2021 Minnesota Fishing Season

[gim]

Well fishing has definitely slowed down the last couple trips for me. August was on fire but September isn’t. A fish here, a fish there, nothing very big, and no consistent pattern. Still observing water temps near 70 too. Maybe a trip later this week is in the cards.

[gim]

I went for about 4.5 hours today. Caught 8 bass and 12 pike. The pike were really on a rampage when it was raining. Caught pretty much everything on a black spinnerbait. Biggest largemouth I caught was 17.5 inches. Water temp 68.5 degrees.

[throttleplate]

went culvert fishing today in minnesota because i needed to find some deep water as all my wader fishing and bank fishing spots dried up from draught and now just dead weed patches left.

 

So i went to a big culvert today and water was fairly deep inside it and the mouths of the culvert were holding baitfish. It was about 2.30 pm and using flukes on tr and dropshot i casted into the culvert and caught all my fish doing just that.

 

I kept my pole high and line tight, had a 3 foot leader on the drop shot with 1 oz of weight and just slowly dragged it out. Hard part was casting far into into the culvert without banging the lure on the sides of the culvert.

 

 

 

 

[gim]

Is that a smallmouth @throttleplate?

[throttleplate]

Yes it is, a nice 3.5 lber caught on tr super fluke zoom. Every fish we caught was inside the culvert.

That culvert has a rocky bottom with minimal weed growth.

 

Heavy boat traffic goes through there in the summer. That culvert gets fished super hard in the spring and summer so i avoided it all year.

I took a gamble and went there and with it being a bit cold and windy outside and a weekday we had the culvert to ourselves.

 

 

 

[shimmy]

Out here for 6 days of fishing. Curious how this weather is going to hold up. Water temperature is mid to upper 60s, which is crazy. Curious if anyone is doing well. Went out today and had a good, but they were not eating my fall pattern type baits. Little nervous of the weather the next few days. I have all new thermal gear this year and won't be using it once out here, which I am a bit disappointed. 

[gim]

Fishing has been slow for me the past several weeks.  Actually it's been slow since about Labor Day.  Its more of a summer-type pattern still.  I was out twice last week and did OK one time but it was a cloudy, drizzly day.  I went again a couple days later when it was foggy and then bright sun and it was brutally slow.  The water was still near 70 degrees when I went 5 days ago.

 

I think there is still some great fishing to come.  There appears to be a weather change coming midweek and cooler temps behind that.  I just hope we don't go from summer to winter in 2 weeks.

[Standard]

Yeah, end of August was really good for me but things have been slow, at least for the bigger fish.  

 

Spent the weekend floating the upper Mississippi.  Saturday started off with an 18.5" smallie on a top water, then a few more here and there throughout the day but nothing really worth measuring.  Same with Sunday, 18" smallie right away then little guys the rest of the day.  Smaller fish have been really aggressive the last few weeks on the river, but just haven't been able to find where the bigger ones have gone.

 

River was up at least a foot, probably 1.5' since I was last there two weeks ago.  Couldn't measure the exact water temp but it felt pretty warm for October.

[Deephaven]

I haven't been out in a month.  My fathers health has been all over and they are moving.  Focused on that now, but living vicariously through the rest of you.

[MN Fisher]

2-Months for me - prepping the canoe for sale then selling it, working on the Alumacraft...and health issues with the wife to boot.

[gim]

My last outing in 2020 was on Oct 10 and I hammered them with an aggressive approach. The water was 54 degrees.

 

I think that bite is still to come, it’ll just be a couple weeks later.

[Deephaven]

I have at least another two weeks of way too much to do, but please post if it lights back up as I have to get out some more!

 

 

[gim]

I fished from 8am - 1pm today. A friend and I caught 7 bass and 5 pike. A white jerk bait produced the most fish. Landed the biggest bass I’ve caught since about Labor Day too, a 19.5 incher. It was friggin cold when we started but by 10am when the sun was fully up it was comfortable. Water temp was 58 degrees. I might try it one more time and then hang it up for the season.

