Gervais report

[Mr. Pike1]

G-man, I went out for about 45 minutes and fished the open channel between Kohlman and Garvais. I brought minnows and waxies. No success the water temps might not be warm enough yet...I did not try going on the ice. The shore line by the beach was melted out a few feet. I am sure I could have gotten out with my waters but opted for the open water...there were several muskrats in that area like the one we saw that day...One jumped out of the weeds and almost gave me a heart attack...That was the excitment for me...

[Mr. Pike1]

.

[This message has been edited by Mr. Pike1 (edited 03-23-2003).]

[G_man]

lemme know what time you plan on fishing if you can. I'm kinda open this weekend and might make it up there as well.

[Mr. Pike1]

G-man, I am going to try the open water in the channel one more time at about 4:00. I will let you know if they are there yet...Did you get out at all this weekend to Medicine, Sara, or Mtka?

[G_man]

Wife talked me into shopping for a glider chair. So I said lets try an outlet furniture store with the one in Medford in mind. So we just 'had' to stop by Cabela's and I got my new fishing combo that I've been wanting. Cheer! Cabela's XML rod and Shimano Symetre reel. Now I just need to get out and do some jiggin'.

------------------
Life is too short to not go fishing today!

[Mr. Pike1]

G-man, funny you mention fishing gear. I just picked up a musky rod and reel combo and a few lures yesterday ...I was at ****** today with every intention of picking up the shimano stradic 1000FH to pair of with my St. Croix rod but to my horror they only had the 2500. I then ran to Fleet to get toy of choice and no luck they did not have it either...So I will just have to wait a week to pick it up when they are in stock. I like shimano and have quite a few sedonas and shara's but decided it was time to upgrade to one of their higher end reels. I have seen they now sell the the Stella for 489.99 if I ever spend that much on a reel someone better shot me as that is just crazy if I had all the money in the world I would not pay that for a reel that is insane...Heck now that I think about in spending the 119.00 on the stradic is crazy to but I just gotta have one...

[This message has been edited by Mr. Pike1 (edited 03-28-2003).]

[Mr. Pike1]

G-man, are you out there? What are you going for opener? There is a group from FM going up to the horseshoe chain for opener...I guess they have had great walleye success there in the past.

[G_man]

Usually my step-dad and myself go somewhere for the opener. Somewhere is not a secret spot, it just happens to be where ever we select at close to the last minute. Typically we don't even do that well. We just don't know where to go and try something. Last year, we fished on the Mississippi River in pool 4 and did well.

I'd have to see what his plans are because I haven't heard from him in awhile. He might be busy as he isn't available every opener. I'll send him an email.

Is the horseshoe chain river fishing?

[Mr. Pike1]

The chain is kind of a river system but has many large bays. I have only fished it during the winter but have heard that there is a fantastic walleye population and that people have great success there on opener. Hey I was going to let you know that I have Friday off this week and of course Saturday and Sunday. I am going to take my boat out to Garvais on Friday to make sure eveything in functional and then going to hit some of the shallows for panfish...If you are around you are welcome to come aboard the vessel for some panfish action...I also may try lake minnewasta for some panfish action as I have had great success there for crappies in the spring in the past.

[G_man]

I can certainly fit some fishing in this weekend. Only thing I really have planned is to go to Owatonna to get $80 for free from my Club card. O-yeah, I have to replace a stupid sink too.

[Mr. Pike1]

G-man, I will be out on the water for the initial launch to test the boat on Friday and do some searching...Let me know what your Sat or Sunday look like...I am going to get out each day for a few hours each day as this weekend is going to be gorgeous !!!!! Note to self...Make sure the plug is in the boat...

[Mr. Pike1]

I was out scouting the backwaters of Garvais this morning to see if the bite had started. I met "Flys and Jigs" from the board. The bite was not on in the morning for him. I went back from 4:30-6:30 to check out the bite. I had to do some shore searching but I finally found some structure (some fallen branches). I got a couple of small bass on minnows. I swithed to berkley power bait and caught several sunnies with the largest ones being 8-9". The rain started to come down heavy so I left but will be out there in the morning before the Easter festiveties.

[fliesnjigs]

Mr. Pike:
Glad to hear you had some sucess later in the day. I only fished Spoon Lake long enough to conclude the crappies weren't in there. I will definitely be trying this spot again next week. Where did you get the sunfish, on the Spoon Lake side or the Garvais side of the bridge?

[Mr. Pike1]

fliesnjigs, I had success on both sides of closed bridge, The Garvais side and the Spoon side. I am going down for about an hour right now and then will try just befroe dusk for an hour

[Zdaddy76]

Where is this lake? My goodness is this post popular!!

[Guest]

for directions see page 11......

[This message has been edited by silent_sniper (edited 04-22-2003).]

[metrojoe]

What happened to Spoon Lake? I haven't seen but a few people shore fishing. They are usually elbow to elbow by this time. I used to see a half dozen or more guys out there fishing at 6:30 in the morning as I drove by on my way to work. Must of fished her out?.

[Mr. Pike1]

metrojoe, I suspect that because the bridge has been taken down that connects Garvais to spoon that the crappies are unable to migrate from Garvais into the shallow warm waters of spoon. However, if one were looking for the crappie bite I would "strongly" recommend that they go across the downed bridge to the Garvais side. I would imagine all the crappies that generally migrate to spoon are stacked up on this side of the lake in the narrow channel. I also have found another spot that is producing but for now I simply can not share as the joy of catching fish in this little piece of paradise with no one anywhere near me is all I dream of..

[This message has been edited by Mr. Pike1 (edited 04-25-2003).]

[Mr. Pike1]

They finaly opened the bridge that connects spoon to Garvais. I am planning a 5:30-9:00 morning run for Walleye and will give the Bass action a try as well being opener and all...

[Mr. Pike1]

The report was not good...I saw a couple of nice bass and one giant musky caught in Kohlman but had no success myself...Beautiful weather however

[Guest]

Anyone fished in Spoon lately? I'm interested in looking for some fishing action, does anyone have any idea which side or which area of Spoon to hit?

[Mr. Pike1]

Mr. Twister. I live by the lake and have taken my dog for evening walks and of course had my pole with to toss a bobber. The sunfish are there and can be caught from most any spot on shore. They are however for the most part very small..I have seen some crappies and bass come out but small as well.

[Guest]

I fished next to the bridge seperating Kohlman and Gervais Sunday, had no luck. I saw several fish jump in the northeast corner of the lake. About 100 yards from me in the same area I saw a boater pull in what looked like a muskie. Whatever it was, it was a very good size. Fishing near that bridge seems like a popular spot, judging from all the garbage strewn around, pop and beer cans in the water. It's to bad people can't pick up after themselves. I will contact the city somehow to look into placing signs down there or atleast having someone pick up the area a little bit.

[Mr. Pike1]

Mr. Twister. I went into Kohlman awhile back and saw some huge bass caught and one big muskie. I did not have any success. Kohlman is full of milfoil but there are some big fish back there. I may need to throw some plastics into all the weeds for some bass action.

[Guest]

I believe you Mr. Pike, I went down there again last night for an hour and saw a bass come straight out of the water after something on the surface, it looked like it had some nice size. I was using a spoon, had a couple hits, but no luck.

[Mr. Pike1]

Keep the posts on the lake coming. I will be heading up to Vermillion for the week but once back I plan to hit Garvais and Kohlman in the evening to try for walleye, bass, and muskie as by the time I return the musky season will be upon us.