metro area Metro Area Minnesota Fishing Reports & Ice Conditions

[Portlis]

Not sure where all the crappies went on Spring. Been out there 3 times, fished all four corners and everything in-between. Can't seem to find any. Did find a few perch. Maybe after the towns get built out there it will stir them up some.

Not sure where they went? It probably has something to do with the 100+ people that fish it every day, even more on many days last year. I know people like to think that their harvest has zero effect on fish populations, especially panfish, but on a small lake like Spring it's no wonder that they are hard to find this year. Personally, I'm glad. Not that it does any good really.... all of the meat hogs have moved on to other lakes in the area which are now getting hammered and over harvested themselves.

[LOWinEYEin]

Has anyone been able to shoot thru the ice with the re-freeze..and how bout current ice cond/thickness (s metro) but anything will don

Thanks

[chuckwagon]

I've been able to shoot. Rough ice is a little sketchy.

[swmnbmw]

Was on Owasso this past weekend and a couple weeks before that. Ice was about the same both times at 13 inches approx. Fishing however was slow.

The first time we were on the lake, we spent the day on the east edge of the shallow flats that covers the middle of the lake, managed only to catch gobs of tiny perch. One nice northern on a tip-up but otherwise didn't trigger a tip up all day.

The latter time we were out,we set up in the middle of the deep basin in about 26 feet of water (south of the public access, straight east of the point) and didn't hardly catch anything. Set up half a dozen tip ups and not a single one was tripped all morning. Managed to get some small panfish while jigging.

Bottom line: for what i thought was supposed to be a walleye gem, this lake had some poor poor fishing. I won't be going back.

[Bogie04]

If you are targeting walleye the best time to get them on the line is right at sunrise and 90 minutes before sunset. Another thing...if your going to fish deeper water your gonna have to punch multiple holes to find the fish. Best tip I can give is to find the weed line and don't be afraid to go into shallow water. Jigging or having tip ups right above weeds can really produce! And remember eyes are most active early morning and right before sunset. Best of luck, hope this helps you on your next trip!

[Lusid]

North Metro ice - anoka/coon rapids / blaine etc lakes are showing around 16-18" of ice with plenty of cars driving on most lakes.

PS - Use common sense when driving out there.

[Mr.690]

I am sure this has been asked, but how are conditions on Browns Bay on Tonka, I assume with the weather its safe for truck travel?

[DaveZman14q]

People catching walleye shallower or deeper lately? I've been getting cigars out of 17-20 feet on the rocks, and can only find crappies deeper off the breaks 28-32ft (silty areas). Cant find deeper rocks. There are perch out deeep during the day but dissapear and the crappies move in at night. No decent walleye. Any ideas?

[clayton08]

Heres a pic from yesterday was alone so crappy pic those are 17 inch rims the slab was cpr'ed......was a touch under 14 got a couple others around 12 but this one was the big fish of the day lots of small ones also. It was all on a metro lake that gets overlooked.

[Matt S.]

Very nice crappie, great color on it.

[Lusid]

Hey all, now that we are approaching early March, figure I make a post and have others comment on how the lakes are holding up.

Slush?

Melt?

Landings?

Water?

etc.

Thanks!

[Sunnies Boy]

Boy was prior slow this morning.

[CatholicConis]

Hit up Gray's Bay for a few hours this morning. There is still two feet of good ice out there, although the landing is starting to get messy. Found sunnies in the weeds and also at about 17 feet. The shallow fish were biting better early, and then late morning the deeper fish were more cooperative. That being said, the only fish of size were shallow. Almost got a nice bass through the hole, but he broke off before I could lip him. Saw several bass on the camera, and one small pike. No crappies to report. Enjoy it while it lasts!

[RawHog]

15 inches of ice on josephine on May 30th. First 20 steps out I was breaking through about 6 inches of crust before hitting solid ice. I figure the shoreline ice will begin to become very sketchy very soon.

I drilled four 8" holes there on the 28th and came back on the 30th and they had doubled in size!

Melt! Melt! Melt!

[clayton08]

Went out yesterday on a local lake drove the 1/2 ton out after popping some holes by shore to check the ice thickness. Had 20 inches so drove out, the accessess are pretty beat up on most the lakes, so driving on will be coming to an end very shortly. Just have to drive up by alex as I do every other weekend anyways.

[that_guy]

I was out on Owasso on Friday afternoon. Solid 20 under 2in of water. Lots of water flowing down through cracks. I also had was on the bottom of the lake for the first 3 or 4 feet from shore. I am calling it a season in the metro.

I did enjoy walking out without the shelter. I used the striker ice bag loaded with my electronics and such, threw the auger over the shoulder and hoofed it. The auger on the shoulder wasn't the most comfortable, but I was pleased with how easy it was.

[hart0670]

Went out with my cousin on Minnetonka last night trying to chase up some pike in the rain. Caught a few decent pike, but many more bass. The rain didn't seem to slow anything down. We were casting spoons and large in-line spinners. The pike were generally in 6-10 FOW.

[clayton08]

Went out today was pretty warm out just shore fishing on a smaller west metro lake. Pounded the sunnies was wading about 30 ft out in 3 fow on a outlet creek. Nothing huge coulda kept a limit of borderline keepers. I had a about 4lb bass attack a sunnies that I was reeling in happened 5 ft from me was cool. Also seen 2 snapping turtles mating it was pretty awesome probably never see that again. They didnt care about nothing just doing there business.

[mrklean]

Went to a metro lake last night trolled spoons for about 3 hours, 3 pike and a 19" bass and missed about 3-4 others all fish caught were outside weed edges 8-12 feet water was like glass not a bad way to spend a friday night.

[Lindyrig81]

Was on Minnetonka on Saturday bowfishing/dodging boats.. Absolute mad house out there. I'm seeing a lot of nice muskies and northerns while I'm bowfishing,Around ecoli island. Big island I mean... Water gets very dark after going through the main channel. Tried trolling, to many floating masses of weeds. To many boats. I hate the weekends out there.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

I found the ice conditions rather poor this morning so I went home and came back with the boat.

Sorry, couldn't resist. On a serious note, is anybody catching bass in this weather? That wind has been horrible for boat control. With the major cold front blasting in, how does this week look?

[BrandonJ]

What's up

[mrklean]

a few lakes i drove by yesterday the shores were skimming up but the wind kept them open, temps are looking good for ice though

[OnAFly]

C'ville and Peltier still had open spots this afternoon.

[SurlyRobot]

Checked out a small west metro lake today, still had a small open area. Walked out a little bit maybe 40 or 50 feet and there was 3" of clear ice. You could see pretty clearly where it started to thin out and I measured 2.5" on the edge of that and that's as far out as I went. It was a steady 3-3.5 all around the edges but you couldn't really get deep enough to fish, it was mostly dead or dying weeds.

[BrandonJ]

Dang stuck at work all day, how's it lookin post some pics of where you drive by today

[fishnowworknever]

This should satisfy you for a bit...been looking all morning.

Tonka:

http://www.minnetonkayachtclub.org/Webcam.aspx

http://www.therockwells.net/webcam/webcam.htm

Medicine:

http://www.hartysboatworks.com/webcam.htm

[BrandonJ]

Thanks for the links, I did not know about the webcams on tonka.

[SurlyRobot]

The open spot on the lake I checked yesterday is frozen over now but the ice is still pretty sketchy. The ice in the areas I checked had only increased by maybe a quarter of an inch. I was only out there for about an hour but there must have been a dozen or so others who either came out to check or asked from shore.

[jvm1]

Guy fishing Owasso tonight when I drove by. He was out a ways too. A little crazy if you ask me.