Minnesota 2020 Fishing Season

[ThatOneBigKid]

3 hours ago, gimruis said:

I don't think it will be affected in terms of the existing laws.  He's already stated that fishing and hunting seasons will continue as planned - although it may look a lot different at some of the lakes/landings.  They recommend fishing "close to home" but they really haven't indicated what that means and its quite apparent just about everyone sees that differently.  I personally think that anywhere within about an hour of my house is acceptable as long as I do what I can to avoid other people.  I don't think people will be driving hours north to their traditional opener locations with family/friends.  They already closed off several popular early season locations (Rainy River, Green Bay) because people didn't follow the guidelines.  If people start to abuse that at places around here, they'll close them too.  It only takes a few people to ruin it for everyone.

I agree completely with this. I drive past Clear Lake in Forest Lake on Hwy35 every day and for the last week or so there have been a minimum of 30 people on the shore line along the frontage road and another 5-15 boats/kayaks in the water all fishing the same stretch for crappies. The people on shore certainly aren't distancing like suggested which worries me. I have been to White Bear Lake and Bald Eagle within the last 5 days with the boat and every one seemed to be doing a great job to distance at the boat launches there. I doubt they will be closing any launches, but I could see parks being affected.  

 

Going to Pool 4 for sure on this Saturday. I am hoping that with the full moon, warmer weather this week, and a storm front pushing in late Saturday that the fish are chomping. Can't wait to jerk on a few for the first time this season. 

 

Tight lines and stay healthy gents!  

[gim]

29 minutes ago, ThatOneBigKid said:

I doubt they will be closing any launches, but I could see parks being affected.

They just closed 40 state parks in Wisconsin today.

[ThatOneBigKid]

Got down to Pool 4 yesterday. Beautiful day but the fishing was slow. Water temp first thing in the morning was 44, just touched 50 at the end of the day. 

 

Caught one 2lb Smallie on a Vision 110+1 on a secondary point current break going back into a spawning backwater. Color was Tennessee Shad. Caught a giant pike on a Storm Arashi Glide in Bluegill color. Didn't measure it, but I would guess it was mid 30s and 12ish pounds. Very fat fish that had obviously been eating up. Also managed a few dink largemouth on Squarebills right at the end of the day. Used a Strike King 1.5s in natural bluegill and a Megabass S-Crank in a red craw pattern. 

 

Was a good day overall. Great weather and a few fish. Wasn't expecting too much once I saw the water temp in the morning. Just great to be out on the water again. 

[ThatOneBigKid]

Went over to Cedar Lake in WI on Friday chasing Bass. Managed one smallmouth and a couple largies. Also managed to boat 3 Muskies and lost another. Muskies boated were 36", 32", and 28". The one I lost was easily 40". Bit me off after trying to get my hands in his gill plate to get him in the boat. Of course no net. Caught all on 8lb fluorocarbon crackin' a 4" GP tube on steep breaks. Fun day overall. 

[umdivx]

8 minutes ago, ThatOneBigKid said:

Went over to Cedar Lake in WI on Friday chasing Bass. Managed one smallmouth and a couple largies. Also managed to boat 3 Muskies and lost another. Muskies boated were 36", 32", and 28". The one I lost was easily 40". Bit me off after trying to get my hands in his gill plate to get him in the boat. Of course no net. Caught all on 8lb fluorocarbon crackin' a 4" GP tube on steep breaks. Fun day overall. 

Punch and I went out to Cedar on Saturday. He is his boat, and I in mine. Did our social distancing but fished closed together so we could still chat and stuff.

 

Was a bit windy and colder than expected but we made the best of it. Pulled in a nice fat walleye and half a dozen largies, no smallies.

 

Punch caught two muskies as well. One of which was easily in the 30" range. Caught on spinning gear too.

 

Punch's Muskie https://i.imgur.com/iAwWUyO.png

 

My eye caught on the jackhammer https://i.imgur.com/FfeAzs4.png  absolutely trucked it, thought I was hung up on a crappie crib at first. 

