lakes and ponds

[mrfish007]

hello,

I moved here to rochester about a year ago, and I haven't been fishing up here in this area since moving ( went to lake waconia last thursday and got a lot of crappie and gills ) but don't know a lot of places around rochester and surrounding counties. any sugestions on places to fish sunnies, cats,eyes,northerns, and muskies?? any help would be great!! have a good night and good fishing

[Tyler Holm]

Welcome MRfish,

I think your best bet would be to spend some time reading this rochester forum. There are tons of places to fish right near Rochester and you can catch all those species you mentioned within 20 mins of Roch.

Lake Zumbro and Chester Woods are great places for larger panfish and both have cats. For eyes, you'll need to be on a river such as the root or zumbro.

There are several smaller ponds in the Roch area that hold bass and panfish as well. You'll hear them mentioned quite often on this forum.

[crazyice]

Also for those Muskies and Northerns, you can target Lake Zumbro which is just north of town. It is actually a resivoir of the zumbro river due to a power dam. I was in the same boat as you just a few years ago and thought that my new home was limited to just the area trout streams, boy have I been proved wrong!! Like Tyler said, just keep a close eye on this forum and you will start to pick up where the hot spots are!! And welcome to FM!!

[Down to Earth]

As mentioned Zumbro and Chesterwoods provide excellent bluegill and crappie fishing. If your looking for bass action and your not hung up on size, Chesterwoods is a great option. Though Zumbro does have a population of muskie and northerns, in all honesty there are better options, but do require a drive. For northerns the Mississippi backwaters around Wabasha can provide good action. For muskies, I would recommend either Minnetonka in the Cities, or if you don't want to drive quite so far French over by Faribault.

Good luck in your searching.

Andy

[mrfish007]

thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated. I had lost all interest in fishing when living in northeast iowa and stopped fishing for about 8 years. now that I'm in rochester, I'm once again interested in fishing. I need to do some research into surrounding counties lakes and ponds, to go fishing now I'm willing to travel up to about 50 to 100 miles to have a good day of fishing. thanks again and good fishing!!!

[Down to Earth]

A good reference book for you to pick up is by Sportsmen's Connection. They put out a books out for different regions in Minnesota and give a good synopsis of lakes. They have one for Southern Minnesota. I have an older copy, but I think they've updated it since I bought mine. It would be a good starting point. I know Gander and Cabela's both carry them, and I think I've even seen them in Walmart. Interestingly enough, Zumbro is not listed. Once you get some lake ideas, you can also go to the Minnesota DNR lakefinder and research specific lakes as well. Their website is excellent for lake info.

Andy