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SE MN, Rochester - Red Wing - Winona Fishing Reports


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now that the hardwater season is over and im still laid off from work anyone have any good spots to fish for panfish from shore? thanks

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  • 2 weeks later...
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  • JIvers

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The ponds/resovoirs in Roch. are all options: Willow Creek, Chester Woods, Fosters, etc.

Probably more on numbers than size.

You can also go near Wabasha and the public landing or along the road from MN to WI.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

The fishing on Lake Zumbro has been pretty good for crappies.

How have the rest of you been doing and where are you fishing?

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Weather and work have limited my outtings... a week or so I was finally able to fish the South Fork... it was finally starting to clear up and go down... but after the rain we got the other day/s I doubt its getting better

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I hit the Upper Iowa river in Howard County, Iowa, this morning; it was high and a little dirty, but fishable. Problem was, the smallmouth didn't agree.

The Root and the Upper Iowa start in the same general area, and flow fairly close to each other, so I would expect the Root to be in about the same shape. They got a lot of rain in western Fillmore and eatern Mower Counties this week, but the runoff wasn't so bad.

I'm going to hit a small headwater stream in Fillmore County tomorrow morning for trout, as I think it will be in good shape.

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Speaking of the Upper Iowa river that flows through Leroy MN. What kind of fish are in that stretch.

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The better fishing in the Upper Iowa River is from Lidtke Mill Dam by Lime Springs, Iowa, and on downstream from there.

Above Lidtke Mill, including the Lake Louise mill pond, you will still find some smallmouth, crappie, and the like, along with bullheads, suckers, and carp.

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Root River is high and muddy.. camped at Eagle Cliff the past two days.. got out fishing both days.. there was about 6" visibility.. and at least 8-12" higher than it should be.. caught mostly suckers.. hogsuckers and white suckers.. and caught only 1 smallie.. no trout..

All other streams in the area I checked out too were mudded up.. anything from very low visibility to chocolate milk... I'm pretty sure the down pour that happened today didn't help the situation

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  • 1 month later...

Made it out for a float last weekend so here a few pictures from the trip. Good fishing all day long, just had a few rain showers to deal with. We caught a pretty nice mixed bag of fish: Smallmouth, northern, musky, walleye, sauger, and a lone whitey.

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  • 4 months later...

Does anyone fish around Rochester anymore? Was wondering how or if anyone has been out in the area and how they have done? How thick is ice? Anyone out on Lake Zumbro? Cascade pits? grin

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i was on zumbro yesterday thinest ice i seen was 9" and a buddy of mine was on 12" on just about every spot he fished on a different part of the lake.

i have not een to cascade lakes but buddies of mine have been fishing it for a while now, do not know how thick ice is though.

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Thanks for the update, that sure makes me feel more comfortable I may have to try and get out this week. Man today sure looks like it would be nice out there, but I am stuck at home watching the kids and one sick kid. Otherwise us boys would be on the ice instead. Good luck to anyone heading out!

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  • 10 months later...

I have a buddy who is going to school in Winona, and he told me to come out there this January to go ice fishing. I have never been out there. Can anyone tell me the better areas? I will just be going for crappie. Unless walleyes are available. But i'll be looking for more action. I have a snowmobile and portable. Thanks in advance

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There is a split lake in Winona that is a popular ice fishing lake.. The crappies in the lake aren't the biggest though.. same can hold true for the gills.. but there are bigger ones in there..

McNally Landing or Bartlett Lake will be better options for game fish through the ice.. just be careful at Bartlett.. spring fed lake makes for soft spots in the ice.. I also hear the stretch past McNally landing is really good too..

Hope this helps.. I don't ice fish.. but I'm a townie.. So I know where all the ice fishermen go

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I have a buddy who is going to school in Winona, and he told me to come out there this January to go ice fishing. I have never been out there. Can anyone tell me the better areas? I will just be going for crappie. Unless walleyes are available. But i'll be looking for more action. I have a snowmobile and portable. Thanks in advance

Bartlett Lake is a good backwater for numbers of decent-sized bluegill, plus some crappie, perch, Northern, and largemouth.

Bartlett was dredged some time in the 1960s, I believe, and so it is deep, much deeper than a typical backwater. It is more like fishing a lake for that reason, and that is also why it takes a while to freeze. It is out by the airport in Goodview, and so it is sometimes called "the airport lake". This can be confusing, as there is a small but deep pit nearby that is called Airport Lake on maps. That has fish in it too, but I do not recall hearing much about people ice-fishing it.

Lake Winona has improved greatly for fishing thanks to dredging since I moved out of Winona in 2000, but I am not familiar with it myself. Lake Winona is right in town just north of campus, divided by Huff Street.

There are walleye stocked in Lake Winona, but your best bet for walleye through the ice in the Winona area is if we get a cold winter and low water on the river, which freezes things up below the lock and dam. Last year if we had any fishable ice there I never heard about it.

When the tailwaters freeze, there is usually a good sauger and walleye bite, but be aware that is NOT the safest ice, to put it mildly. No matter how low the river is, there is always current eating away at the ice from below, and even in a deep freeze a sudden uptick in the flow can destroy that ice quickly, and it will look fine from above right up until it is gone.

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Awesome! thanks guys. this will come in handy. Do you guys have a bait shop in town too? Maps, bait, info etc...

