3rd crow wing

[DPMSbuck]

Heading up to 3rd Crow Wing in two weeks. I have never fished this lake before and was wondering what to expect? I would like to find some walleye, but we'll mostly fish for panfish or cast/troll for northern. Any suggestions would be greatly appericated.

[Gonebassin]

3rd is an excellent crappie/bluegill and northern lake. There are 2 "islands" in the middle. There will be wild rice and grass growing, so you cannot miss them. We find a lot of crappie and bluegill around these, expecially in the evenings. I troll around the large island with crankbaits and minnows and catch lots of northerns.

I have never had much success with walleye, but there are 2 points that have produced fish, as well as trolling around the larger island.

You can also fish 2nd and 4th Crow. 4th has a lot of northerns as well, and panfish. It is a shallow lake and lots of weeds. We fish more for bass and panfish when we are up there.

Are you staying at one of the resorts?

[Dave B]

I will be up there this weekend w/ my kids. I dont know how much I will get out, but I will try to post some results.

BTW-if anyone sees smallish red Lund w/ a Honda, say hi!

[DPMSbuck]

Thanks for the replys

Were staying at Round Bay Resort and I could use all the help I can get.

If this lake isn't very productive on walleye do you have any suggetions on a lake that is fairly close. The time of year isn't great, but the walleyes still need to eat!

Thanks again, Scott

[MuskyBug85]

hey scott, Long is down that way and has been good as of late. When you get into town swing by Northern Bait i will show you some spots on long and maybe a few other walleye waters down that way. Jonah

[Dave B]

There are plenty of eyes in 3rd too, they just might run too big to eat. Midday might be tough, but low light has always been decent.

My grandma is the 1st dock past Round Bay. There have been several 8lb eyes caught off her dock w/ cranks in the last year. That whole shore to the point will produce in the evening just outside the weedline. You might get 4-5 pike for each eye, but they are in there too. There are cisco in that lake and the basin w/ Round Bay is the deepest. The eyes can pick those things off during the day and cruise the shorelines at night. I havent spent too much time trolling the basin w/ deep running cranks, but that might be worth a shot too, especially if you see clouds of bait out there w/ your electronics.

[raymondk]

roundbay is a nice place to stay i used to stay there . there is alot of walleyes in third . i fished the lake for over 30 years there is a few good places to fish there is a hump right in between the islands very good spot just drag a leech , also for crappies fish right in front of roundbay in about 14 feet of water there is some real nice crappies in the lake get right on the weed edge .

[DPMSbuck]

Thanks again!

I spend most of my time on the river - So, this lake fishing should be intresting. I'll give you my report when I get back.

I'll be up there 7/21 - 7/28!

[Gonebassin]

Probably see you on the lake. We will be down the lake at Crow Crest the same time. We do more bass and panfish fishing than anything, but I like to walleye fish more than the rest of the group. A family vacation, so less fishing and more time doing other things. This will be the 4th year on the lake at this time. I think we figured out the bass and crappie/bluegill, and we catch quite a few northerns also.

Other than the two points, I have not tried the weeds or basin down at Round Bay's end of the lake for walleye. We bass fish the weeds at that end, but I usually stop at the points for the walleye. Best luck I have had has been the point on the right as you head out toward the big part of the lake from Round Bay. There is also a spot on 2nd that I have caught a few on - as you go into 2nd, keep to the left until you get towward the far end. There is a nice point there with some depth to it. 2nd is a much smaller lake, and we do not spend much time there.

[DPMSbuck]

I have older 1750 crestliner with a 115 yamaha. Stop by and say hi - I'll see ya on the water.

Dave B - - Did you have any luck this past weekend?

[Dave B]

I was only fishing for about 3 hours, 2 nice eyes (20, 21"), 2 4-5lb pike and a smaller snake. The boy caught a ton of small sunnies off the dock.

All but 1 fish came in 20-25' water on cranks near the sunken islands and humps but not real close to them.

[hector00]

What color and type of crank bait where you using?

[Dave B]

#9 Rapala Firetiger Shad Raps

[dilleyo]

I'm heading up for the annual guys fishin trip this weekend. I know where to get the crappies, but I'm lookin to get a couple of nice 'eyes. Any help? We've caught them earlier this year and planned on trying the same spots, just wondering if they are deeper, or in the shallows like I heard a lot of metro walleyes have been. Any help is appreciated.

P.S. We trolled the breaks for them earlier this year.

[DPMSbuck]

Dave - Thanks again!

Will you be on the water this weekend? If so, good luck and maybe I'll see you out there! I'll post my results when I get back!

Scott

[Dave B]

I will likely be on Pool 2 or at Canterbury playing cards

[DPMSbuck]

Here is a quick report from last week!

It was a very nice week to be on vacation. My 7 & 5 year old caught a ton of bluegills using slip bobbers and wax worms - one after another and the kids had a great time.

Northern - Our biggest for the week was 34" and we had a couple more over 30" and a bunch of snakes. We found most of our fish in the 8-10ft range with plenty of weeds around. We were using spinner baits trolled over the weed tops and it work great. My best color was blue & white skirt/Gold Colorado blade.

Walleye - Our biggest was 24" with a couple more around the 20" mark. I think we ended up catch a dozen or so with most in the 15"-20" range. It was a tough lake to fish with bait - too many bait stealing gills and perch, but the eyes are there to be had if you have the desire. One walleye came on a deep diving husky jerk and the rest were caught on spinners and bait.

I didn't get to fish as much as I wanted, but that's how a family vacation goes. If your looking to take your kids fishing 3rd is an excellent pan fish lake and I was pleased with the accomdations and service that Round Bay Resort provided.

Scott

[Gonebassin]

Scott

I am sure we ran by each other during the week. My internet has been down since before we left for vacation and just was fixed yesterday. I have a 16 foot ProAngler Tracker boat with a 50 horse Mercury. Typically it was just me in the boat, unless we were out fising for bluegills and crappie or just taking a boat ride, then my 6 year old son and wife were along.

We did OK. Probably around 8 to 10 walleye, with the largest just under 5 lbs. Used leaches and crankbaits. Northerns were active, with several in the low 30 range. I fished the hump and the west point down to Round Bay mostly - early in the morning and then again in the evening some. I mainly fished walleye and northerns, but the rest of the group I was with fished bass alot. Several fish in the 3 to 4.5 lb range. Lots of bluegills and crappies.

We had very good luck on 4th this year. Lots of small northerns, but the last couple of days of the week, we pulled 3 walleye out of 4th using crankbaits. The largest northerns were in the 26 inch range. Lots of large bluegills also out of 4th.

Good week - but HOT. I am hoping to head back up that way toward the end of September, but need to get approval from my wife.