxed or something. 

 

Everything they hit was plastics, trig craws, senkos, keitech fat impact swimbait, dropshot. WT: 72-74, WC: Stained, 3ish ft visibility. 

[Bassn4fun]

Gimruis - yeah 20' was crazy close, I almost thought of casting my lure over his boat.  But I didn't want to set a bad example to my son, so I just held up that bass nice and high so he could see it and just smiled and shrugged by shoulders.

[NathanDLTH]

Cedar lake @ 5:19pm my bass sunk has ended. Wacky rig senko on little Cedar Lake. 10lb flourocarbon and a nice little bass in weeds gave me quite the scare, eventually landed the bass. Might switch up to something heavier than 10lb for finess tough cause the weeds are bad. 

[shimmy]

On 6/4/2017 at 1:10 PM, OperationEagle said:

West metro yesterday. 20 between the two of us. Largest at 19 and around 5 between 16-18.  80% came before 930am. 

 

All hit senkos and swimbaits. 

 

A question I have is 11-1pm it was dead.  Do bass just lose interest and not hit anything? And or where do they go?  

 

Couldnt find anything during that time. It took clouds and a cooldown for the bite to pick up. 

 

Just would like some ideas of things to try after the morning bite. 

 

I think the mindset to have during this time is that the bite doesn't stop, it just changes. While out in MN last week, i had my biggest bass during those times. The bite had slowed down (the pattern changed), and it was bright blue bird with no clouds. But then my buddy and i had back to back 5+ pounders. Safer to just assume it is a bite change and not the time of day. That mindset will help you stay motivated and fish with more confidence and stick a bigger fish than being hesitant and fearing the time of day.

[OperationEagle]

 

3 hours ago, shimmy said:

 

I think the mindset to have during this time is that the bite doesn't stop, it just changes. While out in MN last week, i had my biggest bass during those times. The bite had slowed down (the pattern changed), and it was bright blue bird with no clouds. But then my buddy and i had back to back 5+ pounders. Safer to just assume it is a bite change and not the time of day. That mindset will help you stay motivated and fish with more confidence and stick a bigger fish than being hesitant and fearing the time of day.

 

Shimmy that's good perspective.  In your situation what did the pattern change to?  

[shimmy]

42 minutes ago, OperationEagle said:

 

 

Shimmy that's good perspective.  In your situation what did the pattern change to?  

It happened on multiple occasions last week. On one, the fish pulled off the bank after 9 o'clock, but then around noon, I moved more carefully, took longer casts, and used the sun to help me find the dark cover spots in the shallows. I caught less numbers, but most of my 5+ lb bass came around 11-1. If I was better, I am sure i could have still caught numbers during those hours, but I stuck to the approach I was confident with to catch bigger fish (using jigs, swim jigs, and S-Wavers). I have read from many here on the forums who are much better than i ever will be who swear by the 11- 1 bite. I truly believe the biggest deterrent for big bass at that time frame is the fisherman's frustration and/or mindset (too hot, not enough bites, hungry, less focused, fatigued, etc.). 

 

On one occasion, the jig bite slowed down real fast and the worm bite picked up and was out fishing the jig 4 to 1. The worm was catching more 3 and 4 pounders as well; however, tempting as it is was to switch; especially with it getting close to noon and getting more sunny and hot, with that much vegetation, i never feel like it is a smart move to go away from the jig in MN. While i got outfished in numbers and 4 pounders, I ended up catching the top three fish that morning/afternoon and i was in the back of the boat with the last cast. 

[OperationEagle]

8 hours ago, shimmy said:

It happened on multiple occasions last week. On one, the fish pulled off the bank after 9 o'clock, but then around noon, I moved more carefully, took longer casts, and used the sun to help me find the dark cover spots in the shallows. I caught less numbers, but most of my 5+ lb bass came around 11-1. If I was better, I am sure i could have still caught numbers during those hours, but I stuck to the approach I was confident with to catch bigger fish (using jigs, swim jigs, and S-Wavers). I have read from many here on the forums who are much better than i ever will be who swear by the 11- 1 bite. I truly believe the biggest deterrent for big bass at that time frame is the fisherman's frustration and/or mindset (too hot, not enough bites, hungry, less focused, fatigued, etc.). 

 

On one occasion, the jig bite slowed down real fast and the worm bite picked up and was out fishing the jig 4 to 1. The worm was catching more 3 and 4 pounders as well; however, tempting as it is was to switch; especially with it getting close to noon and getting more sunny and hot, with that much vegetation, i never feel like it is a smart move to go away from the jig in MN. While i got outfished in numbers and 4 pounders, I ended up catching the top three fish that morning/afternoon and i was in the back of the boat with the last cast. 

That is awesome Shimmy...thanks for sharing!

[geneoh]

Shimmy always makes me want to throw a jig.

 

Out of curiosity, do you have a favorite jig? Trailer?  

[shimmy]

Hmm, fast moving, slow moving, and hybrids. Fill in the blanks for any brand that fits your fancy. Hybrids (I consider a paca craw a hybrid), is nice cause you can fish it slow without the craws flapping too much and then as you switch the speed up every other cast or are reeling the bait in, the fish will tell you if they are looking for that speed or not. I usually have a quarter ounce on one pole and a 3/8 or 1/2 on the other and then have about 8 jigs sitting on the deck that are slightly different (a light jig with a fast trailer which is great for shallow water or rising weeds with just a few inches of water between that and the top; heavy jig with fast trailer; light jig with slow trailer; heavy jig with slow trailer; and then the different colors with the same variations). Then there is the buck tail stuff but I have not fished it enough to feel like I am confident enough with it or need it.

[geneoh]

Fished Tonka for the first time this morning. Caught between 20-25 total, a couple around 3.5lbs. Pretty fun day for fishing new water. Caught them on a popper, keitech, senko, Ned rig. Tried a jig and chatterbait for a little bit but didn't get anything. WT: 71. Tonka is clear!

[Jeff H]

16 hours ago, geneoh said:

Tonka is clear!

Not all of it?

[punch]

Topwater bite is ON.. got a 4+lber on a x-rap prop yesterday. Biggest fish of the season thus far. I got a cool video that I'll put up. I was just doing some pond fishing over lunch break. 

[geneoh]

I'm going to have to agree with Punch. Only had a few hours this morning and from about 5:30-7am they were hitting the frog.  Caught 13 total on a frog. Is there anything better?

[gim]

On ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 4:43 PM, geneoh said:

Tonka is clear!

 

It didn't used to be like that.  15 years ago it was murkier, now its gin clear even most main parts of the lake.  It has resulted in a lot more weed growth and moved fish deeper.

[FryDog62]

Well that electrical storm and 30 degree drop in air temperature this morning should have an effect on things for awhile!!