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Hows the panfish bite on these lakes? Live about a half hr. north wondering if its worth the drive to get some pannies for the fryer. Any info?

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Crappie are biting on both lakes. I have fished neither but that is the "good word". Look deeper. Tons of people fishing Mazaska. Sunfish I haven't really heard anything. Both are good sunfish lakes though and would be worth a try. Let us know how it goes I am interested to see if there are any bulls biting on either lake.

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Awesome definitely gonna have to try one if not both out one of these weekends. Would definitely like to get on some crappies. I will let you guys know how i did if i go. thanks for the info

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Mazaska has been a consistant bite for me all winter when I have been out, have had to move with the school. The bite has been pretty deep all winter so far, you could look at the "groups" to start, but I prefer to stay away and that seems to allow me to catch some of the bigger Crappies, plenty of friends doing well too, the bite seems to be ranging from 30-36'. most of our fish have been coming 6-9' of the bottom, just by watching the Vex helps.

I am going to be logging in some serious hours this weekend and trying to see if the shallower bite might be setting up.

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Mazaska has been the better of the two lakes for some time now for crappies. Shields had great crappie action during the early 90's but word got out and it hasn't been the same. i've caught crappies on Shields but nothing like i have in the past, especially when it comes to frequency.

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Fished in shields on Sunday. Very slow. Caught 1 crappie and got bit off by what I am guessing was a northern.

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I fished mazaska last weekend. Caught crappies in 30ft. small ones on the bottom bigger ones suspended 8 - 12 ft. off bottom.

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Thanks to you all for the reports.

I am planning to go out to Mazaska with gill54p either this afternoon/evening, or Thurs, AM early, & will post what we find afterwards.

Rippinlip, if ya want some company this weekend, Please give me a call. I tried to reach you last week ,& left a message. I haven't heard from you yet. Give me a call. BTW, since I know of only about 3 places on the lake with those depths. You sure helped me & Virg with your info! ;\) LOL

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Went to Shields last night, fished in 17 feet of water, caught 11 crappies in our group of 4. Pretty slow, the fish we did catch absolutely hammered the bait. Marked lots of fish on the bottum but no takers. Some of the fish were suspended 4-7 feet off of the bottum as well. Fished from 5-8pm or so.

Hopefully it starts to warm a little and the fish start to turn on...

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This winter we were surprised by the number of houses on Mazaska, and we heard many reports of good sized crappies being caught. Lately, however, the houses are mostly gone, and any attempts at finding those big crappies seem to end up as exercises in futility.

Earlier this season, Roberds was deserted... now, it's packed. I've also heard people going to other Faribault-area lakes. Not sure if anyone is catching anything or if they're just moving around to see what they can find.

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Headin down sometime midweek next week if it stays warm through the weekend. Probably hit roberds or mazaska. Anybody fish wells lake in that area? I will post how i do

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I plan on heading down to Faribault area this weekend. Thinking about going to Mazaska. How was the bite last weekend on Mazaska? Previously someone said the fish were suspended in 30 FOW, is this still the case? Is Sheilds, Roberds or French a better option this weekend for crappies? Thanks guys. Good luck finding the panfish this weekend.

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Last Sunday I headed to Mazaska for the only time this ice season. I was out there to try for some closing day pike. I hadn't had much luck anywhere else for decent pike this winter, so I brought along all of 3 sucker minnows.

Set up in 10 feet of water, the nearest houses/ fishermen were a good 300-400 yards away. After a half hour, first flag... turned out to be a 30" pike grin.gif

Straightened the hooks, rebaited, dropped back in hole... and within a minute, flag tripped again. This fish was a almost a clone of the first one, at 30".

My third sucker produced nothing, but I was okay with that. I'm wondering if the crappies may be moving shallower now...

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Had heard that the crappies weren't flying up the hole on Mazaska, but they were decent size. Tried between 4 and 8 Sunday night and managed 3 7" cappies for 4 of us. We were set in 30 ft and the vex was lit up all night in the bottom 5 ft. Guess they weren't hungry that night.

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Did you try different presentations (small and large), minnows, waxies, etc.? Just wondering if maybe different things would get them to bite.

Anyone else have information on Mazaska crapppies? Would I be better of trying French, Shields, or Roberds? Just don't want to end the season on a dry streak. (This is my last weekend.)

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Tried small and big crappie minnows as well as fatheads. One of the three was on a fathead. Tried waxies to no avail, and even tried several small jigging spoons with a cm head on it. The fish gods were not smiling on us. Oh well, there's always next time.

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I've had the locator look like that on mazaska this year also. We weren't catching much so we dropped the camera down. The reason we weren't catching many is because the fish were SMALL!! 4-5" or so. So, there are OODLES of them there, but they aren't to the catching size.

AS for the other lakes, haven't been on any of them, but I have heard Roberds is getting some nicer fish. There have been hundreds of shacks out there all winter...So they must be getting something decent.

Good luck.

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Roberds bite has been a lot 7"r's with the ocassional 13-14" r which I greatly support releasing them as they are a vital part of the bumper crop of those 7 inchers.

Give it a couple years and it will be phenomenal!!!!! the reason those 13-14 inchers are so thinned out, is the over harvest of 12'rs a couple years back I my self am no exception ...think of it as an investment!!!

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I appreciate the information guys. I will print out both maps and maybe try both Mazaska and Roberds. I have not heard much about French other than lots of fish but little. Sounds like Mazaska. If anyone else has different information let me know. Thanks. Good luck this weekend all.

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Mazaska has been good to me all winter, the size has become an issue lately, but the bite has been pretty consistant.

I have been trying to go a little shallower every time out lately and the strong shallow bite isn't quite there yet.

The camera has been showing alot of life in the shallows, but definetly the fish are thinking the lures I have down there are not worth their efforts.

I will keep on trying and I am sure I will have success.

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