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Grindstone Lake Fishing Reports


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Toying with the idea of heading up there Saturday morning. Only been there a couple times, never on the opener.

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The opener was a zoo as usual.  There is 15" of ice in some spots, less as you get closer to the center.  It looked like there was quite a few folks out over the weekend when I drove past the south end.

I fished mid afternoon on the opener and had one miss in 5-8' of water.  I had planned to go out last weekend as well but went west to fish with my son in law over by Melrose.  The reports I heard about opener was that it was slow all around but some fish were caught.

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I didn't get there either.  Planned on it, but found a good crappie bite in Wisconsin that I couldn't pass up.

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checking to see if anyone may have found a otter sled fish house combo, my son was fishing Grindstone lake today heading to Pine City and lost it off the back of his trailer.  his name is Derek and can be reached at 218-393-1486, thanks if anyone has found it

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I haven't heard of anyone finding it but I'll keep my ears open.  Does he know about where he lost it?  Freeway or back road?

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Fished grindstone today. Someone was already set up at my go to spot, so I fished farther down the shoreline than I’ve ever been. Looked for rainbows in 5 to 17 ft, nothing but a few dink perch. Tried for lakers in 45 to 68 ft. Marked a couple smelt, but that’s all. Ice was a consistent 18 to 20 inches.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders
4 minutes ago, JBMasterAngler said:

Fished grindstone today. Someone was already set up at my go to spot, so I fished farther down the shoreline than I’ve ever been. Looked for rainbows in 5 to 17 ft, nothing but a few dink perch. Tried for lakers in 45 to 68 ft. Marked a couple smelt, but that’s all. Ice was a consistent 18 to 20 inches.

Grindstone and can be a tough bite lake. Thanks for the ice report. I usually try it once after Walleye closes.

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My brother and I are headed up to grindstone this weekend for some lakers. Is there any tips that you can give me? I've never been trout fishing. Not looking for anyones spot, just some helpful advice to start me off in the right direction

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Look for schools of smelt. They are typically 40 to 60ft down in over 80ft of water. Lakers should be nearby.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

Old Grindstone can be tough.  I've caught them in 70' and 12' but the biggest ever was only about 3-4lbs. Good Luck.

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I went up there for the opener and didn't catch any. Had one following my lure around in 60' but couldn't get it to commit. I'm thinking of going this weekend. Is the ice good to drive on to get to the 60' humps in the middle and south ends of the lake? Is there an access on the south end? I have a Chevy Colorado. On opener I was in 16-18" of ice but I know the lake can be sketchy.
 

My Eskimo Quickflip 3 is too difficult to pull by myself when there is snow on the ice. Flat bottom, tons of drag so I need to be able to drive out there.

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  • 11 months later...

As of last weekend ice was 13 inches in most places. Sure to be thicker now with the cold temps. Just be careful, even during the coldest winters, there can be some thin spots out there.

Edited by JBMasterAngler
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I went out on sunday and monday.  I set up on 15+ inches but found quite a few spots that were closer to 13"   as for fishing all I could manage was perch.  seen a few smelt on the buddys camera but they didnt cooperate. lost a small rainbow at the hole in the morning but that was the only trout action for me. 

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  • 11 months later...
  • 11 months later...

Went out for the opener today. Waited for the morning rush to be over, got there about noon. Probably more than half the people had left already. Lake was a slushy sloppy mess! Ice was probably about 7, maybe 8 inches out in the middle. But along east shoreline was only about 4.5 inches. Fished 4 to 20 feet and nothing! Had planned to target lakers as well, but my feet were cold and wet, so I called it a day fairly quickly. Nobody else I talked to or saw, caught anything either.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders
2 hours ago, JBMasterAngler said:

Went out for the opener today. Waited for the morning rush to be over, got there about noon. Probably more than half the people had left already. Lake was a slushy sloppy mess! Ice was probably about 7, maybe 8 inches out in the middle. But along east shoreline was only about 4.5 inches. Fished 4 to 20 feet and nothing! Had planned to target lakers as well, but my feet were cold and wet, so I called it a day fairly quickly. Nobody else I talked to or saw, caught anything either.

Thought about it but know Grind takes a lot of cold weather to get safer ice being so deep. May be in a week or two as it's suppose to start getting colder by the end of next week.

