Lake Waconia - Bass

[catchin'whopper]

Just wondering if anyone out there has anythign to share about Lake Waconia and the recent bass fishing. Does any one got any general information, water temps, bass staging or post spawn, what depths they are finding them at, what GPS coordinate i should plug in? (kidding)

Anyway, i will be trying to get out there and will let you know what i find out, thanks for any help.

Cathchin'

[Guest]

I was catch 'em in about 10' on the east side on friday.

[bassguru]

Most. if not all of the fish have spawned.

The water temp today was 68.

If you fish early mornings, try the reed beds,(scattered pencil reeds in particular), using Assassins, worms, or jigs.

The inside weed edges, 5' to 7', with spinner baits has produced well early & late.

During the day, the best action "CAN" be the reef edges in 10' to 14'of water.

Weather is a major factor, so change as needed.

Good Luck, Bassguru

[docwalleye88]

Don't be afraid to fish them deep. Especialy around Kegs.

[Guest]

We had our club tourney on Waconia last weekend and the biggest bags came from the reeds (Bull Rush) by dead sticking a Senko. Dock bite is slow.

[SWMuskeye]

Caught around 20 fish yesterday around docks in Wagner's Bay and in the reeds on the north side of the lake. Even caught a walleye in 5 ft! That was surprising to say the least. What would that fish be doing there when the temp was 85 out and the sun was beating down?

Anyways, around the docks I was throwing a rapala lipless crank, and I was wacky-worming 4" Senkos in the reeds. All of the fish were tight to cover, either on the edge of the reeds or right next to the docks.

MB

[hey__bob]

rheise, The docks were going during our club event...just not the bigger ones. Gabe caught three in a row from three different docks in a row.

[WALLEYENUTZ]

rheise,
What club are you in. My neighbor(Tom) is running one and I was thinking of joining him one of these Saturdays on Waconia.

[SWMuskeye]

Caught around 15 fish again last night. Plenty of 1-2 lbers, and also got a 19" and 2-18" fish as my biggest on the night.

I have found that the docks and boat lifts are holding the smaller fish right now and most of the larger fish are in the thickest cover you can find. Anyone finding the real big pigs out there?

I also fished for walleyes, caught a coupla' sheepshead, but no eyes. Pretty standard as of late.

[hey__bob]

SWMuskeye, you hit it right on the head....the bigger fish are in the toughest, deepest stuff you can find. Fish SLOW!!! Caught some nicer ones on jigs and chunks but senkos are working well too. Flip them into any pockets that you can find and just let them sink and sit. The west side pencil reed beds are a good place to start, just watch out for all of the spawning carp. Also try Waconia bay in the thick milfoil patches.

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Tight Lines
Bob

[Guest]

I am in the Hooksetters Bass club out of Prior lake. We are always looking for members. Our club finished 4th out of 44 last year at state. It's my first year and soon discovered that these guys are good or else I am a terriable bass fisherman. E-mail me at [email protected] if you want to know more.

[catchin'whopper]

My brother Alphid and i were out on waconia last night for the heck of it, we ended up catching about 5 bass, all between 3 and 4 pounds. not a lot of action but decent size. got one on a jig on some milfoil edges on teh west side (brown/green jig with pumpkin/chart claw), 4 1/2 pounder on a white buzzbait in the reeds, 3 1/2 on popr on edge of some reeds, and a couple others on white buzzbait. funny thing about the fish were that they seemed awfully skinny, like they havent been eating. have other people noticed this as well? the reports seemed to dwindle after teh initial post over a week ago. let me know how any of the bass you have caught been going, thanks, i will post my next couple day results if i get out pending weather!

catchin'

[SWMuskeye]

I must say that I'm surprised that you thought the bass looked "skinny." This lake has a more complete forage base than basically any other lake that I can think of in the metro, and almost all of the fish are well fed. Even take the walleyes, although they always show up in high numbers for the DNR survey, people have a hard time catchin' em. That's because they have all the natural forage that they want! Why would they take a leech, if they can have all of the perch they want?

Needless to say, all of the larger (bigger than 3lbs) bass I have caught this year have been really thick, and healthy fish. Most of the real chunky fish have been in really thick stuff on the inside weededges in the muck. Fish that weren't quite as thick were in the clearer water, near the docks, and also weren't as fat.

