Minnesota Fishing Reports - 2018

[Hawkeye21]

On 2/25/2018 at 2:26 PM, FryDog62 said:

I have two places I want to try - a Largemouth lake near Alexandria that a guide friend of mine said has huge fish in it.  Second is Lake McBride in Iowa - yes IOWA!!  My daughter has a fellowship in Iowa City and heard they have big wipers in McBride.  Would be an excuse to get down and see her and catch a species I haven’t caught yet...  c’mon Spring get here !!

I don't know too many people that have MacBride on their list of places to go but there are a lot of people who fish it.  For the last 5 years I've gone on a trip to fish the Alexandria area lakes.  Last year was our best year for big bass.  We had two over 6lbs and probably a dozen over 4lbs.  Love that area.

[Bent]

On 2/25/2018 at 2:26 PM, FryDog62 said:

I have two places I want to try - a Largemouth lake near Alexandria that a guide friend of mine said has huge fish in it.  Second is Lake McBride in Iowa - yes IOWA!!  My daughter has a fellowship in Iowa City and heard they have big wipers in McBride.  Would be an excuse to get down and see her and catch a species I haven’t caught yet...  c’mon Spring get here !!

Macbride is a lot of fun, in addition to wipers there is also a population of spotted bass.  Not sure if you'd be hauling a boat down here, but just in case make sure to check in with the Iowa DNR on motor restrictions - there have been HP limits in place for a long time but I've heard rumors they will be lifted.

[gim]

On ‎2‎/‎25‎/‎2018 at 2:21 PM, Tlauz said:

A friend has a canoe, and I would like to take a few river trips. 

I mentioned this last year already, but rivers are SO under fished here in Minnesota.  Even some small to mid size rivers that are only accessible by small craft like canoe have some awesome smallmouth fishing.  And when the hot, slow, dog days of summer are here and the lakes are crawling with recreational traffic, rivers are where its at.

 

I am hoping to do more bass fishing in the Brainerd area.  I have only fished a couple lakes there and there are a dozen or more good ones that have barely any bass fishing pressure.

[punch]

@rascalP are you guys signed up for the Greenhorn Wednesday night league? We're locked and loaded. Anyone else on here fishing GH??

 

I'm excited for all the lakes on the schedule EXCEPT Big Marine. I've fished BM a few times and had bad days. Gin clear lake, very big.. couldn't find any bass. 

[Tlauz]

NDYakAngler on youtube makes me want to hit some small rivers.  Awesome smallmouth footage.  I will be headed to Ottertail River this summer. 

[drscholl14]

13 hours ago, punch said:

@rascalP are you guys signed up for the Greenhorn Wednesday night league? We're locked and loaded. Anyone else on here fishing GH??

 

I'm excited for all the lakes on the schedule EXCEPT Big Marine. I've fished BM a few times and had bad days. Gin clear lake, very big.. couldn't find any bass. 

I'll be fishing the Sunday league.  Will be my first year.  Pretty excited for it!

On 2/27/2018 at 7:41 PM, gimruis said:

I mentioned this last year already, but rivers are SO under fished here in Minnesota.  Even some small to mid size rivers that are only accessible by small craft like canoe have some awesome smallmouth fishing.  And when the hot, slow, dog days of summer are here and the lakes are crawling with recreational traffic, rivers are where its at.

 

I am hoping to do more bass fishing in the Brainerd area.  I have only fished a couple lakes there and there are a dozen or more good ones that have barely any bass fishing pressure.

I just fished the Mississippi last weekend and pulled out 7 smallies in about 3 hours from the bank.  Such a great fishery.

[punch]

Got a equipment question for you guys.. what are your summer milfoil flipping setups? Rods/reels/line? Just curious.

[sully420]

19 hours ago, punch said:

Got a equipment question for you guys.. what are your summer milfoil flipping setups? Rods/reels/line? Just curious.

7'3"heavy fast rod 6:3 abu reel 50 lb power pro and this. 3/4 oz tungsten with skirt keeper a boss bluegill skirt and a strike king menace. Ill also use a jig if i can fish it efficiently i like the hook up better. I generally use a 4ot tk 130 flipping hook some people like 4 or 5 ot ewg hooks i think they work great as well.

