Lake Minnewaska Fishing Reports - Ice Conditions

[LandDr]

Got out yesterday with the son and did pretty well...half doz crappies and about 20 gills. Crappies were 10-12 inches and the gills were 8-9 inches...had two 9 inchers in the bunch. Seen some bigger gills on the camera but couldn't get them to bite...sure wish I had some shrimp!

It was still a slow bite but just have to work them. A LOT of fish down there...sometimes 10 to 12 fish on the camera at the same time. Occasionally you get one that barrels in and sucks it up...but most of the time you have to either do a VERY slow lift of just let it sit there. If you jig...they swim away.

Gotta go small...pink and white #14 Marmooska seemed to work the best tipped with two small red spikes. I have been sorting thru the jigs and trying different things but just always seem to go back to that. We have noticed that it also helps to move the split shot right down to the top of the jig...for some reason they like that dang sinker. Might even try scratching the paint of a jig just to have the plain lead showing.

Pike about every 5 minutes it seems. Some obviously have been eating with what looks like panfish in their bellies. Had one come by with a nice lip jewelry hanging.

Pressure is below 30 so I would expect the bite to pick up some and temps are coming up for the weekend...could be a good thing!

Fish On!

[Kurt276]

How deep of water were you fishing?

[LandDr]

We have some rentals in 14-16 fow and some in 7-8 fow. There are fish at both locations. Just as some others have posted, you can find a lot of fish away from the groups. A camera will help tremendously in locating those spots faster...then you can start fishing.

Fish On!

[LandDr]

The weigh-in for the panfish tournament is at 2pm on Sunday at the DNR landing I believe...if that is incorrect, please post the correct info.

This will be a great opportunity to see if there are some 10+ sunnies brought in and probably some pretty nice crappies I would assume. I heard of a 11 and 11.25 gills being caught...that would be interesting to see at the weigh-in.

Bite was a little better last night but still A LOT of lookers. Lots of fish on the camera...great seeing all those crappies and gills! Found that white jigs seemed to work a little better tipped with red spikes. Also kept the split shot down at the top of the hook as they liked that. I am going to try taking the paint off a jighead today to try that.

Warmer temps and the pressure is supposed to come down...still above 30 but it is creeping down. Should be a great weekend!

Fish On!

[Mr.Crappie]

North end of crappie town was pretty good today had to weed through some smaller 10-12in crappie but came up with some nice 13-14 inchers. Also picked a few 10" gills but most around the 8" range seem to be waxies were working the best

[EyeChsr]

Mr. Crappie i hope you were keeping those 10-12 inchers and letting 13-14 inchers go. I have seen a drastic decline in the crappie population over the last 5-7 yrs. Not saying there isn't good numbers now but it was a lot better. There are some good year classes coming up which is a good thing. IMHO the big ones should be put back for reproduction. Sorry for the rant just my thoughts.

[Mr.Crappie]

I agree with you 100% I will not keep a crappie over 11" to eat. To bad there isn't more sportsman's out there like ourselves. "Recycled Fish"

[FF_205]

Had a great weekend on the lake, got there about 5:30 friday nite and drove right to the spot that i picked out earlier in the week with the smartphone app, drilled holes to verify where i wanted to be and set the house down in about 17-20 feet of water, too dark for the camera but caught some nice eyes friday nite, then in the morning the sunfish moved in, the 9-10 inch sunfish but no crappies, saturday nite and this morning were tough, not a whole lot on the camera or biting, pulled up about 10 and headed home, this is a great lake and everytime i leave i start thinking about the next trip!

[goose89]

... To bad there isn't more sportsman's out there like ourselves. "Recycled Fish"

I'll get bashed for this, but I'd argue that most "sportman's" (sportsmen) wouldn't point the non-sportsman's to specific lake with boasts of 13-14" crappies on-line. It happens all the time, and won't change, but the majority of sportsmen I know don't have to post their exploits to the world. I do commend you on the Selective Harvest though.

[Mr.Crappie]

I agree with you goose89 a true sportsmen wouldn't point a non sportsmen to a spot or a lake where he or she is catching a great deal of quality fish they would probably instead steer them astray just as I have done! Also thank you for the compliment on selective harvest.

[goose89]

...they would probably instead steer them astray just as I have done! Also thank you for the compliment on selective harvest.

lol....gotcha

[rangerforme]

I'll have to disagree on this one, maybe if it was a 150 acre lake, but this is a huge lake with resorts that thousands flock to every year. Its like saying you caught a 28in walleye on Mille Lacs or a 10in bluegill on Osakis. People already know everything they want to know about it with the reports, etc. Let the brag a little, he had fun.

