Grindstone Lake Fishing Reports

[reinhard1]

depending on the snow, the boat landing would be your best bet for parking on land. also if it's not possible to park there you can park along the road on the south side and walk out from there. you will see previous drilled holes and go from there as far as depth. fish can be cought there as well. good luck.

[leech~~]

[ClamITup]

My wife's parents have a cabin on the Southwest end. I never fished for trout in the winter and liked to try it this weekend. Any tips would be great, and do you catch anything after dark?

[reinhard1]

PM me and i can show you some areas on the southwest end. since you have access there it would not be far to walk out from the cabin. good luck.

[chippy]

Hey folks! Can someone PM me a few pointers or spot to catch some smelt? Or do I just go anywhere 50+ ft for them? Its will be my first time here. Just looking to get into some action after I check up on the cabin at Moose Lake.

[reinhard1]

smelt are all over the lake, mainly suspended in deeper waters. the north east bay [the smelt hole] is the most consistant. i like to be anywhere from 60 to 80 feet deep and the smelt will be 25 to 30 feet suspended. i will be trying for them as well Saturday. good luck.

[fsnrod]

If you park at the boat landing make sure you have a locking gas cap I had someone help them selves to my gas tank when I was out fishing last year.

[reinhard1]

i'm thinking the ice will be plenty wet come saturday. may not even bring the portable. bring a chair and pull the otter sled i have, and if i need it for a wind break it's there. good luck.

[leech~~]

i'm thinking the ice will be plenty wet come saturday. may not even bring the portable. bring a chair and pull the otter sled i have, and if i need it for a wind break it's there. good luck.

I would like to get in one more day of Laker fishing in before the end, but not sure I want to be water skiing out there. I hope someone can give a report near the end of the week on how much water is sitting on top?

[KG243]

you could pick up a jet ski in mora on your way up!

[reinhard1]

i've been on that lake before with a lot of water on it. just have to pick a dry spot . i just plan on walking and having a relaxing day. i remember one march day, i was sitting by the barn off the shelf and the small creek comming in from the barn area just south of the entrance was putting out some water.

still plenty of ice but by the end of the day the creek put a lot of water on the ice. there was plenty of snow that year. have boots will travel i guess. there was slush on the lake one time and i made a small pool with the shovel. had a couple of rainbows swim around that little pool, keeping me entertained all day until i went home. did that one time when we were kids on the gunflint trail with lakers on Clearwater lake.

good luck.

[Mnfisher]

Good luck Saturday. I'd like to get up there one more time too but that won't be until the end of next week sometime and that might be too late! Love to catch some smelt too.

[klee]

I'm planning to come try it saturday morning for the first time. Is the fishing good in the morning or just nights?

[reinhard1]

for rainbows it's better early and late afternoons but you can have action during the day as well. for smelt there are people on here that have posted that did very well at night. i haven't tried it during the night but i do ok during the day. i'll be staying for a spell so i'm hopping for a good supply of smelt. fry some and smoke some. good luck.

[leech~~]

you could pick up a jet ski in mora on your way up!

Thanks for the idea! Are you going to try and make it up one more time before the melt down?

[jaay]

Wow...pretty dang wendy.. ..was just fishing at green....3 hrs on the lake and no bite...left the lake at 9:30 pm..fished in 16 foot of water..my fishing buddie was too lazy (more scared) to go further onto the lake to fish in the deeper end.....no one was on the lake...ice thickness measured a good 11" thick..boat lunch looked too risky for my crv...so took sled and gears......saw 1 big fish on the flasher came right off the bottom to my glow jig & went right back down...drop a fry minnow, same results....drop a pimple and puppet jig..nothing....hopeless...ohh well theres tomorrow, I plan on going to grind to try my 40+ smelt steak...will report back tomorrow on lake status and fish status...happy fishing yall

[Moe_V]

Hi guys, Going to be my first time up there on Saturday, hoping to run into some smelt and a few bonus trouts. A few questions, Do you guys usually use spring bobbers on these little guys or would my UL pole work? For lures and bait, small Fiskas tipped with meat/waxies, jigging or dead-sticked? Any other suggestions? Thanks

[reinhard1]

i dont use a spring bobber. my rod i use has a sensitive tip and use it for rainbows as well. the thing is that the smelt are suspended and you want to get that bait down there without using large presentations. so a small pimple with a minnow head or waxie/euro larva works good. i have downsized to a crappie jig and used a couple of split shots a foot above the small tear drop to get the lighter presentations down there quicker. i'm also going to use the mini lindy slick jig saturday also tipped with what i stated above.

when i fish deep water for suspended smelt, i put out a tip up with a small fathead just 3 to 5 feet under the ice for rainbows. keep in mind that when fishing for smelt you may also at times get a laker or crappie as well. i once got a 12 pound pike in deep water suspended 30 feet down fishing for smelt. good luck.