Anyone going to be in SD late apirl? Im going to lake city area apirl 26-30

[FryDog62]

Hope to be there a week before depending on ice out...

[rascalP]

On 2/28/2018 at 10:34 AM, punch said:

@rascalP are you guys signed up for the Greenhorn Wednesday night league? We're locked and loaded. Anyone else on here fishing GH??

 

I'm excited for all the lakes on the schedule EXCEPT Big Marine. I've fished BM a few times and had bad days. Gin clear lake, very big.. couldn't find any bass. 

I'm fishing Wednesday Greenhorn with my main fishing buddy and Wednesday GH advanced with another buddies son.  This will be our 3rd year fishing the GH "beginner level".  Once a member, you can fish "up" the advanced if space allows, so last year I asked my buddies son if he wanted to give tournament bass fishing a try and fish a derby at the advanced level on Big Marine. He was in.  I have a decent amount of confidence in the lake so I thought this would fun.  We finished 6th and he was hooked.  We ended up fishing the rest of the series since a couple teams dropped off,  and finished 8th for the year, just a point out of 7th and missing the TOC. 

 

     This year he'll be fishing the Wednesday GH with one of his buddies and wed advanced with me.  Opponents one week and partners the next. This'll be a hoot.  Can't wait.

[punch]

13 hours ago, rascalP said:

I'm fishing Wednesday Greenhorn with my main fishing buddy and Wednesday GH advanced with another buddies son.  This will be our 3rd year fishing the GH "beginner level".  Once a member, you can fish "up" the advanced if space allows, so last year I asked my buddies son if he wanted to give tournament bass fishing a try and fish a derby at the advanced level on Big Marine. He was in.  I have a decent amount of confidence in the lake so I thought this would fun.  We finished 6th and he was hooked.  We ended up fishing the rest of the series since a couple teams dropped off,  and finished 8th for the year, just a point out of 7th and missing the TOC. 

 

     This year he'll be fishing the Wednesday GH with one of his buddies and wed advanced with me.  Opponents one week and partners the next. This'll be a hoot.  Can't wait.

Wow so you're fishing BOTH the Wednesday series? Wow that's a lot of tournaments haha. 

 

I gotta get your number man, if you ever go fun fish Big Marine i'd love to tag along. I've only been on it twice and was a little perplexed both times. I'm usually pretty comfortable fishing clear water lakes but BM kicked my butt. 

[thatbasschigger187]

Hey guys,

 

New to the forum. Just wanted to say what's up?!?!?! Who's excited about this coming season and what are you most excited about? For me it's gotta be testing out my new setups and my theory crafted lures. And of course the tournaments!!!

[punch]

4 minutes ago, misho187 said:

Hey guys,

 

New to the forum. Just wanted to say what's up?!?!?! Who's excited about this coming season and what are you most excited about? For me it's gotta be testing out my new setups and my theory crafted lures. And of course the tournaments!!!

Welcome! What are theory crafted lures? Just curious. 

 

I'm most excited for traveling to some new bodies of water like the whitefish chain and vermillion. I really want to get up to Rainy this year too. 

[thatbasschigger187]

On 3/4/2018 at 5:34 PM, punch said:

Got a equipment question for you guys.. what are your summer milfoil flipping setups? Rods/reels/line? Just curious.

It really depends on a few different factors like weather, water clarity and etc. I can really talk about it all day. For baits, I usually go with any with that's got good bulk like Havoc Pitoboss or the Daiwa Rattlin' Tube craw. For weights, like everything else it depends on what you need to get to the bottom with. Lighter milfoil means lighter weight and vise versa.

 

Here are some of my setups:

Light - Curado 71 XG/Tatula 7'2" H 15lb Seaguar Flouro
Med - Curado 71 XG/Steez XBD 7'4" H 17lb Seaguar Flouro
Hvy - Curado K 201 XG with Steez 8'0" H 40lb Daiwa J Braid


 

14 minutes ago, punch said:

Welcome! What are theory crafted lures? Just curious. 

 

I'm most excited for traveling to some new bodies of water like the whitefish chain and vermillion. I really want to get up to Rainy this year too. 

