elk river Cambridge-Elk River-Foley-Milaca-Mora Fishing Reports

[monstermoose78]

wear a life jacket to so they can find your body easier!

[DrJuice1980]

You'll find me right next to the pile of Slabasaurs's....

[ozzie]

swimming around your body on the bottom of the lake if you plan on fishing most lakes in this area right now!!! Baxter is the only lake that I saw multiple people on for the last 2 weeks. At the same time I have seen most other lake still have open water up until the snow fell...

[Archerysniper]

Archerysniper just let me know when you want me to show you how to spear.

I will hold to that if I can ever get off work.

Where were you last night I didn't see you at our chapter meeting last night in Isanti.

[spearman8585]

Chapter meeting what? Archerysniper spit on your decoys before you put them in the water. Little trick

[Gordie]

Chapter meeting what? Archerysniper spit on your decoys before you put them in the water. Little trick

Don't forget to tell him to tie them on also or you know what might happen

[MrGolfwrench]

Have not seen anyone venturing out on Blue. The snow will set things back a bit. Looked like the weight of the snow sunk the ice a bit. Slush that by now most likely froze.

Be careful out there. There were spots that were open right up until the snow.

[ozzie]

with lows of 20 and highs in the 30s for the next week these lakes aren't getting any help other than maybe melting off the snow.....

[chad austin]

with lows of 20 and highs in the 30s for the next week these lakes aren't getting any help other than maybe melting off the snow.....

And the possibility of more snow/rain the forecast

[river rat316]

There is 6" on our pond at work, and yes it is 17' deep and rather large so it is a good gauge as to what the lakes are doing, before the snow there was 2-3", the snow pushed down the ice and the slush has refroze into 3" of white on top of the now 3" of good clear ice underneath. There is hardly any snow actually left on the pond, most of it is refrozen slush now, after this weekend it gets colder again, the forecast as far as snow only is around 1" north of the cities then it gets noticeably colder afterwards, next weekend we should be good to go to at least get out there and "safely" check the ice, I don't feel like even stepping on any of the area lakes right now to check the ice!

[Archerysniper]

Chapter meeting what? Archerysniper spit on your decoys before you put them in the water. Little trick

Yes the new East central chapter of the minnesota dark house and angling association. We meet the second Tue of the month in Isanti.

[H0LE HOPPER]

Fished a lake this afternoon near mora anywhere from 3-7 inches of ice most of it is nast on average want to say bout 3 inches was good black ice. Lakes should really take ahold after this week.

[g_anoka]

I also fished a smaller lake in the area. 3-4 inches of ice at best and that much slush on top of the ice. It was nice to get out fishing but to qoute my son " now all of my ice fishing gear will be wet all year". Hopefully it will be better this coming weekend.

[ozzie]

Checked a lake in Zimmerman Princeton area n was glad to c the snow was off the lake. It it left a frail sheet of ice as there was 4 inches n my spud could go right through in one whack in places!! Needless to say I got off the lake n watched football instead... Next week with the projected temps should be good to go but be carefull with the way this ice has formed!!!

[huntersgp]

Anyone been out on Blue or Axter since the rain Saturday? Walk, wheeler?

[ozzie]

I meant to check but I didn't make it over there...I would stay off Blue till probably the weekend but Baxter should be fine as it had a good base prior to the snow but anywhere you go right now I would be checking every step...

[Archerysniper]

People were fishing Peltier and Clear lake today which I was surprised to see.

[Archerysniper]

Just because people are out there doesn't mean it's safe so check it for yourself,but I did see a Perm out on coon today.

[Gordie]

There were a couple of wheel houses out on souh stanchfild today and some side by side UTV's.

[ozzie]

Yeah heard the same thing n a buddy told me they must have a death wish as there was 3 good with 3 milky white ice out there... Fishing sucked

[Gordie]

14 inches of ice on little elk .

[A.Heilman]

Anybody know what the ice is like on green lake over by Princeton

[Gordie]

First off welcome to the HSO family A. Heilman

As of last Friday there was 15 inches on Green

[FishSystem]

Anybody know what the ice is like on green lake over by Princeton

Gordie reported 14 inches where he cut his sprear hole on Green. Was last week I think. There is a post for that lake "Green on 95"

[FishSystem]

Did okay on Blue lake off of [5]. Missed a nice eye, caught a nice eye, and then found some suspended fish, but only got 1 to bite.... about a 13" eye. Kept the 17.5 inch, and the lost felt larger than that. No crapps though. Stayed away from the group. SOUTH.

[1eyeReD]

Adding a little life to the reports of this area's forum. I love these lakes and the folks in the area are very nice people. Every fisherman I've talked to are really friendly and seem very down to earth.

Being a rookie to ice fishing, I've finally decided this year to pick up some gear (6 man pop up, a used Strikemaster Strike Lite gas auger and a Humminbird ICE 35) to target panfish... So far, I've gotten into sporadic crappie action and have been frequenting lakes in this area as it's within an hr drive from The Cities. I've hit a few lakes and have found one that I've warmed up to. Though I've fished lakes around Annandale and the St. Croix Bayport area, I find this particular area to be more quiet with a bonus aesthetic quality. Below are some of my braggin' pics with some notes..

