Calhoun

[bklimek]

I am looking at hitting Calhoun this weekend for bass. What kind of special regualtions or rules do I need to be aware of before I head out? I know it is desiganated as non-motorized, electric only. Does this mean I need to take off my motor? I also heard I need like a special parks permit or something. Is this true? If so where can I get that? And finally how has the fishing been out there? and how do I go about tackling it?

Butch

[Fisher Dave]

You dont need to take off your gas engine.. you just cant use it. The park permit is a park patron pass you can get to park in the lots and not pay the pay boxes or meters.. and it allows you to park in patron only lots(boat access lot at Harriet for example).. This will do you no good at Calhoun for launching your boat.. all the parking is on the lake parkway, or the city streets.

Calhoun is a good lake to fish.. weedlines, weedlines, and more weedlines for whatever you are chasing. It can be a tough bite at times, but the fish are worth it.

[senkoskipper]

really tough bite i should add. Even when the bit is hot, the fish arent that impressive. Think about how much trafic the uptown lakes get. People are always keeping fish out of there. I think the dnr needs to do something about it quick. They should make these lakes CnR only.

[Lunker]

Senko, I think you mean CPR. And as far as being impressive, there are some great fish in the city lakes. You sound like a usual pessimist about the city lakes. I have caught some of my biggest bass in MPLS. And Calhoun gives up about the best average I have found for size.

[senkoskipper]

Oh dont get me wrong, i like fishing calhoun. More for the eye candy than the fish. But i've been fishing that lake for like 3+ years now and each year it gets worse and worse. I know there are big fish in there but the only way your going to catch them is if the planets of our solar system start to align themselves in to a "V" shape and 6 aliens have to fart simutaneously from the 6th galaxy.

[Maximum12]

I haven't fished Calhoun in years, but I do fish other lakes in the chain, & can say that there are not only plenty of fish to be had, but plenty of nice-sized fish. They're certainly not fished out! Compared to lakes of comparable size around the metro, they don't get much pressure.

BK, if you look back in the archives there's been plenty of talk about Calhoun & the other city lakes in the past!

[Lunker]

I guess I just don't have that problem. I have figured enough of a pattern on that lake where from shore or boat I can catch big bass every time i go there(well, almost). I have a little more problem on Harriet, but Calhoun is and has been good to me. The thing is, it varies for everyone lake to lake.

[SFBOY]

we usually wait until september or october to fish calhoun for muskies. we catch some very nice bass this time of year on our jerk baits and bucktails. the bass we catch on calhoun are much larger than any lake that we regularly fish. a few years ago i pulled a 22-23" bucket mouth out on a full sized reef hawg and ten minutes earlier my buddy missed one that was much larger than that. i have seen some dandy muskies and walleyes come out of this lake as well.

the drawback of the lake is that the fishing dock is in an excellent location to yank out nice bass, marchettys, and walleye from time to time and the majority of the fish caught there never see the water again. there are some people that just cant let anything go and they never will. i think it is just a mind set for some people that i wish would change; the same kind of people that shoot every deer they see because it walked in front of them. disgusting.

[Dragon Fish ll]

I stopped by the 36th street dock yesterday and noticed there was no weed on either side of the dock on the drop off, whats up with that Ive allways seen a weedline along there in the summer before. an I dont believe the weed wacker came through there. though it was working on the lagoon when I drove by. Has the lack of weeds affected the Bass an nort bite on the east side? Will be checking it out for self real soon. this is the right time of year for that window bite. Leave a few for me an I promise to put em back.

[AJ]

Weed wacker was working the south shore this week. I am certain lack of weeds is because of him. Give it a week or two and you will see milfoil at the surface again.

[Lunker]

They are having the aquatennial sand castle contest down there, so I wouldn't be surprised top see them trying to get rid of the "ugly" weeds.

