metro area Metro Area Minnesota Fishing Reports & Ice Conditions

[boilerup]

Acemac- Took the guys out to that same bay on saturday afternoon and caught one 10" crappie that was so thin he was transparent and one large gill.Marked alot of fish though. Also had two guys run their sleds between my truck and shanty. They were about eight feet apart. I feel theres potential there but for that day just anger.

[Acemac]

Ya I marked fish all over but could barly get them to bite and when they did it was light

[fishnowworknever]

Tonka this past weekend:

Friday brought home 5 crappies - 9.5"+

Saturday brought home 7 with one being 11.5"

They were mixed in with the bluegills until sundown, they would come in suspended 10' over 22', some were hugging the bottom too.

[Thunder]

Waconia: We started the day around 7am Saturday on Center fishing in 16 fow - nothing but little perch. Moved to a different spot on Center into 10-12 fow with weeds and same perch story. Crowds were really in full force with the weather. At 3pm a couple guys took off and me and another buddy stayed back and wanted to get away from the crowds. We went to a spot we'd never fished before that was somewhat away from everyone. Same depth and weed situation, but this time we found some fish. Couldn't get the fish to come out of the weeds - had to drop it down and go get-em, but we managed 8 nice crappies - from 3:30-5pm (caught a few more smaller ones too), then the bite just stopped, which surprised us. Not huge numbers, but glad we finally found some fish. Biggest was 11", 3 others around 10" and the rest of the keepers were about 9-9.5". All good eaters.

Wonder where they went in the evening? We fished until 7pm and literally from 5-7pm didn't have a bite. Not far from where we were it drops to 19' fairly quickly. Do they venture out into deeper waters?

[waterbound]

I spent a couple hours fishing on Minnetonka fishing pannies. I set up over 24 feet of water just outside a 30 foot hole with pretty good luck. Schools came and went throughout the whole water column from the bottom to about 6 feet under the ice. The most active fish were the ones about 6 feet down and they were the biggest ones, too. I caught a fair number using live waxworms and Gulp. I had a couple crappies cruise through but they spit the hook before I got them on the ice and they weren't interested in crappie minnows. The biggest fish were probably 7 or 8 inches and I threw 'em all back.

[Acemac]

the crappies seem weary of fishing on tonka. I think if you want to get some aggressive ones you need to find them away from where they have been getting fished hard this winter. I know fishing next to a shanty ville right now is tough as it seems like the fish in those holes have seen it all and are not interested in being caught.

[fishnowworknever]

I noticed that too Acemac, you need to get away from the small cities out there. The last few times I was out I managed to bring home some nice crappies, all were caught no where near another fish house. I've never been one to follow the pack though.

[Urban]

Spent a later evening (7-9pm) on a big NW bay. Drove to a great looking reef/hump/drop-off far away from any communities... and caught jack. Looked like slow activity on the bottom 10-35ft fOW, but no takers. I used a spring bobber with waxies and/or small gulp minnows/heads maybe saw an small bump of an up-bite once. It was dead.

I'm guessing I was too late in the evening?

[Acemac]

action on the bottom was the notorious tonka perch. I think the best bet as we move through the winter is zooming our flashers up about 5-7 feet off the bottom as the fish are moving up with the oxygen also i feel like the big schools of crappies may be on the move to spawning staging areas so we may need to look to shallower water.

[Rhino32]

Prior Lake -

Had a decent day on Prior. Fish are still very finicky. Good mixed bag of Perch, Gills, Crappies.

[waterbound]

I was out on Minnetonka near Big Island last night with my dad and a guy he knows from work. We caught a couple nice crappies and lost some more right at the ice. Extremely light bite, deadsticking worked best.

[wmn luv me walleye fearme]

fished in carsons bay on sat morning. Caught about 50 sunfish, could have maybe kept 4 of them that were large enough for the pan. Moved the permanent out to diamond reef in 22 feet at 3. The 3 of us didnt even mark a fish all night. Rattle wheel went off at 2 am and one of my buddies beat me to it. Was a nice 28 3/4 eye. Not sure how to post a pic but it was a nice fish. Was released and overall a good way to end the season since the only walleye we caught all year on tonka before that one were under 12 inches.

