Grindstone Lake Fishing Reports

[DonBo]

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

[SpecialK]

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.

[DonBo]

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

[trout_guy]

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

[SpecialK]

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?

[trout_guy]

not sure where, he back tracked his route and didnt find it, sure someone picked it up

[JBMasterAngler]

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.

[leech~~]

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.

[Andrew John Brummond]

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

[JBMasterAngler]

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

[leech~~]

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

[maxpower117]

It's funny how the same questions and same advice is regurgitated over and over in this thread. 

[Mitch Heil]

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.

[JBMasterAngler]

Ice is good. People were driving all over (myself included) when I was there a couple weeks ago.

[Mitch Heil]

Went out saturday. Couldn't get anything to bite except the tiny perch when I went shallower looking for rainbows.

[brrrr]

How's the ice condition this year?  Good for driving out?  

[JBMasterAngler]

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 January 20, 2019 by JBMasterAngler

[Codybrown]

Any reports on Grindstone lake? What have y’all been catching and what size?

[brrrr]

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. 

[JBMasterAngler]

Any fishing and/or ice reports?

[JBMasterAngler]

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.

[leech~~]

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.

[Jari]

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.