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I fished Fountain lake Sat. and today and was skunked! I talked to a couple different groups of guys that fished Albert Lea lake and they also didn't catch anything. I'm sure this cold front has a lot to do it.

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cold front or not... the fish should still be going? this is the time of the year to get them. 2 of my friends fished AL today and did catch a thing... everyone they talked to was the same story. not sure what to think of the lake???? any one know the water temp? i fished clear lake and picked up a few small ones.... water temp was 58.

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no fishing today. daycare closed.

but the thing i heard were that you were better off switching gears and fishing for panfish

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I fished the china channel, was there at 6:30 on fri. on cutbait for cats I caught a 37" pike under a cork, then later I was throwing mr,twisters till 11:30 dodging ran drops I still had 3 legals by then, then when the ran stopped for an hour or so I slayed them, I finished my limit, and 5 more to boot. my biggest was 29"@7 lbs. all after 11:30 were caught on xraps and yozuri crystal minnows. stayed till 1:00am. I dont eat fish so they all went back in. it was a zoo on sat. didnt even bother going out then. did get the boat out on sun. pulled some cranks.and spinner. no luck

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I fished the china channel, was there at 6:30 on fri. on cutbait for cats I caught a 37" pike under a cork, then later I was throwing mr,twisters till 11:30 dodging ran drops I still had 3 legals by then, then when the ran stopped for an hour or so I slayed them, I finished my limit, and 5 more to boot. my biggest was 29"@7 lbs. all after 11:30 were caught on xraps and yozuri crystal minnows. stayed till 1:00am. I dont eat fish so they all went back in. it was a zoo on sat. didnt even bother going out then. did get the boat out on sun. pulled some cranks.and spinner. no luck

the channel for cats? interesting. i only say it because technically below the dam its albert lea lake and according to the DNR they aren't in there. they are, but if you really want to catch cats in AL fish fountain. you will drastically improve your success. fountain is full of nice size cats.

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I see them all the time right by the spillway, theyre always chilling in the slack water behind the pillings for the bridge. ive has beter luck on the shellrock towards glenvile. never tried fountain. I just move here last fall. ive gotten some up to 8 lbs. in the channel. mostly at night, last fall they were biting on tubes, draged slow on the bottom. ive also gotten them further down the channel closer to the landing on al lake.catfishing really is just to get me out of the house, and an excuse to get my muskie rod out-lol. wish I could find more big pike like that one in this area, if it wasnt for the opener I thought al lake was a dead sea! all the hours I spent on the ice this winter with nothing to show for it. the only luck I had all winter was carp when the channel opened up with the warm weather.

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There are channel cats in Albert Lea. There were some stocked in Fountain but those stockings have ceased. Lots of natural reproduction and fish movement. There are cats in pickerel, AL, fountain, shell rock river...probably in some of the smaller adjoining lakes if you looked hard enough.
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they are, but if you really want to catch cats in AL fish fountain. you will drastically improve your success. fountain is full of nice size cats.

Just Tryin To Help

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cold front or not... the fish should still be going? this is the time of the year to get them. 2 of my friends fished AL today and did catch a thing... everyone they talked to was the same story. not sure what to think of the lake????

Albert Lea lake is a big lake, and I know there are walleyes there, but where the fish go is a mystery at times. With the lake having no structure and being shallow its hard to say where the walleyes go? I'm sure that cold front had something to do with it, the water is up and running good over the dam, from what I hear a lot of walleyes were being caught right up til Saturday.

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yessir- tonight, just got away from the water...... theyre still bitting.. my best luck has come after sundown. tonight I fished further down the channel AWAY from everyone and there mother, and I got four, 3 over 20" on at 18" all cpr'd, plus a bouns channel cat. two caught on shinners, one on a xrap, and another on a new clackin rap. all were tight to the bottom, Ive been staying away from the heavily pressured area's. plus ive found that big bait=big fish(3-6") shinners best-eric

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does anyone around here fish for ski's? Im fairly new to the area and have no one to fish with,my wifes anti fishing and im always looking for some man time. im wanting to get up to french, and over to fox. for some day trips. anyways always looking for company, plus we can split fuel. I got a boat.................. its not a ranger but it gets the job done...

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Hey drop me a line,(haha) I am always looking for new people to hit the lakes with. A friend and I are going to waterville or waseca the saturday after memorial. By the way what is your exact location? If I don't get back to e-mail my phone is

(507)250-6438

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yessir- tonight, just got away from the water...... theyre still bitting.. my best luck has come after sundown. tonight I fished further down the channel AWAY from everyone and there mother, and I got four, 3 over 20" on at 18" all cpr'd, plus a bouns channel cat. two caught on shinners, one on a xrap, and another on a new clackin rap. all were tight to the bottom, Ive been staying away from the heavily pressured area's. plus ive found that big bait=big fish(3-6") shinners best-eric

thanks for the info lunge! how many poeple where fishing the channel? shore fishing or boat? i am guessing both. How many boats were out in the main lake across 35? i have not made the trip to AL this year yet... looking forward to fishing but not in fighting the crouds. any chance u caught the eyes in 3 to 4 foot of water;) Good luck fishing and thanks for the info!

