Minnesota 2020 Fishing Season

[umdivx]

On 5/7/2020 at 3:46 PM, ThatOneBigKid said:

The Shimano Expride has caught my eye. Will be pairing this rod with one of the new Shimano Stradic 3000XGFL reels.

Was my 40th last month, and Punch remembered me talking about wanting to level up into a really nice spinning rod, and so he and a few friends all pitched in and bought me an Expride. I'll say I'm smitten, really love it. 

It's super light, great balance, super sensitive. With our discounts we get through GH at either Omnia or at Capras you get easily get a good chunk off the MSRP so its well worth it.

[gim]

I went out from about noon - 4 today and it was pretty slow. I did manage to find a small school of largemouth and caught 5 of them, losing 2 more. Biggest I got was 17.5 inches. I caught every fish on a jerk bait with long pauses on the outside emerging weed line. It was enjoyable targeting a bass again. Water temp 57 degrees. I heard it was blizzard conditions up north.

[MN Fisher]

3 minutes ago, gimruis said:

It was enjoyable targeting a bass again. Water temp 57 degrees. I heard it was blizzard conditions up north.

Which lake and where are the pics?

[Sodaksam]

I fished Blackwater by Longville. I got there at 7:15. 35 and cloudy and no wind.  The largemouth were hitting decently on plastics. One smallie on a pink x rap.  By 10;30 white out blizzard 30 degrees, and the wind picked up.  Fun, but frustrating. Snow accumulated on the lawn and deck.  In fact, its still there.

[umdivx]

I had every intention of fishing Mille Lacs today, but then got de-motivated as my brother backed out, and then the cold morning temps scared me off, slept in, saw it was 50 out, so loaded up and headed to one of my go to spots near me.

 

Normally this lake is stingy for me, like only 10 or so bites but really good bites, was the opposite for me, found a really nice healthy patch of curly leaf weeds. About 100yd stretch in 5 to 10 feet of water, temps solid at 57 and all they wanted was a the swim jig. 

 

Pulled in about 25 or more fish, most of them all over 2lbs, lost a really nice one, I'd say close to 4 at the boat, didn't set the hook well enough I guess.

 

Either way I was happy, I usually really struggle with pre and post spawn fishing, just can never figure them out. Once they get settled into the summer patterns, deeper offshore fishing is my jam, but today I was happy to find a pattern that worked for pre-spawners. 

[gim]

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

Which lake and where are the pics?

I fished Medicine Lake in Plymouth and only the dog was with me...it may be a while before I fish with another person to be honest.

 

 

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, gimruis said:

it may be a while before I fish with another person to be honest.

I hear you there - my schedule is what keeps me a loner. Add to that, anyone who came with me would be relegated to a stadium seat in the front of the canoe.

[nmatthes]

Anyone know of or heard of a water temp for Mille Lacs? thanks!

[gim]

51 minutes ago, umdivx said:

had every intention of fishing Mille Lacs today

My parents were there for 6 hours today and they did not have a single bite. Plus it was near blizzard conditions and they left with 3 inches of fresh snow on the inside of their boat. Worst conditions either one of them has ever experienced.

[umdivx]

5 minutes ago, nmatthes said:

Anyone know of or heard of a water temp for Mille Lacs? thanks!

High 40's still. 

5 minutes ago, gimruis said:

My parents were there for 6 hours today and they did not have a single bite. Plus it was near blizzard conditions and they left with 3 inches of fresh snow on the inside of their boat. Worst conditions either one of them has ever experienced.

Well the blizzard conditions weren't until afternoon. If I would have hit it at 6am like I was planning I could have fished until noon and beat the storm.

 

Was dead calm on the east side of the lake this morning. Still kicking myself for not going.

I saw plenty of people hammer them (based on my IG feed) this morning. 

 

Small swimbaits, jerkbaits and tubes are what was working the best from those I chatted with.

[OperationEagle]

Miserable day today. Landed only a pike. Stayed with reaction bite stuff and plastics.  Tried a jig for only a little bit and went back to a swim bait. Colder conditions made it tough for me water temp was 54 most of the day.

