Minnesota Largemouth Bass Fishing

[Jaeger Muellner]

I’ve fished for as long as I can remember, but haven’t bass fished for that long. My dad is a hardcore walleye guy, so naturally I did that most of my life. Walleye fishing made me fall in love with fishing, along with chasing northern pike, trout, and big panfish. I started bass fishing a couple of years ago, and have learned everything by myself. I feel like I’ve come a long way but i’d definitely like to gain more knowledge and experience. Recently I caught a new PB (7.37lbs, caught here in MN). I take my kayak out quite a bit and I’ve started to take the boat out on metro lakes, but sadly I am limited to my dad’s walleye boat. 

 

You guys got any recommendations for the metro area? Responses much appreciated 

 

Happy fishing!

[MN Fisher]

1 hour ago, Jaeger Muellner said:

You guys got any recommendations for the metro area?

Minnetonka is 'my' lake - I live within 2 blocks of water and a launch point for my canoe is just down the road. Bass are plentiful if not as large as other lakes. One in my profile pic was caught last year on 'Tonka...3.94#.

 

Not far SW of Tonka in the Carver Park Reserve is Lake Auburn where the current state record was caught.

[Jaeger Muellner]

5 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Minnetonka is 'my' lake - I live within 2 blocks of water and a launch point for my canoe is just down the road. Bass are plentiful if not as large as other lakes. One in my profile pic was caught last year on 'Tonka...3.94#.

 

Not far SW of Tonka in the Carver Park Reserve is Lake Auburn where the current state record was caught.

I’ve been to Tonka a couple times before, and I know there’s a good number of 3 and 4 lb fish in that lake. I’ve heard of Auburn before, does it get a lot of pressure because of the record being caught there? 

[gim]

28 minutes ago, Jaeger Muellner said:

I’ve been to Tonka a couple times before, and I know there’s a good number of 3 and 4 lb fish in that lake.

Welcome Jaeger.  Minnetonka has a very healthy population of largemouth bass.  However, they are HIGHLY pressured.  The lake is also often over run with other boats on a nice day too so be prepared to encounter all kinds of activity.  Personally I think there are far better options with a lot less pressure unless you are in competition and have to fish there.  I lived about 5 miles from it growing up and have fished it regularly for about 20 years but I find myself with less motivation to go there as every season passes because of the crowds.

[Jaeger Muellner]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

Welcome Jaeger.  Minnetonka has a very healthy population of largemouth bass.  However, they are HIGHLY pressured.  The lake is also often over run with other boats on a nice day too so be prepared to encounter all kinds of activity.  Personally I think there are far better options with a lot less pressure unless you are in competition and have to fish there.  I lived about 5 miles from it growing up and have fished it regularly for about 20 years but I find myself with less motivation to go there as every season passes because of the crowds.

I’ve heard the boat traffic there is wild. I live east of the metro so going to Tonka isn’t something I do too often. Thank you for the info!

[MN Fisher]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

Personally I think there are far better options with a lot less pressure unless you are in competition and have to fish there. 

Unfortunately, in my situation 'Tonka is pretty much my only option. I only get 4 hours once a week to fish and getting someplace else would take too much of that time. My two launch points are 5 minutes and 10 minutes from my house.

 

I could do Dutch if I really wanted to...but the couple times I've tried it I was completely skunked...at least on Tonka I can catch something.

[Jaeger Muellner]

59 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Unfortunately, in my situation 'Tonka is pretty much my only option. I only get 4 hours once a week to fish and getting someplace else would take too much of that time. My two launch points are 5 minutes and 10 minutes from my house.

 

I could do Dutch if I really wanted to...but the couple times I've tried it I was completely skunked...at least on Tonka I can catch something.

A fish is a fish at the end of the day! It is more important now than ever to get outside and escape for a bit 

[shimmy]

Catching a bass over 7 pounds in MN sounds like you have figured out a really good lake!

[OperationEagle]

8 hours ago, shimmy said:

Catching a bass over 7 pounds in MN sounds like you have figured out a really good lake!

I’m with shimmy. Over 7 lbs here in MN and you just started bass fishin. 

 

Maybe you tell US some of your recommendations.  ?

[Jaeger Muellner]

On 6/1/2020 at 11:59 PM, shimmy said:

Catching a bass over 7 pounds in MN sounds like you have figured out a really good lake!

You’re right. I like to think if there’s one there are more

On 6/2/2020 at 8:35 AM, OperationEagle said:

I’m with shimmy. Over 7 lbs here in MN and you just started bass fishin. 

 

Maybe you tell US some of your recommendations.  ?

