metro area Metro Area Minnesota Fishing Reports & Ice Conditions

[Go2fish]

Fished Tonka West side today, 42-52 degree water. Fished a lot of backwater and mostly found no fish. One cove had a bunch but a lot of small ones, few bass here and there. Think it might be a little early.

[chuckwagon]

I am itching to get out and drop the line for some pannies ! Is it too early to get out on north side of tonka?

[waterbound]

It shouldn't be too early. I've been catching small crappies and sunnies from shore, just not on Minnetonka.

[Choco Taco]

Fished today in water temps that were in the 47-52 degree range. Caught a handful of crappie that were decent size and a bunch more that were small. Also managed to catch some decent size bass. Bite wasn't great. Lots of 1s or 2s in each spot but didn't find any crappie stacked up yet. Even saw a muskie today and was dreaming what it would be like to get one on an UL fishing rod.

[archeral566]

was out on tonka with my dad all dad today. we fished all over in black lake, seton lake, emerald and many different points and shallow parts in the main lake and around islands, in depths anywhere from a couple feet to twenty feet; and didnt manage to get even a bite all day. we tossed jigs and bobber fished with minnows. what are we doing wrong? i would love to get on some crappies this spring and any help would be appreciated. thanks

[MinnetonkaMan]

Archeral566, We were out there Saturday and didn't have any luck besides some little sunnies and a few accidental bass. We could tell the fish weren't biting yet just by how few boats were at the landing. We hit all the shallow and traditional spots that we have mostly 52-56 degree water temps but no Crappies. Water is really up and last year the crappies didn't start really going until the SD/MN Border Walleye Opener. We dropped our Aqua view on a breakline out from our honey hole shallow lagoon and saw all of them staging but they wouldn't bite. I would say after this week of warmth coming up i would be out again. Also when they are thick they will eat anything and everything. Drove right by Wac with the whole parking lot full of rigs and people catching fish but I cant handle being one of the many that are destroying the lake by taking to small of fish and too many of those 13 plusers. That lake was at peak a couple years ago until they wouldn't stop butting during ice fishing. The end result they Got Wacked and Stacked. Good luck and keep trying some days they move in and out until the water and bait are at their perfect desire.

[scott b]

Stick to the north west shorelines and you should hook-up. Also remember.... Crappies are light sensitive. If it's sunny out...Deep during the day (weed edges), shallow at dusk and dawn, especially at night! Switch up on your colors too. Pink one hour yellow the next.. blue yesterday. White tomorrow? Good luck and keep trying. Cloudy days are by far the best. Watch the moon phase also. Can't hurt right?

[Tator2k]

Long time reader...

Was out Sat. morning for a few hours. The bite was ok. Two of us were able to almost put together a limit of crappies and a few sunnies. Once the sun came out the bite stopped.

Fun part of the day was watching my buddy land a 3.5+lb largemouth on his ultralite.

[archeral566]

thanks for the input guys, i appreciate it. hopefully i can find some time this week or over the weekend to give it another go.

[ry5]

Hit Tonka today 5-7 PM, small bays.

bite OK, but all small crappies, and a few medium sunfish.

Should turn on any day now!

[jwilli7122]

Reading this thread and having fished the lakes around the Twin Cities for 30 years or so all I have to say is:

How do we get decent panfishing back? The numbers are there without question, but the size is shameful.

Is it pressure? Is it pressure on predators?

When I was in my 20's it wasn't a big deal to catch really nice panfish in lots of Metro lakes, (including a number of lakes that many of us wouldn't even consider trying for panfish now) but the trend that started even then was toward small.

