Albert Lea-Austin-Faribault-Mankato-Northfield-Waseca, Fishing Reports

[Joe]

Feel free to post fishing reports here for South Central MN. Mankato-Northfield-Faribault-Waterville-Albert Lea-Austin-New Ulm-St Peter and all the towns in between. Let's hear about some fishin guys!!!!

[Team Otter]

South Central MN Weekly Fishing Report, 1-13-09

Ice conditions remain good on our area lakes and the snow cover is still manageable in most cases. Generally speaking, there's 16 - 20" of ice and 2 - 8" of snow cover. On some lakes, walleye fishing has slowed to a crawl while others really heated up this past week. Focus on lakes in the area with large main lake points and/or flats and mid-lake structure in deeper water. Most walleyes are either being caught in 20+' of water or in less than 10' of water. JB Lure's Rattlin' Varmint, Lindy's Rattlin' Flyer Spoon and Northland Buckshot Spoons tipped with a small fathead minnow are still producing but most fish are responding to a more simple approach; plain hook and minnow under a float or rattle reel. The fish in shallow water remain focused on abrupt changes in either depth or bottom content or both but seem to be more focused on the harder bottom side of a transition than water depth. The pan fish bite that was fairly steady has slowed some over the past week but good opportunities still remain for those willing to do a little searching. Crappies, 'gills and perch are all using 4 - 8' flats with cover right now, so if you're a sight fisherman or woman, now's the time! The fish are responding well to plastics but Flutter Jigs from Fishing Minnesota's own Outdoor Pro Store are also producing. After the sun sets, look for some action to be occuring right under the ice. It also doesn't hurt to have a second line down with a plain hook and minnow under a float when targeting pan fish too. If fish are under you but not hitting your presentation that is being "worked", keep a close eye on your float because it's probably going to go down. Keep the lights dim and hang on!

[riverrat56]

I have been finding deep transition areas to be providing the most consistent walleye and perch action right now. As always it is a forage driven bite, some nights I will catch all small perch until sundown and then the walleyes will light up, but the nights I catch nice perch, the walleye bite is almost none exsistant!

The best area I have been in is a rock bar that tops out at 17' and drops too 22'

As for crappies, I have found a few roaming out in the main basins of lakes, not neccisarily the deepest holes, but out away from any structure. That said, I did share an afternoon with PDOGG last weekend targeting crappies in 5' in the middle of the day. However the most consistent fishing has been deeper.

[Scott K]

Slow fishing for me as well, out on Washington. I have been moving around some, but its been hard to do that the last few days.

[wplatehunter]

I agree fishing on Washington has slowed down with the cold weather.

[zepman]

Fished Washington this morning and it was slow also. Fish on the screen all morning but not much for takers. Set up in 12-14 ft. of water.

[Cold_blood]

i've been fishing smaller lakes and the action seems to be pretty consistant in 10-15' but i'll post something tomorrow night after i'm done thinkin bout hittin german? or something like that ha

[eyepatrol]

My buddy and I hit the ice yesterday afternoon and it was slow for us as well. Tried deep water for crappies and ended up icing a 28.75" walleye which was the highlight of our day. Talk about thick! She's still swimming.

Shortly after that we had a guy drill holes every 15' apart and did a complete circle around our house about 25' away from us. Needless to say the fish we were marking and catching were gone in an instant so we moved to other parts of the lake but drew a blank.

[BassMan25]

My buddy and I hit the ice yesterday afternoon and it was slow for us as well. Tried deep water for crappies and ended up icing a 28.75" walleye which was the highlight of our day. Talk about thick! She's still swimming.

Nice fish! You have any pics of the big girl?

[eyepatrol]

Unfortunately no. I left the camera at home thinking we'd just take pics of our panfish when we got home. Called my wife and told her the story. She asked if we took a pic and I said I left the camera at home. To which she reminded me that my cell phone has a camera! Never thought of that as I've never used the camera on my phone. Makes me sick to my stomach to realize it as my buddy caught it and it was the biggest 'eye of his life. We do have the memory and a dandy story to remember for the rest of our lives though.

[BassMan25]

Unfortunately no. I left the camera at home thinking we'd just take pics of our panfish when we got home. Called my wife and told her the story. She asked if we took a pic and I said I left the camera at home. To which she reminded me that my cell phone has a camera! Never thought of that as I've never used the camera on my phone. Makes me sick to my stomach to realize it as my buddy caught it and it was the biggest 'eye of his life. We do have the memory and a dandy story to remember for the rest of our lives though.