Lake DeMontreville , Forest Lake, Big Carnelian are all pretty close to where I’m at, they usually produce 

[Ogandrews]

I’m from Rochester not the metro so I can’t really help you with specific metro lakes but I have been bass fishing for awhile in this state. Like any other fish I go after I only really try to target trophy fish, never really try to go out to get numbers. Here in the south we have some incredible bass waters, if there were more people fishing them I’m sure the state record would have been broken down here already. One piece of advice I will give is don’t overlook smaller shallow body’s of water, especially ones with less fishing pressure. Now I don’t mean little drainage ponds but all of the biggest bass I have ever seen in my have been in 80-120 acre reservoirs in the Rochester area. These waters are mostly 15-25 ft deep at the deepest, with most of the lakes being 8 feet or less and quite silty.  Very weedy and support an unbelievable amount of forage fish. Was out on my favorite of these reservoirs today and saw 4 bass that I would bet my life on were over 6lbs, as well as the biggest pike I’ve seen in my life which was significantly wider than the 44.5 I pulled out of that place last fall. One thing that really helps with the 2 main body’s of water I fish is that they have a low density of bass as well as a high population of forage. Generally low density of predators and high forage will have the best trophy potential regardless of what species of predator it is. If your fishing a lake and catching dink after dink than you might want to find a new lake in my opinion. I also have more confidence in lakes with a forage base that is made up of stuff besides sunfish. My favorite lake around here is mostly full of perch, suckers, and shiners. All of those are a lot easier for a bass to eat compared to a bluegill which is a pretty hard forage fish to get down although they obviously still do it. Last piece of advice is that in lakes with a strong base of pike, musky, or walleye I will find largemouth in shallow cover pretty much year round. The better offshore spots are usually dominated by the bigger faster predators, which can eat the bass a lot of the time, so I will find them quite shallow in areas where they are more protected pretty consistently.

 

gonna add a couple things bait wise. For me in general if I’m flipping cover, a Texas rig will get more bites than a jig but a jig will get bigger bites. All of the biggest bass I have caught while targeting them have been jigs, with a lot being swim jigs. I like dirty jigs, but there’s a lot of good ones out there. I fish a lot of swimbaits as well. Swimbaits are a super broad category and there’s a lot of good info on here about them, but I’ll add one thing, throwing a big swimbait, 7-10”, isn’t a,ways going to get bites but very very regularly will some of the biggest bass on a spot follow the bait back to the boat similar to a musky. Not really sure why it is but they do. It’s a great way to find fish, I have caught a good amount of fish in the 4-5lbs range finding them with a swimbait then coming back with another bait to catch them. Last one is in the summer my biggest fish come out of the heaviest slop, and are always on a frog or a punch rig. Frogs are the most fun bait around to fish but they do draw a pretty big bite and have a good hookup ratio as long as you have the right gear. Good luck man

[OperationEagle]

23 hours ago, Ogandrews said:

I’m from Rochester not the metro so I can’t really help you with specific metro lakes but I have been bass fishing for awhile in this state. Like any other fish I go after I only really try to target trophy fish, never really try to go out to get numbers. Here in the south we have some incredible bass waters, if there were more people fishing them I’m sure the state record would have been broken down here already. One piece of advice I will give is don’t overlook smaller shallow body’s of water, especially ones with less fishing pressure. Now I don’t mean little drainage ponds but all of the biggest bass I have ever seen in my have been in 80-120 acre reservoirs in the Rochester area. These waters are mostly 15-25 ft deep at the deepest, with most of the lakes being 8 feet or less and quite silty.  Very weedy and support an unbelievable amount of forage fish. Was out on my favorite of these reservoirs today and saw 4 bass that I would bet my life on were over 6lbs, as well as the biggest pike I’ve seen in my life which was significantly wider than the 44.5 I pulled out of that place last fall. One thing that really helps with the 2 main body’s of water I fish is that they have a low density of bass as well as a high population of forage. Generally low density of predators and high forage will have the best trophy potential regardless of what species of predator it is. If your fishing a lake and catching dink after dink than you might want to find a new lake in my opinion. I also have more confidence in lakes with a forage base that is made up of stuff besides sunfish. My favorite lake around here is mostly full of perch, suckers, and shiners. All of those are a lot easier for a bass to eat compared to a bluegill which is a pretty hard forage fish to get down although they obviously still do it. Last piece of advice is that in lakes with a strong base of pike, musky, or walleye I will find largemouth in shallow cover pretty much year round. The better offshore spots are usually dominated by the bigger faster predators, which can eat the bass a lot of the time, so I will find them quite shallow in areas where they are more protected pretty consistently.