[Standard]

Spent Saturday with a float down the Mississippi north of Elk River.  Continued the trend of plenty of smaller fish with one decent one, although this time the decent one waited till the end.  A little over 17" for the big one, plenty of 14-16" and a handful of dinks.  Lots of mid sized fish in the faster current and rocks.  Seems like the big ones have gone deep, and with all the shallow water this year I'm out of practice on the deeper water.  Also been finding it hard to slow down and fish plastics.. just can't get into it this year.  I think the next trip I may need to leave all the hard lures at home and force myself to throw some tubes..

 

Went up to Mille Lacs on Sunday and got.. a big ole' skunk.  Realized about halfway up there that I forgot my Garmin, but didn't think it would be too big a deal as I was planning on fishing shallower anyways.  I saw some smallies hanging around the reeds, but just couldn't get them to hit, no matter what I threw.  Topwater, wake bait, jerk bait, swim bait, nerd rig.. couldn't seal the deal.  At least it was a nice day on the water!

[gim]

The river near Elk River is the shallowest I've ever seen it.  When I drove on highway 169 just south of hwy 10 and look to the northwest, I can see the river bed exposed.  There's even grass growing out there lol.

 

Mille Lacs is tough.  I don't normally fish it in the fall, its more of a spring thing for me.  Clear water and tons of pressure have made it difficult to catch fish consistently on artificial lures.

[Adrift]

Been working too much to get the boat out but I've been killing em from shore with frogs and buzzbaits. Seems like the fall feed has started, in my area at least (south of the metro). 

 

[gim]

I went out for the final time this season today.  It was not very good.  Only got a couple bass and a couple pike in 4 hours of fishing.  The water temp was still 54 degrees.

 

2021 was not as kind to me as 2020 was.  2020 was the best season I've ever had in my life so I kind of expected it was going to have a down turn.  I went 31 times this season.  I was only able to target smallmouth once all season too because of the drought.  But I did catch the biggest largemouth I've caught in almost 3 years, so that was nice.  Good luck to anyone still fishing.

 

2021 stats

Biggest largemouth: 20 3/4 inches

Biggest smallmouth: 19 1/2 inches

Biggest muskie (tiger): 40 inches

Biggest northern pike: 35 inches

[Adrift]

Monday was tough for me too. Made me regret my last post. ?

One fish in three hours for me. Winterizing the boat this week. 

[gim]

The "fall bite" never really picked up for me.  When I say fall, I mean from Labor Day until the end of the season, whenever that may be (usually in October for me).  Last fall was tremendous, this one stunk.

[Standard]

It has been a rough fall.  Mid to late August was great, but have been on the struggle bus since then. 

 

Floated the Rum on Saturday, got skunked.  Buddy got one little Smallmouth.  Had what looked like some decent pikes take swings at what I was throwing, but they never seemed to really commit.  At least it was a nice day on the water.

 

 

[Pogues2300]

Ponds in Bloomington/ Richfield are iced over. Haven't driven by a lake in a week....any one in the metro able to say if lakes are still clear? Have Monday Tuesday off was hoping to bundle up and fish one last time lol. 

[gim]

The ones I saw were iced over too but maybe a bigger one like Tonka might be open. @MN Fisher and @Deephaven both might have more information for you.

[MN Fisher]

13 minutes ago, gimruis said:

The ones I saw were iced over too but maybe a bigger one like Tonka might be open. @MN Fisher and @Deephaven both might have more information for you.

Ran a couple errands on Friday and the bays I passed were still open and people out...dunno what it's like now, maybe a film as the wind has been pretty brisk and that'll keep things from freezing too soon.

[Pogues2300]

Went for a drive and was pleasantly surprised that a smaller 25 foot deep or so lake was still open. Going to get out a couple more times on the kayak. 

[throttleplate]

weather map shows 47 and sunny for tuesday in ottertail county in Minn. My new winter fishing pattern will be to go dam fishing only if the weather hits 50 with light winds, 47 is close enough.