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Hello everyone, I am fairly new to the area, living on the south end of Savage.

My wife and I are trying to find an area (hopefully within 30 miles) that we can go fish on weekends, and hopefully avoid the headaches involved being around reckless boaters and everything associated around the more metro lakes.

So looking at some maps I am wondering what Shields, Mazaska, French and Roberds are like. Hoping they are far enough out that its not total chaos, but also looking for some nice fishing opportunities.

Any hints or pointers you might have about the area is appreciated.

Thanks

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Good lakes. They still see a fair amount of traffic. Plenty of info on these lakes if you scan through the SC forum.

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All the lakes you stated hold great opportunities throughout different times of the year. Plenty of info in past reports and stay tuned for fresh ones. Forums have been kind of quiet lately, many are doing quite well lately on the local lakes but are fishing, instead of sharing the info, good luck!

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The problem you will have to deal with at this time of the year is algae bloom, the pea soup green yuk, that is normal for most all lakes there....You will need to go north to get away from that.

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Was out on Mazaska yesterday. I caught Walleyes and Pike in the early evening. Then as the sun went down the Crappies were insane for about an hour. Probably the best day of fishing on that lake I've had in 10 years.

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How thick is the algae?

Wondering because I hear it is real bad this year in alot of areas.

Parts of Spring lake looked like someone layed carpet down, it was this thick.

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The problem you will have to deal with at this time of the year is algae bloom, the pea soup green yuk, that is normal for most all lakes there....You will need to go north to get away from that.

What is the problem with a green lake? Don't know how to fish a lake with an algae bloom?

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Algae actually wasn't too bad on mazaska. Circle was really thick and shields was pretty thick too.

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What is the problem with a green lake? Don't know how to fish a lake with an algae bloom?

Actually this might sound like a stupid question, but I never have fished an algae bloom before. What affect if any does this have on the fish?

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no so much on the fishing but it stinks and its like green goo when it gets thick...shields gets notoriously bad in the hot summer months, exorcist pea soup puke...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Went out to Mazaska today, the main ramp was full, so I used the ramp in the city park, holy cow that one sucks.

Caught only 2 eyes, under 14"

And a ton of Freshwater Drum, never caught any before today.

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Two of the cleaner lakes in the area are Cedar Lake (Rice County) and Kelly Dudley.

The water in Cedar will get a green tint to it but I have never seen the stinky green algae bloom that is reference above. Because it stays fairly clean the recreational boat traffic on the weekends can be heavy. Fishing this lake early and late in the day on weekends offers some great fishing.

Kelly Dudley is a small, deep, spring fed lake with a small water shed so it stays the clearest of all the lakes in the area. Because of it's small size it also gets little to no recreational boat traffic on the weekends. Crappie and Sunfish tend to be smaller but there is never a lack of fish to be caught. It also holds some decent Northern and Largemouth Bass. If you want to stay away from the crowds and have a chance to catch some fish, this lake is worth a look.

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Fished Shields yesterday morning for a couple hours. Trolled hornets along the 6-8' breaklines and only piked up a few pike and some crappies. Not the best action and the lake was getting a bit stinky for my liking.

Went back and fished again after dark and fishing was better. Picked up one small eye and missed a few trolling hornets, my girlfriend was having trouble keeping them on the hook all the way to the boat.... After that we fished slip bobbers and leeches from about 10 until midnight and got quite a few BIG gills in the 9-10" range. Was a great night bite for them with the full moon. Crazy how bright it was.

The bonus of the night was that someone was throwing a huge party at one of the cabins with a live band that was rockin it loudly and what looked to be a old tire fire. We anchored the boat a few hundred feet off shore and enjoyed the free classic rock music and the warm glow of their fire! Awesome night!

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You guys are getting everyone on that Salmo kick. Passed Lake Country Convenience a couple weeks back and saw they were advertising Salmo Hornets!

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Went out to Mazaska today, the main ramp was full, so I used the ramp in the city park, holy cow that one sucks.

Caught only 2 eyes, under 14"

And a ton of Freshwater Drum, never caught any before today.

I can't even imagine unloading there...how shallow was it??

The public launch was an absolute ZOO at 11:30 as expected while trying to get off. Just for the common courtesy of others, those of you who want to put your 50 strap cover on your boat - please at least drive it to the top of the hill out of the way, or up the highway a bit, pull over on a gravel road somewhere and put it on. Especially when its that busy at the dock. A couple yahoos parked there truck and boat so one side of the launch was blocked and proceeded to put their cover on for 20 minutes while 6+ boats waited patently to get off the lake. 2c

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I can't even imagine unloading there...how shallow was it??

The public launch was an absolute ZOO at 11:30 ...

It was so shallow, not even funny, sucked muck up in my motor and plugged up my cooling system.

had to pretty much use a oar to get out. Then we used the electric troller all day. it was so shallow I had my wife drive over to the other lot and I loaded back on the trailer there.

If the ramp wasn't such a disaster it would have been a fun morning on the lake.

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Ya you either have to get off at 10:30 or wait until 1:00. Doesn't help either when the DNR kid parks his blazer in that grass spot by the launch. Screws up people trying to back in. I appreciate the kid checking over everbody, but it really slows up the process. And do you really need to be asked the same questions as you did when you talked to him when you launched to begin with?

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That kid is just doing his job, and, he needs to go do it somewhere else! LOL! EVERY time we hit Mazaska, he's there! There's a few more lakes in the area to be checked!

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Wonder what happen to old Corky, from last year! I think they really should invest some money for the other ramp or shut it down. Last year you couldn't even access it.

As far as people that cant figure out how to unload and load, well its summer time!!!

Cant wait for fall fishing now.

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no reason to shut the other down, not everyone has a typical boat...that other ramp is great for kayaks, canoes & small vessels etc...its nice not having to wait & find parking when the other is busy...

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no reason to shut the other down, not everyone has a typical boat...that other ramp is great for kayaks, canoes & small vessels etc...its nice not having to wait & find parking when the other is busy...

+1. Can you imagine the amount of boat traffic out there if they had two nice launches?? NO thank you.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Anyone here kindly willing to point me in the right direction for locating the "rock piles" on Sheilds? I hear there are at least 2-3 rock piles that can at times hold some nice bass. PMs welcome, thanks.

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grin I didn't realize it was marked with bouys. Are they submerged or exposed?

Are there any deeper rocks out there that aren't marked and may hold bass?

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There are three sets of buoys, next to island, out in the middle of the lake! as far as deep rocks the west island off the east side of it has the deepest rocks. It is also marked with a buoy!

On the south side of the lake there is a sunken island that hold some nice bass this time of year! You will also see the schools of shiners that are stacked to it right now!

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Cool, I didn't realize they were all marked. That will make them easy to locate and check to see if any fish are holding near them. Thanks for the help

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