Minnesota Fishing Reports - 2018

[sully420]

@FishingMN There definitely feeding, but im not really targeting deep structure or weedlines yet there is too much forage shallow. In other words i think they are suspended over deeper water but feeding shallower i expect this to hold true untill sunfish are finished spawning.

[punch]

Me and @geneoh are fishing aginst @rascalP tonight in Greenhorn.. who will be the victor! Bass resource member battle. 

[sully420]

@punch what lake are you guys fishing?

[gim]

Royal rumble on the lake

[rascalP]

Congrats to Punch and Geneoh on their 3rd place finish.  Nice to meet you both.  Always something to learn with fishing and I will always be willing to be a pupil.

[rascalP]

On 6/6/2018 at 3:32 PM, sully420 said:

@punch what lake are you guys fishing?

Sully,   we were on N/S Center.  Are you doing the Sunday GH series?  Coon?  (cough,cough) reeds (cough, cough)?.

 

  Actually, anybody fishing the GH should take advantage of the archives and past results.  There's usually a pretty good write up on the tourny.

[sully420]

@rascalP no i e-mailed the director to see if i can join any series. Coon is a tough lake I've only been there once.

[FishingMN]

Does anyone know if there are largemouth bass on Wolf Lake up near bemidji?   I will be spending a week in that area. Curious if there are any good tips on finding the bass.  Last time there only found northern (smallish) and some walleye, but couldn't connect with a single bass.  It does connect to Andruisa Lake and Cass Lake if I wanted to spend a long time idling through a mile of channels.  So kinda curious about those lakes too.  Any pointers would be helpful.  Have a great week everyone!

[Jmhalvo]

8 hours ago, FishingMN said:

Does anyone know if there are largemouth bass on Wolf Lake up near bemidji?   I will be spending a week in that area. Curious if there are any good tips on finding the bass.  Last time there only found northern (smallish) and some walleye, but couldn't connect with a single bass.  It does connect to Andruisa Lake and Cass Lake if I wanted to spend a long time idling through a mile of channels.  So kinda curious about those lakes too.  Any pointers would be helpful.  Have a great week everyone!

2009 survey shows DNR captured exactly one bass- 19 inch. Old survey, but the DNR does not mention bass on their list of species in the lake

[Tlauz]

On 6/8/2018 at 12:03 PM, FishingMN said:

Does anyone know if there are largemouth bass on Wolf Lake up near bemidji?   I will be spending a week in that area. Curious if there are any good tips on finding the bass.  Last time there only found northern (smallish) and some walleye, but couldn't connect with a single bass.  It does connect to Andruisa Lake and Cass Lake if I wanted to spend a long time idling through a mile of channels.  So kinda curious about those lakes too.  Any pointers would be helpful.  Have a great week everyone!

 I am not sure if you have a boat you can trailer, but Grace is really close and has good bass fishing.  Others that are a little farther away in the area that I fish that aren't really busy are North Twin, Medicine, and Three Island. Big Turtle and Beltrami are good but can be busy.  If a lake does have bass, a wacky rigged worm on outside weed edge will let you know if they are there.  Swim jig with trailer thrown in shallow works well also. 

[Jmhalvo]

15 hours ago, Tlauz said:

 I am not sure if you have a boat you can trailer, but Grace is really close and has good bass fishing.  Others that are a little farther away in the area that I fish that aren't really busy are North Twin, Medicine, and Three Island. Big Turtle and Beltrami are good but can be busy.  If a lake does have bass, a wacky rigged worm on outside weed edge will let you know if they are there.  Swim jig with trailer thrown in shallow works well also. 

Doesn’t Big Bass Lk have new Catch and Release only? Might be good....

[punch]

We're heading up to the Crow Wing chain this weekend. I can't wait! Low pressure (everyone fishes for walleye or trophy pike uo there), clear water and little to no boat traffic. I've had some amazing bass days in the chain.

[gim]

There's so many small to medium sized lakes in Northern Minnesota that have none or minimal bass fishing pressure.  I could spend a month up there just hopping from one to the other and not encounter another bass boat.

[FryDog62]

42 minutes ago, gimruis said:

There's so many small to medium sized lakes in Northern Minnesota that have none or minimal bass fishing pressure.  I could spend a month up there just hopping from one to the other and not encounter another bass boat.

X2... this is one of the great things about our state... so many small-medium and relatively unexplored lakes.  The big bodies of water get so much notoriety but I prefer the smaller ones and rivers where there are less people/pressure.  And you’re right, once most people get above Mille Lacs they are pretty much only focused on walleyes.  

 

Once at a bait shop in Northern Minnesota I stopped to see if they had any plastic creature baits and the guy looks at me like I’m nuts “What would you need those for?  ...But I’ll sell you some shiners here for the walleyes that are in 14 feet of water right now... maybe you’ll also run into some of those ‘bronze carp’ while you’re at it.!”