[ItsaCrappieLife]

Fished Waconia for the last time Saturday and pulled the house off. Between 6 kids (3 Dads), the ice auger not being long enough, getting stuck, and two kids falling in ice holes we still managed a few crappies. Put the camera down in shallower water in the weeds and it was loaded with crappies. They were not too interested in feeding but it was cool to see. Perfect day to get out of the house and do some fishing. Had a 5 and 6 year old helping me put out tip ups. I had to laugh when I looked over about an hour later and they were going around cleaning ice out of the tip up holes. No one had even asked them to do it. I guess you are born with it when you live in MN.

[CatholicConis]

OK, this might be a dumb question, but the last two posts talked about catching walleye and setting tip ups. Didn't pike and walleye season end Sunday? Wouldn't setting a tip-up get you a ticket? Or are they used for other species? Just askin'.

[bassinhole89]

Are any of the smaller lakes around waconia worth a look at all for some panfish?

[CrowRiverRat83]

They stated they were fishing over this past weekend.

[scott b]

Hey CC read the posts again. Both posts mention fishing on Saturday.

[MidCoast]

Mississippi pool 4 is still open for Walleyes. As well as I think Lake of the Woods? So most of MN is closed, but there are always exceptions.

[waterbound]

The guys talking about tip-ups and walleyes were referring to this past weekend. You can use a tip up for anything you want, it's just a tool. That being said, a tip-up for trout is practical but not so much for crappies.

I was out on Carson's Bay last night in 24 feet of water. Not much in the way of fish and the ones that were around were in the bottom 5 feet of the water column, clinging right to the bottom for the most part although some were suspended about a foot up. The bite was incredibly light sometimes the line would barely move at all and the fish was usually gone before I could pick the rod up. The fish that I was able to set the hook on usually spat it before I could get them on the ice although the problem might have been with the jig rather than the fish. Wax worms worked, crappie minnows didn't.

[CatholicConis]

Thanks guys, my mistake.

[Tanker]

OK, this might be a dumb question, but the last two posts talked about catching walleye and setting tip ups. Didn't pike and walleye season end Sunday? Wouldn't setting a tip-up get you a ticket? Or are they used for other species? Just askin'. [/quote

Just to let you know both said they were fishing Saturday. They were just posting yesterday and today.

[Thunder]

Anyone have any access condition updates for Waconia??

[waterbound]

Fished St Alban's today with boilerup we didn't catch any fish but at least we got out excercise out there.

[Go2fish]

Fished Tonka Sat, got about 25 crappies handful of nice ones with 10" being the biggest. 24ft fish were 2-12 feet off bottom, hour n half long bite after sunset.

Ice is still pretty thick on the lake but there are some bad spots. The road coming out of Cooks towards Hardscrabble has a small patch of open water on it right by Hardscrabble pt.. I would go off road towards Ceder pt when you get close to Hardscrabble. Accesses are getting a bit rough but still passable.

[Rhino32]

Fished Prior off of Sportsman's yesterday from 2:30 to 4:30. Caught around 25 gills. Kept 10 fish about 8 inches. Bigger fish were more aggressive and fought well. The landing is getting rough. I walked out because there are 1 foot ruts in the mud off of the shore and standing water about 40yds out. Everybody else on the ice had driven out. Actually quite a few trucks on the ice. 1 poor soul in a car tried to drive off through Sportsmans and was stuck for an hour before someone pulled him up.

[Choco Taco]

anyone see how much ice is left on Tonka? I saw the DNR posted that White Bear is ice free, I am curious to when Tonka will be open.

[Pherris]

Out on Prior today and found some crappies and a few sunnies. We were fishing plastics under a small bobber in about 5-6'. Water temp was just at 50. Kept enough 9-10"'s for a meal biggest was 12". A couple of the sunnies were decent and did not catch any real dinks but many in the 6" range. We let the rest live to be caught another day.

Good Fishing!!

[Acemac]

grays bay and the south side of wayzata bay are open caught some small sunnies under the bridge at grays.

[scott b]

All of Wayzata is open. North shore with south wind had only ice cube sized ice for 15 ft off shore. Saw at least 15 different boats from Maxwell to Browns to Wayzata. No Crappies today. Too windy. As soon as it dies down I'll be at my spot. Good luck, tight lines, here we go!

[Choco Taco]

Tonka is ice free according to DNR as of 4/2. Woo-hooo!