Minnesota Fishing Reports - 2018

[gim]

I agree on the assessment of Tonka.  So much pressure, such clear water, so much recreational boat traffic...generally just not worth it with other options available.  Well done though

[ThatOneBigKid]

I agree @gimruis. So many other good lakes that it is not necessary to deal with all the BS of the boat traffic and highly pressured fish. I live on the north metro so Tonka is just under a 1 hour drive for me. Just not worth it if I am looking to "fun" fish somewhere. 

[FryDog62]

Heading out somewhere in the metro for LMB tomorrow... anyone chime in where they are this week?  Depth, cover, lures..?

[SmallBlockMuscle]

I'm going Saturday AM, curious as well. I haven't been out in a couple weeks 

[thatbasschigger187]

On 8/20/2018 at 3:54 PM, punch said:

Minnetonka was quite the experience. We had our final Greenhorn TOC derby yesterday. It seems that most people had a terrible practice. Ours was garbage. We fished twice after work and got probably 5 bites.. one keeper. Going into the derby we were pretty depressed. 

 

Then the magic of the Minnetonka morning bite kicked in at 7am. That lake is a whole different animal before all the boat traffic fires up. We went to a few of the spots in Crystal bay that we couldn't fish during practice due to the chop/traffic. First spot we pulled up on we caught 4 fish, all over 2lbs.. within about 20 minutes. We were just flipping a super bug D-bomb (best color ever btw) on a powershot with a 3/4th weight. Making a lot of quick pitches close to the boat. It was so much fun. We ran the powershot/dbomb + coontail pattern all day and ended up with 16.6LBS and a 5th place finish. 

We did get tired from flipping all day so we mixed in dead-sticking some jigworm senkos.. and caught a few nice ones on that. Same spots.. just letting the worm sit and do-nothing. 

 

I still hate that lake.. but the tournament ended up being super fun. 17lbs won it, and 2-5th place were all 16lb bags so the competition was TIGHT. We caught a ton of 2 & 3lbers. That +4lb kicker elluded us. Our biggest was 3.85lbs. 

 

I got a new found respect for the Dennys Super 30 series guys who fish Tonka all year, and do it at such a high level. That place is a beast. So much water, so much structure, so much pressure, so many boats. Plus one part of the lake is muddy, the other part is gin clear.. it's like 10 different lakes in one. A buddy of mine who fishes tournaments all around the state (and fishes Dennys) says Minnetonka is the single hardest tournament lake in the state. 

 

That was probably my last tournament of the year. Now on to fall fun fishing! 

Tonka is my favorite MN lake. You can literally fish any style you want there. You can flip a jig in dirty water. You can drop shot 30 ft rock piles. You can punch/frog thick mats. You can deep crank weedlines. The traffic is terrible but man... the fishing is spectacular! For Denny's if you're not pulling in 3.5lbs per fish or higher you have no chance of getting in the money. That lake you have to have spots on spots. My units are literally like Lite-Brites with how many spots I have marked. Tournament days are all about run and gun and checking out spots. You end up running the whole lake to find your kickers. 34lbs (8fish) of bass though is amazing!

It is my favorite lake to take someone new to fishing cause I can take em to some honey holes with a drop shot and have them pull 2's all day. There's so much fish in that lake you can fish any bay and you'll catch em.

On 8/22/2018 at 11:59 AM, FryDog62 said:

Heading out somewhere in the metro for LMB tomorrow... anyone chime in where they are this week?  Depth, cover, lures..?

Depends on the lake and if there's zebras. Zebra lakes the fish should still be deep cause the water temps are still hitting the 80's and there should be grass everywhere. Dirtier lakes should be having some slight turn over now and shallower grass should be key for those lakes. I've been personally smashing them on deep rock piles on Tonka with grass all around them. Using heavy punch jigs first, like the RTX jig, to pull out the hungry ones and then a drop shot with a Robo to finish off the school. 50+ bass days and it's not that hard. Fishing is really easy and predictable right now.

[FryDog62]

5 hours ago, SmallBlockMuscle said:

I'm going Saturday AM, curious as well. I haven't been out in a couple weeks 

I got out to a usually good West Metro lake this morning.  Drop in temp in the long run is probably good, but today was classic cold-front fishing conditions.  I think I caught about a hundred scud-missile Snot Rockets and lost $50 in tackle from break-offs from those little bassturds.  

 

The quality fish I did catch have seemingly moved deeper - from two weeks ago in 4-10 fow/weeds - to now anywhere from 8-20 fow and scattered.  I caught most on slow moving Texas Rig/Pit Boss.  If I had more time would have side-imaged and used Panoptix to look for structure/fish to drop-shot in deeper water.  

 

Next time, but hope I time the next front right too... 

[starkeer]

I had never caught a fish on a frog and was determined this summer, I had one tied on pretty much every time I fished and have missed every hit I have had until today, the patience paid off as I pulled out this fat pig. Heavy rod, 50lb braid, everything worked just like it was supposed too. 