Theory crafted lures? Oh just things I think of when I'm in hibernation mode during the winter. I hate ice fishing so I make lures during the winter and make minute adjustments to techniques I like such as adding blades to lures or different methods of rigging particular baits. I take those and I use them during the first week of catch and release to test them out. Most of them turn out to be crap but I find some secret gems here and there.

Vermillion sounds stupidly fun. I usually don't get to fun fish much. I'm usually on that tournament mentality of thinking... marking fish and way points for 8 hours a day lol

[punch]

@misho187 What tournaments do you fish?

 

I'm sorta the opposite.. I mostly fun fish and travel around the state with our RV & the boat. I'm just recently dipping my toe into club tournaments. 

On 3/5/2018 at 12:42 PM, sully420 said:

7'3"heavy fast rod 6:3 abu reel 50 lb power pro and this. 3/4 oz tungsten with skirt keeper a boss bluegill skirt and a strike king menace. Ill also use a jig if i can fish it efficiently i like the hook up better. I generally use a 4ot tk 130 flipping hook some people like 4 or 5 ot ewg hooks i think they work great as well.

Anyone going to be in SD late apirl? Im going to lake city area apirl 26-30

I'm all in on Boss skirts & Boss Swim Jig heads. Only ones i'm using anymore. 

[thatbasschigger187]

1 minute ago, punch said:

@misho187 What tournaments do you fish?

 

I'm sorta the opposite.. I mostly fun fish and travel around the state with our RV & the boat. I'm just recently dipping my toe into club tournaments. 

 

27 minutes ago, punch said:

@misho187 What tournaments do you fish?

 

I'm sorta the opposite.. I mostly fun fish and travel around the state with our RV & the boat. I'm just recently dipping my toe into club tournaments. 

I mostly fish some small club tournaments like HBA, FOB, etc. But I fished a really big one last year on the Croix... pulled a nice 10k off of that out of 120ish boats. My brother fishes Denny's and Sportek so they're the bigger tournaments around the cities. That my goal... to get into Denny's this year and go get my butt whooped by Seth Feider lol

[rascalP]

On 3/8/2018 at 9:54 AM, punch said:

Wow so you're fishing BOTH the Wednesday series? Wow that's a lot of tournaments haha. 

 

I gotta get your number man, if you ever go fun fish Big Marine i'd love to tag along. I've only been on it twice and was a little perplexed both times. I'm usually pretty comfortable fishing clear water lakes but BM kicked my butt. 

Punch,  I don't do a whole lot of "fun" fishing anymore and if I do, its either Chisago or outstate MN.  That said, you should do fine on BM, just don't rule out any water.  I like it cause I like fishing deep weeds and BM has plenty of that. Just make sure you fish weeds at ALL depths and look for a mix of 2 different weeds.  Reeds can be good too and there is plenty of them. It kind of got to be known as a small fish lake, but the last few years it seems have gotten better.          2 years ago I lucked into a 5 1/2 pounder with a total of 13 some pounds and we finished 3rd behind a couple 15 + bags.  Last year the sunday series winners had nearly 20 pounds all caught in REAL shallow water.  

 

On 3/8/2018 at 10:10 AM, misho187 said:

Hey guys,

 

New to the forum. Just wanted to say what's up?!?!?! Who's excited about this coming season and what are you most excited about? For me it's gotta be testing out my new setups and my theory crafted lures. And of course the tournaments!!!

   misho,  Welcome.

  It looks like you'll have lots to contribute.

On 3/5/2018 at 12:42 PM, sully420 said:

7'3"heavy fast rod 6:3 abu reel 50 lb power pro and this. 3/4 oz tungsten with skirt keeper a boss bluegill skirt and a strike king menace. Ill also use a jig if i can fish it efficiently i like the hook up better. I generally use a 4ot tk 130 flipping hook some people like 4 or 5 ot ewg hooks i think they work great as well.

Anyone going to be in SD late apirl? Im going to lake city area apirl 26-30

   Sully, I like the looks of that rig.   I've had a hard time forking over the money for any Rage stuff, but they're topwater frogs and shad can't be beat.  BPS had a sale on all Rage so I bought 5 or so packs of the menace.  If I use them on a jig, you can bet superglue will be involved.  