 

Hit me up next time you go out. I'll tag along in my boat  

[Ogandrews]

On 4/12/2020 at 1:02 PM, ThatOneBigKid said:

Got down to Pool 4 yesterday. Beautiful day but the fishing was slow. Water temp first thing in the morning was 44, just touched 50 at the end of the day. 

 

Caught one 2lb Smallie on a Vision 110+1 on a secondary point current break going back into a spawning backwater. Color was Tennessee Shad. Caught a giant pike on a Storm Arashi Glide in Bluegill color. Didn't measure it, but I would guess it was mid 30s and 12ish pounds. Very fat fish that had obviously been eating up. Also managed a few dink largemouth on Squarebills right at the end of the day. Used a Strike King 1.5s in natural bluegill and a Megabass S-Crank in a red craw pattern. 

 

Was a good day overall. Great weather and a few fish. Wasn't expecting too much once I saw the water temp in the morning. Just great to be out on the water again. 

If you don’t mind me asking were you upstream or downstream of pepin? I fish pool 4 all the time and it’s cool to see someone else on this form hitting it. I’m going to be taking my new boat out for the first time around wabasha this weekend and I’m hoping to get into some better action in the backwaters around there. Last few times I’ve been out it has been super slow. If their not moving down there I will try some of the bays at the head of pepin and upstream toward redwing. I mostly target pike when I’m out there but I’ve seen some true monster bass for Minnesota around wabasha. Would in no way surprise me to see the new state record come out of some of the backwaters downstream of pepin.

 

I am pretty disappointed that I won’t be on vermilion for opener this year. For the last few years my family friends have had a 20-30 person walleye and pike tournament. Everybody throws in $20 and the biggest pike takes half and the biggest walleye takes the other half. Won biggest pike every year I have been in it. I know I shouldn’t but it’s hard not to go up there when I have the entire week after fishing opener off, I feel like the north woods are calling my name.

[gim]

On 4/20/2020 at 2:21 PM, ThatOneBigKid said:

Also managed to boat 3 Muskies and lost another. Muskies boated were 36", 32", and 28". The one I lost was easily 40". Bit me off after trying to get my hands in his gill plate to get him in the boat.

 

On 4/20/2020 at 2:30 PM, umdivx said:

Punch caught two muskies as well. One of which was easily in the 30" range. Caught on spinning gear too.

 

Don't you guys just love it when you pile into muskies during the closed season and then when its open and you specifically target them, you can't catch any?  ?

[umdivx]

24 minutes ago, gimruis said:

 

 

Don't you guys just love it when you pile into muskies during the closed season and then when its open and you specifically target them, you can't catch any?  ?

Dunno, I don't specifically go out and try to dedicate fishing for them.

[Ogandrews]

Made it out to the backwaters around wabasha today and had a 30+ fish day between me and a friend. Got my first ever bowfin which was awesome, had no idea how hard fighting a fish they were. Those things really don’t get the respect they deserve, I’ll definitely be targeting them more. Water was anywhere from 48 to 62 degrees depending on where I was. There was a 25 boat bass tournament going on so it made it a little harder to fish the spots I usually like but we still managed to have a good day. Got my “biggest”, still really small, pike of the day on a frog in 1 fow which is awesome considering it’s still April. Overall a great day on the water.

[gim]

I went panfishing over the weekend on a local lake for a few hours.  They're stacked in the shallows right now.  Crappies, sunfish, a few perch, one after the other.  Used only small artificial plastics.  Water temp was 52 degrees in the backwaters and 49 on the main portion of the lake.  I'm on a quest for a 15+ inch crappie but I don't think they exist in these smaller lakes that get pounded every winter and spring by the meat hunters so I may need to go to Tonka soon, where I know they at least exist.

[afree]

I am now quarantining at my place in Northern Wisconsin and hit the water this afternoon for the first time on lake/flowage near the Chippewa Flowage. Weird body of water, about 750 acres and the deepest point is 19 feet. During the warmer months I have some of my best days here but have never fished it for bass this early in the year. Ice out was only about 12 days ago but surface temps are 50-52 depending on where you are. 