[Ogandrews]

Fished for pike from 8am-5pm in on of my favorite small fisheries around here. Water took a hit with last nights cold, even a little ice on the creeks coming into it. My buddy landed the only fish of the day which was the smallest one we saw at 36-37” didn’t get a great measure. I had 3 fish over 40” either follow or swipe at my baits at the side of the boat but didn’t hook up. Didn’t try to bass fish at all, probably would have gotten something else in the boat if I had but it’s pike time. The pike in this fishery act almost like musky, follow a lot and you are generally working all day for a couple huge bites. Fished out of a 14 ft tin boat we threw in the bed of my truck, was pretty nice to just be able to throw it in wherever we wanted instead of messing around at the ramp.

[NathanDLTH]

Caught 3 on Minnetonka, biggest was 3.11 on a senko. Bonus was a muskie trailing my spinnerbait back.

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, NathanDLTH said:

biggest was 3.11 on a senko

T-Rig, Wacky...what?

 

I'm planning on hitting Tonka on Wed.

[NathanDLTH]

T-Ring, weightless 

[gim]

This is my parents boat at 2:30pm on opener from Mille Lacs.  They fished for almost 6 hours without a bite.  I told them not to go and they still did.

[RiggityBop]

My fingers have finally thawed enough to type this up.... Hope everyone had a good opener. Also, it's nice to be back on the forum, it's been a while...  :) 

 

I got a late start to the bass hunting on Saturday, had to appease dad with trolling crankbaits for walleyes in the morning.. Finally got out in the afternoon for a couple hours and had some luck finding some decent L.M.B. I was in the saint cloud area, and the water is still a little cold, mid-high 50's, but i found some shallow warmer water and popped a few on 4" swimbaits (keitech, green color,), water melon 5inch senkos (t-rig w/less)  and a few on my favorite lure... The frog! I've been waiting a long time to throw that frog... swimbaits seemed to get the numbers though. 

 

Sunday i took a stroll down to the Mississippi and fished for about an hour around dusk and popped two really nice smallmouth. One on texas rig w/ bullet sinker, and one on a 4inch swimbait, again in green. Promptly lost both rigs to snags.. such is life. 

 

 

[ThatOneBigKid]

On 5/8/2020 at 8:50 PM, umdivx said:

Was my 40th last month, and Punch remembered me talking about wanting to level up into a really nice spinning rod, and so he and a few friends all pitched in and bought me an Expride. I'll say I'm smitten, really love it. 

It's super light, great balance, super sensitive. With our discounts we get through GH at either Omnia or at Capras you get easily get a good chunk off the MSRP so its well worth it.

Which Expride did you get? Are you using it for drop shotting?

 

I was wheeling and dealing with Capras and I would have pulled the trigger on a 822 DSR NRX and a 3000 Stradic had they had the Stradic in the size I wanted in stock. Oh well will wait a couple weeks till they are back in stock, but that is likely what I'll go with. I was also interested in the Daiwa Elite AGS Ehler DS Rod, but of course that was the only one Capras didn't have in stock. 

 

Got out for a full day on opener targeting bass. Took a good portion of the morning to figure out that the bass were still deep and prespawn feeding. Water was 54-57 degrees throughout the day. Once the sun peaked out around 11 and we put the pieces together we had a decent day. Managed 20 bass for the day between the 3 of us. Biggest was the fattest 3.88lber I have ever seen. Also caught a bonus 22" walleye to take home too. 

 

Could have been warmer, but all in all a good opener. 

[umdivx]

2 hours ago, ThatOneBigKid said:

Which Expride did you get? Are you using it for drop shotting?

Got the 7' Medium (EX270MA) spinning. 

 

For a drop shot rod I'd be looking at the 6'-10" ML (EX2610MLA).

 

Was more so commenting on Exprides in general. fit, finish, weight, is awesome for the money.

 

 

2 hours ago, ThatOneBigKid said:

I was also interested in the Daiwa Elite AGS Ehler DS Rod, but of course that was the only one Capras didn't have in stock. 

I've also got the Daiwa Elite rod as well. The non-AGS version though. Really don't think the AGS version is worth it honestly.

 

I have the 7'-3" M with XF tip (TAEL731MXS) I really like this rod as well, but for different reasons. Weight is super light, but wanted a slightly longer rod and a little beefier backbone. 