So far, my goto lake (yes, I have found one after many a gallons of gas burned and many a miles driven) has kicked out a few decent crappies mixed in with a handful of smaller ones, but just enough decent crappies to take home and make some sandwiches. Decent being in the 10" range. I've been finding them on the edges of deeper 24' to 30' holes and I'm pullin' em mostly in 22' to 24' ft with some coming out at 17" to 19" as an exception (or is it the other way around?). Having a GPS with a lake map has been of great help. An app on the phone is even better. But you still gotta drill tons of holes. I've only been out three or four times so far (to fish and not scout) and the action has been steadily dropping every trip out but I'm not fishing the same spot every time... Same area, but sometimes you kind of just set up wherever you're marking fish so one day I'm in one spot, next day, I'm 40 to 50 yds off to the side... Lindy Toads and frostee spoons tipped with small whole minnows or waxies have been the ticket and their preference varies from trip to trip with a few coming off of plain hook & minnow on a slip bobber rig. For ice jigs, chartreuse and white with blaze orange dot has been better to me than natural colors and I use almost all glow capable jigs. The fish we iced were almost always 5 to 10 ft up in the water column. Anything that bit near bottom were sunfish.

My 1st trip, I caught about 5 out of 6 fish on waxies and my most recent was on minnows only. However, each trip, I've averaged about 10 to 15 fish with less than 10 keepers. Sorting is the name of the game so far.. On one of those trips, I had a flurry of midday bites on shiners and the few that came on those shiners were 12" to 13" bigguns. About 1/2 an hr before sunrise to about 10AM would be the frame of action on most of these trips and I've had the bite pick up again around 2:00PM right when I would normally have to leave due to time constraints... Though it wasn't unusual to have a few come out of the hole during during mid day, the action was just much slower.

Doublefisting my 1st two 10"ers..

12"er

CBLT (crappie bacon lettuce tomato) sanwiches and a strip of crappie on beef chili..

Bonus:

On one of my recent experimental evening trips, I found no crappies at all in the same area I have been catching crappies. The only difference is I fished deeper and was more towards the middle of the basin in 26' of water (and there was no rhyme or reason to the move, to be honest). I dropped my 1st line within that magic half hour before lights out and couldn't catch a crappie to save my life that evening. However, the bobber sunk fast as I've ever seen right at sundown and I was rewarded with a surprise 25" walleye! Missed two hooksets within the next few hrs and it was eerie quiet the rest of the night. That same night, my dad had a fish break his line clean on the hookset. I assume it was another big eye or a northern. Or a less than adequate knot LOL! I was happy nonetheless because my dad got to see a 25" eye come throug the hole on his 1st trip. The few bites we had that night came within a few ft off the bottom and we couldn't see the fish on the flasher and here's why. Something strange that occurs at this spot is that the flasher gets tons of static and interference from bottom (26') up to about 18' and I don't know why this happens in this hole. I've fished deeper holes around this lake with no interference, but every time I drop my transducer down in this basin area, I get the same results. There's usually a few perms in the area, but they are about 50 to 60 yds away and it happens regardless if anyone's in them or not. Any clues?

Anyhow, I am wondering if it's worth a shot to try that staticky interference-y walleyeish spot again this weekend before the walleye season ends. You guys think it'll be worth another night trip? Should I risk another 6 hrs of boredom for the chance at another nice eye? Might just do it. Sure beats stayin' in.

Tight lines everbody. Good luck and be safe.

1eyeReD

[monstermoose78]

Very nice fish man! I have noticed the same marks on some of the lakes in deeper water. I was thinking a bug hatch or minnows I have not checked with the camera to see if it was minnows but I should. I would say yes to trying the walleyes again if you got time this weekend. You never know you may catch some eater sized ones or hook a monster.

[1eyeReD]

Yeah man, the marks on the flasher was kind of bizarre. The 1st time it happened, I actually sat in that spot for a few hrs and didn't move. The whole time I was quite P.O.'d and blamed my flasher as it was frustrating not being able to make out my jig or any fish in the bottom half of the water column. I was set on returning it the following week, but decided to test it out again on the following trip. I tested other holes of similar depth and came back to the same hole. Finally, I figured out that it was just that spot where this was occurring. Still would like to know what it was. I don't suppose underwater springs or gases would cause this would it?

Well if luck or wife allows for an evening outing, I'll give it another shot either Sat or Fri evening. Otherwise, I'll be hole hoppin' somewhere Sunday for fish I'm more likely to catch. Weather's supposed to be nice!

[Gordie]

1eyered,

I can almost taste the chilli here and Thanks for the great reports.

Glad to hear that you are having a good year!

[FishSystem]

Yeah man, the marks on the flasher was kind of bizarre. The 1st time it happened, I actually sat in that spot for a few hrs and didn't move. The whole time I was quite P.O.'d and blamed my flasher as it was frustrating not being able to make out my jig or any fish in the bottom half of the water column. I was set on returning it the following week, but decided to test it out again on the following trip. I tested other holes of similar depth and came back to the same hole. Finally, I figured out that it was just that spot where this was occurring. Still would like to know what it was. I don't suppose underwater springs or gases would cause this would it?

Well if luck or wife allows for an evening outing, I'll give it another shot either Sat or Fri evening. Otherwise, I'll be hole hoppin' somewhere Sunday for fish I'm more likely to catch. Weather's supposed to be nice!

Plankton maybe. Did it start deep and get higher in the water coulumn after dark?