Minnesota Fishing Report - 2019

[gim]

The water temp was still in the 40’s on Tonka on opener. I doubt it came up 15 degrees in one week even with a couple of warm days.

[MN Fisher]

3 minutes ago, gimruis said:

The water temp was still in the 40’s on Tonka on opener. I doubt it came up 15 degrees in one week even with a couple of warm days.

It hasn't...I got a 'refrigerator thermometer' on a line with a weight so I can measure temps at depth. Wednesday, the surface got to 50...but a foot down it was at 45. Now we got a cold front so I think the temps will still be low for a while.

[JackKlassen]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

The water temp was still in the 40’s on Tonka on opener. I doubt it came up 15 degrees in one week even with a couple of warm days.

I marked 60 on Thursday when it was 80 out. Fish on beds + spawning makes me believe it.

[Dubtee]

I had a couple hours to kill on Saturday so I went out from about 2-4 pm and braved the wind.  Water on the little lake was back down to 58-60.  I caught a few decent ones shallow including my Minnesota PB, the good ones were on the reed line somewhat protected from the wind, but almost in it if that makes sense - like right on the seam.  Once I got out in 6-8 fow in the teeth of the wind, the only thing I could effectively cast was a red eye shad.  I did pick up a few bucks out there on it.  The leeward side of the lake was calm and clear and I did see fish on beds - nothing giant.  I could not get them to bite anything but I didn't spend much time on them either.

 

I'd be really interested to know what the water temps are back down to after Sunday's cold monsoon.

[FishingMN]

I have a question for everyone....

 

When surface water temps hit around 65 to 68, in the past, I will see plenty of bass up shallow in 1 to 4 fow.  They may or may not be on beds.  Most will look like they are just cruising.  I might see 30 bass in a day, and cast for hours, so I am sure my bait passed double that number.. but with no bites.  Maybe 1 or 2 max.. and those are real little ones.  Are they just thinking about spawning so much that they won't bite?  Is there anyway to coax them in to biting?  What method would be best?  Or is this the normal, impossible behavior at this water temp?

[gim]

The science book says largies spawn when the water temp is 55-65 degrees. Not all portions of the lake warm up uniformly, especially if it’s a bigger lake.

 

My experience targeting bedded bass is limited. I think the idea is to get them to bite because they are defense mode, not because they’re hungry. I never give it much time. A few casts and then move along Betty...

 

Maybe someone else will chime in about it that has more experience with bedded fish.

[Tlauz]

Fished today 12:00 - 4:30.  Water temps were 53-58.  Had a frost advisory this morning.  Caught 5 bass, 1 pike. First pike of the year.  I REALLY struggled.  Hit everywhere I could think of.  Used jerk bait, crankbait, spinnerbait, swim jig, swimbait, wacky worm. Caught #5.2 on wacky worm, and a #3.7 smallmouth on swimbait. At the end of the day saw a few smallmouth where I usually see them when they spawn, but they are not there yet in numbers.

  

[FishingMN]

16 hours ago, gimruis said:

The science book says largies spawn when the water temp is 55-65 degrees. Not all portions of the lake warm up uniformly, especially if it’s a bigger lake.

 

My experience targeting bedded bass is limited. I think the idea is to get them to bite because they are defense mode, not because they’re hungry. I never give it much time. A few casts and then move along Betty...

 

Maybe someone else will chime in about it that has more experience with bedded fish.

Thanks.  But what's curious to me is these bass aren't really pinned to a bed. They seem to be roaming in the general area of where beds are, but not on a bed.

[Dubtee]

1 hour ago, FishingMN said:

Thanks.  But what's curious to me is these bass aren't really pinned to a bed. They seem to be roaming in the general area of where beds are, but not on a bed.

I refer to these bass as cruisers, whether they are looking for a spot to make a bed, get on a bed, etc. doesn't matter to me.  I feel like I can catch them as long as they don't see me or I spook them first.  Depending on the conditions, I try to cast way ahead of me in the high percentage spots and hope I land it near one.  I also think some of those cruisers are looking for the first bluegill spawners as well.  Even if I can't get the super shallow fish to bite, I feel there are always good fish on that first piece of cover away from the spawning areas or that first line of grass - whether they are coming or going, not sure, but I believe I can entice them into biting.