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Went there around 5am and got in to the row on the south side in about 10 ft. I got a couple smelt, my buddy got a 13" rainbow and a couple smelt. As usual, seemed to die down around 9am, so we moved out between 27-55' and got some more smelt, but couldn't locate a laker to target. Nice size smelt tho. 

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • gimruis
      I hunt in the rifle zone so I don't have a need to use a shotgun to hunt deer, but I would be looking at this if there was ever a need to.   There could be state legislation introduced next summer that eliminates the shotgun zone completely.  It has bipartisan support.  Wisconsin removed theirs years ago and MN is usually later to follow.  They've tried to pass it more than once and it came up just short both times.  Probably just a matter of time.
    • Wanderer
      Oh, h e l l no! 
    • leech~~
      Screw that, here's whatch need!  😆   Power-Shok Rifled Slug 10 Gauge 766 Grain Grain Weight: 766 Shotshell Length: 3-1/2in / 89mm Muzzle Velocity: 1280
    • Wanderer
      20 ga has become a real popular deer round in the last 5 or so years.  The rifled barrels are zinging those sabot slugs with rifle like accuracy out to 100 yards easily.  Some go so far as dialing in for a 200 yard shot but really, by 150 they’re falling off pretty low.   I have a single shot Ultraslug in 20 ga that shoots really well at 100 yards.  Most everyone I know that has bought a slug gun lately has gotten the Savage 220 in 20ga.  Problem can be finding the shells you want.
    • leech~~
      My son always bugs me about getting a nice light over-under 20ga for grouse hunting.  I say Heck no, I'm getting a 3 1/2" 10ga so I can put as much lead in the air that I can!!     So, I'm keeping my 12ga.  
    • 11-87
      That’s almost exactly what I was thinking.  Have slug barrels for both   One for turkey and one for deer.      I have a 20ga mosseberg as well. (Combo came with the scope but never used.   I always liked the 12 better
    • leech~~
      Wanderer is right on the money and covered it well.  I was wondering too if you had a slug barrel for one of your guns?  If so you could make that your slug gun with a scope, and the other your turkey gun with the Red dot.  As you can afford it. 
    • Wanderer
      Kinda depends on if you want magnification or quick target acquisition.   More magnification options and better accuracy with a scope.  You get what you pay for too so get comfortable with a budget for one.  Tasco and Bushnell work but I find they lose their zero easier, have low contrast and don’t gather light well in low light conditions.  That said, I’m still using one I haven’t replaced yet.  Vortex has been the hot brand for the past several years for bang for the buck.  Good products.  Nothing beats Swarovski though.  Huge dough for those.  Burris is another decent option.   There are some specific models for shotgun/slug hunting in the economy brands and bullet drop compensation (BDC) reticles.  Based on experience I’d recommend not falling for that marketing ploy.   Red dots are usually lower magnification and easier to get on target.  Reasonably accurate but don’t do well with definition, like searching the brush for your target.  I put a HAWKE red dot on a .22 for squirrels and it’s been good.  For turkey, that’s probably the route I’d go.     If your slug shots are normally not too far and too brushy, I’d think a red dot could work there too if you’re only buying 1 scope.  You’ll be better off dimming the reticle to the lowest setting you can easily use to not over shine the target and get a finer aim point.   If you don’t have a slug barrel, you might appreciate one of those.  I had a browning with a smoothbore slug barrel that shot Brenneke 2-3/4 inch well.  The 11-87 would well fitted with a cantelever rifled barrel. 
    • 11-87
      Looking for recommendations on scope or red dot    I basically hunt turkey and whitetail, live in southern MN. So it’s all deer/ shotgun    looking to add a scope/ red dot as my eyes don’t work like they used to to with the open sights.    my gun options are 11/87 12. Browning BPS 12    not looking for the most expensive or the cheapest    pros and cons of one over the other
    • SkunkedAgain
      That's good news. I haven't seen any ice in Black Bay yet, but it looks like the small bays should start to freeze up this weekend. Hopefully we make some ice next week.   Below is the forecast for Cook. We should have temps mostly below zero . The bottom section below shows that it should not be windy, and no snow is predicted. All good signs for making ice.  
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