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Hey lunge we should actually get in touch I am in Albert Lea too. Really feel free to call me; we will set somthing up, I have a flexible schedule.

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I took the boat out the sun after the opener, havent had it out since. imo you can fish the lakes around here from shore with as much sucsess as in a boat, cant say for sure for fountain but havent really fished it much so I cant say, dont know about people out on the main lake. on al lake I fish three spots channel, near the boat landing, mouth of the shell rock river, I like to hike and find a spot that hasnt had alot of pressure, i can get away with slopier presentations and less finess.. the channel slammed from sun up to 8pm, I usally sit around till 9pm then throw a line in. my key is to follow all the shinners that are balled up near shallow areas, if you can stand still enough not to spook the bait you can watch the preditory fish slam the minnows. its as entertaining as one on your line. last fri night one jumped clear out of the water within 5 feet of me, needless to say I about [PoorWordUsage] my pants. all the eyes have been shallow, my biggest this year has been in 2-3 fow, on an sz.10 xrap. at most 6-8 feet in the deeper spots. it seems that the water is real warm in al lake, most likely because its so shallow. I dont know if this effects the feeding habits of the eyes but my tactics have been paying off, the only day since opener ive been skunked is sat afternoon and that night. when three thousand people were on the lake, I absolutly hate having to fish ten feet from someone, having to watch out for bobber, catching peoples line-forget about. again ive fished the main lake 3 times out of a boat, and I dont think ill be bothering with taking the boat out here in al this year. ill be going north. if you see a black buick with wis. plates, my name is eric give me a shout!

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Thanks again lunge! are u going to be on the lake friday afternoon. i am thinking about giving her a try? Whats your boat look like? How has the fishing pressure been lately?

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14' aluminum colored lund with a mariner hanging off the back, bow mount trolling motor, old rusty yellow trailer,black buick randesvous with Wi plates. nothin fancy, If I go out tongiht it will be on-shore and mostlikley after 8:30 ill try the china channel and the old rr tressle, last night I got skunked, and lost my fav. crank so im not sure. snagged a carp by the tail, that was fun for a while. This weather seems to be effecting the bite, I talked to someone at china channel today around 9 and he said all thats bitting is bullheads. good luck to you though!

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be careful by the RR. cops like to kick people out of those areas since a guy fell in a few years back.

i'll be fishing the area sunday night (maybe) and monday early. will probably avoid the main area (from the dam to the bridge on main). if the walleyes dont cooperate, it'll be chasin channel cats.

congrats on the fish.

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Fished Fountain last night and tonight. Last night was productive, catching 3 walleye 14-18in. Tonight no eyes but 2 bass and a crappie. Working shorelines casting.

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sorry bout the 20 questions, ive looked at all the dnr sites/lake link/ect.... and I cant seem to find much specific info on the lakes here. I went to the library and checked out he hotspots map for this area, and other resources but im still stuck-I know the bottom of al lake is all muck and all of 6 feet deep. is the channel by the boat landing the deepest spot in the lake, what is the bottom of foutain lake like? is there any kind structure in the lake besides docks,lifts,channels under bridges. is there an old river bed or anything that runs through the lake? what about humps, or rock bars? I only ask cause I dont have any electonics on my rig. I know theres a hole by the new bridge, and a hole near the arerator by the cemetary. I see the signs for the min pike size, are there any of a fishable number in the lake? and one last question, does fountain get over riddin with rec. boaters in the summer months. can you fish it or are there jet skis doing circles around you? as far as the fishing here I think my luck has been, because of all the fishless hours I put in last fall and over the winter, any info would be great.well thanks -

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lunge:

shoot me an email.

[email protected]

its best to divulge the kind of info over an email. lots of lurkers that i don't care to share whats taken me several years to figure out. please copy and paste your last post into it. would be glad to talk to you about it.

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has anyone been out recently? Ive been out a few nights but not much luck. I lost something large last night on the shelrock/ think it was a catfish but cant say for sure. it seams like the weather thats been rolling through has messed wtih the bite. ive talked to a few that have had one or two shortys but not much more. I cant belive the amount of garbage that is floating in the lakes around here, not to mention the amount on the bottom and on the shore. do people not know how to throw stuff away, there are garbage cans everywere. does anyone fish pickeral lake, I see it has a boat landing but can you put a power boat in there? I dont remember much about the conversation I had but someone said it was real shallow and use to have good panfishing?

god luck out there-hopefully this weekend it will be better, I dont want to waste a whole day, well not waste but no fish.

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Hey Lunge,

Pickerl used to be good for crappies and some perch, (I could only catch them in the winter though), but I think that it froze out this year. Which does not really matter because I think the DNR's plan is to kill off the lake this fall, and make the lake a Northern Pike rearing pond. Should be fun in the future!

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giles? i should have stopped by and got you the other day. you live right behind my folks somewhere. they live on hawthorne near the intersection with lakewood

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I havent caught an eye in the last four nights out. lastnight I caught a nice cat, but well see what happens. I think this funky weather is messing with the feeding patterns. also now that the spawn is over the walleyes are going to be tougher to catch. I dont think my tactics will work any more. I think that a more finesse presentation will be catching fish. If I get out this weekend im going to try pullling some bottom bouncers with spinners, and poss some cranks

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