 

I'm with Gim and don't spend much time on a bedded fish, too slow for me.  

[JackKlassen]

10 hours ago, Dubtee said:

I refer to these bass as cruisers, whether they are looking for a spot to make a bed, get on a bed, etc. doesn't matter to me.  I feel like I can catch them as long as they don't see me or I spook them first.  Depending on the conditions, I try to cast way ahead of me in the high percentage spots and hope I land it near one.  I also think some of those cruisers are looking for the first bluegill spawners as well.  Even if I can't get the super shallow fish to bite, I feel there are always good fish on that first piece of cover away from the spawning areas or that first line of grass - whether they are coming or going, not sure, but I believe I can entice them into biting.

 

I'm with Gim and don't spend much time on a bedded fish, too slow for me.  

in my experience, a 4 inch wacky senko is the best way to catch these shallow fish. Like he said, make sure you don't spook them.

[sully420]

@FishingMN

Ok so here's my thoughts on this time of year. I totally ignore cruising bass and bass on beds, in not intrested is catching buck bass or wasting time on bedding fish. I believe its better to look for lost spawn females or late spawners.

 

What I do is look for shallow cover like reeds, cattails, pads, laydowns right on the bank, I think big females will get into the cover before and after spawning and bite pretty good. I generally target these fish with a jig, chatterbait and a Keitech swing impact fat the bigger the better imo. You wanna get the bait into the cover as much as you can and cover water, with this pattern you wanna be right on the bank.

 

The next place I look is weed beds in 5' to10' of water depending on water clarity. You want to look for edges or areas where the weed beds are clumped and have clean space between, lily pads are also very good if they have at least 3' of water underneath. I fish these areas with the same baits, it is also important to always have a hollow body frog at the ready and seed if they will eat it. I've caught some of the biggest  bass of my like fishing a frog this time of year, you fish it in the same areas I talked about.

 

I generally fish this pattern until late June, the higher the water level or dirtier the water the longer this pattern will last. After this pattern slows I'll start targeting deeper mats, main lake points and hard bottom locations.

 

Hope this helps 

Sully

[OperationEagle]

Was out north of the metro. Caught about a dozen. All on a rat-l-trap.  3-5 fow. 

 

Nothing of size. Tough bite today.  I wonder if the rain cooled things down and pushed them close to cover. 

 

Water temp was 53. 

[FryDog62]

1 hour ago, OperationEagle said:

Was out north of the metro. Caught about a dozen. All on a rat-l-trap.  3-5 fow. 

 

Nothing of size. Tough bite today.  I wonder if the rain cooled things down and pushed them close to cover. 

 

Water temp was 53. 

Water temps def went backwards... got to SoDak last night and it was 49.  Today 51.  Bite went backwards too, but Chatterbaits work for besides bass.. 

[MN Fisher]

6 minutes ago, FryDog62 said:

Water temps def went backwards... got to SoDak last night and it was 49.  Today 51.  Bite went backwards too, but Chatterbaits work for besides bass.. 

That one going home to the freezer?

[FryDog62]

2 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

That one going home to the freezer?

This one a tad too big, luckily a couple other smaller ones will make the cooler on the way home ?

[bwjay]

Spent some time fishing a friend's bay on Minnetonka again and was excited when I got there and saw probably 50 little sunnies and small bass just stacked up in the 2ft shallows, soaking up the sun. I did my best to be quiet on the dock.

 

I got a new reel the other day and have been struggling with backlashes recently, but got better, and wanted to give it a proper run through for a long day today, so I threw a River2Sea Bling spinner (White/Chartreuse) on that guy, and decided to try my hand at a Texas rigged creaturebait, namely the Googan Bandito Bug (in Alabama Craw and Natural) on my other rod.

 

By the time I started fishing it was probably close to noon I'm guessing. Sun high and bright! Visibility in the water was decent for sure. I chucked the spinnerbait and landed probably a 1lb largemouth. I have been fishing little ponds for the past week and a half and caught absolutely nothing so this was a good feeling. I kept throwing the Bling out there and saw a pontoon boat pull up near the entrance to the bay, probably 100-200yds out. Some guys were fishing. I was hoping they wouldn't spoil it for me. Well, I suppose they didn't, because within my next couple casts I hooked into something good, and pulled out what I am guessing was about a 2 pounder. I was pretty stoked and probably did a few fist pumps.

