Bald Eagle

[dewey1980]

that would be me.

[olbaidhh]

ill stop by... see you out there everyweekend. I have setup by you but lately heading more north east. they seem to be bigger.

[Chode2235]

Heading out tomorrow, am I correct in thinking I should be able to drive pretty much all over the lake?

How is the ice ridge off of Cigar? Any others I need to be on the look out for?

[nlange]

olbaidhh looks like i found a good spot. well everwhere i go on that lake it seems like that crappies are sold on the vex for about 5 ft off the bottom. im by that big sand bar north of the island in 20 fow catching them crappie then they totally shut off there at night then i got a waleye an missed a ton. i dropped my pole down the hole 2 night ago. 2 poles this year! first pole was on white bear got pulled in by a huge fish when i was sleeping then 2 days ago i kicked my nice new ultralight down the hole. I got the aqua vu fixed and im gona go fish it out now.

[olbaidhh]

olbaidhh looks like i found a good spot. well everwhere i go on that lake it seems like that crappies are sold on the vex for about 5 ft off the bottom. im by that big sand bar north of the island in 20 fow catching them crappie then they totally shut off there at night then i got a waleye an missed a ton. i dropped my pole down the hole 2 night ago. 2 poles this year! first pole was on white bear got pulled in by a huge fish when i was sleeping then 2 days ago i kicked my nice new ultralight down the hole. I got the aqua vu fixed and im gona go fish it out now.

good luck on the pole search... was it you i talked to and helped move your house GREEN house ) ?

[olbaidhh]

Heading out tomorrow, am I correct in thinking I should be able to drive pretty much all over the lake?

How is the ice ridge off of Cigar? Any others I need to be on the look out for?

all over with no problems unless you have your vehicle lowered... my wifes minivan can go anywhere.

No ridge off of cigar or any others that i have seen.

[nlange]

are you the guy with the green expedition with decals on the window. i have the green wheel house. i was missin a pin an you offered one of yours but i didnt need it. i dunno if your the right guy or not but they said there on fm

[olbaidhh]

are you the guy with the green expedition with decals on the window. i have the green wheel house. i was missin a pin an you offered one of yours but i didnt need it. i dunno if your the right guy or not but they said there on fm

yep thats me... did you break a cable? hope not ... how did the move work for you?

[magic_minnow]

Shaq:

forget it. 5-6" crappies are great! I seldom keep any crops over 12". I practice the "keep all the smaller fish, to improve size of fish". But I always hear about guys taking eaters 11" + and its like DUDES COME ON! And people always complain about stunted panfish in the metro.

[Tom7227]

I live on Bald Eagle and there are some interesting developments.

Bald Eagle is on the list of impaired waters in Minnesota. The landowners around the lake agreed to create a special taxing district to get money for water quality improvements. Right now Rice Creek Watershed District (RCWD) is performing a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) study of the lake to try and get data and then come up with projects that have a positive impact. The big culprit is excess phosphorous and how that happens appears to be due to a multitude of factors.

At a meeting last week two things came up that were new to me. Here are things that I learned - at least as I understand the very complex presentations.

The first is the connection between a balance in fish species and the impact on water quality. Very simply put if there is a balance between predator and prey species things work well. But if the panfish get out of control things go wrong. Panfish eat little things called invertebrates. Those guys eat algae. Too many small panfish and the invertebrates get eaten and the algae get out of whack. If the algae get too thick they cut off native vegetation and allow invasive species to expand. The invertebrates hide in the native vegetation and so if that goes goofy then the invertebrates have even more problems. The bottom line is that keeping small panfish can have a positive impact on the lake.

Another thing that surprised me was the theory that a lack of oxygen impacts the water quality. It’s called anoxia and it is most prevalent in July and August when there is higher water temps and not much wind to stir up the water column. This happens in the deeper parts of the lake. When there is a lack of oxygen phosphorus is released from the decomposition of organic material and that causes more algae blooms. This anoxia problem for instance was double the norm in 2006 due to the temps and wind conditions in July and August that year and the amount of phosphorus that was released was double the norm.

Another issue is rough fish that stir up the lake bottom and that released more phosphorus into the water. Controlling the carp and bullheads is difficult since the best way to deal with it is to kill the lake - something that won’t happen in a lake like Bald Eagle where the fishery is still in fairly decent shape and you simply wouldn’t kill everything.

Once the TMDL study is completed by the end of 2008 the RCWD will come up with things to do such as controlling the phosphorus coming into the lake from runoff. Another idea is to treat the lake with liquid alum and it seals the lake bottom and prevents the phosphorus from coming back into suspension. That alone would cost upwards of a quarter million. There are other things that can be done but frankly I don’t understand them at this point. There apparently will be opportunities to get funding from various sources to match the money collected from the homeowners.

So here’s what you may consider based on my understanding at this point. The landowner around the lake are willingly spending time and money to make things better. Second you should do what you can to get carp and small panfish out of the lake. The potato chip fish aren’t doing anyone any good and you’ll actually be doing something positive by suppressing the numbers.

If anyone wants to learn more about all of this I have copies of the presentation made at the meeting. Write me at [email protected] and I’ll share them with you.

Tom

[magic_minnow]

Thanks for the info Tom! I work for an environmental lab and we do alum and phosphorus tests as well. Its an interesting approach using the alum, but it just gets WAY TOO EXPENSIVE.

I only keep small pannies to eat. I'm one of those that hope in time there will be a champion class of pannies in the metro.

