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Metro Area Minnesota Fishing Reports & Ice Conditions


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I was fishing on minnetonka this morning from 6am to 10am. I was in 10 feet of water on a weed line hoping for a northern. I had the camera down and from 7 to 9 probably had thirty nice sized walleyes swim by. But not would bite. I tried to use fatheads suckers and shiners but nothing would bite. And they were not scared of the camera at all.

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I was fishing on minnetonka this morning from 6am to 10am. I was in 10 feet of water on a weed line hoping for a northern. I had the camera down and from 7 to 9 probably had thirty nice sized walleyes swim by. But not would bite. I tried to use fatheads suckers and shiners but nothing would bite. And they were not scared of the camera at all.

Welcome Goldeney! Not trying to pry too much info but what part of the lake did you see those eye's in? west, east? any other structure to try?? I have had a hard time with the eye's out there this year!

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Welcome Goldeney! Not trying to pry too much info but what part of the lake did you see those eye's in? west, east? any other structure to try?? I have had a hard time with the eye's out there this year!

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Welcome Goldeney! Not trying to pry too much info but what part of the lake did you see those eye's in? west, east? any other structure to try?? I have had a hard time with the eye's out there this year!

It was on a weed line in 10 feet. WAs there last night and saw nothing. They only show up in the morning. Went back out this morning and only saw four walleys and a very large Muskie. STill could not get them to bite. Sandy bottom with some rocks right on the edge of short weed bed with tall weeds close by. Hope that helps a little. And the bay I'm in only gets to 30 feet.

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Hey FishTrapper, hope all is going well, I couldn't sleep last night so I went to the lake at 12:30 am. I went out and hit that bay you were talking about that only gets 30 feet deep. I was down to the east of where your dad's house is and I did manage to catch a couple dozen crappies. Kept 8 between 9 - 11 inches. Thru the ones under 9 back. The were really slow up until about 3:05 am, and then it was like someone flipped a light switch. It lasted for about 30 minutes and then it was over. 30 minutes was great. I was catching them as fast as I could get my line down, and then it was done. Sat there until 4:10 am without another bite or look from a fish on the vex, so I packed it up and went and hit the gym at 5:00 am. Talk to you soon, Pikeguy.

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It seems like all the action is at early morning....3or 4am. Slept out there the other night...no action till the rattle reels wake you up aroun 3:30am.....

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Just got back from Tonka fished in the perm all night had three rattles and got one 17 inch eye on a fathead. The other two smoked the bait and had the rattle reels just flying and then the bait was dropped. This was between 12 and 3 am. I also missed two at about six oclock in twenty three fow. The house was on a healthy weed edge at about 12-16 break and deep water all around us. Now after crappies for the remainder of the perm season.

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Bought a new Ice house after last weekends debacle. It is a new Fish Trap X2 with the cushion seats so after assembling it I decided that I needed to take it out on the ice. The weather could not have possibly been better 35 degrees with a slight wind. After much debate I decided to go to a lake that I had fished before and target some crappies and maybe a walleye, because I ended up bringing my buddy and his girlfriend (who doesnt fish) so I thought I would try my best to put them on some fish.

We got to the lake at about 12:30pm and set up the shack, lots of people were on the lake due to the nice weather. I decided to try a spot that I had never fished before but always felt would be a good spot, problem was so did several other people. We set up in about 18ft of water on a drop off into a 36ft basin I figured I could pick off a couple panfish and might have the luck of getting a walleye moving into the shallows to feed.

Maybe it was the time of day or just the amount of people fishing near us but I had a very tough time even marking any fish on the vexilar, so after about an hour I decided it was best to pack up and try a new spot. We drove to a very small basin that was surrounded with some shallow points and bump trying to locate some fish, the move proved to be a good idea and we spent the rest of the evening there.