[rough_rider]

only been there once but the smelt were nice to me. during dusk, they happily took my Lindy Rattlin Spoon tipped with minnow halves. Seemed like after dark, they were less hesitant so I switched to deadstick--dead or live minnows didn't matter too much surprisingly. I just had a super UL rod.

[KG243]

I am done for the season

[leech~~]

I am done for the season

Ok well it was nice fishing with you at the GTG. Hey, don't you oue me a ML Perch report still?

[reinhard1]

Leech, there is anywhere from 4 to 6 inches of snow on the lake as of today [packed down] and some vehicle travel on the lake today. give it a shot for lakers if you can. i'll be there. good luck.

[leech~~]

I'm going to just do the pull sled and lawn chair and stay close to shore for Rainbows and Browns. I really haven't given them much of a try the last few times I have been there. I'll be pulling a big orange sled "slowy" around. Maybe we will see you out there?

[RiverDewey]

First time on Grindstone today. Hey Reinhard, thanks for the tips. I had to run up and help out a buddy who bought a farm in the area (new appliance stuck in stairs LOL!).

So I got an hour or two on the lake. The "road" is still in very good shape. It leads right to the smelt hole on the NE corner. It appears that you can also get there from the public access on the NW side. I saw a few sedans make the trek. I would not go off that road unless you have a good 4 wheel drive. The snow is crusty in areas and soft in other areas. It seemed to be about 4-8 inches thick.

Weirdest ice I've ever drilled through. There was a crust on top of the snow and then about 2-4" of water underneath. You could carefully drill holes and not break through the surrounding crust.

As far as fishing... Since I only had an hour or two, I set up shop in 7-10 FOW just off the road by the red barn. Didn't see much of anything except for small sunfish, some smelt and a hushpuppy on the bottom that wanted my waxie.

Oh, by the way, it was quite windy - between 5-15 MPH. It actually picked up at dark when I left.

Good luck out there Saturday and bring waterproof boots!

[jaay]

Hey, guys happy to report that the smelt fishing was a blast as usual...didn't do as well but I'll take 20; overall a perfect way to wind down..who knows this might be my last outing on grind...the road as mentioned above was a little rough my crv made it thru...forgot to measure the ice but I say it was at least 13" thick...perry fair wind compared to thursday nights wind on green lake.....

[reinhard1]

thanks for the reports. getting ready to go right now. i'll be pulling a black otter sled with a chair. nice just to get out there and relax and enjoy the day. good luck.

[reinhard1]

well, it ended up with me sitting in a chair and ralaxing just as i predicted. sunny, nice, and some wind. i was fishing in 50 feet of water and the old Fl8 showed fish all day suspended 30 feet down and some near bottom. did get a small laker i threw back and just before i left a 10 inch smelt. as i was leaving more people were comming, heading down to the smelt hole. smelt are realy becoming popular.

i tried everything i had. pimples,spoons,jigs,flu flu's, and small plastics tiped with minnow heads,gulp heads, waxies, and eurolarva. even just a plain #12 gold hook with euro larva and then just a minnow/bobber.

met Leech out there and he had a good cardio workout. i saw him walk the whole north east bay. he said he had some lakers come up to his bait but no takers. he only noticed a few smelt taken by some anglers and they were large ones.

i think late afternoon into the evening is better for smelt. the lake conditions were good when i arrived in the morning. i walked out from the boat landing which looked good enough to drive out, but was unsure how it would be at the end of the day. it melted a lot and it became slushy and the were once was snow at the landing there was exposed dirt.

the road that was plowed from the barn was used by some trucks and wheelers heading down to the smelt hole. half way through the day the vehicles were driving through wet stuff on that road. the ice was still 15 to 16 inches where i was but i think it would be better to use a wheeler or walk out now. lot's of slush out there. good luck.

[lispeej]

reinhard.

We need to get together and do some fishing. I've been kind of busy this year and haven't been able to get out as much/long as I'd like. After all, we are pretty much neighbors..lol.

[reinhard1]

i'm retired and i've been busy, never thought that would happen. we will get out. maby some early panfish trip here in the metro, or ride along for some steelhead/loopers for a day. of course on trout opener i'll be back on the grind for day of trolling ect. i'm going to the Duluth area for walleys also. good luck.

[lispeej]

Yes, that sounds good. loopers sound like a blast! keep in touch.