question on some area lakes

[north red river]

I'll be down in the area next week for 12 days and i'm looking for a new place to fish. I stay with family in white bear lake and usually fish there but i'm tired of catching 0-5 small perch in a full day of fishing. I'm sure everyone has there own opinion but i've been looking at trying maybe Green Lake...(near chisago) Peltier....centerville....lindstrom...etc. I'm just looking to catch some decent fish in either size or numbers. Any advice??

[john.wells]

White Bear can be darn good, you just need to be in the right spot. If all you are catching is little perch, you might want to try some deeper water. Where do you fish out there? A good spot to go to is out in front of Bellaire Beach, but out a ways, closer to Manitou Island. There are a couple holes out there with mud bottoms and a decent weedline that stays green all year during most years. Work the weed edge in about 18 feet of water, or go right into the holes at 20 to 24 fow. Sunnies, crappies, northerns, bass and an occasional walleye are caught in this area. The down side is that a lot of people work this area, but on the plus side, you know where the spots are by the amount of people. Just break away from the pack just a little bit and work those weeds. The lake will produce throughout the day, but the classic prime time and even well after dark is normally excellent. Bald Eagle is another good bet, but expect crowds here as well. Lots of small crappies here, with a good supply of walleyes. There are usually a few lunker crappies caught out here but they are far and few between. The walleyes are respectable, and bite well if you can find them. In my opinion, when you are in that area, there is no other reason to fish any other lakes aside from a change of scenery. I used to live down there and really miss the fishing those two lakes provide. If you do want to try a different lake, Green in Chisago provides about the same action as you can find at either the Bear or Bald Eagle, but you may find a little bit better day bite. The whole Chisago area lakes used to provide more numbers of bigger sized fish, but as of late the population up here has exploded, and the Chisago area isn't as "far" as it used to be. Lots of people drive past excellent lakes to fish this area. Don't get me wrong- the fishing is fine up here, but why burn the gas? Let me know if this helped at all, and fill me in on where you go when do hit the Bear (what side, access, etc...) That lake is really 3 in one, and what happens on the Mahtomedi side is a world apart from out in front of the VFW.

[FishSystem]

hey there is action and near you too. You can get onto Peltier (east side) and get some nice crappie action, and it is close to you also. Otherwise, Chisago lake is a great one, and 3rd part of Forrest lake (willow point) is good. Green isn't bad though. Do you fish Bald Eagle? I do, and its a great walleye lake with good crappies too.

[north red river]

I usually fish out by the VFW or bellaire beach in anywhere from 12-20 FOW. I've tryed over near ramsey beach a few times and caught nothing at all. Do you use a camera to find the weed edges? One tactic I use on Red Lake that works is to pick out an area and drill 10-20 holes and move a lot....would you suggest that? Overall White Bear just has me stumped!

[john.wells]

Well, you are definetly in the right areas for at least some panfish, and for sure for northerns. A few questions: what time of day do you fish there? What do you like to fish for? What sort of baits and lures do you use? As far as your Red Lake method, that is how I fish pretty much anywhere unless it's really cold out, and that is a great tactic for the Bear. Get out well before prime time and punch a bunch of holes in a line. The weed line out there is at about 18 fow, with some growth even deeper than that. Don't be shy about going fishing amongst the weeds, they sometimes hold more numbers of fish than the edge or deeper bowls. Euro larvae and waxies have worked best for me out there, tip them on a glow and purple demon-use 2 or three. If all you are getting is little perch, move. Sometimes walking 10 feet will make all the difference. If it is a bright sunny day, you will have some trouble until prime time getting even perch to bite, but when the barometer is low and the weather is cruddy, a day bite will usually happen.

[north red river]

I usually fish mostly afternoon and evening. I'm trying to target walleye or panfish. As far as my setup goes I use a forage minnow or something similar to that(pretty broad range) tipped with a fathead or crappie minnow.

[john.wells]

Go with maggots dangled on a glow and purple demon with the jig pole, and put a shiner on a tip-up, plain red hook. Classic foot to 18" off bottom. You are in the right areas at the right times, but maybe not quite on the right spot. Don't lose faith in this lake!