What I've witnessed in many lakes is massive numbers of sunnies and crappies under 6-7". When I say massive numbers I mean you can go anywhere in the lake in virtually any season at any depth and catch them and they're all potato chips. What this means to me is that they're grossly overpopulated. How can this be? With the pressure on these lakes one would think that the trend would be toward fewer fish regardless of size. I'm baffled and really tired of catching sunfish and crappies that are too small to clean.

it's not that people are keeping fish too small - it's that they are keeping fish too big. among healthy populations, panfish are pretty big by the time they start reproducing. but when fishing pressure removes the largest fish, smaller fish are pressed into reproductive service, which takes much of their energy and reduces their growth rates. in effect, this lowers the ceiling on panfish size. a reduction in large predators furthers the issue by contributing to overpopulation of younger fish which further slows growth rates and reduces size required to reproduce.

on a "stunted" lake, it does absolutely no harm whatsoever to keep a limit of small fish. in fact, if you kept every single fish you caught (including the 4 inchers), it might even help the lake. Better yet would be keeping the smallest 2/3 and throwing the biggest 1/3 back. But most fisherman do the worst possible thing - the exact opposite - they keep the biggest few and throw all the small ones back. it's those 9 inchers on a lake full of 8s that are important to release, and it's those cookie cutter little ones that are important to kill.

[mainbutter]

It's been shown in captive breeding that removing the top 5% biggest fish from a system over a course of just 3 generations stunts fish growth significantly, partly based on genetics.

Natural selection is a powerful thing.

[archeral566]

fished tonka today, and found the crappies and sunnies mixed together in anywhere from 5-12 fow. where the boat was sitting the water was 54 degress in a small bay on the north east side, the sunnies were all nice sized but you would of had to sort for a meal of crappies. we fished feather jigs, about three feet under floats with angle worms for the sunnies and crappie minnows for the crappies. the bigger crappies seemed to like the angle worms better then the minnows also. we also tryed to toss jigs but for the most part they only wanted to hit when bobber fishing.

[KTroller]

It is definitely more fishing than catching still on Tonka. Was out yesterday and caught a number of 8-10" crappies, nothing bigger. They would turn on for 5-10 minutes and then shut down for a half an hour or so. Water temps 52-55. Tried depths from 2-12 feet with 6-7 being the best. Fished mainly under a bobber 3-4 feet down with a teardrop & minnow. SUPER light bite, bobber would be down and any hookset would reveal their escape. Basically went to no hookset. Best spots were when I got away from other boats. Easier said than done when apparently I have a neon sign on the side of my boat that say's "Hey buddy, come over here...No c'mon, come closer." ;-)

All in all a nice day on the water.

KT

[archeral566]

KTroller, quote,. Easier said than done when apparently I have a neon sign on the side of my boat that say's "Hey buddy, come over here...No c'mon, come closer." ;-)

seemed as if i had a sign like that on my boat to, id get away from the crowds and get on the crappies, and what do you know within a few minutes there is five other boats crowded around me and the fish shut off. all fish caught today were anywhere from 6-9 inches, havent seemed to get much size this spring. the bite i had to would be good for about 5-10 minutes then shut off for a while. all in all though it was a good day with excellent weather to be out on the lake and there were fish caught. who could complain about that?

[Coach]

Was out on Prior from 9am-1pm today, not a crappie, just bass and northerns(all released of course). Fished several places and talked to several boats, no luck, water temp., 57-58 degrees

[Pherris]

Was out on Prior from 9am-1pm today, not a crappie, just bass and northerns(all released of course). Fished several places and talked to several boats, no luck, water temp., 57-58 degrees

Same results on Prior for me Sunday 4/18. I am begining to wonder if no one told the crappies we had an early ice out

[carverfshrmn]

Had a Fantastic day of Crappie and sunnie fishing yesterday!

Got our limits (2 of Us) All over 10 to 12-1/4 ins, Smallest

sunnies were 8-1/4 in, We were used 2in twister tails, saw others using minnows ect, but mostly getting smaller fish. Fish were in 9-10 FOW.

[cupper]

Waconia yesterday. 50+ boats sitting in front of the marina. Unreal. I tried other spots on the lake with minimal action. The funny thing is that when I drove down to the "secret spot" I didn't see anyone in those 50+ boats catching any fish. If anyone was in amongst that mob, I'd love for you to answer me these three questions:

1. Was it fun?

2. Did you have any action?

3. Was it worth it?

I have honestly never seen anything like that.

[sig]

No one is catching anything. It is always fun to be fishing. The fish must still be deep we didn't see many cought at all. The pounding that lake got for the last few years must of had a impact.