 

Didn't catch another on the spinnerbait within 20-30 mins, so I switched over to the good ol' Bandito Bug and gave it a shot with a 1/4oz tungsten bullet weight, not pegged. I learned to hop the little thing through weeds and got a couple curious dinks with it. The biggest I managed with it was probably 1lb. I saw some bigger ones swimming around but I just could not get them to bite. I saw a few watch it as I hopped it along, but none took a shot at it. I walked it practically across their nose a few times, and nothing. They weren't on beds, they were just cruising around the bay, among the sunnies, among the smaller largemouth occasionally. I saw maybe 3 or 4 decent 1.5-2lb'ers swimming around but again I just couldn't entice them.

 

Threw a red/green watermelon 5" Senko towards the end of my session and caught 3 dinks on it within 15 minutes. I thought DANG! Is that what y'all wanted this whole time!? So I kept throwing it for 20 more minutes and could not get anything other than very hungry sunnies to go for it. I packed up around 4:30pm with very sunburned feet (wearing sandals) but otherwise in a great mood. I was gonna go fishing tomorrow (Memorial Day) but the weather looks rainy and windy - no thanks! Glad I got it done today.

 

Oh, and I'm going to the Boundary Waters on Fri night/Sat morning for 8 days to hopefully catch a ton of bass and eat a ton of walleye, and possibly hook into a donkey of a lake trout around 40 inches (Lac La Croix). We will see. They are in there! I will share a few photos when I'm back. Go get 'em guys!

[MN Fisher]

(sighs)  Went to Dutch - and it was already full...4 supposed parking slots for trailers and there were 6 there. So toddled up to Little Long and went out.

 

Tried everything, Spinner, Chatter, Buzz, variety of cranks and jerks, T-Rigs, Wacky, drop-shot

 

NOTHING - I got skunked big time.

 

Next trip? Dunno when - it's up in the air right now.

[SmallBlockMuscle]

Went out Saturday from 6am to noon. I caught a couple right away on a square bill in the 2 pound range and then that bite stopped. Switched to a chatterbait and worked that mainly the rest of the day and caught 8 on it with the largest being 3.33#. I was working it like a jig and not a constant retrieve. My buddy used a t rig bandito bug and caught 8 mainly in the 2.5# range. The bites were pretty lazy compared to a couple weeks ago. Everything was caught in 1-4 feet, water temps started at 56 and rose to 60 by noon in the shallows. 

[punch]

Me and my pops went to Mille Lacs on Sunday and had a good time. I got my new PB Smallmouth at 6.04lbs on a TRD and a Outkast "Perfect ned head". We got pretty consistent bites on the east side reef's on Ned rigs & keitechs. You had to fish VERY slowly on the bottom. 

 

[FryDog62]

53 minutes ago, punch said:

Me and my pops went to Mille Lacs on Sunday and had a good time. I got my new PB Smallmouth at 6.04lbs on a TRD and a Outkast "Perfect ned head". We got pretty consistent bites on the east side reef's on Ned rigs & keitechs. You had to fish VERY slowly on the bottom. 

 

Nice PB!!  What were water temps?

[punch]

17 minutes ago, FryDog62 said:

Nice PB!!  What were water temps?

Low 50's

[gim]

Good report punch I intend to head out there soon.

[FryDog62]

Anyone know where the largemouth spawn cycle is at right now in Northern Minn (Brainerd area) pre, during, post-spawn..?

[punch]

Has anyone fished Little Sand up by Park Rapids/Nevis? Hitting it Friday. Heard big brown bass lurk there. 

[gim]

I went to Mille Lacs on Thursday with my Father.  We boated 11 pre-spawn brownies, including 5 over 17 inches.  I caught my new PB for that lake too, a 21 incher.  I saw quite a few beds but very few fish on or around them.  Water temp was about 60 degrees.  I think the spawn cycle will occur very soon.  I even saw two large muskies in a synchronized spawn that swam almost right under the boat in 5 feet of water.  The female was absolutely enormous.  We caught all of the bass on 2 lures: a perch colored jerk bait and a small green senko fished very slow on the bottom.