 

I can do shaky heads, ned rigs, jig worms with it, but I also got it for doing drop shotting on Mille Lacs for the bigger fish.

 

I also picked up the Dobyns Champion Extreme HP 742 7'-4" ML to also play around with drop shotting on Mille Lacs, picked this up per Rich Lindgren's (Hellabass) recommendation, he uses this rod on Mille Lacs for drop shotting. 

 

By the end of the summer I'll let you know which one I like the best lol, have about 4hrs on the Expride, and about 10hrs each on the Dobyns and Daiwa Elite rods. I like them all for various reasons, each has their pluses and minuses. 

 

[ThatOneBigKid]

17 hours ago, umdivx said:

By the end of the summer I'll let you know which one I like the best lol, have about 4hrs on the Expride, and about 10hrs each on the Dobyns and Daiwa Elite rods. I like them all for various reasons, each has their pluses and minuses.

Thanks for the input man, I appreciate it. I do think I am going to go with the 822DSR NRX. This is going to basically be a dedicated Drop Shot Rod for me, plus I know I can resell it for what I am paying for it if I don't like it which is super nice. 

 

I just need to find a good deal on a 3000 spinning reel. What are you running for spinning reels. Likes and Dislikes?

 

This will be my first real high end spinning combo so I am tying to get all the info I can. 

[umdivx]

On 5/12/2020 at 9:34 AM, ThatOneBigKid said:

Thanks for the input man, I appreciate it. I do think I am going to go with the 822DSR NRX. This is going to basically be a dedicated Drop Shot Rod for me, plus I know I can resell it for what I am paying for it if I don't like it which is super nice. 

Baller. Way out of my price range.

 

On 5/12/2020 at 9:34 AM, ThatOneBigKid said:

 

I just need to find a good deal on a 3000 spinning reel. What are you running for spinning reels. Likes and Dislikes?

I'm running all Daiwa Tatula LT's. Bought them all for less than $100 each, so at that price point they're a fantastic reel. 

Great weight to price point, drag is fantastic. 

There's better out there but then it's also the cost.

 

On 5/12/2020 at 9:34 AM, ThatOneBigKid said:

 

This will be my first real high end spinning combo so I am tying to get all the info I can. 

You should talk to Punch he's all in on loomis and up to speed on reels, also if you haven't already joined, we have a FB group called Bass Fishing Deal Hunters that we regularly post deals on all things bass fishing.

[ThatOneBigKid]

3 hours ago, umdivx said:

You should talk to Punch he's all in on loomis and up to speed on reels, also if you haven't already joined, we have a FB group called Bass Fishing Deal Hunters that we regularly post deals on all things bass fishing.

I have been talking to him a good amount to get his input. I was able to negotiate the price on a new NRX down to just over the MSRP for an Expride, so it's not too crazy. No way I would ever pay MSRP on a NRX. Great thing is, if I don't think the NRX is worth it, I know I can sell it for what I paid for it without a a problem. I just want to see if the high end rod game is really all it is hyped up to be in terms of the sensitivity people rave about. I guess we'll see. 

 

Thanks for the input man! 

[umdivx]

5 minutes ago, ThatOneBigKid said:

I was able to negotiate the price on a new NRX down to just over the MSRP for an Expride, so it's not too crazy.

No way I would ever pay MSRP on a NRX.

still about $200 more than I am comfortable paying for a rod lol.

My cap is $200 - $250

 

[ThatOneBigKid]

On 5/13/2020 at 11:23 AM, umdivx said:

still about $200 more than I am comfortable paying for a rod lol.

My cap is $200 - $250

 

Yea, I am typically in the same boat. Again, I just want to see what the "hype" is about and if there is really that much difference. If I couldn't get back what I was paying for the NRX I doubt I would try it, but if I can get one new for what I would resell it for on the aftermarket and essentially just be renting it for a season if I don't like it, then why not. 

[umdivx]

yea I mean I don't have cheap stuff either, mostly Dobyns Champion XP's (MSRP of $250 range), I did buy the Dobyns Extreme HP 742 (MSRP $350 range), and now I have the Expride (MSRP $280) and the Tatula Elite (MSRP $180). All of which I could sell for more than I paid for them too.

 

I get the appeal but man its a whole different level getting up into the $500+ retail rods.