Harriet Eyes

[Metroguy99]

I have been rading up on DNR lake surveys and the Twin Cities Fishing guide (good book) and have discovered that the average weight of a walleye in harriet is around 3 pounds and 19 inches. Now i usually fish bass there, but any one have any idea how to coax a wiley city walleye into my boat?

[Fisher Dave]

#8-#9 shad raps trolled on no less than 8 lb mono (or super line of similar diameter) at speeds of .8 - 1.2 mph in depths of 14'-18' being most consistant. A lively leech or fathead on a live bait rig in the same areas(tight to weedline) can also be deadly. Use a leader around 4' in length.

Evening and morning hours are key early and late in the season. Mid summer months are best for larger fish, and mid afternon to dinnertime seems the most productive.

Natural colors work best with lures.. silver, gold, perch, shad, etc.

The heavier line is due to keeping the lure at the proper depth, and also handles muskies and pike(very common) better than 4 or 6 lb test... Shad raps get expensive.

Key on the edge of the weeds, you will find the walleyes. The north and south shore have treated me the best .. the west side has its good days.

[BigMike]

Good old Harriet. I haven't heard much about harriet in the last few months and I'm glad that you brought this lake up. It has a really great ************ population. I'm limited to shore and have caught everything but musky - but I've seen on multiple occassions 45-50 inch muskies cruising on the docks by the bandshell.

Unfortunately I haven't caught too many large walleyes there. I fish mainly for bass and always catch a handful of walleyes (especially at dusk) and they are always in the 10-13 inch range. I think my largest was a 15 incher - and that is over 3-4 years of fishing there.

I'm sure the key is being able to troll those deeper weedlines that are so prominent in Harriet. But be sure to take the advice given with heavier line & a leader.

About locations that I've caught fish - the north side from the east fishing dock to the bandshell has always produced solid numbers of fish (bass, crappie & 'eyes)

[hanson]

Fisher Dave,

Been reading your posts for a couple years now and have come to know you as the expert on metro fishing. I keep telling myself I have to get out and try Calhoun, Harriet, Nokomis, Cedar, etc. but it hasn't happened yet. The muskies intrigue me as well as running into some nice walleyes. I've finally got a canoe tracked down and will be putting a little MinnKota on it in a couple of weeks and then it will be time to go have some fun or just catch a suntan.

[Fisher Dave]

There has been a lot of discussion and discouragement over Lake Harriet in the last couple years .. also Nokomis. I'm not sure what happened.. but for some reason we have a huge population of adolescent walleyes. Maybe a heavy stocking year and natural reproduction both? Either way my theory is the same as the next guy... just a theory.

There are tons of nice, and trophy walleyes in Harriet. It is hard to get through them with all the pirrana's (small eyes). The problem many people are encountering is matching their presentation to the size of the fish. Its more common for people to downsize their presentation to deal with finiky or small fish.. this will result in more fish caught.. SMALL fish.

My success on the lake is due to the size of the bait. When the baby eyes are under control .. a fat leech or big fathead will work wonders. Over recent years, I have found myself using small sucker minnows on a norm .. and have been successful with them. My lure of choice is the classic silver/black shad rap(deep diving) in the #8 size. This lure produced an average of 2 fish per hour(walleyes) with an average size of 23"-26".. an average day once the fish were *pinpointed* was 5 fish an afternnon/evening with 3 being walleyes, and the other 2 was a toss up between northerns and muskies. A muskie catch was very common at 2 fish average for 3 days fishing. The most we got in a day was 5 muskies for 2 people fishing.

The natural forage in Hariet consist of Fatheads, Silver and Golden Shiners, White Suckers, and Perch. I have yet to catch a walleye with a perch in its stomach at Harriet*.

My largest walleye from Harriet was 33" and came on a 6" sucker. The largest minnow I have caught a walleye on was a 7 lb fish (28") that inhaled and swallowed a 14" sucker minnow... fishing from the *canoe dock* as another stated here. I have caught several fish in the 30" class on Fatheads, nothing over 5 lbs on leeches, although seen a 7 lb caught on a leech.

I guess it comes down to .. dont be afraid to use larger baits. They will not produce numbers, but they will produce quality fish.... Do your homework and it will pay off in time.

[Slugo]

It's been a long time but I used to get some dandy walleye off of a canoe dock on Harriet. My wife and I were just dating at the time She looked at me like I was nuts when I said we should go Walleye fishing at Lake Harriet. We got a bunch of them and hse has been hooked on fishing since.

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Crappie it's not just a fish it's a attitude!

IBOT #23

[Bear_arm]

Thanks for the info Dave! I've been actively fishing Harriet for almost a year and she is beginning to unlock for me. Caught ~20 opening weekend, though all were lil cigars (fatheads). Switched to larger shiners and didn't pick up any bigger walleyes, but had 1 muskie and 1 northern take the shiners. Luckily both were lip hooked and I was able to get a closer look. Both around 30 in.

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If your line ain't wet, your chances go WAY down