Prior Lake

[gotcatfish]

 Quote:

cold snaps dont really affect ice fishing

WHAT???? I'd rather fish before during or after any storm, way before I fished thru a cold front. Your right they can't tell it's cold out, but when you get the high pressure of a cold front coming thru that will shut down the bite faster than any storm will.

[walleyeJoe]

theres no such thing as a fish not biting........ you have to find the active fish ..... i love days when its cold cus no one goes out so i run around like a nut all day ..... THERES NO SUCH THING AS A FISH NO BITING

[savageangler]

Visited Prior yesterday afternoon, set up straight out from the SP access, 19 fow, 4:45-7:00, not one blip on the Vex. It looked pretty crowded to the north.

Was I too deep, or too shallow maybe? I am not a Prior expert, usually go to Carls or O'Dowd.

Tried O'Dowd with the gf on Sat, with limited success in 13 fow. We would have stayed later but it was so noisy.

Plenty of ice.

[walleyeJoe]

deeper..... if you're looking for crappies right now they are either going to be in about 25-30 fow suspended like crazy......... but i have heard from a few guys ive talked to that the crappies are actually starting to move into spawning patterns really early this year... few3 guys said they were catching them on big minnows in shallow water like 10-12 feet where weeds would be or and breaks in structure... such as sand to rocks or gravel to sand... or gravel to rocks to sand in weeds... i thought this was weird.... but i guess they say they are starting to gourge themselves.....

[walleyeJoe]

im headed out friday, sat and sunday all day so i will report any success..... but i really think the crappies are going to be going they usually do for me this time of year.... but if not i will be on the prowl i guess..... has anyone been doing anything for walleyes out here.... i know its a dumb question because if someone were they wouldnt leak anything out to anyone else if they were smart but im just curious if they havent already dug themselves a hole about 2 feet under under the sand yet in 40 feet of water.....

[savageangler]

I have had limited walleye success in the past where I was last night, I think I will try shallower next time. We tried edges of the deeper holes in Upper Prior earlier this year without much luck. (25fow)

There is a good amount of uncrowded water on Prior, I would like to go exploring Lower Prior south from SP. Are there any thin ice areas to watch out for?

The weather sounds like it will be unpleasant this weekend, I think we will give it another shot next week, and will post the result.

[tj417]

Fished the last 3 nights for crappies out there - 26 FOW 2 nights, 22 FOW 1 night - Same each night - Had to scratch and claw to get my 10 eaters between 8 & 9 inches - Tons of fish marked on the vex, but it was like pulling teeth to get one to bite - In 26 FOW they were 1 to 4 feet off the bottom, in 22 FOW they were 5 to 10 feet off the bottom.

[Wallmaster]

Was out Fri. evening in 22'fow and managed some crappies 8"-12" and a few walleyes 10", 16" & 18" all on crappie minnows and on a orange and black jig. The eyes were on the bottom crops were suspended 3' to 10' and were biting on waxies and then minnows after dark. Got a few gills only a couple of keepers though...

[Wallmaster]

Hey McGurk, have you moved your house yet?...WM

[kingspade651]

Was out 2 days ago and it was so slow. We fished the outside of a couple groups around the paradise bay area and the small island in the middle and only managed a few sunnies, no crappies. I was hopin to get on some decent crappies for the fryer, just got a new awesome deep fryer. If anyone can help me out that'd be sweet

[Wallmaster]

Didn't go out today the wind was freaking nuts and colder than you know what! and getting colder. The wind I think would have probably pulled my anchors right out, that's if it didn't blow me and the house accross the lake. Went to check on a couple of lakes that the DNR said were open to liberalized fishing. It is to bad that the lakes are going to be winter kills because of the limited oxygen content. It was hard to see because of all of the blowing snow, I will go back and check them out when it settles down a bit...

[gotcatfish]

 Quote:

There is a good amount of uncrowded water on Prior, I would like to go exploring Lower Prior south from SP. Are there any thin ice areas to watch out for?

YES there is a ton of uncrwoded ice out there. And the fish are biting. I have been criss-crossing the lake down around Martinson's/Reed's island and not had any problems with teh ice, 20-24" everywhere I have cut holes. Gills are going in the shallow's 6-8fow and crappies seem to like 20-30fow off main lake points right now. I did get into some fish suspended over 40fow thursday night. The key for me right now has been staying mobile.

[tj417]

Fished Paradise Bay in 16 FOW late afternoon today - Tons of gills, but really hard to get decent ones - Kept 10 between 7" & 8" for a fry - Only saw 2 crappies the whole time on the camera, but bass all over the place - Got 2 to bite, so that was fun.