 

gonna add a couple things bait wise. For me in general if I’m flipping cover, a Texas rig will get more bites than a jig but a jig will get bigger bites. All of the biggest bass I have caught while targeting them have been jigs, with a lot being swim jigs. I like dirty jigs, but there’s a lot of good ones out there. I fish a lot of swimbaits as well. Swimbaits are a super broad category and there’s a lot of good info on here about them, but I’ll add one thing, throwing a big swimbait, 7-10”, isn’t a,ways going to get bites but very very regularly will some of the biggest bass on a spot follow the bait back to the boat similar to a musky. Not really sure why it is but they do. It’s a great way to find fish, I have caught a good amount of fish in the 4-5lbs range finding them with a swimbait then coming back with another bait to catch them. Last one is in the summer my biggest fish come out of the heaviest slop, and are always on a frog or a punch rig. Frogs are the most fun bait around to fish but they do draw a pretty big bite and have a good hookup ratio as long as you have the right gear. Good luck man

Standing ovation on that reply. What a thorough, well thought out response...thank you for sharing your experience and what works for you. I learned quite a bit. Great post.

[Jaeger Muellner]

On 6/4/2020 at 10:35 PM, Ogandrews said:

I’m from Rochester not the metro so I can’t really help you with specific metro lakes but I have been bass fishing for awhile in this state. Like any other fish I go after I only really try to target trophy fish, never really try to go out to get numbers. Here in the south we have some incredible bass waters, if there were more people fishing them I’m sure the state record would have been broken down here already. One piece of advice I will give is don’t overlook smaller shallow body’s of water, especially ones with less fishing pressure. Now I don’t mean little drainage ponds but all of the biggest bass I have ever seen in my have been in 80-120 acre reservoirs in the Rochester area. These waters are mostly 15-25 ft deep at the deepest, with most of the lakes being 8 feet or less and quite silty.  Very weedy and support an unbelievable amount of forage fish. Was out on my favorite of these reservoirs today and saw 4 bass that I would bet my life on were over 6lbs, as well as the biggest pike I’ve seen in my life which was significantly wider than the 44.5 I pulled out of that place last fall. One thing that really helps with the 2 main body’s of water I fish is that they have a low density of bass as well as a high population of forage. Generally low density of predators and high forage will have the best trophy potential regardless of what species of predator it is. If your fishing a lake and catching dink after dink than you might want to find a new lake in my opinion. I also have more confidence in lakes with a forage base that is made up of stuff besides sunfish. My favorite lake around here is mostly full of perch, suckers, and shiners. All of those are a lot easier for a bass to eat compared to a bluegill which is a pretty hard forage fish to get down although they obviously still do it. Last piece of advice is that in lakes with a strong base of pike, musky, or walleye I will find largemouth in shallow cover pretty much year round. The better offshore spots are usually dominated by the bigger faster predators, which can eat the bass a lot of the time, so I will find them quite shallow in areas where they are more protected pretty consistently.

 

gonna add a couple things bait wise. For me in general if I’m flipping cover, a Texas rig will get more bites than a jig but a jig will get bigger bites. All of the biggest bass I have caught while targeting them have been jigs, with a lot being swim jigs. I like dirty jigs, but there’s a lot of good ones out there. I fish a lot of swimbaits as well. Swimbaits are a super broad category and there’s a lot of good info on here about them, but I’ll add one thing, throwing a big swimbait, 7-10”, isn’t a,ways going to get bites but very very regularly will some of the biggest bass on a spot follow the bait back to the boat similar to a musky. Not really sure why it is but they do. It’s a great way to find fish, I have caught a good amount of fish in the 4-5lbs range finding them with a swimbait then coming back with another bait to catch them. Last one is in the summer my biggest fish come out of the heaviest slop, and are always on a frog or a punch rig. Frogs are the most fun bait around to fish but they do draw a pretty big bite and have a good hookup ratio as long as you have the right gear. Good luck man

Wow man. I truly appreciate the information and the effort you put into that response. I have noticed that bodies of water with baitfish other than bluegill do tend to produce bigger bass, and I am glad someone has the same theory. Also, Dirty Jigs are the only jigs I throw! They are very good jigs and come in great colors. 

[OperationEagle]

Beautiful night last night on the water in the west metro. Females are off the spawn.  Caught 12 all together so not a bad night.  Landed 2 at 18 inches 1 a 17 inches. 9 more smaller than that. 

 

Green pumpkin Ned rig and dark colored senko.  They were at the weed line or near clumps of weeds.  

[gim]

On 6/4/2020 at 10:35 PM, Ogandrews said:

with most of the lakes being 8 feet or less and quite silty

A lake with only 8 feet of depth will have winter kill almost every year around here. Unless there is a mechanical aerator they will run out of dissolved oxygen.

[Ogandrews]

5 hours ago, gimruis said:

A lake with only 8 feet of depth will have winter kill almost every year around here. Unless there is a mechanical aerator they will run out of dissolved oxygen.

There are areas by the dams that get around 20-30ft it’s just that most of the rest of the lake is around that, at least in the bays I fish the most

[gim]

On 6/4/2020 at 10:35 PM, Ogandrews said:

One piece of advice I will give is don’t overlook smaller shallow body’s of water, especially ones with less fishing pressure.

