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Farm Crappies

snatcher20
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snatcher20 Enthusiast

snatcher20

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Looking for some general guidance. A group of us will be staying on Farm the weekend of 3/7. Most of our time will be spent chasing lakers on Burntside. We've heard stories of good crappies in Farm and have picked up a couple randoms in summer. Any general locations for winter crappies? Last year we tried the deeper 30-40' hole in the narrows between the main lake and Silver Rapids with no luck or fish graphed. Were we on the right track? Is the main lake better? Any general direction would be greatly appreciated.

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Trout_Slayer_77 Enthusiast

Trout_Slayer_77

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I have not personally fished Farm for crappies in the winter but my parents have a place on the lake and my dad has told me about some spots he has fished. I am assuming the 30 - 40' hole you are talking about is north of the small island in the channel between Farm and White Iron (immediately after you leave the main lake on Farm). This is a spot I have been told can be really good. Last year my dad had some good luck on the main lake. I am not sure exactly where being the whole center of the lake is basically 30', but I know that they fished this area. He said a fish locator was a must. Hopefully this helps.

Not sure where you are staying on Farm but if you are staying at Timber Trail Lodge I am sure that Bill or Brian could point you in the right direction. The best bet might be to just look for old ice holes in the middle of the lake.

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snatcher20 Enthusiast

snatcher20

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Trout-

Thanks for the reply. We are staying at a cabin on Farm. The 30-40' hole seems to be a logical place to start. It's funny you mentioned finding old holes. We noted last year the lack of fishing on Farm. In the one weekend we were there, we saw one other fisherman on the lake and we made virgin tracks in the narrows between the lodge and main lake. Coming from the cities, you almost miss seeing the "community spot" as a starting point for the crappie search.

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Trout_Slayer_77 Enthusiast

Trout_Slayer_77

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Yeah, I don't think too many people fish it in the winter but I know it has some monster crappies. From what I hear, if you find them they are 13+ inches. I don't think people really start fishing it for crappies until March so you probably won't see too much activity and even then I am not sure how many people fish it. I have been wanting to get up there the last couple years in March to try it but we usually only make it up in January.

Good luck and let me know how you do.

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Highway2Allstar Enthusiast

Highway2Allstar

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Ahhh go out to dead iron lake. Head south outta silver rapski's until you hit your first point take a right fish the second point there stacked up in there all winter football size ones ta boot.

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ThinIce2006 Rookie

ThinIce2006

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I fished with Capt Russ out of Babes B&T on Farm a couple weeks ago and we caught maybe twenty or so crappies, the largest being a 16 incher, maybe a half dozen of the others were better than 11. We were fishing the East side of the boys camp.

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snatcher20 Enthusiast

snatcher20

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STF-

Like I said in my opening post, we'll mostly be concentrating on lakers on B-side. In another of your posts, you talk about late afternoon for lakers. Would you say you start seeing diminishing returns about 4pm and that would be good time to split to go chase some of the famed Farm crappies?

And yes, I will report back on results from both lakes. We'll be up to Ely on 3/6.

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Steve Foss Grand Master

Steve Foss

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Well, my afternoon bite for lakers this winter has been roughly from about 2 to 3:30, with very little coming after that (except once or twice.) But it's just too tough to tell. Sunday there were quite a few people on Bside who seemed to find a 4-5:30 laker window.

I'd say if you get a little advance scouting in on Farm or get a firm Farm location for crappies before you hit Bside for lakers, you'll be able to get off Bside at 4 and get to Farm in enough time to set up for crappies as sunset/evening rolls in. But if you need to leave Burntside and still explore Farm a bit before you start fishing, it may be a bit tight timewise.

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snatcher20 Enthusiast

snatcher20

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STF-

Thanks. We have our spots on Farm so it sounds like we'll be spending our days going after lakers and evenings chasing crappies.

Now if I can just find that secret saddle you speak of on Burntside.....

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Steve Foss Grand Master

Steve Foss

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snatcher, for every secret saddle I know of there are 10 others I haven't fished yet. So much good laker country on Bside.

On your map, just look for main-lake points that slope down with deep water on either side, and if you can find humps associated with them that's good too. I fish in 45-55 FOW usually, though folks fishing 30 FOW do just as well.

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GoggleEye Proficient

GoggleEye

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Where is Farm Lake?? I can't even find it on my Sportman's Connection Lake Map Book. You guys got me interested in what kind of structure it offers.

GE

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Steve Foss Grand Master

Steve Foss

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Farm lake is a few miles out of Ely on the White Iron chain that includes W.I, Farm, Garden and so forth.

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rodmaker Mentor

rodmaker

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It does have nice Crappies. Two years ago in the summer I caught and released a 16 1/2 " 2 lb 4 oz Crappie.

We stay & Timber trail lodge.

Contact Bill, and he will get you on Crappies.

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Ice Cold Contributor

Ice Cold

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Googleyes, Farm has pretty much no structure on the main lake. I have fished Farm/Garden/White Iron for the last few years because my family has a place on the lake. For what it is worth, I haven't had any luck on Crappies through the ice. In my opinion, if you are going to travel to Ely, you spend your time laker fishing. You can catch crappies on pretty much any lake in MN but only a few offer lake trout fishing like B-side.

I am will be on Burntside the weekend of 3/7-3/9. Hopefully, I will be able to post a report that involves catching a few lakers over those days.

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snatcher20 Enthusiast

snatcher20

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Ice Cold-

I too will be staying on Farm that weekend. I agree about the crappies in Farm. In a few attempts through the ice, we have come up empty as well. We'll be giving it another run if we have time after laker fishing, but my expectations aren't too high.

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caseymcq Veteran

caseymcq

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 Originally Posted By: GoggleEye
Where is Farm Lake?? I can't even find it on my Sportman's Connection Lake Map Book. You guys got me interested in what kind of structure it offers.

GE

If you are looking in the St. Louis County book you won't find it. It is in the Arrowhead Book.

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Steve Foss Grand Master

Steve Foss

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To add to casey, the Arrowhead book includes lakes in Lake and Cook counties, and Farm is in Lake County (not by much).

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GoggleEye Proficient

GoggleEye

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Thanks for all the info. guys. Sounds like an interesting lake to fish. Maybe I will have to try it in the spring sometime if I am up there. Big crappies get me giddy!! During late April and May I live for crappies \:D

GE

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