[Wallmaster]

Anybody going out this weekend?? Any new spots or ideas??...WM

[kingspade651]

Id like to go out this weekend, there or Tonka

[Quetico]

Is paradise bay loaded with houses?

[AceintheHole]

There's about 15 20 houses in there. I would not waste my time in there. I would try to find some deeper holes. Pardise was fshed out shortly after first ice. Trust me.

[Aces In The Hole]

Anyone know how the driving on the lake is doing? I know we are suppose to get some snow tonight, but I would like to get out there this weekend and I haven't been out there to see how lake travel is by truck.

[bwally]

Paradise has 4 houses on it as of an hour ago. Panfish up on the north end have been a little tougher to catch lately. There are a lot of people out there. 1 or 2 lb mono (and a vex) will help you out a lot. Wouldnt be a bad idea to bring a spring bobber too.

You can drive about anywhere still, but watch out for a drift here and there.

[tashit]

I finally made it out last night from around 5:30-8:45 in about 22 fow. I was targeting eyes and only marked a few fish all night but they were definitely small. Dropped down a small jig w/ gulp but couldn't get a bite.

[McGurk]

 Originally Posted By: Wallmaster

Hey McGurk, have you moved your house yet?...WM

Not yet, WM. Still marking fish like crazy, and the average size has seemed to go up lately. Weird.

I did some some window-scouting yesterday to see if there were people on a couple of other spots that looked good. There's still a couple of houses where you were at when I met you, and with the crappies going in shallow do you think that weedline would produce? There are a couple of breaks elsewhere that I might have to try soon. This is the last week with the perm house, so that will force me to use the portable (not a bad thing) and be more portable!

[CrappieFshr651]

I have fished upper prior twice this year for panfish and it was sloooooow. What lake is better for pannies, upper or lower?

[Wallmaster]

Hey McGurk, nice to hear from you. Yes I think so, I was fishing a different lake and I was getting them in shallow right in the weeds and on the edge. The crappies were stuck right smack to the bottom when it was sunny out, but when it got cloudy they came up a little bit-the Walleyes too according to my camera. The spot on Prior where I was, their is quite a drop around it. We did manage some more eyes and some nice perch. Going up North this weekend and give it a shot, the weather should be nice..I will give you an update..Good Luck!...WM

[Wallmaster]

"Well" as the season winds down on Prior I spose everyone that fishes Prior wiil be on their most farvorite spots these last two weekends to give it one last shot. Anyboy have any new news from during the week about Prior? I spose we are getting close to using an extention on our augers too.

[McGurk]

Hey WM, was out there last night in the same bay, had consistent action from small-midsize crappies from 5:00 til 9:00. Still no walters, though. Same reports from others out there, too. I took a couple of people from California out for their first time; they seemed to enjoy it. I love telling them to take their seatbelts off while on the ice incase we go through. Oh yeah, an extension is a must of your house is up off of the ice, and it helps otherwise for that last punch through. I measured 26", and still growing. Thanks goodness for a sharp auger and a Slush Inhaler! Too bad we are at the end of the season for perms, we haven't had ice like this for a few years. I'll be out there on Sat fishing midday and pulling the perm off; I'll be looking for your camper if you are out there!

[Wallmaster]

I will be heading up to Brainerd this weekend to give it a shot will let you know how I do, and by the way I was born in Cal. as well. I moved here when I was two years old. My dad was in the service so we moved around a bit, never been back since. Good Luck fishing!

___________________________

Clean-em and eat-em and wash-em down!

[Wallmaster]

McGurk I had a great weekend up in Brainerd-I caught Walleye's starting at 12", 15", 23 1/2", 25" ,30" and the all time best at 32". They all were caught on 4-6lb. line and on crappies jigs and crappie minnows what pigs the 30 and 32 were, and what a fight they put up. I was the Walleye King/Master this weekend, I put back all of the big ones. I caught them in 40 FOW and also a bunch of slab Crappies. I am working on retreving the pictures of the eyes off of the cameras. I couldn't of asked for a better weekend!!!!

[McGurk]

Great to hear, WM! Nice to know that there are still fish to be caught. Pulled the house off of Prior, maybe for forever. Tonka, next year? Who knows.

[Wallmaster]

Anybody catching any decent size pearch lately?? Was thinking about going out this evening in this nice weather we are having!

Crappies should be hitting good too! Thanks-WM

[kilkercal615]

Haven't been out since Sunday but Sunday was pretty good on the sun fish...we did get a few small perch nothing to really talk about..the fish were really agressive so that made it pretty exciting