Lake Minnewaska Fishing Reports - Ice Conditions

[terrible_fisherman]

I got a smallie on the north side a few weeks back while pulling for eyes in about 8 feet over gravel.

[LandDr]

The south side has a lot of great edges and rocky areas that the smallies hang out in. I have caught some nice ones off School Point as well fishing walleyes.

Finally a weekend with decent weather! Winds are mild and the temps are up. About time!

Anglers are still hitting School Point and Priest's Point for walleyes. There are a lot of other great spots as well. Waska has a great year class of 15 and 16 inch fish now that the 10 to 13s have grown up. I would still try the night bite as well since we still have some moon left. Go shallow!

Crappies are still doing well out from Torgy's and along the east side of Pelican. Many are fishing from shore on Pelican and doing well.

Bass and pike everywhere...no problem catching these on Waska.

I had to drive through the cities yesterday to check some native grass planting sites down by Albert Lea...what a zoo! Get the heck out of there and come out fishing this weekend!

Fish On!

[Thunderchicken]

Well got back home late tonight after a nice weekend again on Waska. Fishing was kind of on and off for us, one morning we did manage a couple short of limit pulling shad raps just to the west of Priest point on the weed edges. My father caught a dandy 25incher that is back swimming. Most fish were around 16inches, must be a large year class. Can't wait until next week hoping the water temp is up a bit by then.

[LandDr]

There was a large year class...might be due to the vast amount of walleyes released by the DNR and Lake Association. Past few years there were a lot of 12 and 13 inchers caught but now those seem to have gotten to the 15 to 16 inch range. The Lake Association has a banquet coming up if anyone wants to show support...even just get a membership. A membership also gives you use of the private access just west of Priest's Point during the winter.

I didn't catch many walleyes over the weekend either and they were all in the 15 to 16 inch range too. Did catch a lot of pike, bass and very large sunfish pulling cranks. Great weather and great time on the water still.

The puppies all sold...in two days! Most from people walking in but a couple from flyers. There is no profit in selling puppies at 50 bucks...just covers some dog food. Sorry if this was the wrong place to talk about it. Thought it was kinda interesting as well.

Hope we get more weekends with weather like this!

Fish On!

[LandDr]

Went out on the "T" dock last night with my youngest...he wanted to go fishing. The T dock is just to the south of Lakeside. In about an hour we had 20 sunnies in the 7 to 8 ounce range and threw just a few smaller ones back. Also kept three small bass because he wanted them as well. Really good panfish bite and just off the dock.

Mom and Dad went out and caught limits of sunnies, again real nice sized ones, drifting in 10 ft. of water near Priest's Point. They also managed two walleyes into the boat using panfish leaches.

Fish On!

[rangerforme]

Is Priest point the same as Lawrence point?

[waskawood]

Priest, Lawrence, Father Shay's, all one in the same.

[LandDr]

Finally got out yesterday for some more serious fishing. We picked up two nice walleyes pulling Reef Runners at 12 to 14 ft. Marked a lot of fish! Also picked up a dozen or so huge sunnies...9 to 10 ouncers on the reef runners. Through the day we caught just about every fish that could be caught on Minnewaska so the fishing was pretty good...always something biting.

A lot of people fishing sunnies...wax worms and panfish leeches are the most popular. Get into 9 to 16 fow water and there are some very nice panfish. Picked up two nice crappies yesterday on the reef runners as well.

Walleyes are being caught...some days the reports are just a few and other days they are hammering them. Crawlers, leeches and fats are the most popular.

Both the Beach Landing and DNR Landing are in great shape. More parking room at the Beach Landing but shallower...I put my 18 ft. Warrior in without a problem though. DNR Landing has less parking but a deep access.

Going out again today...wife wants to go fishing...tough job but I guess I can spend some more time on the lake.

Fish On!

[BLACKJACK]

Was up Friday on the Starbuck end, had luck on sunnies in about 12 foot of water. Nice size and nice trip. Downside was people crowding in, had one boat circle me well within casting distance until I asked him if I was in his spot, then he moved off and anchored. Had another small boat come tooling up and drop anchor real close, right where I had been casting. I just told him how unclassy he was, pulled up, and went to another spot and continued to catch fish. Theres no need to crowd folks, the sunfish are all over.

[Thunderchicken]

Well the 4th weekend was not very good in my boat for the first time this year out on the big pond. We could not keep the panfish off long enough to catch a walleye I think. I was longlining over the weeds with shallow running raps at 3 mh and still was pulling in some of those big sunnies. I tell you what if you wanted to be a sunfish guide this lake would make you millions!! 3 days of fishing in the evening got my boat 3 eyes over 15 inches total.