 

I managed to catch 3 LMBs, all over 3 pounds with the biggest at 4.4 so overall a good day but it was a grind to get a bite. Sky was clear as day and air temp around 60, was seeing fish in less than 6 inches of water getting some sun on the bank but they were not interested in eating. Caught the first on a Carolina Rig, one on a drop-shot, and the 4.4 was on a T-Rig in about 5 feet of water on laydown. No consistency as far as I can tell but I am new to deep water fishing so I want to try and focus on that. Going to hit the crappie tonight.

 

Good luck to all in the coming weeks and stay safe.

[ThatOneBigKid]

Nice @afree. I fished WI for bass for the first couple times this year with the lift of the preseason restrictions. We were on a lake last weekend that was 56 water temp and there were a pile of fish in the shallows eating and staging before moving to beds. Biggest was also 4.4lbs. My guess is there will plenty of fish on bed this weekend with the warm week we have had this week. Wish I didn't have to work this weekend. It have been a cool minute since I have been able to bed fish up here in MN/WI. 

[gim]

I went out to Tonka for crappies on Friday looking for the Bigfoot of slab crappies. I did manage to catch 2 good ones over 12 inches plus about 15 smaller ones but I still haven’t found that elusive tanker. Oh well, at least I got into some bigger fish other than all this dinks I was catching nonstop before. Can you believe I saw a pair of jet skis out there?! The water temp on the main lake is only 53 degrees. That is a serious hypothermia risk if you fall in.

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, gimruis said:

I went out to Tonka for crappies on Friday looking for the Bigfoot of slab crappies. I did manage to catch 2 good ones over 12 inches plus about 15 smaller ones but I still haven’t found that elusive tanker. Oh well, at least I got into some bigger fish other than all this dinks I was catching nonstop before. Can you believe I saw a pair of jet skis out there?! The water temp on the main lake is only 53 degrees. That is a serious hypothermia risk if you fall in.

Ya, I'm heading out this Wednesday myself - test the new mods so far on the canoe, see if I can get some slab-crappies.

 

53^o, huh...maybe when I go out the following week, the bass will be on the beds or at least 'lining up' for spawn.

[afree]

On 5/1/2020 at 11:51 AM, ThatOneBigKid said:

Nice @afree. I fished WI for bass for the first couple times this year with the lift of the preseason restrictions. We were on a lake last weekend that was 56 water temp and there were a pile of fish in the shallows eating and staging before moving to beds. Biggest was also 4.4lbs. My guess is there will plenty of fish on bed this weekend with the warm week we have had this week. Wish I didn't have to work this weekend. It have been a cool minute since I have been able to bed fish up here in MN/WI. 

 

I believe this part of Wisconsin (Hayward area) just started the staging phase, you referenced. We did not have the warm week here, it was rainy, cold, windy all week until Saturday the 2nd where it hit 70. Before that it didn't crack 60 at all. I fished some yesterday around the Hayward/Chippewa area and had a great day. Water temps between 53-55 and found the fish in about 4 foot of water. They were buried on laydowns and thick dead fallen trees. Stuck to the north end of the lake and it paid off, found 20+ fish and some keggers in there too including a 5.11 that honestly looked bigger. I am fishing alone due to Covid-19 so no photos unfortunately, or at least any good ones. 

 

All fish were caught on pegged Texas Rig except one on a jig which was the first fish of the day. I love the 7" BioSpawn ExoRibbon for this rig, it has amazing action although they are not durable, last only a few fish if lucky. 1/4-ounce Swagger Tungsten weight and 4/0 Trokar Worm HD offset hook was the combo.  

 

Weather in this area is going to be terrible for 10 days so I might work my way to MN mid-week, if work allows.

 

Good luck to all, stay safe.

