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Lake Zumbro Crappie Bass


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Hello I am new to this website. I am going to fish Lake Zumbro for the first tommorow and I am just wondering what has been working on Lake Zumbro for Crappie panfish and bass. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

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Hi! Welcome to FM! I am not sure on the bass part of things but for the crappies it sure is hard to beat a mini mite or a culprit paddle tail. Hooked on Fishing has both and Mike can really point you in the right direction.

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i will help a little with bass. it seems that the little ones are much easier to come by. We did ok on the weed edges on the Tuesday night tourney but many fish can be found around the wood as well. I don't know how stained teh water is from the flash rain we had but that might help a little with the bass as well. Fish should be close to structure today if i had to guess. Good luck we haven't seen any sizable smallmouths come in at weighin so i you manage one of those that i think would be a real treat right now. Good luck let us know how you did

ike

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Welcome to FishingMinnesota and HotSpotOutdoors.com.

Lake Zumbro is a great fishery with loads of potential. It's also very hit or miss. Don't be discouraged if the fishing is tough on a few of your outtings.

During the daytime, I'd search for bass and sunfish as they should a little easier to find. Ike gave some good tips on the bass so I'll touch on the sunfish. I'm quite sure you can still find sunfish up in the shallows. If the weatehr is stable, I'd look 6 FOW or less where the bottom is mud or silt.

I've noticed a recent mood shift in the crappies and they seem to become active only during low light periods. You might try fishing for them when sun hits the horizon.

Deep wood holds fish year round on the Zumbro, so that is another option for both sunfish and crappies

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Fairly new to the site and to Rochester, but I've been going down to Zumbro quite a few times this year and I've done alright. Today however, was a different story. Tried many different areas and couldn't get into any kind of a crappie or sunny bite. After I was frusterated enough I decided to go after some smallies and largies. Ended up with a couple to at least satisfy my trip. Those were caught across from pondy landing by the dam. Noticed the water clarity has gotten a lot worse, may have something to do with it. Better luck next time for you and me.

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Also welcome gglasser,

I was in your exact same shoes about 2.5 years ago when I moved to Rochester. Since then, FishingMinnesota has been my primary source of information in both learning and sharing. I hope you find in beneficial. Welcome aboard.

I haven't been on the Zum chasing pannies for a couple weeks but when I get back out, I'll try to provide some details on how to go after these post spawn panfish.

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New to this forum, although I've been reading for a while now.

I've fished Lake Zumbro for a number of years (only a few times per year) and have really only had good luck once... got into a school of stripped base feeding... WOW, that was exciting.

Not much on fishing terms or live bate... looking for pointers on what to use, where to use em, and when. Any help out there?

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Another big welcome to FM and HSO.

At this point I have not seen the white bass start agressively feeding yet. That should start soon. When they start this feeding binge they will follow schools of baitfish and push them to the surface. They will attack basically anthing you throw at them during this timeframe. A simple 2-3" twister tail on an 1/16-1/8 oz jig is a great choice. You can add a minnow if you wish, but its not necessary.

This same twistertail is also a prime bait for crappies at this time of year. For this fish, look for deeper water that is fairly close to shore. Something like 20 feet of water being only 30 feet from shore. The Highbanks and Rattlesnake are great examples of this. Check your electronics often and if you see marks suspended try to keep your baits at about that depth.

The best crappie bite is during low light periods with morning being the very best. The white bass can be targeted any time of day, but on a calm day they are easy to locate because they tear up the surface while chasing baitfish.

Good Luck

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