We imediately started marking and catching fish. Most turned out to be small crappies and the bait of choice seemed to be a small horizontal jig (Little Atom Optic Stealth) tipped with a red and white eurolarva or plastics (Little Atom Nuggies) most fish were suspended at about 20ft. fish sizes averaged from 6-9inches. At one point I looked down the hole next to me and seen a HUGE musky in the barred phase suspended about 2 inches beneath the ice. I could only assume that he had been eating smaller fish that we let go that where having a difficult time surviving. As soon as the musky left fishing became difficult, All the crappies we caught at that point were hugging the bottom of the basin and we had to work to get them to move up the water colum. As time past and the sun began to drop we marked fewer fish but the average size seemed to increase. We caught fish on Flutter Jigs, Jigging Spoons, and Horizontal Jigs.

Overall it was a much better weekend than last and I really enjoyed using the new ice shack. I already have a trip planned next weekend up north possibly to chase some perch on lake Mille Lacs, I will try to post a report with pics on the results

~Craig

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Got on Phelps Bay around 12:30 am. Kept 9 nice crappies all 9 inches or bigger. They were hitting pretty decent between about 1:00 am and 2:30 am. Then a noticeable wind picked up, and that was all she wrote. Sat there until 3:15 trying to catch one more for the limit, but decided to pack it up and head home.

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We caught a couple last weekend ona plain hook with a small fathead on. Had two rattle reels go about thirty yards with a shiner on but then were dropped. We were on a break from 14-18 with living weeds close by and deep water all around us. Good luck probably will be out on tonka sun night for eyes. Abywhere with rocks and weeds close by seem to be holding fish.

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Well NOAA said the wind was supposed to calm down this evening. Went out on Tonka at midnight. Was off the lake at 1:36 am with a limit of 8.5 to 10 inch crappies. Wasn't really sure what was going to happen. When I was walking out the ice sure was making a lot of noise. Thought it might spook the fish, but I think in reality it kept them moving. Lunch will be good today. Old guy across the street loves crappies. I have him over every chance I get. No point in freezing fresh fish! Was in 30 feet of water fishing 4 feet off the bottom in Phelps Bay. Using really small horizontal jigs, with the biggest crappie minnows in the bucket. Had one set up with a big crappie minnow, and the other with a small crappie minnow. Tonight they definitely preferred the bigger minnows. Hope this helps? Pikeguy

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Sorry, I didn't see your post sooner. I came home last night cleaned fish, cleaned up, did my post and went to bed and crashed. This late night fishing has been taking a lot out of me, but the sleep deprivation is worth it. I believe Zimmerman's pass is what us locals call red bridge. You have to drive out on Tuxedo, and it winds around back in their a ways and there is a little access their before the bridge. That is a good access if you want to fish by the group of houses that is closest to that access. There was another group farther down to the east. If I am fishing that part of Phelps there is another access thru a little park. If you are over on shoreline drive and go up over the bridge you will have spring park bay on your left and black lake on your right. If you go straight ahead the road will Y. Take the Y to the left, when you come down the hill their are some side streets to the left. I don't remember the name but on one of those side streets you go down and take a right, and there is a little park. The condition was okay last night. I think things are getting better now that the temps are getting down below freezing again. Hopefully someone else knows the name of the street and can help out. If you go on at this point take the road to the right. You will be able to find crappies in many parts of Phelps Bay. Lately they have been suspended 2-4 feet off the bottom in anywhere from 24-30 feet of water.

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Had good luck on nicer sized crappies last night. I was fishing in a 30+ foot hole in Phelps bay on Tonka. I didn't roll out on the lake until about 730pm and MAN THE ICE LOOKED CREEPY!! With no snow on it, it looks like your driving on water! But, the ice is still plenty thick so I went. After searching for a few minuets I found them with my sonar and camera. There were plenty of crappies suspended between about 15' down to 30' then sunnies on bottom. I'd consider the bite action as being moderate, as I had many sniffers and iced about 10 in the 3 hours I was out. I'd still say I had pretty good luck though considering the amount of fish that were there, their size was nicer than I've been seeing on Tonka lately, and I didn't keep anything anyways. I was strickly CPR last night. The crappies I caught were all averaging 9 inches with the biggest being 10 1/2 inches. All but one little guy would have made a limit of nice keeper sized fish. I didn't have euros or waxies so I got em' on minnows. Perhaps euro's would've done better on the negative fish. So, I'll either do it again tonight or try Whaletail for some crappies...

