Minnesota Fishing Reports - 2018

[FryDog62]

Was on the Mississippi in North metro... water temps 64.  The 10-13 inch males are near shore preparing beds, very few females yet.  Prob next week...

[geneoh]

Was on a metro lake, water temps were 74-78(!). I did see some beds and looked like males were locked on. I didn't try to catch any of them, didn't really want to waste time on some 12 inch squeakers. I'm relatively new to fishing during the spawn, I thought they spawned more at 64-68. Or did that temp come and go so fast they didn't really have a chance? 

 

Bite was a little tough, caught most of mine deep in timber today.

[JackKlassen]

1 hour ago, geneoh said:

Was on a metro lake, water temps were 74-78(!). I did see some beds and looked like males were locked on. I didn't try to catch any of them, didn't really want to waste time on some 12 inch squeakers. I'm relatively new to fishing during the spawn, I thought they spawned more at 64-68. Or did that temp come and go so fast they didn't really have a chance? 

 

Bite was a little tough, caught most of mine deep in timber today.

with temps rising some 10 degrees in some lakes in the last few days the fish are kind of in a weird stage from what I've seen. Normally the water doesn't heat up nearly this fast and they begin to start moving up at around 60 in my experience. The warm rush has definitely caused some fish to spawn although I wouldn't be surprised if we still had fish moving up throughout the next month. On the topic of warm water, anyone else catching topwater fish yet? I had about a 20 fish night yesterday on a popper. Pretty cool for the week after opener. Water was around 69-72.

[sully420]

Caught some on a wopper plopper last night and some on a popping frog a few nights ago. I could have got more but the wind picked up pretty good and killed the bite.

 

[OperationEagle]

Bass were definitely shallow today and tonight.  Light colored senko did the trick for me.   All in 3-6 feet of water. 

[Jmhalvo]

5am air temp 65, great shallow bite including Whopper Plopper. By 9am, air temp 52...shut down.

[FryDog62]

Talked to a high-level tournament fisherman today - Metro area: 3 to 6 fow water, reaction baits, rattle traps, wiggle warts, chatterbaits, jerk baits.  Next week - big girls on Senkos, plastics on beds.  

[rascalP]

Tuesday I fished N. Center for a couple hours in the evening and did pretty good ultra shallow with a weightless jerk shad.  I was really looking forward to a full day with big fish on Green wednesday, but it was tough. Caught fish, but a lot of dead time. Swimbait was best. Nothing on jerkbait, chatterbait or dinger.  Stayed mostly shallow - less than 5 fow.  Blew some opportunities at big ones, boatside that I thought were pike.   Water temps topped out at about 68 on N. Center and 64 on Green.

[drscholl14]

On 5/17/2018 at 11:24 PM, JackKlassen said:

with temps rising some 10 degrees in some lakes in the last few days the fish are kind of in a weird stage from what I've seen. Normally the water doesn't heat up nearly this fast and they begin to start moving up at around 60 in my experience. The warm rush has definitely caused some fish to spawn although I wouldn't be surprised if we still had fish moving up throughout the next month. On the topic of warm water, anyone else catching topwater fish yet? I had about a 20 fish night yesterday on a popper. Pretty cool for the week after opener. Water was around 69-72.

Friday morning I caught almost 30 bass on a Bronzeye Frog in a 100 yd stretch.  They were blowing it up almost every other cast.  It was awesome.  

[FishingMN]

finding lots of .5 to 1.5 lbers shallow.  Some on beds.  Water temp 63-65.  Where are the more sizable fish?

[drscholl14]

3 hours ago, FishingMN said:

finding lots of .5 to 1.5 lbers shallow.  Some on beds.  Water temp 63-65.  Where are the more sizable fish?

When they've been biting, I've found them in flooded bushes and laydowns.  Most likely still in a staging mode although I would think many of them will be on beds by the weekend if not sooner.

[Jmhalvo]

11 hours ago, FishingMN said:

finding lots of .5 to 1.5 lbers shallow.  Some on beds.  Water temp 63-65.  Where are the more sizable fish?

Find a smaller lake, temps close to 70 

[thatbasschigger187]

Wahoo! Been a while since I last posted to How's the fishing been for everyone since the opener?!?!?! Fishing has been amazing for me. I've only been on 2 lakes  (Green and Minnetonka) but the fishing is on fire. We smacked em on the 12th on Green. No momma's but we had ourselves a nice 60+ fish day biggest being a 3/3.5lb smallie (I didn't even know smallies existed on Green). They were all shallow around 4 to 8 feet. They were chomping on jigs. The 13th was spent on Tonka. Took an hour or two but we figured out the pattern. I started the day with the same pattern as I did on Green but it did not work out. Switched to a heavy power fishing style and started to getting bites. We threw spinnerbaits and RTO's and they were getting it done. Awesome day of around 40ish+ fish with the big one going for around 4 lbs. The weekend of 19th and 20th was just alot of scanning/ scouting and shaking fish off. Not fun too most but stupidly awesome for a tournament angler. Did not see alot of spawners. It seems the fish are cruising. I hope you all get em this weekend for the bass opener!

[FryDog62]

Air temps in the low 90’s this weekend ought to have some effect on things! 