[sully420]

5 hours ago, misho187 said:

Depends on the lake and if there's zebras. Zebra lakes the fish should still be deep cause the water temps are still hitting the 80's and there should be grass everywhere. Dirtier lakes should be having some slight turn over now and shallower grass should be key for those lakes. I've been personally smashing them on deep rock piles on Tonka with grass all around them. Using heavy punch jigs first, like the RTX jig, to pull out the hungry ones and then a drop shot with a Robo to finish off the school. 50+ bass days and it's not that hard. Fishing is really easy and predictable right now

I couldn't agree with this more. You really have to fish the conditions of the lake and break it down from there. I've been fishing a jig and frog in dirty water and deep cranks and the jerky J in deep water with good grass and some hard bottom edges. I went out today in the wind and fished a main lake point with a dt14 and caught 2 4lbers then tried a jerky j and caught a 5 and a 6.8 

[gim]

On ‎8‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 10:16 AM, ThatOneBigKid said:

I agree @gimruis. So many other good lakes that it is not necessary to deal with all the BS of the boat traffic and highly pressured fish. I live on the north metro so Tonka is just under a 1 hour drive for me. Just not worth it if I am looking to "fun" fish somewhere. 

I grew up about 2 miles from the east side of it.  Its not even remotely the same lake as it was when I fished it then.  It was easy to catch fish on power tactics back then because the water was dirtier and the fish weren't as pressured.  Now, I can't fish half the spots I used to because of monster waves rolling past from recreational traffic, and I have to fish twice as deep and twice as slow.  Hard pass, you guys have at it

[FryDog62]

1 hour ago, sully420 said:

I couldn't agree with this more. You really have to fish the conditions of the lake and break it down from there. I've been fishing a jig and frog in dirty water and deep cranks and the jerky J in deep water with good grass and some hard bottom edges. I went out today in the wind and fished a main lake point with a dt14 and caught 2 4lbers then tried a jerky j and caught a 5 and a 6.8 

Great fish, 6.8 your PB?  Very nice!

[sully420]

8 hours ago, FryDog62 said:

Great fish, 6.8 your PB?

Not my pb, I really thought it was going to be.

[thatbasschigger187]

14 hours ago, sully420 said:

I couldn't agree with this more. You really have to fish the conditions of the lake and break it down from there. I've been fishing a jig and frog in dirty water and deep cranks and the jerky J in deep water with good grass and some hard bottom edges. I went out today in the wind and fished a main lake point with a dt14 and caught 2 4lbers then tried a jerky j and caught a 5 and a 6.8 

That 6.8 is a TOAD!!!!!

[ThatOneBigKid]

@sully420 how are you fishing that Jerky J? Drop shot? Carolina Rig? T-Rig?

 

Nice work out there. Sounds like a killer day! 

[FryDog62]

13 hours ago, sully420 said:

Not my pb, I really thought it was going to be.

Sully, I’m planning on going out tomorrow morning... any tips?  Hell,  I’ll supply the boat, food, drink... let me know where to meet and I’ll take you !!

[sully420]

@ThatOneBigKid on a tremor head crawling it on the bottom.

[dsidle61]

Anyone in here local to the LDC area that could provide me some info on what happened in Cokato lake? Fished it the last 2 years and caught some nice LM and SM.  Used to all be in cover and it was just a coin flip as to what you’d get.  Came out today for the first time this year and there is not a single strand of weeds in the lake.  Don’t know it it got sprayed or had a carp infestation?  Thanks! 

[Dubtee]

Great report guys.  I'll make it out later this week and report back.  Need to try that scrounger head it looks like!  Nice fish @sully420.

 

Spent a week in central IN for work last week and took the sticks to fish with a buddy.  We fished a Tuesday nighter on a decent place and freaking 3.5 lbs won it.  Talk about pressure and tough fishing!  

 

We sure have it good up here in MN.

[FryDog62]

Not sure how many more opportunities for a Topwater bite this season, but so far still holding pretty good in the mornings...

[punch]

Nice! I got out to Lake George for a little bit last night, mostly to play around with the new Lowrance live-charting software update they just released. 

 

I did find some fish up VERY shallow, like less than 3 feet. Water temp's like 72. S

[SmallBlockMuscle]

Was out Saturday with a buddy from 7am-3pm and we got one 19.75" at about 2:30pm on a frog in the pads. Could not get hardly any other action all day. Tried everything 

[FryDog62]

24 minutes ago, SmallBlockMuscle said:

Was out Saturday with a buddy from 7am-3pm and we got one 19.75" at about 2:30pm on a frog in the pads. Could not get hardly any other action all day. Tried everything 

I don’t know about everyone else but this has been one of the toughest years I can remember for frog bites. The fish I caught above were after I threw a frog for 90 minutes with maybe one boil but no real strikes.  Switched to a popper and - Kapow - for the next 3 hours.  

 

I think I’ll Put Kermit away for the year...

[SmallBlockMuscle]

18 minutes ago, FryDog62 said:

I don’t know about everyone else but this has been one of the toughest years I can remember for frog bites. The fish I caught above were after I threw a frog for 90 minutes with maybe one boil but no real strikes.  Switched to a popper and - Kapow - for the next 3 hours.  

 

I think I’ll Put Kermit away for the year...

Good to know, thanks. I may go tomorrow night if the weather is ok. Need to learn some early fall strategies. 

[sully420]

@FryDog62I hear ya topwaters have been tough so far this year there's been really small windows of action here and there. I have a feeling that September will offer some good opportunities for froggen and buzz baits. One thing I've noticed this season is slow walking and patience retrieving has been the deal. Another.  helpful tactic has been having a friend on the boat fishing subsurface baits behind me. I know if he's getting bit and I'm not on a topwater I better put it down. In other words just because I'm not getting bit on a topwater doesn't mean the bass aren't there and they're not biting.

[punch]

Guys have any suggestions for a buzz frog? I need to pick a few up.

[sully420]

@punch I like the booyah one it gets the job done.