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Prior Lake


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Anybody know what's been happening on Prior? I think My wife and I are going their this afternoon thru tomorrow morning I would appreciate any info.

Thanks \:\)

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  • Wallmaster

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  • bwally

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Justa quick overview of what's been happening out there:

-Walleyes getting caught 16-20' around Reed's Island

-Crappies are starting to move in shallower, but are still able to be found in the 30+' deep holes, along with panfish

-lots of 5" sunnies and 7" crappies to pick through

-all kinds of houses on the north side of Lower Prior, and there must be somthing getting caught out there

-Houses are spreading out further apart, but still all over the place

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One of my sources told me they havent caught much for 'eyes near Reeds Island in awhile. Apparently the fish have moved of there as well as most of the houses.

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Hey Wallmaster, small world that we met on the lake. How'd the weekend go? I saw your crew were out on Sat night, too. Hope you had a good time, and the map helped you a little.

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Thanks McGurk it was a pleasure meeting you, the map helped me having more detail than the DNR one. We poked around a little bit but still decided to stay where we were. It was a little slow but still managed a few nice eyes in the evening and some pretty nice perch, we lost a few too. We got some Emerald shinners that worked pretty well, they sure were lively. I think we might be comming into the dog days of winter for the eyes. Thanks again...WM

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Any tips on the eyes? I tried to find them a few times this year with no success. I'm new to the lake so I've been doing a bunch of scouting. I thought I was on a perfect spot a few weeks ago. Right on the weedline where rocks transitioned to sand/weeds in 14 ft or so I think. I fished it from about 4-8:30 or 9pm without marking a fish (after the little perch left). I don't want your spot, just a few pointers would be nice. Do I need to stay out later than that?

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I have a camera which helps understanding the lake bottom alot. You are close though just get to the spot that is closest to the deepest part of where you are and make sure you still have the weeds rocks sand and muck. They seamed to like to run the edge of the longest finger just before it started to come up to 16' or so. Crappie jig or hook of the same size and hooked under or just in front of the dorsal fin to keep him Parallel with the bottom. Light line and as sensitive bobber set as possible tiny split is what worked with the shinner which you might have a hard time finding. Stay out later we were getting bites 6:30up to 11:30. We tried jigging buck shot spoon with minnow head and we had a few bites as well. We had a 40+ depth near by, But like I said they might be starting dog days of winter...WM

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What have you been finding for ice? There has to be a ton out there now. Have not been out there in a while. Can you drive a Suburban out to Reeds? How about through the channel by the island into what I call the "middle lake" south of the island towards the bridge.

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I have a camera too and it's been a great help. I hardly even use it when I'm actually fishing, it's mainly just to look at the lake bottom. At least I'm close, I'll try staying out later next time. I'm hoping to get out this weekend, maybe early next week. I always think that when it gets to those dog days that I'll switch over to crappies but I never do. I always have to chase those eyes until the season closes. Thanks for the tips WM!

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Ice was thick enough,driving a Suburban shouldn't be a problem. I used to have quite a few of those over the years just take your time. I was driving my 2500 sieries GMC this weekend with camper - with no problem - ice can very though - so be careeful in those areas. Their seemed to be alot of traffic around thoes areas from what I could see..Good luck....WM

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im going to hit that midlake hump south of reeds tomorrow and hope to not freeze. Ill be there around 615. im thinkin to try the base of that piece of structre in the morning and than hitting the deep hole next to it during the day and see if i can find a few crappies and possible a deep walter in the day if they move down there. anybody see anything green right on the hump with their camera? Well, i have room for two if someone wants to brave it with me. im thinking wallys but am going to trick a few crappies if my plan A doesnt work.

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Thats a very tricky area I've seen trucks and cars go thru the ice there almost every year. You can drive thru there but stay on the narrow side of the island.

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Tash|t, I'm in the same boat as you; I had found the perfect spot, and that is where I happened to meet up w/ Wallmaster. It looked great: rocks, muck, close to weedline, dropped about 5 feet for every 25' of ice, perfect. Stayed out late one night and managed a few 6" perch and nothing else. I was disappointed to say the least. I packed up and moved to a different deep hole, but might be moving back after hearing Wallmaster had a little luck.

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Just for fun, how many houses do you guys think are on Prior this year, by far the most I've ever seen in 4 years down here.

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Yeah, its pretty unreal. anybody been out to candy lately? seen a bunch of people in that bay to the NE of it. Gills?

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If you like being five feet or less apart from one another candy is the place for you!-lol-:(

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I was thinking of Tonka this weekend but not quite sure yet, its supposed to warm up a little bit. The wife wants to go out again, sure like it when she likes to go fishing if she gets tired she just climbs in the camper and goes to sleep and I can fish till I can't see the locator anymore or pass out! \:\)

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Well we went to Bush Lake instead and didn't do so good. We saw nice size crappies and sunnies in the thick weeds in 7'-9' with the camera and decided to stick it out in about 9'-10' for the rest of the evening. The bite was real tuff and only managed a hand full of 12" Crappies and a few small sunnies they just didn't want to bite no mater what we tried, they just bumped it and left. Think I will try Prior in a couple of day's again.

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Not a lot of talk about Prior lately...would that indicate that fishing has been good there???

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Very slow on Prior. Fished Friday and Saturday nights and only got 1 small walleye and 2 small crappies. Pulled my house off the lake.

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Fished Thursday night and tonight in 26 feet of water & caught my limit of 9" crappies plus 5 nice bluegills each night.

Where were you having such poor luck?

I also limited out on "eater" bluegills Saturday in 18-20 feet of water on the east end.

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hey where abouts for the sunnys on the east side?? never been out there and thinking of trying Saturday for some sunny??

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Right smack dab in the middle of the big group of houses outside of Paradise Bay is where I got mine. Right in Paradise Bay would also produce plenty of eater bluegills.

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I lost track of where Paradise Bay was, where abouts you talkin? A cold front coming in this weekend. Fishing might be slow, think I will go out Fri. evening high is supposed to be around 30 deg. then drop like a rock.

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cold snaps dont really affect ice fishing.... storms do though and pressure changes..... fish cant tell if its cold out.... but on the other side... am coming up this tmrw from school to hit prior for the weekend.... pretty excited... havent fished it in about 4 weeks.....

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • 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
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
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