I'll get bashed for this, but I'd argue that most "sportman's" (sportsmen) wouldn't point the non-sportsman's to specific lake with boasts of 13-14" crappies on-line. It happens all the time, and won't change, but the majority of sportsmen I know don't have to post their exploits to the world. I do commend you on the Selective Harvest though.

[goose89]

I'll have to disagree on this one, maybe if it was a 150 acre lake, but this is a huge lake with resorts that thousands flock to every year. Its like saying you caught a 28in walleye on Mille Lacs or a 10in bluegill on Osakis. People already know everything they want to know about it with the reports, etc.

That's the non-chalant attitude that concerns me. Comparing Mille Lacs and 'waska doesn't work. For arguements sake, I'll pretend it did.

Mille Lacs wasn't always the way it is today. It took forced Selective Harvest through slot limits to change that to what we have today. Not so on waska - the biggest crappie, sunfish, walleyes, and northern are continually taken out, like they were on Mille Lacs and other lakes in the past.

I don't drink the "it's a huge lake" Cool-aid either. It's a prolific / fertile lake, for sure. To believe it's gonna continue as is automaticaly, because it's "huge", is careless, IMO. Waska is still a good lake, but EASILY could be a great lake. Why wait until it becomes a Mille Lacs of the 80's to get this. If Mille Lacs can be brought down, 'waska could / is being too.

[rangerforme]

goose68,

I agree 100% on selective harvest, I'd love to see a 5 fish crappie limit, 10 bluegill state wide.

All I'm saying is that will ANOTHER good report of good fishing on Waska really increase fishing pressure that much. Probably not. Look back you see reports of big bluegills and nice crappies, walleyes etc, but this guy is called out for not being a true sportsman. Plus if you tell me you've never got wind of a good bite on a lake and didn't go check it out at some point you are all lying.

[goose89]

rangerforyou, I'd send you a PM, but your mailbox is full. I hear ya, Mr. Crappie actually agreed with my sentiment if you read his posts. I suspect he was "trolling" more than anything. There's always good reports from waska...true. Word of 13-14" crappies (trolling, IMO) does generate another level of attention though. Even if they aren't there yet, there's a good population coming up that'll won't have much of a chance of getting to 14-15"ers they could easy become if properly managed. 14" crappies is more that ANOTHER good report....trolling or not.

Heck ya, I've followed many a hot bite. I've EVEN kept a limit of them a few times too. But, if you NEVER witnessed those that take limits day after day when word of a hot bite esp. on big fish (pannies, walleyes, whatever), you've got blinders on. Funny thing is, they're smart enough not to tell everyone, and not because they're breaking the law...they want them all to themselves. I'll share info, even specific info with those that treat the fishery like I try to...I realize there's going to be good reports from waska because some depend on it. I get that.

Back to the fishing reports.....how did the tourney go anyways??

[LakeDocktor]

[BLACKJACK]

Got out yesterday with the son and did pretty well...half doz crappies and about 20 gills. Crappies were 10-12 inches and the gills were 8-9 inches...had two 9 inchers in the bunch. Seen some bigger gills on the camera but couldn't get them to bite...sure wish I had some shrimp!

It was still a slow bite but just have to work them. A LOT of fish down there...sometimes 10 to 12 fish on the camera at the same time. Occasionally you get one that barrels in and sucks it up...but most of the time you have to either do a VERY slow lift of just let it sit there. If you jig...they swim away.

Gotta go small...pink and white #14 Marmooska seemed to work the best tipped with two small red spikes. I have been sorting thru the jigs and trying different things but just always seem to go back to that. We have noticed that it also helps to move the split shot right down to the top of the jig...for some reason they like that dang sinker. Might even try scratching the paint of a jig just to have the plain lead showing.

Pike about every 5 minutes it seems. Some obviously have been eating with what looks like panfish in their bellies. Had one come by with a nice lip jewelry hanging.

Pressure is below 30 so I would expect the bite to pick up some and temps are coming up for the weekend...could be a good thing!

Fish On!

Landdr, you make it sound so easy!!! You've mentioned putting a camera down to find fish but where do you start drilling holes? On a break line? On a flat? How many holes does it generally take before you find fish?

[LandDr]

Blackjack...it hasn't been so easy lately. A lot of fish down there but mostly lookers. Most will swim in hard and then stop about an inch from the hook...and then sit there and look at it. Only caught 6 gills on Sunday...but I let my parents and kids fish mostly and I went home sick. Seen a lot of fish on the camera though...exactly what you want to see.

