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Lakes in Chaska


BigGrassBass

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I'm moving to Chaska at the end of the month and am wondering about a lake I will be living on.

It's one of the old clay pits on the east side of 41. It's the one directly across 41 from the firemen's park where the big tourney was a couple weeks ago. (By the way this was my 8th year in a row at the tourney and it gets better and bigger every year, nice job)I've never fished this little pond but when I look on the DNR website I can get a lake map of the Courthouse lake and this is the other lake on that map. I'm just wondering if anyone has fished this lake and what I can expect.

Thanks,

BigGrassBass

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I have heard from people that live in those apartments that there are plenty of panfish in there.

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Yeah I figured that. I'm moving into those apartments later this month and am excited to have a lake so close. Any size to the fish or is it the usual stunted 3 inchers?

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There are some nice gills to be had in this small lake. I caught some shore fishing earlier in the year right after they got done spawning. Dont worry i let them all go so there still there for you. I ice fished it for about an hour and there was 1 other house out there that was fishing tipups.

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The gills sound like fun. I've got a 6 year old (he'll tell you 6 and 1/2) who loves to fish! It will be great to come home from work and take him out the back door for a little while. We'll put most of the fish back. Mama likes to have a couple filets now and then but I never take home more than 5 fish.

Any tips on location, etc.?

Tip-ups? Are there pike in there?

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I have seen people fishing fireman's frequently...not sure if they are catching anything, but there's a house out there about 1 night each week.

I never even thought of fishing that little pond behind the apartments. Keep us posted with some reports!

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When my sister and bro-in-law first got married (this is 1996) they lived in the apartments where I think you're referring to. At that point they let my bro-in-law keep a canoe chained to a tree just in-back of the complex. He caught several nice bass and northern in there. I personally only went fishing in there once that I can remember and I lost a pretty nice pike at the side of the canoe.

Not sure about ice fishing but in the summer use deeper diving crankbaits or soak a sucker under a big bobber along the break where the steep back hillside slopes into the water. Visibility is was like 10-15 feet in there, pretty nice. If you can get a canoe, give it a try!

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I've fished it a lot both summer & winter.

The gills used to be bigger - Tough to get a batch of nice ones, but there are tons of them.

Low light periods and in the spring, you can get a handful of keepable crappies if you work at it.

There are adecent number of bass, not a ton, and a northern here and there.

I always fish between the townhomes up by 41 and the fishing dock.

The last 2 years, there has been a violator who ice fishes down there all the time - He has the fish house down there right now - When I have gone down to fish for crappies and gills, he sometimes has out as many as 5 tipups, and he often leaves a tipup or 2 out and leaves and puts a 5 gallon bucket over the tipup (those orange round frabils) Have never bothered to call the tip line on him.

I ice fished it last week and caught lots of gills, but only a couple of keeper size.

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Wow, I drive by there every day and never noticed anyone on the east side of the road in that little pond...can't believe I missed that! So I could actually drive 3 minutes to here and catch the same small gills that I drive 25 minutes to catch? \:\)

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I don't mind calling TIP, done it before!

Thanks for the info guys. I'm going to try and get out there in the next few days. I'll let you know how I do.

Another quick question; is that lake map I get on the DNR website accurate? You have to click on the courthouse lake but this one pops up on the map along with it.

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My brother and I fish down there often and this year has been slow, the panfish size has gone down. The crappies are few and far between. Tj417 is right on with whats in there, I live in chaska so I fish it when I have only a few hours since there are better lakes around.

Now this "violator" is a definite TOOL.....earlier this year My bro and I were down there and we got there before light. When it starts getting light I notice that we have set up a little closer than I would like to a tipup. So I go over to the house(the clam that he leaves out) to say sorry and oops nobody home. An hour later the guy comes strolling out to fish and he procedes to chip out his tipup and can't because it was in there so long......I guess leaving it out overnite will do that!. I thought it was pretty stupid but I blew it off. The next evening my brother went back out and he had 2 flags out and his house was empty with a tipup in the house also----a tip call was made and the guy was busted. A friend was out last week and he saw 2 flags out and the house was empty again so I don't think he has learned....doooooosh bag.

I can give some pointers out there just email me, the address is in my profile

jeff

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Great story about the violator down there Jeff - That's hilarious that you saw it too - I thought I was the only one - He was doing it all winter last year too, but I thought he would know it was me if I called because he and I were the only guys fishing down there and he would shoot me or something!

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That story was awesome! I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't mind callin TIP when I see something wrong!

jeff127, an email is on the way!

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tj-I thought the same thing but 2 days in a row did it for me. I look at it as this guy is "stealing" fish or the chance at catching fish from everyone fishing the "right" way---my brother got to see the bust go down. The dnr was going through his house because it was unmarked and he was looking for the identity of the owner. While he is doing this the owner is strolling out from the road, he sees someone going through his house, starts to run thinking he is going to kick some ars. Halfway to the house he begins to realize its the dnr going through his house and does a u-turn and starts heading back to shore. After a few steps he realizes he is screwed either way and slowly walks to the officer. Wish I could have been there to see it.

jeff

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Got your email Jeff.

That's a great story. I'm glad these "fish stealers" get what's comming for them. I know we can't stop them all but getting a few doesn't hurt. It's kind of like my theory on eating an elephant...one bite at a time!

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