[SHAQ]

if i seen someone catching 5 to 6 inch crappies id prolly do some face pounding

[SHAQ]

Shaq:

forget it. 5-6" crappies are great! I seldom keep any crops over 12". I practice the "keep all the smaller fish, to improve size of fish". But I always hear about guys taking eaters 11" + and its like DUDES COME ON! And people always complain about stunted panfish in the metro.

your joking, u couldent even fillet crappies that tiny,

[Fish Addictt]

Go to tonka in the spring.Look at the shore fishing then you will now how small of fish they keep!!!

[nlange]

why keep the smaller fish? I dont get it. Your going to have to catch double the amount of 6 inchers then the 12 inchers for a good meal. an exacly you couldnt even get a good filet off a 6 in crappie because that is SMALL! even 7 and 8. I realse all the crappies i catch if there under 9 incher. if there 9 or bigger id keep them but i got a full freezer now and havnt had time to cook them up. You say you want to see the metro lakes see them champion pannies then why fish out the lake totally by keeping them babys?!

[nlange]

i acually fish bald eagle pretty much every day. I have my perminit on the north end and have been doing great for northern and crappie but i just catch an realse pretty much right now unless i can find them waleye that i could not find all dang year. I have 1 waleye in my freezer frozen an thats it. I cant seem to find the waleye on bald eagle but the action is so much better then white bear lake but white bear lake i can acually find the waleye its just there slow. does anyone know of a good waleye spot? depth? side of lake? gravel, sand, rock? i have a lake map an i tryed every spot i think would be good but i cant find em

[magic_minnow]

You say you want to see the metro lakes see them champion pannies then why fish out the lake totally by keeping them babys?!

uhhhh? DUH! It's just not possible to have QUALITY & QUANTITY in a metro lake. Those 12" you keep was probably the ones I let go! You should be happy that I take 7" crappies so you can keep the 12". FYI they make fine bite-sized fish nibblets. Small pannies decrease the food supply for the whole. less small pannies = more larger ones. OF course you'll have to look for large pannies. they aren't dumb. Many people will agree w/ me that if you decrease (NOT ELIMINATE) the small pannies, the select ones will have a larger chance of growing larger. Jsut common pannie knowledge if you was a hardcore fisherman.

[nlange]

olbaidhh i moved around alot that day. i tryed the sand bar on the north side of the island on top then on the drop in 20fow an nothing but perch and crappie. then i moved around alot by the rockpile on the northend and thats where i am now. still crappie but they seem bigger there but just not as aggressive. i think its my jigs i need to get some new stuff. and yes i got my pole out the other day, a piece of cake for my dad. hes the champ, the pole was in 20ft an inbetween 2 holes so we but a big daredevil on with a wire holding the line on the bottom of the hole to swing it back an forth to hook it an he did. i guess he fishing out his lanturn in 35 fow on milacs on year

[nlange]

ya your right but your also right about knowing how to fish for them bigger ones. there definitly in there. like i said i catch an realse usually. i have been for the past couple weeks now. i rarley eat fish for a meal but i should start. im not the greatest cook tho.

[magic_minnow]

Deitz had a good recipe on one of the threads in the crappie forum. I only eat 1 meal/month

[ole]

if i seen someone catching 5 to 6 inch crappies id prolly do some face pounding

Your gonna do some Face Poundin because someone is catching 5-6" fish???

I'd be more concerned if I saw someone keeping a pile of 14-15" crappies, they're the ones that should go back!

ole

[metro fisherman]

I like to keep big crappie. Normally its 12" and above is a keeper for me, unless its really fat. 5"-6" or even 8" crappie produce almost no meat considering how much I eat. I think its a complete waste to keep fish that small. Fishing out big fish can be bad but having no up and coming generations is just as bad. Stunted populations beat no population.

[ole]

If I'm looking to eat a few then 10-12" are perfect for me.

I doubt keeping some smaller fish will hurt the fishery.JMO

ole

[Tom7227]

Please read my post a bit back. The lake needs to keep the balance between small and large panfish. The small ones can screw up the lake big time. Not saying keep small or keep big. Maybe the answer is to keep the first 10 you end up with and take them out of the lake. Again, it is a complex issue and I urge you to read my previous post.

[nlange]

i just got back from fishing out on the north end by the rock pile and sand bar. my buddie caught a 22 inch waleye. it was a nice guy. they were in there portable while i was in my perminit towards the deeper water in 20fow off the point of the sandbar catchin nothing but crappie. somthing ripped my sucker mino right in half on the rattle wheel. i been movin my shack like crazy out there tonight. now im right off the point in 13 fow, hopefully ill catch em there.

[JBMasterAngler]

I was on the SE side of the island today fishing 12 to 20 ft. It was basically a waste of 2 hours. Caught 3 perch that were about the same size as my index finger. Chasing down a few runaway cans of PBR was the most exciting part of the day. Then the battery on my vex died, and I didn't even get mad about having to cut short the day.

[ole]

Please read my post a bit back. The lake needs to keep the balance between small and large panfish. The small ones can screw up the lake big time. Not saying keep small or keep big. Maybe the answer is to keep the first 10 you end up with and take them out of the lake. Again, it is a complex issue and I urge you to read my previous post.

I was just responding to another post. Then sharing MY preferences.

It is a tricky management issue.

ole

[PmDavis300]

anyone see all the people north of the island today? it was like they had a contest out there... i got there, and promptly moved my house

[nlange]

i seen that earlier also. tons of people over by that sand bar on the north end of the island. i was there earlyer this week and caught a waleye but it was small

[nlange]

i like the north end of the lake a bit better