metro area Metro Area Minnesota Fishing Reports & Ice Conditions

[Wanderer]

Does anyone know whether Maxwell Bay is any good for ice fishing? I have fished Maxwell and Stubbs quite a bit during the summer, but am just wondering whether it would be worth trying it through the ice.

I've ice fished Maxwell before for crappies. It can be O.K. but there's been better spots to go on Tonka.

The area I found crappies in is just south of the channel to Stubbs. You can maybe zero in on the deepest area off the western shore to start drilling but I had to cut a lot of holes to locate the school. Once we located them during the day we could pick a few off but as the day faded and the activity increased they rapidly dispersed to wherever they wanted to feed. Probably the closest weedlines.

Hope that helps.

[joefish1116]

tried marion on sunday, from 3-7, marked fish whole time but only managed 4 small crappies and a decent northern, was in 18 fow

[Willy10]

Any Prior updates?

[FishLocker]

Fished Thoel Saturday, 3 hours, 2 in the party, one Crappy

Fished O'Dowd Sunday, 5 hours, 6 in the party split in 2 different ares (20 feet and 12 FOW), 3 Crappy, slushy ice road on the way out, and 8 inches of water in the tire ruts on the way off the ice.

[rugbymn]

Nothing wrong with finding your own spots.

Nope, not at all. By looking for "my own spot" I managed to find a crappie hole that has produced consistent 10"-12"ers every time out for the last 5 or 6 weeks. Yeah, it's nice getting away from the crowd and finding your own spot.

[rugbymn]

Does anyone know how the accesses on Brown, Smith, and Crystal are?

[mosquitoman]

how are the conditions on waconia? i was going to head up to mille lacs monday but will have to stick closer to the cities so will most likely head to waconia.

[jerry91]

I was up today on shermans flat. Did terrible 1 nice perch and 1 eye. Worst day of the year.

[rugbymn]

Access on Smiths was fine on Saturday. Still a good 19" of solid ice.

Unfortunately, the fish must have taken the warm-up as a sign to go on vacation. I bounced all over the area and not a single mark on the Vex.

[hart0670]

Fished in Spring Park bay saturday afternoon overnight until this morning (sunday) around 10:00. there were plenty of crappies towards dark and even until about 8:00 last night, then a few this morning until about 8:30, but very few with any size. After the crappies moved out this morning we had all the sunnies in the world, but again, not much size. We were fishing in about 21 FOW, all of the fish were suspended up around 10 ft. Waxies did the best for sunnies, crappies were hitting on both waxies and small crappie minnows.

Access road was good, still about 18 inches of ice.

[anprickette72]

Anybody try Dutch lately for the Crappie bite? I am thinkin about trying it this weekend. Don't need specifics just whether anybody is catching eater size fish lately.

[boilerup]

Anyone been doing any good on grays or carsons bay lately? I havent been to Carsons in awhile. Hows the landing fishing etc?

[Acemac]

carsons is in good shape.

[fishin4fun85]

was just on Grays from about 9 am to noon yesterday...marked fish...couple of bites....no takers....btw....where did all the ice go? I only drilled through about 15 inches everywhere I went on that bay....you wont see me driving out anymore!!

[boilerup]

You sure about 15"??? I measured plenty more than that. Maybe ill have to double check that tomorrow.

[anprickette72]

Went out on Tonka today and where I was there was no issues with solid ice. Everywhere I went was 20+" just the accesses are getting sloppy. Fished in 11' and was getting quite a few nice size gills.

[boilerup]

Fished Carsons last night and did pretty well 3 nice crappies and 10 big sunnies. I only fished about thirty minutes till the lantern mantle broke and my flasher died but all in all not a bad evening.

[Matt S.]

Hit a west metro lake this afternoon just as the snow started to fly. Setup in about 13 FOW, used Euro's Waxies, and crappie minnows.

Caught 5 crappies about 10", and a small hammer handle pike, I snapped a pic, and sent back on it's way.

Left the lake about 7:30pm

[fisherman-andy]

So the hardwater season almost over and I haved pretty much caught all the panfish, pike, walleye I want this season. However there is one elusive fish on Prior that I want to be able to iced... "The White Bass." Yeap you heard it. I hear seldom or rare stories of people catching through the ice on Prior but have never been able to catch one on Prior itself.

No spots, just pointers in the right direction be helpful.

[boilerup]

Can you still chase white bass now? Is there a season for them? Back where I grew up we used to get into them on the ice basically on feedng flats where you might find some smallies and perch in approx 20 FOW. They were all feeding on minnows. they were tough to make bite but were a really fun fight.

[boilerup]

Anyone been out on Grays bay lately?

[trappingaddiction]

White bass have a continuous season with a limit of 30.

[scott b]

Was in Wayzata bay on Fri. 25-29 inches of ice. Auger almost bottomed out. Very safe still.

[anprickette72]

Went on Black Lake today and literally cut about 20 holes without seeing a fish on the Vex. I think it's safe to say the panfish haven't moved into the shallows, yet

[BronzeBrother]

The ice is out... The crappies are hitting already on smaller lakes in the South metro in the shallows. Fun stuff. Just got back from a small lake with the kids and we averaged ten inch crappies all on Gulp Alive one inch minnows and crappie nipper jigs in pink or bright green. We got about two dozen in about an hour. All released for others to enjoy. Will be heading back tomorrow to see if the action continues...

[fishhunter197]

I was out on Thole lake yesterday mostly running the boat. Felt great to get back on the water

[BronzeBrother]

So we went back to the little lake for the crappies and they did their usual disappearing act. Not even a single bite. Lol. Oh well that's why it's called fishing.

[abcnerdd]

Are there any lakes around the metro with 8-10" crappies biting? Shore fishing, no boat.

[anprickette72]

Went on Tonka on Wednesday in what should normally be a good locale for spring crappies and I caught only dinky perch. The Crappies must still be out in deeper water. This weather needs to come up bit in temp...

[TKOGWEE]

No Crappies in the normals on indie yet (as of Mon). Water was 47 to 52. This rain will probably hold them off for a while longer. On Spurzem we found lots of dead Carp, Sunfish, Crappies, and Bass. No Crappies caught and marked very few.