[LandDr]

Thanks for the reports...the big sunfish are still going strong. As you said...all over the lake. Tough to be a sunfish guide when all you have to do is get out to 12 to 14 fow water and put the bait down. Would be a nice living though taking people out to catch those big ones!

We went out last Sunday and got 5 walleyes, kept 4 that were 15 to 16, and about 20 sunnies in the 8 to 10 ounce range. There were a few that I could barely get my fingers around. Appears they have spawned out now as I didn't see any with eggs in the bunch we kept. I am still pulling Reef Runners over my spots for the walleyes...and sunfish. We even caught 3 crappies...kept two. Panfish leaches are really popular and work great for these big sunnies. If you slip bobber them in 12 to 14 fow you can even pick up a few walleyes along the way.

Had a family reunion Friday and fried up some fish...walleye, sunfish and crappie. They loved it! Funny was that all the sunfish and crappie were gone but still some walleye left on the plate when it was all done. Those sunfish out of Waska are hard to beat!

Sadly I have not been able to get out for the full moon night bite. Very frustrating but just can't stay awake long enough after working all day still getting some planting done. I had all the intention...and wife's permission!...to go out last night but I was just exhausted after working with the volunteer crew putting in the new playground in the city park. Wife's permission...very good moon and clear skies...I was asleep by 9:30!

Later!

Fish On...and on...and on...and on!

[Brian1979]

Did some fishing on glenwood end on friday,sunfish are pretty aggressive right now,had to sort alot,but the ones i did keep were nice quality of fish!TONS of bass in minnewaska!Drifting and fishing 2 foot off bottom works quite well!

[LandDr]

Sunfish are probably the most popular on Waska right now...most are using the panfish leaches but worms, crawlers and waxies are also being used.

Nice thing about the panfish leaches is that you can possibly pick up a walleye or two while fishing the panfish. Drifting works well as mentioned above. Slip bobber it or free line if you like that better.

Sunnies are still really nice sized...8 oz. or better. I agree they are aggressive as I am still getting them on Reef Runners as well. Heading out shortly to get on the lake for the day. Great weather with low winds and warming up.

Had a guy in this morning that had a nice crappie bite on Waska close to evening but I don't know where. They are out there...just have to find them.

Bass and pike everywhere. Just run along the weed lines and you should have your fill of them.

Fish On!

[Musky_Madness]

The sunnies were snapping today. I was with a group (3 others plus myself) and we limited out in 4 hours. All were very big size in the 10-15 ft deep range. Go get 'em!

[tsbrewers]

Just got back from spending a week there. The sunnies are literally hard not to catch, most good sized. quite a few smallmouth too. Caught just a few walleyes all week and a couple descent sized northerns. also caught one very nice sized crappie. Caught the walleye and the crappie off priest point, not too far from the marker buoy.

Best part of the week was my wife snagging a 20lb carp at about 10:00 at night. It was the largest fish she had ever caught and was really struggling for a little while. Got to try out her drag a little and learn how to use her reel better. I was hoping it was a nice northern, but when she finally got it to the surface I just started laughing.

Brew

[LandDr]

Great reports. Most are going after the big sunnies. Parents and family were out both Sat. and Sun. and got into very big sunnies probably in the 9 to 10 oz. range. They kept about 20 between the four of them each day for a fish fry tonight at the cabin. I will be out of town so I will miss that.

I tried hard for some walleyes on Sunday but got skunked. That does not happen very often so I don't have any reports for walleye from this weekend...or rather that is the report I guess. The lake is full of them...just got to find them.

Caught several bass, pike and two huge drum...many large sunnies as well. Some nice smallies as well. Just no walleye.

Thanks for the reports.

Fish on!

[rangerforme]

Just got back from a week at Hunt's resort, weather kind of sucked a lot, 30mph out of the W-NW on waska is bad news. We did end up with about 10 walleyes and a few pike over 10lbs just trolling deep diving husky jerk-baits in about 16 to 17 feet of water with the pontoon, was about all you could do with that wind. Plus you'd pick up about 10 big sunnies every time you trolled, they'd bite those big crankbaits.

[LandDr]

I was thinking about going deeper next time I am out as well...16 to even 22 ft. or 24. Last two years I have done really well in the 12 to 14 ft. range...but seems the weed lines have changed even more with the clear water. Seems to be like a new lake to figure out every year.

Amazing the sunnies are so aggressive!

