Eagan Area

[hooknhawgs]

Hey all. Moved up to the cities from Mankato a few months ago and I was wondering if there are any decent lakes for some ice action. I'm not too picky on species, just looking for a good day on the ice. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hook

[12345]

o god i was out on holland today and boy am i sick of the eagan lakes and all of there tiny sunnies. if i were you i would drive around other places for better fishing

[hooknhawgs]

That's not good news. I figured that one of the lakes around here would be decent. Oh well, guess i'll have to expand the search. Thanks for your help. Anyone that knows any differently, feel free to chime in!

Hook

[fisherman-andy]

Hooknhawgs there are a few lakes in Eagan that still hold some nice bass here & there. Most panfish are small though. Avoid the larger lakes in Eagan and try the smaller ones for better success.

Don't forget the lakes just south of Eagan in Apple Valley & Burnsville, Savage, Lakeville. There some good fishing to be done in those neighboring cities too which is probably just minutes away.

[hooknhawgs]

Andy-

Thanks for the reply. As soon as I saw the other reply, I did just that. Looks like there are some pretty promising lakes in the vicinity. Appreciate the advice.

Hook

[fishin789]

5 hours on fish lake. very small crappies and sunnies. no pike.

4 hours on shultz lake. small crappies and sunnies.

4 hours on carlson lake small sunnies and crappies.

Not catching anything in size but still fun to get out.

[hooknhawgs]

Thanks for your help fishin. I don't mind weeding through the small ones every once in a while.

[Browningbolt]

I live in Eagan, I used to drive to prior to fish sunnies, but this year the sunnies at prior were the same size as eagan fish. (about the size of a potatto chip), so i decided that if i want to fish sunnies i'd save my gas and time and fish eagan.

[hooknhawgs]

Yeah, I think i'm going to steer clear of Prior Lake itself but it looks like there are plenty of other good lakes in the area that might not be as crowded.

[fisherman-andy]

Like I said, choose the nearby smaller lakes or ponds and you'll find better success. Most panfish are stunted in the Eagan area lakes. Take for instance them small Crappies on Carlson. They've been 5 to 7 inches for as long as can remember 15yrs+.

Frequent Winter or Summer kills has spawned some nice size fish too. But again most fish are small.

[MuskieJunkie]

I have lived in Eagan for 3 years, I think I fished Holland 2 or 3 times (nothing but potatoe chip sunnies) and that's it for Eagan lakes. I usually drive South or west for ice fishing.

[hooknhawgs]

Yeah, that seems to be the consensus. Thanks for the help guys. Hope to see you out there sometime!

Hook

[borg0196]

I work in the Lebanon Hills Regional Park, the fishing can be good. You just have to put a lot of effort into getting past the small panfish. Holland has some huge Northerns in it. The problem is that they are rarely hungry. Most of the other lakes in the park are filled with small panfish. The big fish that were in those lakes were taken.

[South_Metro_Slayer]

what about that lemay lake is there any fish in there?

[fisherman-andy]

Which Lemay are you talking about SMS? There is two nearby and I have fished both of them. The one by the Cemetary is really private and almost impossible to access. I caught nothing out of that one. Not even Sunnies. It could be just an bullhead/minnow pond. But the one by the Apt complexes have bass & panfish.