Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

Recommended Posts

Hey, I am somewhat new to the area and have never fished the MN river. Just wondering if there are any fish worth catching around the mankato area. Would be going for eyes or pannies. Also, how does the ice look around?? Any help would be greatly appreciated

HnH

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only thing that I can tell you is find a bend and drill some holes to see what depth you have to work with, and fish the break. I have had luck with the eyes and saugers on outside of the bend but that was during the cold spell we had. For panfish I guess I would say if you can find and back water with some depth, which I think might be a little hard for how low the water is, you might be able to get into some pan action!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Hook,

I suspect that most of us river guys tend to either hang it up in the winter or fish area lakes. Myself, I fish the river in the summer, and lakes in the winter. I simply dont have much confidence on the river ice.....One week I drove over the 22 bridge by St. Peter, and its iced over with snowmobile tracks, then two days later it looks about as open as it can get....Just way to much current, and with a low river level this year, I suspect that may even make it more complicated.

If eyes and pannies are your interest, look to the lakes rather risk your own saftey.

Now, the summer is an entirely different story....You will find some serious walleyes in the MN...As for panfish, never chased them, but will catch an occassional sunny here and there...but pretty rare---

Now if you want to get a response on this particular board, start asking about flatheads....that is the primary creature of interest with the group (that tends to hibernate in the winter from the page).

Check the S Cetnral page if you have not for area bites.

Good luck,

jk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I sort of gathered the same thing about the winter ice. I'll be out this spring though, looking for some eyes. Never really fished for flatheads though. Not really opposed to the idea, however. Maybe i'll give that a try too. Thanks for your help.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Their are many many great shore spots around the area, and fairly easy to get to....Its simply a matter hunting for spots. Judson bottom road is a very good start. Bottom of lookout drive at the lights. Other side of the river from Sibley. Litterally a stones throw from the road with access to some pretty good bends that tend to create some pretty good holes. Also, 169 between Mankato and St. Peter is also a stones throw from the road with some good shore spots. Right now, its just so muddy out to get to them-so if your looking to head out (as the water is very much open) wear some mud boots.

Good luck. If you see a 14 foot gray lund with 15 horse johnson scooting around, be sure to wave! Will probably wait another 6-8 due to some other stuff going on, but will likely be out sooner than most. Historically I have not had much luck early sprink, but its nice to simply be in no mans land fifteen minutes after getting out of my door.

I will warn you, if you "try" the flathead thing. You get one that is even 10 pounds plus, and you may be litterally hooked on catfish-it is the deep see of the high north.

jk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • 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
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.