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Willmer-Spicer Area Fishing Reports


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spot tail shiners for sure the best this time of year.

I am too cheap to buy them and was throwing cranks and using leeches and crawlers instead.....got out fished 3 to 1 by some guys from Iowa using shiners. Payback came when trying to help them fish for crappies and they showed up with 3 inch red and white bobbers shocked

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  • 2 weeks later...

On nest the gills and bass were active and started seeing both of them on their beds. Went after some pike, and of course couldn't catch one when trying to. On green had a good night eye bite on the north end after the big blow on thursday, but nothing the last two nights. Big gills are making there way up now as well. Started seeing some more boats out there, was great weather wise, hope some of you were able to get out!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got a reliable report of some walleye action so decided to take the neighbor and our boys (6 yrs old & 7 yrs old) out for some shad rap trolling on Saturday afternoon and evening. Boy am I glad I decided to do that. Trolled from 3:30 to 4:30 in one area where they had been hitting and got only 3 sheepshead and a 3lb northern. Decided to move to a different area where they had bit a couple weeks ago. Caught one about 5:00 and by 6:30 we had boated 8. Went in for a quick supper and to pick up my 4 yr old daughter to join in the fun. From 7:30 until 9:30 we boated 13 more walleyes and 3 more sheepshead. On 3 different occasions we couldn't even get all 3 lines out before we had another fish on. Walleyes broke down like this: 8 of them @ 8 to 13 inches, 9 @ 14 to 17 inches, 1 @ 18 inches, 1 @ 19 inches, 1 @ 21.5 inches and the whopper of the evening at 27.5 inches. The big one was the only fish my neighbor reeled in. I boated the 19 incher and a sheepshead and we let the kids land all the rest. Heck, they were even netting them after supper. All fish came from 6 to 8 feet of water on SR-5 Rapala Shad Raps in several different colors. What a perfect night to be on the water and is there a better way to hook kids on fishing?!?!

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Yeah, great job TJ! If you guys ever want to take an almost 5 year old out with you, I would be glad to drop him off. smile

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lol Pushbutton, I was thinking the same thing for my "almost" 5 going on 20 with the attitude son wink

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If it makes you feel any better......this is my usual band of weekend warriors. full-27018-9592-2011_06_11_17_57_30_775.

The brown dopey one is actually a good fishing partner, these two on the other hand are the trouble makers. If any one is out on nest or green and see this circus floating by stop by and say hi! full-27018-9593-2011_06_11_17_36_17_305.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Fished some sunfish on Koronis and Diamond back a few days fish were in 3-6 fow holding tight to weeds. Probably to find food or to get out of the sun. Fish were aggressive and tooks smally berkely power nymphs as well as small lindy little nipper jigs.

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Went out today, looking for pannies as well. Have not fished for them for a while and started out in the 9 ft range........picked up a few nice ones here and there; started going shallower and surprisingly found a lot of fish still near the shoreline(even as shallow as 2 ft) still sporting a lot of color. Also had biggest fish with plastics. Crazy year. At this time last year was already seeing some suspended over deep water and/or roaming deep water flats.

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  • 3 weeks later...

As usual fished nest and green, this time brought my father instead of my son, so actually got to fish a little more, even ended up burning my knee caps grin On Nest the bass were up really shallow chasing around the minnows, got a few nice ones under overhanging trees; you could almost sight fish for them by looking for schools of minnows jumping out of the water. Found pike in the 14 ft range hanging off the weed edge. What a difference a year makes, last year you could hardly find a weed deeper than 8 ft, now they are pushing almost to 15 ft in areas. Since walleyes are the only fish worth fishing for in my father's mind, we headed across the street and pulled some live bait rigs in the upper 20's. Only got one dink eye, but the smallies were active. Poor guy would get so excited only to come up with another bass smile Lots of pike were hitting on the weedy tops/ shallower edges of the humps, and bull gills were in the 20 ish ft range. Ended up having to clean 3 pike and about a limit of gills as the big guy is old school, cant go home empty handed, and drives him nuts when i toss fish back. All in all, a great day to be on the water!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Was another great weekend to be on the water. Mainly fished Nest and was nice to see some more people out. As with last week found pike trolling of the weed edge in 14 ish ft. Decent sized gills were in about 9 to 12 ft., look for pockets in the weeds. The last few years i was really locked into some big sunfish out there(9 to 10 inch range), this year however, can't seem to find much over 8. Either they are in a different pattern or that year class passed on. Another interesting note on the lake is that a couple of years ago there was a huge perch hatch and have been wondering wether they would develop beyond forage. Last month or so we came across some decent sized ones, while they were not in the jumbo category, would suspect late next year or the year after there will be a great opportunity for some out there. Fishing was good Friday and Saturday, but for whatever reason was rather tough on Sunday. That night went over to Green and the crappies and walleyes were up shallow, as there are a ton of yoy minnows up there right now. Nothing much for size yet, but slowly starting to feel like fall out there!

