Oxbox Park info

[DayTripper]

Hi, my first post on these forums. I live in Byron and typically don't travel far with boat to fish (Zumbro mostly...occasionally Faribault and Miss River). Interestingly, I've had my best fishing in Olmsted at Silver Lake off shore where the waterski show is held in summer (Consistently catch Largemouths there 9-12").

Was greatly disappointed to find that Zumbro was the only really closeby late for boat fishing, and that fishing there wouldn't be like the central MN lakes I grew up around (mostly panfishing on).

Anyways, the reason for my post is it seems there is alot of talk on this board about making use of the rivers/streams in SE mn. Being so close to Oxbow Park makes me guess that I might be missing some great fishing out there somewhere? Is there good fish out there somewhere off the beaten path? Unless I know I'm in a water of abundance, I catch-and-release everything, which is what I would expect out of Oxbow too. I've bean out to the bend at the 2nd little park area there off the gravel road, and caught a couple tiny catfish and saw a kid pull in some kind of red-tailed carp? Also caught some suckers there. Water got really shallow last summer there and one other spot. I'm just wondering if there's some deeper spot where there's some better fish (i.e. bass) to be had?

Also, anyone ever done much on Byllesby? Never been there myself, didn't know there was a lake out there until last year when someone told me about the beach.

[Sarge]

Hey DayTripper, always nice to hear from new people! Ya there's not much for boating close to Rochester unless you have a canoe, but you may be surprised how quickly you can get to Winona from here.

As far as the Zumbro in the Oxbow area, you should definately be able to get on some smallies, I wouldn't expect many over 10-12inches till you get to Genoa then you may find an occasional larger one. But they are in there, stay away from worms and crawlers unless you want to get in on the redhorse(like the kid had) and try some spinners and small raps.

[Guest]

Hi nice to hear from another Byronite. You were headed in the right direction you just did'nt go far enough. Go downstream from the bridge,just down the road from where you were, follow the river downstream it will bend to your left. There you will see a rock wall and a sandy bank, just upstream from the sandy bank there is an exceptional small mouth hole. I have taken smallmouth up to
4 #s out of this same hole. Unlike Sarge I prefer night crawlers on a single hook. I throw them up stream and let them drift back to me. Hope you have good luck, and maybe see you there.

[Jim W]

Welcome DayTripper and Clevefan!!!!

The more onboard the more we can share and learn!!

Daytripper, Byllesby is part of the Cannon River and holds a very wide variety of species from carp to walleye! Give it a go!!
Silver Lake can be accessed with a boat, just no motors!! IT has some nice smallmouth as well. I grew up a half block from Silver Lake and as a child, remember catching slab crappies, gills, small/largemouth bass, sunfish etc. from it's shores(before the flood that is!).

See ya!

Jim W

[Guest]

DayTripper - I'm a former Byronite now in Kasson and there are smallies worthy of your time in the Zumbro River both above and below Oxbow Park. I've told this story so many times now that I'm getting teased about it, but . . . last September I landed a 17 1/2 incher not far from the County Rd 5 bridge upstream from Oxbow. Two days later I had another near 17 incher shake my Mepps spinner at the last minute. Certainly, your more likely to see 10 to 12 inch fish, but on light gear they can be every bit as fun. Another fishable lake (no gas engines) would be Chester Woods. Largemouth bass and lots of pan fish. I've also been told, (but I've yet to see) that there are largemouth bass and musky in Lake Zumbro. White bass on Lake Zumbro can be a fun time too. Good Luck and Happy Hunting. Let me know if you would like to hook up some time and we can go for a walk in the river near Oxbow.

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Fish On!
Big Lew

[This message has been edited by Big_Lew (edited 03-25-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Big_Lew (edited 03-25-2002).]

[Sarge]

Welcome clevefan, Yes you are right, the splitshot, hook, and crawler is and excellent way to catch any species of fish that you will find near Oxbow.

Using artificials will increase the ratio of game fish caught vs nongame fish, but on an average day the good old crawler can put larger numbers of fish on your line. And when the redhorse are running you could get a tired arm, and run out of bait real quick.

Keep us posted on how you do this season!!

[Uncle Grump]

Hi Gang

Greetings from south of Oslo. I wanted
to throw my $.02 in here. Specificly - Big Lews comment regarding LM Bass in Lk Zumbro.

