metro area Metro Area Minnesota Fishing Reports & Ice Conditions

[blackdog1101]

It's easy to walk out onto Cooks from the public beach if you can't drive on.

[geonicg]

Thanks Acemac. I'll be out on Wayzata bay on Friday night with my brother in law. He's from England and loves the ice fishing experience. We're both trying to learn the sport, but need all the help we can get. Thanks for your suggestions and answers.

[bobbers_down]

Was out on Wayzata Bay this morning. Fished in 22 FOW with a good amount of action. Plenty of little perch to play around with and a few small walleyes to add to the pot. They seemed to hit really hard for short periods of time and then pretty much shut down for an hour or so, still a fun morning on the lake.

[Acemac]

hey bobbers what time in the morn were you out? heading out tomorrow morning super early to try to get on them.

Any idea what type of structure you were sitting on?

[JOHN DENNY]

thankyou for the info. will try and get out this weekend.

[boilerup]

I am new to this forum and to the area and was hoping someone could give me a good idea where to find some good sunny fishin. I have bass fished tonka this summer and spent some time on Medicine and Parkers lake but never on the ice. Any advice is appreciated!

[anprickette72]

I have been out numerouse times this year on tonka in anywhere from 7'-25' and have only located perch? Somm of which have been niced sized on Harrison's but no Walleyes. Has anybody ever had any luck on Harrisons for Walleyes... there is a nice- sized hole out there that I figured i could get on em on the drop off but no luck? Don't need exact locations just wondering if Walleyes are around there or not?

[ROOOOSTERFISH]

I am new to this forum and to the area and was hoping someone could give me a good idea where to find some good sunny fishin. I have bass fished tonka this summer and spent some time on Medicine and Parkers lake but never on the ice. Any advice is appreciated!

I would try Black , definetly on the smaller side, but will give you plenty of action.

[Lunker]

Prior access suitable for driving a mid-size car out? Not talking ice depth, more of steepness and/or large bump getting on? Might tangle with the crowds in the morning.

[Dusty]

The access is very slick, I've seen 4x4's having to back out and go a second time. Other than that its fine.

[Where's Walter?]

just wondering if Walleyes are around there or not?

NOT. Go east or south for walleyes. Based on my experience fishing Harrisons area the last 9 years.

[PSourasinth]

Just got back from BE at around 630pm. Fished with a buddy and his father. First location, fished from 1030am to 1230pm in 12-24 fow, marked fish from time to time, but it was still very slow. Second location fished from 1245 to 6pm, we were very fortunate to land directly on top of them in about 27 fow, and they seem not to be spooked. There was a constant fish column from about 12 to 26 fow. We were using fathead minnows and artifical minnow heads. We must of caught 30-40 fish each from about 1pm to 6pm, all crappies. They were on the small size, but weeded through and kept the larger ones. All the crappies that we caught ranged from 6 inches to the biggest of 10.5 or 11. We kept anything above 9 inches, with largest being about 11. I ended up bringing home about a dozen and a half eaters. Fishing was awesome, but fish were very finicky. Had a great time. BE Lake was like a mad house out there today. We fished about 150-200 yards from everybody else. Great day, especially with the weather being around 25-30 degrees.

[LPCrowRiverFisherman]

Crappie Limit for one person is 10, sorry if I misread, but as I read it you took 18 for yourself and no one else

[Glockwinger]

Found a couple of walleyes for dinner on Friday night - Saturday morning with my 12 year old daughter on Waconia. Both were caught on the rattle lines with a fathead. We went out using the In Towne Marina road and found a spot where there was a "hole" in the weedbed in about 15 feet of water. My daughter caught both fish (with dad's help and our friend Roy's help!) She had a blast! We missed a couple more over the night. Couldn't get the panfish to cooperate, but we had a good Dad and Daughter time on the lake. To top off our time, my daughter won some tackle for her fish at the In Towne ice and dice game. We went home and had fresh walleye for supper with my wife and son.

Here is some pics from the close to home trip:

Here is my daughter with our friend Roy and a nice 21" walleye, she didn't want to hold it herself!

Here is a pic of the sunrise on Saturday:

Finally, here is a pic of me holding both walleyes my daughter caught. She wanted to take my picture with them since she didn't want to hold them:

[PSourasinth]

My daughter also joined us during our trip. That's why we took home 18. We had an awesome time. We ended up having 4 others joining us out on the lake, and we all had a great time developing new friendships.

[walleyvoyager]

Man the gills on Green lake are non-stop. I didn't get the women on any keeper sized ones but it was a 3 2 1 hit all day.

[Rhino32]

Prior Lake - Fish Prior this morning from 6:30 until 10:30. Tried for Crappies early with out luck. First fish caught at 7:45. Ended up with 6 keepers, 4 gills, 2 crappies. Lost about a 10" gill at the hole and lost about a 12" crappie at the hole (transducer). Again, the fish were very finicky. Had luck on the bigger fish by fishing two feet above them and aggressively "thumping" my jig.

Go vikes. I am actually hoping they win the Super Bowl, because then Favre will retire, and we (Packers) can get back to kickin Viking tail!!!!

[waterbound]

I was out on Carson's tonight and I got one suspended crappie about 10 feet under the ice. Nothing on the bottom wanted to eat though.

[boilerup]

Decided to try Tonka saturday and got my limit of sunnies in about an hour and a half. Probably caught sixty fish and sorted 8" plus to take my limit. Fun time really despite all the crazies out there on dirt bikes and snowmobiles buzzing my shanty.

[Lindyrig81]

This morning on tonka

27.5" 8.0lbs

Thanks to the boys at Wayzata Bait & Tackle for the great bait...

-more pix to come

[Lindyrig81]

[bobbers_down]

Acemac, we were set up on the edge of a dropoff, bottoming out around 24 FOW. Got onto the ice and set up around 6:30, we've been debating heading out earlier as it seems that as soon as we get set up the fish are already biting.

[JimBuck]

Nice fish. Are you getting a skin mount?

[Lindyrig81]

Thanks jimbuck, im not sure,for now shes dinner for the kids and myself.. Meat turned out real nice. I dont have the money for anything right now, but I took good measurements and I may get a repro made someday..

27.5"Length

16.5"Girth

8.0lbs

*all measured aprx 3hrs after being caught..

Ive had more skunked trips on tonka this past year (summer,fall and winter) Finally my time paid off..

[Lindyrig81]

[waterbound]

That's quite the fish!

[boilerup]

Thats an awesome fish Lindyrig! Obviously it's been feeding good! Did you catch many others than that?

[redneckiceman18]

went to prior yesterday right of sportsmans access and there were plenty of people out everyone seemed to be limiting out i fished from 3-6 and caught 15 while my buddy caught about the same i was also wondering what the limit for crappie is i only kept 20 ( me and buddy combined) is it 10 each? we were using small moon jigs with crappie minnows and small fatheads some people were catching on maggots but we didnt have any luck with them there were a lot on the vexilar at about 6 the fishing turned right off though only 1 fish and maybe 4 bites in that hour from 6-7 we were the last ones out off the lake

[boilerup]

Redneck, you were right, the limit for crappies is ten. Its hard to keep track of all the limits so I always keep a fishing rules book in my bucket or tackle box with me. Free book saves you alot in DNR tickets.

[eyelife_MN]

Man... It's a shame a fish like that had to die. Personally, that beaut should be enjoying the rest of it's retirement right about now. Usually, a replica is there so the fish can be observed and released. That fish is probably 20 years old.

Don't mean to harp on your parade, it is a nice fish! Just saying.... I know they are hard to say good bye too