Lake Minnewaska Fishing Reports - Ice Conditions

[hogfarmer1431189363]

Gonna try head up to minnewaska this fri if all goes well. Any tips or starting points would be helpful. Don't care much what we are catching just a day trip fore me and the 2 boys... Thanks for the help... Tim

[carpshooterdeluxe]

I fished every day last week and caught a lot of fish. Slip bobbers just off the edge of the inside or outside weed line was what I did most of the time, mainly because I'm lazy and didn't care what I caught. We caught pike, gills, drum, walleye, and bass. The largemouth are everywhere. 18 inches of water to 22 feet of water. If you had live bait on, eventually you were going to catch bass. Wife caught a 4 lb large mouth on tuesday afternoon, and I caught a few over 3 pounds. Didn't really try for walleye during the day at all, but with the moonlight after dark, it was pretty easy. The walleye were up shallow chasing minnows that were up at the surface chasing bugs. Floating rapala was the ticket. The 8" and larger blue gills were staying pretty close to dense weeds and not coming off the bottom much at all, so if you didn't get your bait down to them, you were burning through crawler or leeches on 3" gills as fast as you could cast. I even managed a couple of 11 and 12" perch while dragging spinners on friday. Kept one and tossed the others back...Hopefully they are fatter come winter.

[basssmasher*]

carp, I found a mess of jumbo perch last winter by accident.. decided to try targeting therm the next wknd, and whammo they were still ha

ngin around!! Think I will look for more spots like this on the lake this winter

[carpshooterdeluxe]

carp, I found a mess of jumbo perch last winter by accident.. decided to try targeting therm the next wknd, and whammo they were still ha

ngin around!! Think I will look for more spots like this on the lake this winter

Not my first choice for a perch lake in the area, but I like what I've been seeing the past 2 years. "Jumbos" are a lot easier to find if you make a run west to my side of the border though.

[hattlequin]

I fished every day last week and caught a lot of fish. Slip bobbers just off the edge of the inside or outside weed line was what I did most of the time, mainly because I'm lazy and didn't care what I caught. We caught pike, gills, drum, walleye, and bass. The largemouth are everywhere. 18 inches of water to 22 feet of water. If you had live bait on, eventually you were going to catch bass. Wife caught a 4 lb large mouth on tuesday afternoon, and I caught a few over 3 pounds. Didn't really try for walleye during the day at all, but with the moonlight after dark, it was pretty easy. The walleye were up shallow chasing minnows that were up at the surface chasing bugs. Floating rapala was the ticket. The 8" and larger blue gills were staying pretty close to dense weeds and not coming off the bottom much at all, so if you didn't get your bait down to them, you were burning through crawler or leeches on 3" gills as fast as you could cast. I even managed a couple of 11 and 12" perch while dragging spinners on friday. Kept one and tossed the others back...Hopefully they are fatter come winter.

Nice work Carpshooter! Thinking about throwing and/or pulling cranks at night for the eyes as mentioned. Were you focusing on sand inside the weed edges with the floating raps? Over the tops of weeds? Rocks? Any information would be helpful.

Thanks,

Rick

[carpshooterdeluxe]

Nice work Carpshooter! Thinking about throwing and/or pulling cranks at night for the eyes as mentioned. Were you focusing on sand inside the weed edges with the floating raps? Over the tops of weeds? Rocks? Any information would be helpful.

Thanks,

Rick

All of the above, plus we got some action just wading around out from our dock casting. A lot less bug bites when your chest deep in water!!!

[LandDr]

The fishing on Waska has been outstanding this year...just as it has the past few years. Really a great population of nice walleyes but you might have to think a little differently on how to catch them. When guiding, we have been catching around 10 to 20 in 3 hours on average with some days catching a lot more. A lot of nice bass and pike as well. Panfish bite is always great. Numerous people into the store commenting on the great fishing right off the dock. Nice to have some rain!

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

[GoingFishin]

I agree the fishing has been really good. I have noticed the lake is greener than usual this year, maybe because it is so warm. 83F on Sunday. On Sunday morning on the South shore in front of Peters Resort, I notice alot of these small black floating masses. Looks like they had an air bubble in the middle of them? Anyone know what they are?

[LandDr]

Most likely that is a type of blue-green algae...very common. These can either be floating masses or masses that broke up from the bottom and are now floating. The air bubble is most likely trapped air from oxygen that plants release.

Minnewaska is a very healthy aquatic system these days with a balance of a lot of things. It is great to see Minnewaska as one of the few lakes in the state that have actually gotten better. The algae bloom that we typically see in July and August will probably be earlier this year just like everything else due to the early weather we have had as well as hot weather. I was catching walleyes in 85F water last week! Crazy.

Keep in mind the important balance of the system...algae blooms are very important for the entire system to work. Algae blooms feed the zooplankton...zooplankton feed the bait fish and panfish...panfish feed us...bait fish feed the larger fish...the larger fish feed us. The algae bloom is a very import part of the entire cycle.