[FishingMN]

On 6/8/2018 at 8:36 PM, Jmhalvo said:

2009 survey shows DNR captured exactly one bass- 19 inch. Old survey, but the DNR does not mention bass on their list of species in the lake

Well so far I've caught 3.  so I guess I am doing ok in a non bass lake.  Actually, i think they pull into this lake in the spring and then thin out later in the year is my guess. Thanks for the info I should have looked up dnr info

On 6/10/2018 at 6:14 PM, Tlauz said:

 I am not sure if you have a boat you can trailer, but Grace is really close and has good bass fishing.  Others that are a little farther away in the area that I fish that aren't really busy are North Twin, Medicine, and Three Island. Big Turtle and Beltrami are good but can be busy.  If a lake does have bass, a wacky rigged worm on outside weed edge will let you know if they are there.  Swim jig with trailer thrown in shallow works well also. 

Thanks!  We did bring trailer.  We will try Grace.  Sounds fun.  I did find a few on wolf using a keitech or a chatterbait in the pencil reeds..  4ft water.

Thanks guys for the help.  Did find 3 bass on wolf.  (2+, 2+, 3+ lbs)  but appears population of bass is thin..

haven't yet ventured to the other lakes. 

[FishingMN]

cass lake seems much better..btw. long idle over there, but 10 bass with largest being almost 4lbs

[OperationEagle]

Fished Tonka today. It was hard fishing. Fish were still shallow around 5-7 fow. Found them tight to pads. Caught most on senkos and jigs. Definitely post spawn. 

[Jmhalvo]

Spicer was a bust- wind died and so did we

[sully420]

It's definitely transition time right now.

[starkeer]

Every time I've been out bank fishing Lake of the Isles in the past 3 weeks it seems like the carp are spawning, at least they are thrashing around making a commotion in the shallows. This has been ongoing since around May 20. Has anyone experienced anything similar? It seems strange to me that it has gone on so long and in my opinion really disrupts the bass fishing. 

[dsidle61]

I’m up on Birch lake this week in Hackensack (cass).  Anyone ever had any luck up here before? Putting the boat in after the showers finish up.  Been having really good luck w the whopper plopper lately on metro lakes.  Tons of grass up here, hoping for the same results. 

[FishingMN]

22 hours ago, dsidle61 said:

I’m up on Birch lake this week in Hackensack (cass).  Anyone ever had any luck up here before? Putting the boat in after the showers finish up.  Been having really good luck w the whopper plopper lately on metro lakes.  Tons of grass up here, hoping for the same results. 

try to find pencil reeds next to (interspersed with) other weeds with the most life around in 4fow on cass lake.  Try texas rigged, wacky or, chatterbait.  see my previous posts from a few days ago on cass lake 

[sully420]

Been fishing lots of metro lakes with algae.  I've had good results fishing grass where the algae was gone or there was less of it. Frogging and flippin.

[Dubtee]

New poster here, but have been lurking, reading, and watching this report for years now.  Good stuff guys, appreciate the time it takes to write these.  Purchased a new rig this winter so I'm fishing more now, so I thought I'd start chiming in.

 

Thanks for the report Sully, I've been struggling to find good ones last couple times out SW Metro, at least that's something to go on.  Anything you are keying in on when you flip - hard bottom, structure, etc?  I want to flip, but not sure where to start.

 

I can't find anything but dinks up shallow and on docks, so I'm trying not to spend much time there.  I need to dedicate some more time to frogging, just haven't yet.  Been running moving baits in 8-10 fow over grass, but not getting the bites there I was a few weeks ago.  Yesterday, I did find quite a few in the submerged milfoil that hasn't topped out yet.  No real size, but it was enough of an indicator to run a pattern if I would have had the time.  Been trying to find some off shore spots to deep crank, but it seems 9 casts out of ten come back with junk on my plug, I don't feel that is very efficient so getting frustrated there.  I'm graphing quite a few fish on main lake points in 13-17 fow, but not exactly sure what they are.  I try to drop shot them and most seem to be bluegills tearing at my lure.

 

Keep the reports coming fellas.

[sully420]

@Dubtee yea clean topped out grass flats 5 to 7' deep with lots of holes in it the bigger the holes the better. If you get a chance to fish early morning you can run alot of it with a frog to find hot spots then work it over with a jig or t-rig. Look for sunnies in the area thats a big clue.

I don't think bass are really setting up deep yet. The rain is keeping the water up and sunfish really want to spawn so they are staying shallow for the most part. It seems like the pike are feeding on the deeper stuff and the bass are tucked in a bit shallower.