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.

new to area


Dooley87

Recommended Posts

i am pretty new to the area, i live in cold spring and want to try the chain this winter and maybe some other lakes such as goodner or koronis, i own a gps and i have scouted out some spots to try out but the chain is a little intimidating, does anybody have any info on types of structure to try in these lakes (do fish relate to humps or ridges or weedlines or just deep holes etc..) not looking for any coordinates to honey holes just some helpful advice, fish mainly for crappie and walleye. thanks guys.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Welcme to FM Bearbait!

Two of the lakes you mention have very iffy ice early, especially this year. I'd focus on Goodner for now. I haven't talked to anyone who has fished it yet but generally a decent panfish lake with lots of pike. Be prepared to sort. Not much of a walleye populatation on Goodners.

The chain and Koronis will be much better walleye options. I'd toss in Rice as well. All of these have good panfish as well and the chain has the bonus catfish as well.

Welcome to the area.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Official Fishing Report Team - MN

First of Welcome to FM

As far as the chain is concerned it can be a little intimadateing to a newcomer but let me say that once you figure it out you will be very impressed! smile.gif I target alot of eyes and craps on the chain and here are some tips. For eyes concentrate on breaklines and humps and don't be afraid to go shallow (10 ft or less)!! There are alot of active eyes shallow in this system keep noise,light etc to a minumum and you will be rewarded. As for craps there are alot of community holes that you will see and they are good places to look and start. I prefer to venture out away from the crowd looking for crappies on the steep breaks and mud basins as these fish usally seem more aggressive.

As Borch stated Goodners is a excellent panfish and pike lake you definately have to do some sorting but if your looking for action it's a good place to look.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

bearbait87, i also live in cold spring, and welcome to fm. check my profile to get in touch or post here. i know a little about these lakes as i grew up in richmond. tend to be more knowledgable on lakes spicer way or talmoon area. i can fake it though. hehehe

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello all--I am also new to the area. Have been out on Lake Julia and done ok (sunfish/crappies). Any other lakes worth checking out near Sartell?? (i.e. Little Rock??)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i moved to Cold Spring in March of '06 and the winter of 06-07 was my first year of ice fishing around here. I did not get to do much of it because of extremely cold weather and no auger or house. I now have a portable Clam 5600 and a new auger. I fished Goodners a few times last year, caught one nice northern and A LOT of 8-9" crappies. Just curious if there are any other lakes similar that may have a better ratio of "keeper" fish?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice to see all these new people, welcome to FM. This St. Cloud forum sure has taken off lately with number of posts and people using it. Sorry I don't have more info on ice fishing, I'm still pheasant hunting and bow hunting. I've never delayed getting on the ice this long.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

welcome to the fm guys! I fish alot in the coldspring area. I have done pretty good for sunfish on browns, Crappies on the chain along with cats. Walleyes on koronis and rice and a few on the chain, hard for me to find them on the chain tho. The spunks in avon are pretty good for a variety of fish. Along with clear water and sylvia are also good if u get down that way!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the info guys...I plan to get out to the chain at some point this weekend, but might just stick to Julia as I have had modest panfish success out there. (although seems to be a very popular place!) Is Pleasant worth any effort to check out? I don't mean to be an info moocher, generalizations are fine with me!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Welcome all the new FMers! laugh.gif

I've been out of town for a few days fishing.

As far as Pleasant goes it's a good action lake. Lots of panfish but sorting required. Some nice 3-5 lb pike and every once in a while a walleye. There's a special reg on Sunfish with a limit of 5 for Pleasant.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am also new to the area (St. Cloud) and new to the site. Anyone have any advise to lakes with decent night fishing for walleyes? I work until 530 but would like to get out for a while some work nights. I was thinking Koronis but am up for suggestions. Thanks guys, I look forward to contributing to the site!

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.