Valentine Lake?

[bob99mali]

This lake is on the south side of 694,between 35w and snelling,have seen lots of people out there the last week or so.There is no survey on the dnr site,just a map which indicates a max depth of 13 ft. What are these fellas catchin?

Bob

[so haaad]

Bob,
The DNR does have a report on Valentine.
http://thoreau.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/lakemaps/c1440010.pdf

Bethel College is right next to Valentine, so that may explain this week's group of people. It seems that there is never just one person on this lake. There's nobody, or there's a bunch. I fished "the pond" on the southeast corner of 35W and 694 a couple of weeks ago. Within an hour of me being there, I had six other hopefuls surrounding me. All were from Bethel. Nice kids, though.

[BigStevie]

Hey Bob,

I went to Bethel College. Valentine is located on the campus, which I'm sure you're aware of. We used to catch some nice largemouth and the ocasional Pike. The lake had a pretty had winter kill about 4 years ago. But it was mainly bigger fish... Carp, Bass, and Pike. The students were throwing dead carp on each others cars as jokes. The whole campus smelled! Anyhow, I would imagine that folks are fishing panfish but I'm not sure that there is much there. But then again, it may be a hidden gem. I'd be curious if you have any success on Valentine. Keep us posted. Good Luck!

[BigStevie]

Hey Bob,

I went to Bethel College. Valentine is located on the campus, which I'm sure you're aware of. We used to catch some nice largemouth and the ocasional Pike. The lake had a pretty had winter kill about 4 years ago. But it was mainly bigger fish... Carp, Bass, and Pike. The students were throwing dead carp on each others cars as jokes. The whole campus smelled! Anyhow, I would imagine that folks are fishing panfish but I'm not sure that there is much there. But then again, it may be a hidden gem. I'd be curious if you have any success on Valentine. Keep us posted. Good Luck!

[bob99mali]

thanks for the info-will probably try here this weekend.--will keep you posted

[so haaad]

Bob, how did you do this weekend?

[Peepers]

What's the best way for the general public to get on Valentine? I drive by it every day and saw someone on another post mentioning good pike action (albeit small ones) on this lake. I usually CPR everything I catch and would like to find some good pike action nearby. Anyone have any suggestions on where to fish on this lake and where to avoid (thin ice, springs, etc..)?
Thanks!

[huckleberry]

Big Stevie...what year did you graduate? I am also a Bethel Grad and used to catch some really nice bass and northern out of Valentine. After that winter kill, it's been the dead sea! I don't really know if the lake has recovered at all.

[BigStevie]

Hey Huckleberry,

I graduated back in '94. How about you? Yeah, we used to catch some very nice bass... a couple of them had to be pushing 5 pounds. And the pike were usually 5+ pounds too. And How could I forget the carp fishing! That would be the first thing we'd fish for when the ice would melt. Nothing like a big fat carp on the line to get your fishing season started!