[FryDog62]

Roommate and I have been targeting white bass here in Minnesota before the opener since they are legal.  Have had a couple over 3 pounds now. Much more fun than crappies IMHO...

[Ogandrews]

What are your guys plans for opener? I was originally going to do my normal trip to vermilion on opener but couldn’t get as much time off so I’m going to fish local reservoirs around here. Probably will be pike fishing until that slows down in June, really trying hard to break that catch and release record of 45.25. All I need is another 3/4 of an inch, and I know their in my local waters the dnr has shocked them up to 47”. I’m saving most of my time off until musky season opens up, then I’ll hit vermilion hard.

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, Ogandrews said:

What are your guys plans for opener?

Since all I have is a canoe and the power-boaters (yes, even the bass boats) are gits who try their best to swamp me...I never go out on the weekends.

 

Add to that, I have to schedule trips around a temp PCA to look after my wife while I'm on the lake...my 'opener' will be the Wednesday after the calendar opener.

[ThatOneBigKid]

Planning to be on Minnetonka for opener. Yearly tradition with my Bro-in-law and Uncle. Cold morning on Saturday is going to make it interesting. I was hopeful that we would have some warmer weather with the full moon just days before opener (If the females aren't up they should be now with the full moon), but it never fails. I can count the warm weather openers I have had on one hand. Regardless, so happy to be able to get back out on MN waters again. 

 

Good luck to everyone and tight lines! 

[MN Fisher]

6 minutes ago, ThatOneBigKid said:

Planning to be on Minnetonka for opener. Yearly tradition with my Bro-in-law and Uncle. Cold morning on Saturday is going to make it interesting. I was hopeful that we would have some warmer weather with the full moon just days before opener (If the females aren't up they should be now with the full moon), but it never fails. I can count the warm weather openers I have had on one hand. Regardless, so happy to be able to get back out on MN waters again. 

 

Good luck to everyone and tight lines! 

Well, the warm weather and sun lately has helped. I was out on Tonka yesterday, mainly to test the new canoe mods, and the surface temp - at least where I was - was 56^o...so maybe they're getting a bit more active now.

[ThatOneBigKid]

44 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Well, the warm weather and sun lately has helped. I was out on Tonka yesterday, mainly to test the new canoe mods, and the surface temp - at least where I was - was 56^o...so maybe they're getting a bit more active now.

Thanks for the temp info. what bay way this in? The surface temp will likely drop a few degrees with the 31 degree low Friday night, but northern bass aren't as phased as Florida strain by that so we should still be okay. I am hoping the sun is up and the wind stays down so we can maybe find some good ones on bed. We'll see.

[MN Fisher]

5 minutes ago, ThatOneBigKid said:

Thanks for the temp info. what bay way this in?

Right - Phelps Bay.

[ThatOneBigKid]

2 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Right - Phelps Bay.

Thanks again! 

 

 

Question for everyone. I am looking to take the step up into that higher tier of spinning rods ($250 -$350 Range) for throwing a Drop Shot and Ned Rig. What is ever bodies recommendation on what to look at? The Shimano Expride has caught my eye. Will be pairing this rod with one of the new Shimano Stradic 3000XGFL reels. 

 

Thanks in advance! 

[Ogandrews]

I would look into am expride, a st croix legend tournament bass is solid also. If your going to be buying in the 200’s idk if it’s possible to beat the expride. If you were willing to spend in the 400’s then the st croix legend X, legend elite, and older model legend extreme are all incredible rods. If you don’t want to spend that much than go with the expride. I decided to try to save money and got a g loomis e6x instead of an expride and I’m kicking myself for it not because it’s not nearly as nice of a rod.

 

Only one day left now. It’s going to be a cold morning but it’s supposed to get into the low 60’s now down here so I’m hoping the pike are going to be snapping.

[Sodaksam]

I bought a Jason Mitchell series rod for dropshotting.   I never buy Daiwa  spinning reels. I did this time to go with JM rod.  It’s been great.  Not real spendy either.  I quit buying really high end rods because I am good at breaking them. Not good at saving receipts.