Interesting though...I got a text from my parents to pick them up and bring them to shore...so I crawled out of bed and went to get them. I first brought my parents to shore and left my son out to get stuff ready to haul out. When I returned, he had just had one line snap and the bobber in the opposite side of the house went down. He asked me to take it so he wouldn't snap another line because he said it was BIG. The bobber went down about 6 inches and sat there. I figured it was a crappie since we had a crappie minnow on so I popped it...the line took off like crazy! I just tried to put some tension on the line as it was running out of the rattle reel. Not wanting to look up, I asked Treyton how much line I had left...he said "not much Dad!". So I put a little more tension on it to slow it down. With probably 30 ft of line left, I got it to stop...then the slow tow back. I had line all over the floor when the bobber was reeled back in...but about then it took off again. The bobber slapped against the side of the hole as it went back down and I put the drag on it again to slow it down. I told Treyton we needed to get that bobber off the next chance we get...so the tow back started again. I got enough of the bobber to pull the straw on it so it ran free and I was just pulling the line thru the slit when it took off again. I just had enough time to get the bobber off and away went all the line again. Putting the drag on again, I brought it to a stop and starting bringing line back...this time enough to get a head thru the 8" hole. It was a big pike! I tried to get my hand around it's head to grab a gill but my first attempt went into a pile of teeth...and it took off again. We managed to bring it back in again...and this time I got a couple fingers behind the gill and flipped it onto the floor. It measured out just over 40 inches and it was FAT! We could see what appeared to be two or three fish in its belly...bass, sunfish or crappie most likely.

It was a beautiful fish! We took a couple of photos and I asked Treyton what he wanted to do with it. He said..."Should we clean it?". I told him we could pickle it...or...we could let it go. I told him it takes a long time for a fish to get that big and that beautiful...maybe we should put him back for another day. He agreed right away. I asked him if he wanted to be the one to release it...but he smiled and said "You do it Dad!".

So we released it for another day and she took off down the hole with a splash. We both smiled and started sending photos to friends to show the monster we just caught and released.

I forgot my phone at home so I will post a pick later. I just love Minnewaska...ya just never know what you are going to catch out there! A 40+ inch pike on a crappie minnow...crazy!

Fish On!

[LandDr]

Blackjack...regarding your questions...I got sidetracked a little.

Yes...I will drill transects across weedlines, contours, etc. and I also just go out in flats and drill transects. I will sometimes drill 10 or 15 holes 20 to 30 feet apart and then come back thru with the camera to look down each one. Sometimes I will come back awhile later and look thru the holes again to see if anything has moved in. Some of it is knowing the lake and some of it is just plain luck. When you check all of weedlines and contours and find nothing, then you have to start looking for the needle in the hay stack. It's a HUGE lake so a lot of it has to do with luck and spending some time at it to find the fish...and then start fishing. Last year I recall that I went two weeks looking for panfish and nothing...everyone was asking me as well because they couldn't find them. Then one day out in the middle of nowhere...there they were and lots of them. Why they were there I have no idea...but the bite was great. There isn't anything easy about trying to find fish when they don't want to be found.

Fish On!

[goose89]

I told him it takes a long time for a fish to get that big and that beautiful...maybe we should put him back for another day.

Nice! Those (apex predators) are the most important fish in any lake, esp. a panfish factory like 'waska....way to go. Hope we can all follow that example...pic of a kid (or adult) smiling with any fish, esp. a BIG one, is cooler than any mount (or meal). Lookin' forward to the pics!

[camando56]

awesome story landdr, looking forward to seeing the pic

[LandDr]

I haven't added a photo in awhile so we'll see if this works...

[bturck]

You don't look to sick on that pic, it must have had a healing effect. Nice fish, nice to hear it still swims, the memory will last forever....good job.

[sunniewally]

NICE FISH!!!!!!!!!!

[basssmasher*]

Awesome fish and Pic Kyle!!

[clayton08]

Nice pike kyle

[clayton08]

girlfreind caught this one last year on waska it was 36 inch hit the rattle reel on the way down just kept going but i got 50 lb on the rattle didnt take long

[crappieboy17]

Can anybody point me in the direction of someone that rents sleeper houses on Minnewaska.Looking to rent mid February with my son over the Presidents weekend'

[crue86]

fish on bait and sport dont have number but i am sure its in the telephone book up there

glenwood mm

[Kurt276]

So how much snow did you get on the lake over the past few days? Is there any problem getting around on the lake yet?