Grindstone Lake Fishing Reports

[JBMasterAngler]

It doesn't surprise me that there might be a walleye or 2 in grindstone, and big ones at that. I'm sure at some point in grindstone's history it was stocked with walleyes, otherwise a few migrate in from the kettle river. I haven't seen the outdoor news yet, but are you sure it wasn't the grindstone lake in WI?

[JBMasterAngler]

Nevermind, just read the outdoor news today. Very nice walleye.

[Mnfisher]

So....was it the Grindstone in Mn or in Wi??

[JBMasterAngler]

MN

[Foreverfish1]

Just got home from my first trip to Grindstone. What an interesting lake! The wind today made it tough to control the boat but other than that it was a great day to be out.

I ended up catching a fat 17" smallmouth and a 28" northern on the south/southeast shore casting up to the shoreline with a black and silver x-rap shad. I tried trolling with small/medium crankbaits all over the lake for trout but didn't get a bite. I also tried trolling a larger crankbait for northerns but had no luck with that either.

I noticed huge gobs of bait about 50-60 feet down over any where from 70-100 feet and from reading this thread I'm guessing those were the schools of smelt? That's where all the trout (and big northerns) are I bet. I don't have down riggers or anything so they'd be tough for me to target but maybe they come shallower in the fall?

Also, the boat launch itself was deep enough to launch my small 16' aluminum boat but once I got to the end of the channel at the main lake it was less than a foot deep. Luckily, when I was on my way out, a homeowner on the lake was on his way in and was already in the water pushing his boat and he offered to push mine out to deeper water so that was very much appreciated. But on the way in I had to get out and push over the shallow water. The homeowner that helped me said that the channel was going to get dredged in the coming weeks so that should help a ton and make it much easier to get out.

[NowthenJoe]

Any updates on if the channel was dredged? I would like to get out on the Grindstone this weekend.

Thanks,

Joe

[nwhunter]

Also wondering if the channel has been dredged?

[nwhunter]

There are some walleyes in Grindstone, but catching them is usually dumb luck. One of the homeowners on the south west side of the lake pulled a pair of them through the ice last winter. He's lived there for 30 years, and those were the first two he's seen, although he had heard stories of folks catching them through the years.

[BigMac75]

As of last week, channel has NOT been dredged. I have a 16' deep V and I was able to use a push pole to get out, with in a very narrow trail of maybe 2 feet of water and once into the lake, be really careful as it gets shallower....and I had to bench press my boat off the trailer. Once the sun started setting the surface came alive with bait fish, trout, perch etc. But headed back as I did not want to negotiate the channel in the dark. Hope this helps.

[nwhunter]

Ick... I knew it would be shallow, but not that bad. Someone a while back used to talk about using the tire on the dock to determine the depth. I don't suppose you recall where the water was in relation to said tire?

They really need to dredge that, everyone knows it's horribly shallow for a while outside of the mouth of the launch, but its where the stream kicks in all of that silt that is a killer.

I may just have to wait for the ice before I make another trek down there.

Thanks for the update.

[JBMasterAngler]

For selfish reasons, that is my favorite boat launch! Keeps all the other people off the lake I'll be up there in a couple weeks, enjoying the solitude.

[nwhunter]

For selfish reasons, that is my favorite boat launch! Keeps all the other people off the lake I'll be up there in a couple weeks, enjoying the solitude.

I'm normally the same way, but I don't want to put my canoe in that lake. Just too big of an area to cover where I want to fish.

A friend of mine tried to contact the Hinckley Fisheries office this week, and hasn't heard back.

Ice fishing will be here soon enough...

[JBMasterAngler]

Went out to grindstone today. The launch is SHALLOW! There was juuuuuuust enough water for me to paddle my 14 footer out. When I got there a group was bringing in their pontoon for the season. Took 2 guys pushing it, and 1 guy pulling it through the channel. Then they had to dig holes with a shovel so the tires could get in deeper. Even then, I couldn't believe they were able to crank it onto the trailer.

Anyway. Right off the bat I watched a northern pike chasing a school of trout around in less than a foot of water. I was mostly trolling spoons around. Lost a fish right away, he even followed my lure back to the boat, looked like a lake trout. Lost a really nice pike, broke my line. Seen a couple schools of trout swimming around, and had a couple more strikes. But in the end I got the ol' skunkaroo!

[Mnfisher]

Thanks for the good report. It was fun listening to your stories about the fish you saw. Guess we'll have to wait a bit for some good ice!

[tengy]

Hows the ice coming along? With this cold snap plus more...im feeling there should be some decent ice out there. Anyone been there yet?

[Tullies]

Anyone with knowledge of how thick is the ice at grindstone?

[SpecialK]

I don't know exactly how thick but there are perms out close to shore.

[tripod5119]

How is the ice up there? any smelt to be had? any reports would be nice

Thanks

[rough_rider]

fishin' must be good cus no one is reporting. In addition to ice, how's the snow level for driving smaller cars?

[JBMasterAngler]

I don't think the lake sees too many anglers until trout season opens. Up until then it's mostly just dark house spearers.

[SpecialK]

I doubt there is enough ice to drive on yet and there is a lot of snow on the lakes up here. There are a couple of perms out but that is about it.

[Tullies]

A friend of mine was there Friday and he said only 8" of ice under slushy and snow on top. A truck went through the ice to the left of the boat launch. Becareful if anyone is venturing out.

[SpecialK]

Thanks for the report Tullies

[monger]

Anyone doing any scouting before opener?

[MuntzAngling]

Who's crushin the Grind this weekend? Time to make some smelt pay!

[KidMoe]

I've been wanting to fish this lake for a long time and this Saturday will be it. I plan on trying about everything I can think of to try and ice a trout or two. I just hope it isn;t super slushy on the lake.

[MuntzAngling]

Kid Moe,

I have fished the Grindstone opener about 8 years in a row so I'll tell you what I know.

Many people start shallow early and sight fish in say 5-10 FOW. I like small Forage Minnow spoons tipped with a fresh crappie minnow head.

Late morning I go deep for the rest of the day, say 60-90 FOW and look for smelt clouds usually halfway down on the graph. I use the same setup in 2 of 3 different depths: just off the bottom, halfway down in the smelt cloud, or just under the ice like 3-15 feet.

Rainbows often swim around right under the ice in all depths and are very aggressive and move through quickly so keep an eye out by sight and high up on the graph for an unusual blip.

A mix of trout and smelt with an occasional slab crappie can be caught in the middle column. Smelt and lake trout are often on the bottom too. Larger fish like a 3/8 oz bucktail jig with a stinger I tip with a filet of a small sucker. Typically out deep I do not run into any brown trout either.

My portable blue Clam Yukon says MUNTZ in big letters on the front if you want to stop over for a report. My friend has the same and we will be there Saturday and Sunday if you want to say hello.

Here is last year's Grindstone opener gem, a 26" laker caught on 4 lb test. It took 30 minutes to get in and bit just before dark!

[Mnfisher]

Good report. Very nice fish!! Join us on 2/8/14 for the day long Grindstone Getaway. Potluck at noon on the ice near the red barn.

[Roscoe010]

I finally got through reading most of the great info on this thread and I think this thread needs some more photos of caught fish. Im not knocking anyone, there is just a wealth of info, but about 12 pics. Good luck to everyone fishing this weekend and beyond.

[KidMoe]

Thanks for the advice Muntz! I'll stop by when I get time. I'll be in an Eskimo 1 man. I'm getting excited. Do most people release big trout like your dandy laker? I'd like to hopefully keep a couple but I'm not sure what most do since it is kinda a limited resource.