MB

[catchin'whopper]

I agree swmusky, typical bass i have caught there seem like they are fatties, there was one that seemed to have a little gut on him(her?) but the other 4 were not anything typical. coloration was healthy on all though.

either way, if you have any hints with all that milfoil that is there, is there a particular jig or color or rattle or more effective way to fish that thick weeds? we have tried typical jigs with rattle backs, and basically dunking them in and shaking the rod tip and we get fish every so often. there is mention of senkos but are we talking using those in 10-15 feet of milfoil too? that stuff sure was thick yesterday! Just looking for some additional help, i am not as adept at the heavier weed structure like this. thanks and i will keep the reports coming.

catchin'

[Guest]

Is there still a 17-21" protected slot for bass on Waconia? I catch and release only for bass, just wondering for our club tournament on Waconia. I didn't see it anywhere on the DNR regulations, but it was listed on the DNR survey. It says 17-21 protected on LM bass and the 16" min. on eyes.

[catchin'whopper]

there is a slot still and any tournaments generally held out there are paper tournaments.

[Alphid]

fishaddict,
What club are you in? Catchin' and myself are in a club in the N suburbs. Also, when is your tourny?

[hey__bob]

There is NO slot for Bass on Waconia any more. We just had a club tourney out there 10 days ago. Fun lake...good luck

[hey__bob]

The lake survey information listed on the DRN site was last updated on 7/31/2000. The regulation has since been lifted.

[Guest]

Thanks guys.. I saw that the DNR survey was from 2000, so I wondered if that slot had been lifted as I didn't see any information about a slot for bass in the special regulations, only the walleye slot. We have a Lets Metro multi-species event on Waconia July 20th.

[catchin'whopper]

sweet, that lake is pretty sweet, glad to hear the regulations worked. will let you know how the fishign goes for all you guys to check into.
catchin

[fishermann222]

they removed the slot this year on bass. but the walleye 16" minimum is still in effect.

[catchin'whopper]

Had a 5 boat club tournament today, sunday and found fishign got tougher than during the week when most people had reasonable success finding bass haunts. today winning weight was over 14 pounds, his partner in the boat had 14 as well, but an ounce less than the winner. However, the 2nd place finisher was anchored by a 6 pounder, 21 1/4" !! Wow, it was a beauty.

Fish for the most part by most anglers in teh club came from the docks (including 6 pounder), using senkos and senko baits in colors of camo, pumpkin, and smoke. Docks for the most part were "do nothing" docks where there didn't seem to be much on them and also on the shallower ends.

Some fish were taken in reeds, but not many, on jigs and senkos as well. There was a little buzzbait action earlier in the morning as well. Deep edge fishing was practically nonexistent, most anglers including myself and my brother Alphid gave it a good shot for nada.

Earlier this week during pre fishing myself and other anglers were reporting fish in the reeds on scum frogs "fish committing suicide" on baits was heard from one of the guys. Also the dock bite seemed to be on as well.

Good luck to anyone having tourneys on there soon, i thought i heard there was a FM one there soon (?), so eat up this info for now! Good luck, there is a 6 pounder back in the water!

Catchin'

[Guest]

was fishing out there sunday, and would you know it caught a six pounder two, but on a drop shot rig, fishing with small orange crawdad on 1/0 hook 1/8 sinker shaking on docks. Well if you want to know where fish was let go I'll tell you realsed fish on weed bed around public dock, also a 4 3 and some others. Good luck to you guys this comming weekend, Had 5 fish 14.32lbs

[Rainman]

A friend of mine caught 5 bass over 5 lbs on Saturday including one that tipped the scales at 6.8lbs! Plus had a lot of other smaller 3-4 lb fish! All Fish were released!

[fishermann222]

hey rainman I was out eye fishin tonight, TOUGH night. one short, u been doing anything?

[Rainman]

Fishermann, Haven't been out lately! I might have my boat sold. Looking for a new one! Just in case! How is the new tour-pro?

[Alphid]

Was out on Waconia last night from 5-8. it was a hot one out there. Ended up fishing the areas that I basically fished in the Tourny on Sunday. Had a good time. The fish are still relating well to the docks. The biggest fish wa 19 3/4 inchers. Hit and fought very hard. Was a good time. all in all, caught about 10 bass, with the best 5 about 14.
Same presentation that Catchin' described earlier.

Good luck, there are some pigs in there, oink oink.