Some of the best fishing I have every season are on rivers for smallmouth. The primary reason I believe this to be true is because of the lack of fishing pressure. Rarely do I see other anglers. People can’t launch normal sized fishing boats on smaller rivers. So the only way to fish them is from a small craft like a canoe, kayak, Jon boat, or to wade it. I can’t quite figure out why more people don’t do it because lake fishing definitely slows down in the heat of summer, which is exactly when the smallmouth fishing in rivers is at its peak. I truly believe that my lures are literally the only ones these bass see all season long.

[Ogandrews]

6 hours ago, gimruis said:

Some of the best fishing I have every season are on rivers for smallmouth. The primary reason I believe this to be true is because of the lack of fishing pressure. Rarely do I see other anglers. People can’t launch normal sized fishing boats on smaller rivers. So the only way to fish them is from a small craft like a canoe, kayak, Jon boat, or to wade it. I can’t quite figure out why more people don’t do it because lake fishing definitely slows down in the heat of summer, which is exactly when the smallmouth fishing in rivers is at its peak. I truly believe that my lures are literally the only ones these bass see all season long.

I have 3 small-mid sized river systems within 45 mins of my house that have amazing smallmouth, as well as brown trout in the colder parts of the year. Last year was so wet that I wasn’t able to float them once, but this year it looks like I’ll be able to hit them more. The best one of these has puts out monsters in the 6+ lbs range every year as well as having a good population of musky with some fish in the mid 50’s, big walleye, and monster channel cats 36lbs being the biggest one I’ve seen pulled out. I fish there every chance I get. Everybody overlooks it because it is a fast pretty shallow river that is kinda difficult to fish, and everyone around here thinks the only thing you can catch out of it is carp. I’m glad it’s not popular as it’s one of the best rivers in Minnesota IMO, been written about in in-fisherman a few times. Nothing better than getting on a good river smallmouth bite.

[Jaeger Muellner]

5 hours ago, Ogandrews said:

I have 3 small-mid sized river systems within 45 mins of my house that have amazing smallmouth, as well as brown trout in the colder parts of the year. Last year was so wet that I wasn’t able to float them once, but this year it looks like I’ll be able to hit them more. The best one of these has puts out monsters in the 6+ lbs range every year as well as having a good population of musky with some fish in the mid 50’s, big walleye, and monster channel cats 36lbs being the biggest one I’ve seen pulled out. I fish there every chance I get. Everybody overlooks it because it is a fast pretty shallow river that is kinda difficult to fish, and everyone around here thinks the only thing you can catch out of it is carp. I’m glad it’s not popular as it’s one of the best rivers in Minnesota IMO, been written about in in-fisherman a few times. Nothing better than getting on a good river smallmouth bite.

May I ask where? Understandable if you don’t want to say the spot 

[gim]

8 hours ago, Jaeger Muellner said:

May I ask where? Understandable if you don’t want to say the spot 

I know what river he's referring to.  The brown trout quote is a dead giveaway.

 

Regulars on here know what river I'm referring to as well...

[Ogandrews]

21 hours ago, Jaeger Muellner said:

May I ask where? Understandable if you don’t want to say the spot 

The three I’m referring to are the cannon, zumbro, and root river systems. All of them are great river systems with their own positives, wouldn’t really say one is the best out of the three. All of them have great smallmouth, trout, walleye, cats ect. Roots got the most trout for sure, and I’ve seen a handful of 30” browns come out of its watershed including one this spring March or April that was super fat, I’ll post a pic if I can find it. Cannon is a little different as it has a bunch of lakes connecting to it, and I’d say it has the best population of walleye. The upper lakes that are connected to it have some awesome bass fishing, the previous state record largemouth was from one of them. Zumbro is the hardest to fish imo due to super steep shorelines, lack of access, and it is the fastest if the 3 in my opinion. Zumbro has a bad rep around here because it flows through the city of Rochester and is completely rerouted by development in town, just looks like a silty slow carp river. Once you get downstream from the lake north of Rochester it is one of the most beautiful places in Minnesota outside of the Canadian Shield. Zumbro is my favorite as you can probably tell by my signature, very unforgiving fishery but I’ve been fishing it for the last 15 years and have it a little bit figured out at least. Not going to give up any of my spots on the mighty zumb but if anyone was interested in some trout spots on the root system let me know I’ll steer you in the right direction.

[ajschn06]

Man- TWO Minnesota guys with PB's over 7 pounds.  Impressive.  I gotta get to work..... never really weighed them but my biggest was pushing 19"..... and I've been with people who have caught a 20.5 and 22" but no such luck.  If I ever hit 20" I'm getting a replica made....