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Minnesota River Fishing Report


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I agree Capt. I have always wanted to fish the Minneosta during the winter but I'm so worried about the ice being safe I don't go.

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I will be fishing it on Sunday and make a report. I usually fish the river quite often in the winter. As was said becarefull, the ice can change alot. The ice can change from 12" to open water over night, also from 12 inches of ice to open water in just a few feet. Always check the ice when walking out there! If you find a nice hole with little current, off of the edge of fast current it can be very rewarding, with a lot of larger fish. Good luck and stay safe if you do go out there!

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If you find a nice hole with little current, off of the edge of fast current it can be very rewarding, with a lot of larger fish.

I have just the spot and did a little recon the other day. Now I just need to put a line down. Maybe Sunday for me too.

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Well I gave it a try on Sunday afternoon. I tried a couple different spots, I fished with shiners and fatheads, with no luck. There were a few others out there that told me they had good luck a little while back, but nothing recently. I fished a spot in 13 feet of water just off a deep hole that the current was dumping the river slush into and made it impossible to get a line down.

Just an example of how unsafe the river can be, I was drilling holes around the deep hole all with a good 18 inches of ice, I went towards the outer edge of the deep hole where the current dumps into it and there was about 3 inches of ice, where 20 feet away there was 18+ .

I have a few more spots I will try during the next week or so and will report back, hopefully with a better report!

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I hear ya there.. gotta be careful.

Last year the one time I went on the river I seriously could not keep the eyes off my line.

Caught probably 50 of them nothing bigger than 11 inches though.

Still fun... its amazing on how clear it can get in the winter time.

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I am going to give a go this evening in a deep hole,this is the first time going fishing on the river with ice. I hope I can get a couple tips before I go. will a 1/4oz wt be enough? should I try ne jign raps/CD's or just dead stick. shiners/ fatheads/chubs/ small suckers. I am wanting to catch an eye or two. thanks in advance for tips and tricks!!!!

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Well here are my river ice fishing experiences which all come on the Mississippi.

Jigging raps are the #1 bait thru the ice. River fish want movement and these give it. Plus with the # of hooks the hooking % is high. Tip the treble with a minnow head. #5's are top, try 7's for a change up.

A rocker minnow is a close second. Tip the hook with a minnow head also. Chartruese is great.

Never have much luck with deadsticking for walleyes. It works for crappies, but not for me with the walleyes.

You say deep hole. How deep? Is there current there? If you can find a current break (wingdam) the fish can stack up on the up river side in the deep water.

The raps work fine in 30 FOW and more. If there is a lot of current there- you will want a #7 or to move to a more slack area.

Good luck!

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well my efforts were 100% the water was only 5% of what I thought is was going to be deepest spot I found was 5.5ft guess I wont be fishing there again! How deep is minicon park?

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It can take the pressure a lot more than any lake around here. Plus its just certain area that are easier to access that get what pressure there is!

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idk what your talking about dude that river goes for miles with holes in it most people dont even know about.....

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i know shes a definate producer but to risk your life for some fillits

Ah, you gotta die from something, mine as well be with a fillet of fish from the river and a cold beverage.

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I haven't been down to Minicon this year, but you should be able to find close to 30' in that stretch, not sure on the river levels though. In the spring right after walleye opener we found a few spots that pushed 40'.

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I have always wanted to fish over in the New Ulm area with a boat, I have a infinity time on in the Granite falls area, but nice to try something new as well.

River Rat-

Is there alot of bends and holes in and around the new ulm area, per say from Redwood to New Ulm?

Any falls or Dams in that area?

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From New Ulm upstream to Highway 4 is a great stretch, lots of nice deep holes, big bends and tons of cricks flowing in. Heading downstream of New Ulm it starts to get wider, narrower and shallower, especially past the Cottonwood river. I do not believe there is any dam in the area, I know alot of people run snowmobiles in the winter over that stretch.

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idk what your talking about dude that river goes for miles with holes in it most people dont even know about.....

i know most of em

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Originally Posted By: SHAQ
The mn gets pounded up in my parts

Dent by Perham confused

yes dent by perham, but i travel & also live in the southern metro

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
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