[geo17]

Waconia yesterday. 50+ boats sitting in front of the marina. Unreal. I tried other spots on the lake with minimal action. The funny thing is that when I drove down to the "secret spot" I didn't see anyone in those 50+ boats catching any fish. If anyone was in amongst that mob, I'd love for you to answer me these three questions:

1. Was it fun?

2. Did you have any action?

3. Was it worth it?

I have honestly never seen anything like that.

1. HECK YEAH

2. NON STOP

3. FOR MY TWO KIDS-MOST DEFINITELY

your post sounds like a knock. it is crazy out there but that's where the fish are. the only thing that frustrated me was i saw a lot of boats keeping there limits on fish that are there to spawn. for me and two sons we caught ALOT of fish, took some nice photos and released.

I also saw some knucklehead to say it nicely catching small fish and slamming them back into the water and he actually was throwing them side arm and skipping them on top of the water. if you read this i hope you know you are an ID!OT!!!

[KTroller]

Another beautiful evening on Tonka. Although if I was after skinny, I think I would have done better trolling a SR 350 Sundancer past Fletchers ;-)

http://www.searay.com/Page.aspx/pageId/10231/pmid/171089/350-Sundancer.aspx

Sorry Moderator if that is advertising. I'll split the commission with you for all the sales.

KT

[cupper]

your post sounds like a knock. it is crazy out there but that's where the fish are. the only thing that frustrated me was i saw a lot of boats keeping there limits on fish that are there to spawn. for me and two sons we caught ALOT of fish, took some nice photos and released.

Sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound like a knock. I was just completely astonished! I am glad to hear that you and your sons were having some action. Of the people I saw, none were catching fish but that was from what I could see. I imagine the bite was better closer too the dock. Too bad there were people being $tupid out there. I suppose when you have that many people in one spot there are bound to be some lo$ers in the group.

[WALLEYENUTZ]

"the only thing that frustrated me was i saw a lot of boats keeping there limits on fish that are there to spawn. "

No they are not. Water temp was 54 degrees on Sunday. Crappies don't spawn until the water reaches 66-68 degrees. They are in the shallows cause that's where the minnows are. The spawn is at least 2 or 3 weeks away.

And yes most boats were catching fish...some more than others.

[geo17]

my mistake then. why are the minnows there? why only this time of year? so the crappies go elsewhere in the lake to spawn. thanks for the info.

[carverfshrmn]

I saw most people putting the fish back, which was great, should be a great year if they keep doing that. Lets hope so!

[Kodiak]

yep lot of boats down there, i tried the docks to the east on the other marina, little guys down there. gonna try some other spots to find the fatties.

i am not trying to start something but why to people get up in arms when they see people put some fish in the livewell?

[RedDog3]

yep lot of boats down there, i tried the docks to the east on the other marina, little guys down there. gonna try some other spots to find the fatties.

i am not trying to start something but why to people get up in arms when they see people put some fish in the livewell?

I think people are upset because it's not them putting the fish in the livewell.

Better me than you kinda thing.

[geo17]

if you read above i thought the crappies were there to spawn, so i thought keeping them was harmful to them reproducing. if that isn't the case which walleyenutz stated then there is no problem. BUT, you can't tell me if all of those fish are congregated in one area for whatever reason with that many boats catching fish and keeping them, it doesn't hurt in someway. it's like shooting fish in a barrel out there. Keeping fish is up to individual, i just hope people aren't keeping more than they should considering the limit also includes fish in your possession at home, that's all. thanks...

[Kodiak]

if you read above i thought the crappies were there to spawn, so i thought keeping them was harmful to them reproducing. if that isn't the case which walleyenutz stated then there is no problem. BUT, you can't tell me if all of those fish are congregated in one area for whatever reason with that many boats catching fish and keeping them, it doesn't hurt in someway. it's like shooting fish in a barrel out there. Keeping fish is up to individual, i just hope people aren't keeping more than they should considering the limit also includes fish in your possession at home, that's all. thanks...

geo, i apologize if you thought it was a shot at you, it wasnt.. i have just been seeing that on forums lately. i feel the same as you in some ways that it cannot be good to be pulling that many fish out of one area, but i think it will be alright, people are self regulating pretty good out there from what i can tell. but there is a select few "fisherman" that have made the drive out there to fill buckets.

btw- nice fish your boys are holding!