Oh, how typical. You remember to bring your camera with and then dont catch anything worth taking a pic of. But when you forget the camera, then the big ones start hitting your line. Happens all the time. Just an expectation you have to get used to in fishing. Happened to me a few times this year while fishing for smallies. All you can do is smile.

[Cold_blood]

went out today it was windy but the fish couldn't tell caught 25-30 found it odd that i had a lot of sunnies hittin on a minnow instead of a waxie but o well i was happy to oblige and feed them didn't keep any today but would have had a nice limit anyone else do any good today

PS thanks JD for the suggestions

[depopn44]

I was out on this evening and it was windy. Did manage to catch a few tight lipped crappies but they were not that willing to cooperate. -Nate

[Scott K]

I was out on this evening and it was windy. Did manage to catch a few tight lipped crappies but they were not that willing to cooperate. -Nate

Ditto!!

[sleepless dad]

I was out friday, the only person fishing on this little lake, and the 8+" gill were active as ever in 20 FOW just below a 15' flat. Size 12 white & pink jig with red euros falling really slow has been the ticket.

Crappies started feeding aggressively in the same spot around 3:30 until dark, but they were the same size as the gills or smaller.

I'm heading out today with my son, he wants to give these gills a try and we'll update this report tonight or tomorrow.

[Cold_blood]

i was out today and had a total of 4 fish caught and one of them was a chub minnow that but on my minnow head first time i've ever heard of that happenin..........it was completely different than yesterday

[7outof10]

i was out on wash for the early morning bit ... started fishing at 7 am cough 2 really nice sunfish then we moved to bakers bay and nothing at all in there moved around a lot try everything from 23 fow and then worked are way up into 12 foot fow and nothing back there at all then went to German and nothing going on out there and then went to duck and nothing go on out there ether

[BK19]

hey 7outof10 we ended up catching some nice sun nies and 3 crappies one was 11 3/4 inch PS (i caught that crappie in one of the holes you had your portable set up)but when we got home i was unloading equipment and my wife set the pail of fish in the house where the dog had his way with them GRRRRRRRRRR so no supper for me

[7outof10]

lol..... what time did they turn on bk19

[7outof10]

bk19 shoot me an email

[Jesse Drummer]

awsome , i can kiss that german spot good bye huh?

[BK19]

awsome , i can kiss that german spot good bye huh?

yup there was so many people out there drilling holes that it is open water now

[BK19]

bk19 shoot me an email

email sent

[Cold_blood]

idk if its actually good bye yet but there were a lot of people but nobody was by me and we had fish all day so stay away from the crowds i guess

[Jesse Drummer]

idk if its actually good bye yet but there were a lot of people but nobody was by me and we had fish all day so stay away from the crowds i guess

Or stay away from my perm when im not there ! HA!

[Jesse Drummer]

bk19, ya my perm does not float so could you help me pull it out? jk I would ask pdoggy but his heavy diesel gets stuck too much! lol

[PDOGG]

I would ask pdoggy but his heavy diesel gets stuck too much! lol

That's no joke! Time for some new tires on that bad boy!! I won't be getting that truck stuck again mark my words!

[Cold_blood]

Originally Posted By: Cold_blood

idk if its actually good bye yet but there were a lot of people but nobody was by me and we had fish all day so stay away from the crowds i guess

Or stay away from my perm when im not there ! HA!

whats that spose to mean the closet i've fished to a house is like 200ft cuz i dont like crowds they scare me lol

[sleepless dad]

OK so I took my son out to the same spot and depth I had been catching nice gills during the week and he out fished me with a single perch! There was a lot of activity on the lake near by and my son kept saying all the drilling and snowmobiles were scaring the fish away. I didn't understand it, sitting in the same spot, same depth and same time and the finder was blank almost the entire time. When fish did show they'd look and leave.

I hope I didn't scare my son off of ice fishing, he was really looking forward to catching some of the gills I had brought home just a couple of days earlier. Anyone else have this happen where you find a spot and it produces for you, then when you come back with someone else the area is the dead sea?

[jrpohlman39]

Every time. This happened to me last year.. I was up visiting my uncle in Aitkin so we took a trip down to Mille Lacs for the jumbo perch. There were five of us and we just killed them. Got back to work and bragged about it and convinced everyone to take a day off work. We got there and all we could catch is a few perch the size of my thumb.