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Fished wayzata last night from 4-6pm. I gotta say, whats up with all the freekin trash out there? THats my favorite hole and all i see are mcdonald wrappers, beer cans and chips all over. It was nasty. F u to whoever did it. I picked up whatever i could that wasnt frozzen to the ice. Even saw a piece of sh*t w/ soiled TP all around it. Sorry for the rant.

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I know!!! I noticed that on Phelps too! It seems like some wind blew up and sent everybodys !@$%t all over the place! I picked up some trash too! wrappers!, lumber!, propane cans!, empty beers!, throw your $^#p in the garbage! And stop leaving fish on the ice. I see dead small crappies all over the ice on Phelps! If they die and won't swim back down the hole I include them in my bag so they don't go to waste! I think alot of the garbage comes from residents trash cans that blow over in the wind too though. I'm sure that all the F.M.ers aren't the ones causing the problem though! :-)

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Yeah i'm sure its not FMers. Sorry for venting.

Haha! A guy needs to vent now and again! We let the woemen do it all the time don't we!? I wasn't assuming that you thought it was members bud. It's frustrating to see litter out there! I'm sure the crappies like MickyD's french fries too though! haha

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I agree leaving garbage out there is bad for the fish. I'm not sure why people are so dumb. I'm not a green person, but want our lakes and fish around for the kids. I have seen a couple of fox walking out on the lake looking for those crappies you were thinking will be wasted smile

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Thanks to the guys who gave me some gas when my auger ran out. I will remember the gas can from now on!

Also, F U to the guys on the dirt bikes riding 100 feet from our house as we fished yesterday. Yep, we packed up and left because of you. Figured you would get tired of riding around in the same spot after an hour, but I guess I was wrong.

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We had the same thing on Lake Independence. Some dudes kept riding about 100 feet from us when there was the whole lake to ride on. Makes me wish I had a pellet gun.... (j/k) of course.

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Meatwad, were you on Phelps Bay? I was, and those cycles weren't exactly quiet. Anyways though, we managed to catch about 10 crappies and 10 sunnies from about 4:00 til 8:30. We were in 29 feet of water. I dropped a camera down to see what was showing up as basically solid fish from 28ft up to 18 feet and found lots of small crappies and sunnies the entire time. It was fun none the less and kept a guy busy, but has anyone been catching any decent sized crappies around there?

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Wayzata bay, and I drove around the area with the bikes for a while, and they got all [PoorWordUsage] at me. We laughed pretty hard as we drove around with them.

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Update for today. TKBuckkiller will not be able to post for a while. Looks like until March? He wanted me to share that info with everyone. Apparently, he got kicked off for a while?

Anyways, I spent three and a half hours on Waconia today looking for bigger sunfish. Drove all over and punched about 30 holes, put down the camera. Saw a whole lot of nothing. Did find some sunfish over on the West side in about 10 fow that were going three to a pound. Never did find a really great school of fish. They appear to be really scattered, and you pick one up here and there when a few fish move thru. Finished the day on Black Lake on Tonka to finish out a limit. They sure were biting lite today. Not very aggressive at all!

Caught a limit of 8-10 inch crappies on Pilsbury last night between 6-8 pm.

Might have to go back to Phelps and keep going after crappies there. Toss up between Phelps and Pilsbury for me?

Well, that's all I have for now. Pikeguy

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I was out on the north side of big island in 21 FOW. Had the camara down and found a rock pile and watched seen tons of perch dropped down my bait and tried to catch some when the perch would leave I would drop down a fattie and watch the eyes take my bait. It was so cool watching this, after dark is when thay started to really bite about 630 to 11pm. Most eyes came off of the bottem and would come up about 1 -2 ft up if you bounced the bait up and down you could trigger a strike. This lasted up till 2:45 or 3 left for home around 330 am. Wanted to see if it got better after 1am but, it didn't happen and ended up with 5 from 14" to 16". lost several due to not letting them take longer, One was about 3-4 lbs or so I was using fatties and suckers med. Suckers worked better.

Remember their is not much time left.

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