[Hawkeye21]

I fished the river south of La Crosse on Friday and Saturday.  Water temp was about 70 in the back water.  The big bass were in about 2 foot of water and protecting beds.  I caught a decent amount of nice bass over 17" all on a black/blue chatterbait.

[dsidle61]

On 5/17/2018 at 8:59 PM, FryDog62 said:

Was on the Mississippi in North metro... water temps 64.  The 10-13 inch males are near shore preparing beds, very few females yet.  Prob next week...

Just read the your boat description in your bio.  How far can you take that up the Mississippi towards St. Cloud?  Ive always wanted to fish the area between St Cloud and Elk River for smallies but dont know it well enough to know the areas to avoid.  I have a tracker 170 w/40hp so I would think it doesnt sit quite as low as yours.  Just curious!

Haven't been out this week at all.  Plan on hitting Medicine tomorrow to get ready for a little tournament.  Never had a ton of luck there but ill mainly be searching for beds.  I would think with the temps heating up quick they should head to them in the next few days.  

[Jmhalvo]

26 minutes ago, dsidle61 said:

Just read the your boat description in your bio.  How far can you take that up the Mississippi towards St. Cloud?  Ive always wanted to fish the area between St Cloud and Elk River for smallies but dont know it well enough to know the areas to avoid.  I have a tracker 170 w/40hp so I would think it doesnt sit quite as low as yours.  Just curious!

Haven't been out this week at all.  Plan on hitting Medicine tomorrow to get ready for a little tournament.  Never had a ton of luck there but ill mainly be searching for beds.  I would think with the temps heating up quick they should head to them in the next few days.  

I kayak St Cloud to Monticello a lot....no way a prop motor will make it there! I do see boats, but none with propellers

[FryDog62]

2 hours ago, dsidle61 said:

Just read the your boat description in your bio.  How far can you take that up the Mississippi towards St. Cloud?  Ive always wanted to fish the area between St Cloud and Elk River for smallies but dont know it well enough to know the areas to avoid.  I have a tracker 170 w/40hp so I would think it doesnt sit quite as low as yours.  Just curious!

Haven't been out this week at all.  Plan on hitting Medicine tomorrow to get ready for a little tournament.  Never had a ton of luck there but ill mainly be searching for beds.  I would think with the temps heating up quick they should head to them in the next few days.  

Agree with Jmhalvo... tough when you get up North.  I put in Anoka and go up river to the first two islands on the Mississippi.  Along back side of this islands is good.  But I have a jack plate and can hike it up pretty far (see link below).  I only draft about 14-18 inches and there’s some low spots along the way... but worth it.  

 

[shimmy]

Hit a metro lake last week (lake auburn) on Wednesday and got a 22 pound limit. Water temps were up to 68 by the evening. Not one fish with a red tail. Water temps were great for spawning, but the fish had not come up yet. I think the spawn is ready now. Prior to the cold front, I fished some lakes in ottertail county from Thursday to Saturday. Water temps were lower by a few degrees, but we caught a lot more spawning. Very interesting how each lake plays by its own rules. Highest bag was 25 lbs. One 6 pounder. Jigs outfished plastics, but plastics did better at getting the missed strikes. Hope you all get them. 

[gim]

Holy HOT.  Just 5 weeks ago we had a historic April blizzard and just 2.5 weeks ago there was still ice out there.  What happened to the season called spring?!  Directly from winter to summer I guess.  The rapid change has to be playing games with the fish in their normal various stages of spawning.

[FryDog62]

47 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Holy HOT.  Just 5 weeks ago we had a historic April blizzard and just 2.5 weeks ago there was still ice out there.  What happened to the season called spring?!  Directly from winter to summer I guess.  The rapid change has to be playing games with the fish in their normal various stages of spawning.

It’s crazy... I keep going out here and there as water temps have steadily risen thinking it’s going to be ‘game on’ eventually.  Still mostly small-mid sized males and a few females here and there but very few really big ones yet.  

[punch]

Me and a buddy went to Big Lake today and we had a really good bite this morning on jigs and wacky worms. The fish were out and about near the shore line until the sun came out. Once the sun came out they started to tuck into the shade and under the docks. The dock bite started to get really good and we caught some pre-spawners and some spawned out females with the red tails. Very weird. 

 

I was sure there would be a topwater bite today.. but nothing. They only wanted the jig for me. 

 

I did get my first 4lber of the year skipping a jig under a dock. That was really fun. 

 

 

[FishingMN]

7 hours ago, FryDog62 said:

It’s crazy... I keep going out here and there as water temps have steadily risen thinking it’s going to be ‘game on’ eventually.  Still mostly small-mid sized males and a few females here and there but very few really big ones yet.  

that's what i've been noticing too.

[Jmhalvo]

Small lake nears Alex tonite WTemp was 73, really good action 2-5 ft. Zero topwater, but great on chatter and fluke. Boated a 21,an 18, and about 20 bass that were 15-18. Almost without fail, there would be a bed near submerged logs/timber. A great time. Probably try the actual Alex Chain this weekend, but temp on CARLOS still only 64.

[NathanDLTH]

Anyone fish Bald Eagle? Fishing there for a local tournament series and that’s the first lake. Suggestions? My teammate was throwing senkos yesterday, but nothing over a pound.