My boys and I fished Zumbro a couple of times
in 2000, also fished it once w/ SWMBO. We didn't get there last summer. On one of those trips, Alex, the youngest, caught a LM that went about 14" - maybe 1.5 - 2#. He got it casting a blue/silver Shad Rap. It was the only fish we got on that particular trip.

So if there is one, I have to assume there are two. Hopefully we will get there a little
more this season.

One thing about Zumbro - the recreation traffic up there (ski'ers and Jet Skis) make
it hard to fish - at least the weekends. The
trip Alex caught the LN on was a week night when there was high water and the Olmsted Cty Sherrif had declared the entire lake a no
wake zone. The other time we fished
it was the tail end of the thunder boomer on
a Sunday morning - we had the lake to ourselves - caught some nice blue gills and
SM Bass. The bass wouldn't take artificials
that day, but sure were gobbling down the crawlers.

UG

[J.A.Say.Tree]

Since Lake Zumbro was brought up, I thought I'd chime in... In about a month (or even less), you will find some AWESOME crappie fishing on the lake. The spawn will be on, and there is awesome structure to fish... lots of brush and trees on shore that will hold alot of (and some dandy) slabs...and I mean SLABS!!!
I'll keep you posted...

JA!

[Jim W]

JA,
you keep telling me about this great crappie bite on the Zumbro, but have yet to invite me along! WHat gives?

Jim W

[DayTripper]

Thanks for all the great replies. As I think I mentioned in my first post, I primarily fish on Lk Zumbro too, since so close. I haven't seen an LM yet, but last summer we both got some decent SM. Usually got about 1-2 per trip though, so not a fun as it could have been.
I've always heard about the great crappies out there, and how you really have to hit them early on Zumbro. I tried twice last year in April with no luck at all. We tried Ryans bay and then the one shoreline leading into that real shallow bay area. On one of those trips, though, after tired of nothing on t he minnows, we went to crawlers and caught rock bass endlessly. Any tips, I'd be glad to hear them.

My only other real interesting Lk Zumbro story I have so far is that last summer I brought my visiting parents out there. My dad has this steel pole from who-knows-when, rusty hook, and had some pink beads and a spinner between his hook and split shot. Anyways, his reel wasn't working the best that day so he often wasn't fishing more than a few feet from our boat, which was about 20ft deep water (he was 2 ft deep). (We were using crawlers). He starts yelling about getting something big, I figured he was just exagerrating for the grandkids so didn't get the net, but he nailed the largest catfish I had ever seen pulled. We let it go, boated around the lake for awhile and then tried another spot away from the first. Within 10 minutes he's yelling again, I get the net, and this one is bigger than the first, measured about 24", didn't get its girth but sure seemed fat. Not sure if that's big for a real cat-fisherman, but now, after that day, my son is more interested in trying to get a cat like that out there vs. the bass. I wouldn't mind fighting one myself...if the state record is only 37 lbs., I'm guessing there's grandpa cat out there somewhere. Unfortunately, my scale's batter was dead, so have no real accurate idea of these cats' weight, but sure looked fun.

[DARK30]

HI DAYTRIPPER...WELCOME!

I'M NOT FAMILIAR WITH THAT PIECE OF WATER BUT IF YOU LIKE THE IDEA OF CATCHING SOME CATFISH, TRY SOME FRESH CUT SUCKER MEAT. LIVER WORKS TOO AND THE BAIT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE SPOILED FOR THEM TO FIND IT.
TRY DIFFERENT SPOTS BUT GIVE EACH ONE ABOUT 45 MINUTES TO AN HOUR. IF THERES A GOOD POPULATION IN THERE, YOU'LL BE HOOKED AS WELL!

WET NETS!

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cast,cast,cast,cast......

[J.A.Say.Tree]

Jim W,

Hmmmm... How quickly we forget... You turned your nose up more than once last year when I mentioned 'ol Lake Zumbro's crappie fishing. You may deny it, but walldogs had control of your mind!!! We'll get out this spring after work sometime.

When the crappies are spawning hard, there aren't many places on the shore where you can't find them... just remember to get really tight to shore and/or brush... bobbers and minnows or tiny powerbait twistertails.

JA!!!

[This message has been edited by J.A.Say.Tree (edited 03-28-2002).]

[Jim W]

JA,

Who me?? Pass over a leaf with black spots and fins for a white-tip????

I won't deny my passion for walleye nor my turning down a "hot bite" for crappies on lake "scumbro"!!!

Just seeing if you were still "looking in"!!

Jim W