Something to keep an eye on...with the early algae bloom, we could see an earlier panfish bite this winter. If you recall, a few years back we had our August and September temps switch around...due to that the algae bloom was really late which resulted in an abundance of food for the panfish way into late January and early February...the bite was very hard because the panfish had so much food. When they finally ate themselves out of house and home...then the bite picked up. With the early algae bloom, we might we an earlier consumption of the algae by the zooplankton and an earlier consumption of the zooplankton by the panfish...which means the panfish will be out of food earlier this winter for an earlier panfish bite. Just something interesting to watch.

If you ever get a chance to look at a water sample under a microscope, especially with the kids, it is amazing what is all going on out there.

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

[Mlaker3]

So if this zebra mussel news is true that whole scenario gets thrown up in the air. I haven't read much about how they move downstream. There is the outlet slough, L Emily and Chippewa R too.

[basssmasher*]

correct laker, and the chip runs into the Minnesota in Montevideo I think, upstream of waska is Pelican lake

[LandDr]

The West Branch Chip runs by Waska but not into Waska...it actually goes up by Cyrus and then into Douglas Co. There is an "outlet"...called "Outlet Creek"...that runs out of Waska and down to the Chip.

Not any difference, just clarification...aquatic critters in the Chip can still get to Waska.

I spoke with the DNR and sounds like they have found only two zebras. Still that is two too many. From what I understand, they had divers out over the weekend and didn't find any...or at least nothing reported yet.

Zebras would upset the balance...maybe. They are ferocious water cleaners with their ability to filter thru much more water than native mussels. They could filter so much algae that it would become a limiting factor for zooplankton populations and then up thru the food chain. However, clearer water also means more sunlight, which means more algae production. There is the possibility that Waska could find a cooexistance with the zebras.

But let's not chance it...best to eradicate.

Fish On!

[PerchJrkr]

I don't believe eradication is an option or it wouldn't be such a concern. I can guarantee that since they found adults, there will be more like millions by this time next year.

[LandDr]

Got out on Waska a few times over the week and weekend. Sunfish bite is great as usual. Pike and bass are also very actives as always. Got a few walleyes but I think they have moved on me. I will need to try some other depths to see if I can relocate them. Really some beautiful days on the lake with the nice weather.

Fish On!

[GoingFishin]

After Saturday's big winds, there were alot of boats on Minnewaska looking for fish on Sunday. Most seem to be moving trying to find fish. Anyone having any success with water temps 68-70? I tried shallow to 20feet with only light biters on crawlers.

[walleyeman1]

There was a walleye tournament on the lake Saturday and Sunday. Not to many fish brought in.

[sunniewally]

know what the results were?

[frozenminnow]

Results

http://www.koepsbait.com/main/index.php/outdoor-updates/2012-koeps-walleye-challenge

[beer batter]

Fished Priest Pt a few times over the past couple weeks. Jig/fathead presentation kept motionless in 13-15fow less than a foot off bottom worked best for walleyes. Live bait rig which allowed minnow to swim around only resulted in northerns.

[firefish_12]

Would anyone have any contact info for somebody that rents sleeper house in waska

Looking for like a 4 person sleeper to bring the kids up over Xmas break my 5 yr old girl is super excited

[Chad Peterson]

Call up Landr at Fish-On Bait. He has sleepers for rent.

[LandDr]

Firefish...that sounds great! I would also highly recommend getting an underwater camera or two before then as those are really exciting for the kids to watch also and do help in the fishing. Otherwise, we do have cameras to rent as well. There are A LOT of fish in Minnewaska so it is VERY exciting for the kids to watch and entertain.

We will have three or four sleepers out on the lake this year...when the ice gets here. Forecast is still in the 40s and 50s so we will need some colder weather to make enough ice by X-mas. Shoot me an email and I can give you some details and photos...info at HabitatNOW dot com.

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

[LandDr]

Ice Report...Some people in the store reporting 4 to 5 inches of ice out a ways. There is still open water out further. There have been some portables out. I would expect more portables out this weekend.

I know this is not much of a report and I have not been out to personally confirm it...but that is all I have for right now.

Fish On!

[PerchJrkr]

4-5"???? LOL. Tell em to smoke another one. Theres 2.5" on the glenwood end. Monday night was the last time we made ice. Fishing is SLOW.

[goose89]

But I bet you can expect more portable out on the w/e. Lot more people don't work on Saturday and Sunday than during the week. Pretty solid prediction.

4-5"s....using the same stick that the 10" sunnies are measured with

I hope noone proves Darwin right on 'waska (or anywhere) this w/e. Be safe out there....

[LandDr]

Everyone's a comedian.

[basssmasher*]

lol landr!! you are correct!

I myself will be targeting the big perch that are out there just not this weekend

[LandDr]

I'm going after the 10 inch gills myself so I can post some photos with my Norwegian ruler. And I caught all my crappies last year in 7 fow so I should be good for that 4-5" ice.

Goose...you gotta stop in some time and say HI. Sure hope you don't look like that brown dog.

[goose89]

Everyone's a comedian.

just beneath the humor is some dead seriousness. Gonna have to get colder for me to stop in, but you never know.....leave my dog out of it

[PerchJrkr]

Wasnt trying to be a comedian. I was out there on wednesday night. 2.5- 2.75" of ice on the glenwood end. Been frozen there the longest so i have no idea where someone might of found 5".