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  • 1 month later...

Good 6"of ice around Macnally. Besides west end bait, Daniel's (Ace Hardware) has bait. Good bite going on last weekend. Pretty much non-stop action. Had a hard time finding bottom w/all the fish. Hoping to ice a few more this weekend. Lotso people around MN City Boat Harbor and the culvert by the barges (not sure what that is called). All I've heard of is bluegills being iced so far. Nice to get a good start w/good ice for once.

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Went out to Willow Creek Reservoir today with my son. Good 4-6 inches of ice on Willow Creek with about a little snow cover on it to make walk pretty good without spikes.

Unfortunately we only caught 3 small gills (3-4 inches) and a small perch (4 in) during our 2 hours out there this late morning but we sure had a lot of fun. Saw about 4 other 2-3person teams out there when we left, talked to one guy who was having the same amount of luck that we did.

Redbeard5289

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  • 3 weeks later...

Fished the spillway today from 1-5:30 PM. Caught a few 6" crappies suspended in 34 fow and two cigar-sized sauger in 22 fow. I always enjoy catching sauger, their markings and color are always awesome! Hope they're A LOT bigger next time I catch them.

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  • 1 year later...

Fished spillway yesterday for a few hours half dozen 6 to 8 inch crappies in 20 to 25 ft. About a 20 minute bite around 4:00

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Fished the spillway today from 1-5:30 PM. Caught a few 6" crappies suspended in 34 fow and two cigar-sized sauger in 22 fow. I always enjoy catching sauger, their markings and color are always awesome! Hope they're A LOT bigger next time I catch them.

Sounds like a typical ice bite at the spillway to me.

I've had some decent days out there in the winter, and even a few good ones, but the sauger tend to run really small there, and the crappie are hit or miss.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Dash 1
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      If you turn on a movie they survive the 20min ride just fine. After many controlled experiments, I've found that they survive much better if you show "Finding Nemo" instead of "Jaws."
    • PSU
      I have never had a challenge mbeyer
    • mbeyer
      what does the ride from Virginia to the lake do to the bait.....survive OK?
    • Mike89
      you make it so fun!!!!    😁
    • CigarGuy
      Quick update: Lucky 7 now has rainbows, fatheads, crappie and light pike in stock. If I remember correctly, scoop of rainbows was $8.99.  Stopped at L&M in Virginia. Rainbows $6.99, fatheads and crappie minnows (scoop) $3.99. I was billed $6.99 dozen for rainbows, but was given a healthy scoop!
    • smurfy
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    • leech~~
      I have had the same old Strikemaster augers for years, take care of them and they will last a long time.   I think E-augers are nice for around home lakes or at the cabin. The thing that was a eye opener to me was being in D-Rock in New Brighton getting new blades and there were two guys that just got back from a week in Canada on a big ice fishing trip and both very pissed off at their e-augers dying! They were both buying new gas augers.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Things are shaping up nicely for the MN Fishing Opener which takes place Saturday, May 11th.  Recent rain has brought up the water levels, which were low.  The walleyes and saugers are in very good shape across the south shore.  Expectations are high. The goto presentation this weekend will be a jig and frozen emerald shiner or other kind of minnow.  Emerald shiners are a staple in LOW and walleyes love them.     Hook the shiner through the mouth and out the gill.  Push the minnow all the way up to the jig head and hook the minnow as far back as possible.  This will give you a better hooking percentage.     Jig sizes and colors?  This is stained water so you can get away with a big heavier jig, which is nice for those who don't fish a lot.  It enables them to have more control and feel the bottom.  A quarter ounce jig is a good size for starters.     In stained water, gold, glow white, glow red, pink, orange and chartreuse, or a combo of those colors, are great places to start.   The limit of walleyes and saugers is a combined limit of six fish, up to four of the six can be walleyes.  All walleyes between 19.5 - 28.0 inches must be released.  One fish over 28.0 inches can be kept.  The possession limit in MN is one daily limit of fish. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, there will be some good pike caught this weekend.  The pike season on LOW is open year round. The limit is 3 pike per day with one fish allowed more than 40 inches. All fish 30 - 40 inches must be released. On the Rainy River...  Sturgeon fishing on the Rainy River has been excellent.  The catch and release season is May 8 - 15.  The keep season starts up again July 1st. FYI, there will be some nice walleyes in the Rainy River for the fishing opener.  Lots of sturgeon anglers are reporting big walleyes being caught on sturgeon rigs! Up at the NW Angle...  Angle resorts are ready to roll for the opener.  As many of you know, this is the area of LOW where the islands begin.  Lots of structure.     Go to spots for walleyes, neck down areas, shoreline breaks, points and bays which will have warmer water.  In true NW Angle form, be ready for a mixed bag of fish.  In addition to walleyes and saugers, pike, jumbo perch, crappies, and even a few smallies and muskies will be caught.   Again, the goto presentation will be a jig and minnow. Slow trolling a crankbait will also produce fish if need be.    
    • Mike89
      Totally disagree Gim. I have a gas Jiffy legend auger. Never issues. Take a little time to care for it before putting it away and good to go. Sincei started using non oxygen gas, startron and seafood in never have issues with my 2 strokes.   seafood???   I'd try seafoam!!!   🤣
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