   I've been wanting to get out to SD since I first saw Lindners out there, but trout fishing in SE MN keeps getting in the way.  Maybe this year. I've already got the lakes picked out.

 

  For now...   I'm still ice fishing.

[rascalP]

On 2/21/2018 at 1:14 PM, punch said:

Anyone planning trips to new water this year? Last year I was able to check Kabetogama off my bucket list, this year we're going to Vermilion. They opened a new state park campground on Vermillion and I'm going to take the family/RV/boat for a long weekend. 

Northern Minnesota has so many amazing places. I'm trying to expand my horizons and get out of the metro. 

Punch,  I can give you some info on Vermillion, though I'm most familiar with the other end of the lake from the new SP.  Overlooked LM population.  If I don't see you at the GH meeting, I'll see you at tourny time.

 

   One area I want to check out more is the lakes around Hackensack and south of Leech. We've fished a few but there's more that look real good on Lakefinder.   And Leech is real good too.  If you're not adding lakes, you're not fishing.

[BKhaos]

They're starting to whisper about winterkill concerns here in Western MN on smaller waters. Not sure how it affects bass, I hear northern are pretty resilient...something something disolved oxygen. 

 

Needless to say, really hoping for some 40+ degree weather to come quick so we can get our melt on.

[thatbasschigger187]

Any one been down to Pool 4 yet? I heard they're starting to bite like crazy. Boat is still in storage so I haven't been able to make the trip.

[gim]

I hope to give Leech Lake a try this upcoming season.  I may bring my muskie gear with too if its later in the season.

 

Hoping for a gradual warm until during the next 30-45 days for a chance at some open water panfishing by April 20.

 

Speaking of trips, I'm going to Key West at the end of March for a 3-day saltwater fishing trip with my Father.  I've only ever saltwater fished one time and it was awesome.  We tried planning this to coincide with Tarpon migration.

[starkeer]

Hey guys, 

 

I just wanted to say what's up. I've been a forum spectator for about a year and thought I'd finally join the discussion. 

 

I moved to Minneapolis in June 2016 and have had a lot of fun discovering the lakes and rivers around the metro area. I've been confined to the banks so far but am about to purchase my first kayak. I've just recently got much more serious about fishing and I am looking forward to another fun season.

 

Hope to see some of you around this summer! 

[drscholl14]

8 hours ago, misho187 said:

Any one been down to Pool 4 yet? I heard they're starting to bite like crazy. Boat is still in storage so I haven't been able to make the trip.

I'm getting my boat in two weeks and I've been reading up on Pool 4 and plan to hit it a few time this year. I've heard only a couple of the ramps are open and there are a lot of icebergs floating around.

On 3/8/2018 at 9:54 AM, punch said:

Wow so you're fishing BOTH the Wednesday series? Wow that's a lot of tournaments haha. 

 

I gotta get your number man, if you ever go fun fish Big Marine i'd love to tag along. I've only been on it twice and was a little perplexed both times. I'm usually pretty comfortable fishing clear water lakes but BM kicked my butt. 

I like Big Marine. Haven't fished it for bass in awhile as others have said, it has quite a lot of small bass. But the crappies are THICK in the early Spring.

[thatbasschigger187]

13 hours ago, drscholl14 said:

I'm getting my boat in two weeks and I've been reading up on Pool 4 and plan to hit it a few time this year. I've heard only a couple of the ramps are open and there are a lot of icebergs floating around.

I like Big Marine. Haven't fished it for bass in awhile as others have said, it has quite a lot of small bass. But the crappies are THICK in the early Spring.

Yeah some guy I know have been pulling walleyes are smallies out of there right now. They said not too much ice left but it can be quite annoying with how many boats there are out there right now.

[drscholl14]

11 hours ago, misho187 said:

Yeah some guy I know have been pulling walleyes are smallies out of there right now. They said not too much ice left but it can be quite annoying with how many boats there are out there right now.

There's enough room out there to get away from the crowds and it can be beneficial also. Before I bought my boat last fall I had some shore fishing spots that would out produce some of the popular spots where you had to play "bumper boats".