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I wont be down this coming weekend, but every other till mid oct. If you or anyone else wants to come out and fish just follow the trail of skittles to an old blue alumn. crestliner with a honda tiller. I am the first camper on the water at the mill. Seriously, just stop by or PM me and i can tell you what i know about whats going on.

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Darn! I was just going to ask if you were going to be around nest this weekend. Maybe we can hook up another time.

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How about the 2nd weekend in Sept.? Whoever wants/can come chime in. We'll do some fishing, little fish fry. Even if you don't have a boat, sure we could figure something out.

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Thanks pushbutton!! Been awhile since I've fished Nest and sad part is I'm only 35 minutes west of there!!

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I've got my father-in-laws pontoon so I have some room too. it was slow this past weekend. Did not see many people catching. Seems to be a lot of perch this year.

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Glad you can make it as well! Will PM you soon to work out some more details. I did sneak away from home on Saturday and it was brutal out on Nest, could hardly buy a bite; such a shame on such a beautiful weekend. Also snuck away this morning and crappies, although not in the slab category, were going nuts on the north side of Green, in broad daylight, in 10ish ft feasting on the minnows. Heard the DNR was out there with some nets and really high temps down deep have pushed a lot of the fish up in the 25 ft range.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

So you have a camper at the mill? Been a few years since I've sayed there. Good to see you on a few fish Chad.

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It is getting run down, but took jr. there when he was 3 months old and is where he "caught" his first fish, so it is kind of sentimental to me. It is a great place for a young person getting into fishing as there is usually something always biting in one of the lakes, often, even from shore, which can aid a short attention span. Absolutely love Green, but my small boat gets rocked pretty good out there and usually hit it after the sun goes down when the wakes and waves calm down. Guess you won't have that problem now, you could probably even take that thing out on the ocean smile

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Used to stay at Skyline Campground as a kid and pay 50 cents to fish at the old mill. Mom and dad would give me a dollar so I could fish and get a soda. I'd fish all day. Dad would rent a boat and fish the lake and have to listen to me the whole time we were in the boat saying "theres fish at the old mill inn dad".

My parents now live on Games lake and I took my boys to Spicer a while back to show them a place that used to be really special to me. I learned to fish there when I was 4,too bad it's only guests of the resort that can fish there. I would gladly give them 20 bucks to let me take my kids fish down there. My kids would love it and I would have an opportunity to wax nostalgic. Lot's of great memories from the old mill.

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Dad would rent a boat and fish the lake and have to listen to me the whole time we were in the boat saying "theres fish at the old mill inn dad".

Ha! My expert has also uttered this as we are getting our butt kicked on the lake. It is good to be reminded that it is not always about the biggest and best. The little guy/gals do not care if it is a bass, 3 inch sunny, or bullhead. Great story Eric, and it is too bad that simpler times have gone away. Back then if you fell in and scraped your knee, your parents would have told you to be more careful,; now days mothers against improper docks would be picketing and lawyers lined up to sue. PM me next spring and would think I could get you and the kids in for a little while.

Don't know if anyone has tried yet, but the frogs are thick this year and might be a good time to go out catch some and toss a few in and see what happens. Was bored last night and threw one on, in one cast hooked up, never got it in, could have been the elusive Nest lake walleye, was probably a pike, but wasn't on long enough to know. Speaking of pike, some bigger ones have started moving up shallow into the weeds. Was crappie fishing on Green again and they were hitting the fish I was trying to reel in.

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Pushbutton thanks for the response. My parents have a place on Games so my crew ends up there often. Couldn't find pike this weekend. Tried speed trolling between 15-22 or so for about 30 minutes and then switched to 3/4 cleo spoons anywhere from 8-12. Only tried for an hour but we didn't get a sniff. We switched it up and found some bluegills, crappies and a few bass. It won't be long and we will start the shallow water trolling in the evening with rapalas.

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Im new to the forum and have never fished the area. I have a group of 6 guys coming up to Nest Lake the 18th of this month. What kids of tackle should we bring, and what kind of fishing should we expect to do? Any comments would be appreciated. We have a cabin rented at Willow Bay resort. Thanks everyone.

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That time of the year you can probably expect a decent largemouth, smallmouth, and pike bite. The walleyes could be hitting early morning or in the evening as well. I would bring plenty of spinnerbaits for bass and pike along with a few cranks and jerk baits. The fish will be moving into shallower waters as the temp continues to fall. I've nailed some real pig smallies and some real good pike on Nest in Sept/Oct. Good Luck!

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Leech is spot on! Don't be afraid to get right up in that pond mat in as shallow as 4 to 5 ft. Also, welcome to HSO!

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