[Dragon Fish ll]

Stopped over at Calhoun for an hour this morning an checked out the west side weeds were real thick where I started.decided to try where they were not so thick an had a nice northern about three to four pounds follow me in then just sat there while I tryed to put a steel leader on. then took off as soon as I finished. so I cast out an as soon as my lure smacked water I had a hook up with a nice little largemouth about a pound and a half. shortly after hooked up with a nice little nort wich gave a fun little fight an did me a favor an spit the hook just befor I had to get my hands all slimy.

[Lunker]

Went down today for a short time, gave up pretty quickly cause they ran the choppers a few days ago and it's not all that fun to fish after they do that. No fish.

[Metroguy99]

Lunker, when that happens look for spots where you don't normally fish that were not cut. They usually leave certain sections of lakes until the next cutting. I had a similar though on Harriet yesterday, but ended up catching 10 nice fish in a lot of random spots. However, the constant cutting seems like it has caused the big ones to move. My biggest fish yesterday was a chunky 16 inch fish . Those little ones just couldn't stop themselves from inhaling my slug-go's and dingers which were almost as big as them.

[Lunker]

Thanks metro. Usually I will just hop over to harriet(or vica versa), but didn't have a whole lot of time. And they seemed to chop most of Calhoun. I think for the aquatennial. O well.

[slick814]

Caught this one in the channel between Calhoun & LOTI yesterday, about an hour before that storm whipped through.

Saw the weed cutter paddling around. He went through the channel three times. I caught 5 decent sized bucketmouths in there, with the 4 pounder I'm holding being the biggest of the day.(pic does NOT do it justice... camera phone)

[senkoskipper]

hmm that doesnt look like a 4 pounder. 3lbs max.

[SFBOY]

Senko, take it easy on Slick. I dont know Slick, but maybe he is 6'-5" and just makes the fish look smaller.

[CommonSense Guy]

Looks like 2 lbs to me

[Fisher Dave]

You guys are doing a heck of a job picking away at someone else's fish.. where is your pictures? We can pick away at them.

I dont need to know what it weighed... nice fish slick.

[buzzsaw]

Cute kid in your avatar!!

[senkoskipper]

Quote:

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You guys are doing a heck of a job picking away at someone else's fish.. where is your pictures? We can pick away at them.

I dont need to know what it weighed... nice fish slick.

---

No one said it wasnt a nice fish. I just said it wasnt a 4 pounder. If you wanna see some of my fish you can go here

http://www.fishingminnesota.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=597151&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

[Riverfishin]

I might go to calhoun tomorrow or harriet, can you rent boats on either of those lakes, and if you can do you know how old you have to be?

[Lunker]

Relax guys. Since when does somebody's fish get questioned when they post? In the bass forum we have guess the weight posts, save it for those. I have plenty of fish pics of 18, 19, even 20 inch bass that sure as heck don't look it. Just cause someone doesn't hold the fish 2 inches from the camera(no offense to Matt Johnson !), doesn't mean it wasn't a good fish. Nice fish, I haven't been over to the isles channel for a while, is it pretty choked?

[MT Net]

Nice fish Slick. Sure are a lot of fish weight experts here.

[Maximum12]

C'mon SFBoy, he looks 5'1", maybe 5'2" tops.

Nice fish slick! There are some nice bass in that thar chain of lakes.

[river rat316]

Nice fish Slick,

You should be proud of the fact that You can post pics let alone catch fish, I havent figured out any of them yet!!

[SFBOY]

It's all in good fun. Stretching the truth about your fish is a God given right of all fisherman. I need to get a new ruler for the boat, mine routinely measures fish 3" less than they "really" are and my intuitions are much more accurate than my scale!!!!

[Snag]

Fished on Saturday and caught two bass and a muskie. Bass both took a watermelom gulp worm carolina rigged. Saw some sunnies surfacing over a point and threw topwater to no avail, then chucked a 10 inch worm in the area and caught a 34 inch ski.

I haven't been able to find any schools of bass lately. Is anyone catching any pike out there this year? I've only caught a couple.

[Lunker]

The pike and muskies I've caught this year have been few, and accidental. Caught a couple small pike using a xrap earlier in the year, and a ski on a senko. From most of the reports I've read, seems like mostly accidental cathces on the pike.