Any wind right out of the west is tough for Waska. North or south and either side of the lake would still be good.

Fish On!

[rangerforme]

Ya, the weeds grow well out to 15 to 16 feet now, used to be 12 to 13 foot weedlines. Most of the glenwood end of the lake now has weeds across the whole basin almost, your a 3/4 mile off shore and still in weeds.

[scaup]

The weeds are really the trick this time of the year. In the past we have done well actually pulling on top of the weeds. With so much of the basin covered in weeds sometimes hitting the edges is not as productive because the fish are actually in the basin. Pulling on top seems to be much more hit and miss though. But when you hit a pocket it is alot of fun. Good luck all......

[LandDr]

Finally got some time on the water at night...really eating me up not being able to doing some night fishing.

Between 11 pm and 1 am I got 5 walleyes and kept 3 in the 15 to 16 inch range. Actually better than I thought I would do since there was no moon and worse yet it was almost dead calm. I rarely due well when it is calm because of how shallow I am fishing. Marked A LOT of fish and some really big ones as well...just didn't catch them to find out what they were. But since I was catching mostly walleyes I would have to think that is what they were. I did catch one 18" smallie. I also seen a couple of large eyes swimming along when I was standing up with the head lamp on. I was on the south side in 5 to 6 fow.

There was only one other boat on the lake that I could see and they were on the north side. Pretty much had the lake to myself.

Fish On!

[Thunderchicken]

Was at the big pond from Sat - Tues. and we could only muster a couple of eye's a day. We fished the Glenwood end mostly in 17 to 20ft. range pulling divers. Gold and red were our best colors during the day and firetiger or chartruse color in the evening. Nothing big but good 15 - 17 inch class, did manage a 37 inch gator that completly destroyed my plug.

[LandDr]

Anyone trying deep water...maybe lead core...in the 18 to 24 ft range? I really marked A LOT of fish the other night between 11 and 1 am. To mark that many fish while trolling in 5 to 6 fow means there were even more there since most fish will scatter trolling that shallow with as calm as it was. My guess is that these fish move out to the 22 to 26 fow water during the day that is just out from the shallows. Only one way to confirm this...get out there and try it.

Fish On!

[mustup]

Might be that you're marking panfish. Caught quite a few afterdark trolling, and they don't really shy away from the boat or spot light when I flash em. I doubt the walleyes were that thick that you were seeing just the ones that didn't / couldn't scatter.

[Thunderchicken]

I havn't tried deep yet this year but last year we did with no luck. It really seams to me that the eye's in this lake love the weeds and sit in them during the day. We just pull the plugs over the top with boards. Some days wth out boards and just use shallow runners.

[crappieking54]

made it out to Minnewaska for the first time and I forgot it was Waterama days or something crazy... holy boats, pontoons, and jet skis batman!! still managed some nice sunnies!! rattlin flyer spoon with a leech = tired arms!!

[Gary Crichton]

I was also up there and yes it was waterama days in Glenwood. Johnny Holms and the White sidewalls were there this weekend. It was kinda windy both Friday and Saturday. There was still a lots of boats and people galore.If you were a youngster (18-25) you would have had a blast in town. Caught some sunnies from docks but no size. I know I needed a boat, but Golf was the reason I was there.

[Brian1979]

i caught a few nice gills and some nice bass this weekend.was alot of movement on the lake but still managed some nice fish.only 1 walleye.

[hamrej23]

Was up there Sunday for 7 hrs. Caught around 300 Sunnies, 4 crappies. Kept 1 crappie and 31 Sunnies. Good day of fishing! For some reason on the Glenwood side we caught more fish but less size than the Starbuck side, which was less fish and more size.

Wish I could get up there more to fish, thats for sure!.....

BTW--- is there anyone on Minnewaska who rents ice houses for two days or so that fits 6 or 7?

Thanks!

[LandDr]

The moon has me itching to get out more so I went again last night around 11pm. 3 minutes with the line out and I had a 15 incher. Really thought that was a sign. Got another one around 16 shortly after...and then the moon dipped down...and didn't catch anything else the rest of the night. Had some hits and lost a couple of don't know whats. I think August 7 or 8 is the peak full moon.

Many reported that the fish really turned off with the intense thunder the other night and I am sure the boats and fireworks this weekend probably assisted. Everything has settled down now and many good reports yesterday and today already with the panfish bite. Panfish leaches are still popular.

Fish houses...wow!...thinking of ice already. There are two places on Waska that rent houses...Hunts and Fish On. Both will take good care of your needs.

Fisn On!