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

[KTapper]

Fished today with hexi flies and gill getters with waxies and or spikes. Caught some nice crappies, and some gills, and even a decent sized bass was hungry. 11ft of water with a foot of weeds.

[stymie]

Jaspernuts, could you shoot me an email at [email protected] I just have some questions on the ice condition. Thanks!

[dan z]

went out to a local lake this am and found some small eyes. Hope the big ones are close. missed a flag first ten min. missed one jiggin. and then when we pulled missed one on another flag. good first day I would say.

[7outof10]

dan z nice to see your geting out shoot me an email we need to get out and fish some time soon

[zepman]

Dan Z...how much ice out there?

Nevermind...caught your other post up the dial.

Thanks for the updates.

[KTapper]

The green carp bite is picking up on German!

[walleyehunter80]

hey kevin , Are we talking bass here? never heard "green carp" before

[dan z]

found some eater gills on jefferson ta de. think shallow

[jcpmn82]

I hope those are pictures of bait......

[dan z]

hey now! as long as were catching something it dont bother me. sometimes its fun to catch the smallest fish. you got to have finese my friend.

[jcpmn82]

"It's not the size that counts, it's the tug on the line".......

[dan z]

"It's not the size that counts, it's the tug on the line".......

love that phrase

[KTapper]

hey kevin , Are we talking bass here? never heard "green carp" before

Yeah green carp would be bass ha.

[walleyehunter80]

hey kevin, i going to head down to my favorite winter lake on sunday morning with grant, interested? If you dont already have plans for sunday your more than welcome. We have not been there yet so this will be a scouting trip to find fish

[KTapper]

Ill give you a call later today and get some info from you and see what you have in mind.

[no bait nate]

got my house out on a local lake today for the first time of the year, got a couple perch and a small eye to show for it but not a bad time, looks like i need to resolve some mr. heater issues though

[KTapper]

Yeah your telling me mine burst into flames and had to throw it out the door.

[no bait nate]

at least ya had heat right?

[KTapper]

It was a faulty propane tank so switched it out and she was good to go!

[Rippinlip]

First main fishing day in the Faribo area today, have been out doing some scouting and checking ice, been down to the Red wing area in the backwaters too, that all has produced very little up to today.

Started out today just checking out the GPS from last year and went to the 1st spot on a local lake that the GPS showed and I could not believe it, there was fish there.

Sometimes it just works out, so my friend and I set up our houses and had quite the riot for a few hours.

We caught a mixed bag of pannies on a inside turn of a slow tapering bar, it had some grass and small cabbage in ther also.

I caught enough to make a meal for my wife, daughter and I.

[KyleM.]

half way decent perch bite on shields, on sand in 13ft of water. had to really work em w/ the flasher though i limited out w/ a couple 12s and a 13, most were 10inches. a few guys had a lot of flags on tip ups, in 10-15 ft of water half way down. also heard perch are biting some on Circle.

[Breu18061]

Hey Kylem I just moved out torwards lonsdale. im not familiar with the lakes and am looking for aplace to try. I got all my own gear. shoot me an e-mail [email protected] hope to hear from ya

[no bait nate]

fished a local lake today with a friend and his dad. found fish in 28-30 ft of water. caught about 25 panfish, one eye, and a 8lb pike. the old man had a fun time with the pike on the jiggin set up. 8 of the panfish went home with us but the rest were a little on the small side

[therat]

Was on Duck this evening. Smaller pannies were catchable but a little finicky.

[zepman]

Got on a few eyes tonight on a local lake...caught three between 14"-17" and lost three of the same size right at the hole. First time out this year...was nice to get out on the ice again.

[tori's dad]

Went to Madison lake yesterday and fished from 11 to 3 pm - caught ten small cigar walleyes in less than 10 ft- nothing bigger kept waiting but nada. jiggin rap - nothing on buckshot spoon - caught a few crappies deeper also- nothing to brag about. Still great to be on hard water again!

[sleepless dad]

Fished Volney this afternoon drilled holes from 10-30 FOW off the point on the south shore working east along the flat towards the public access. Marked only two fish the entire time, both were about a half hour after sunset and luckily caught 'em both so I guess 'm battin' 1.00. One crappie and one perch neither were anything to write about though. I kept moving to try and find fish, but the flasher was blank in every hole. Pounding and using jigging spoons to attract fish didn't amount to much either. I had the entire lake to myself which was good, but I was hoping to see more fish on the ice, maybe the north side is better. Does anyone have helpful ideas for lake, the DNR report is encouraging but this afternoon wasn't.

[JIvers]

I made my once-or-twice a winter road trip over to the Walterville-Elysian area today; I started this morning on the east bay at Lake Frances.

The panfish bite on Frances this AM was non-existent where I was at--I never saw a bluegill or crappie, and this was right where I couldn't keep them off my hook a couple years ago.

I did catch a 12" green snot rocket who decided to chase my panfish rig. He hovered below it and made his lunge two or three times before he finally hit it. I was able to watch it on my Marcum, which was the most fun I've ever had catching a hammer handle.

At noon I moved over to Tetonka, a lake I have never fished before. The best I can say for the fishing there this afternoon is that it was better than the bite on Frances. Every so often a pod of bluegills would move through, and I would hook one before the rest moved off.

The bluegill I got were decent-sized, and hit aggressively, which makes me think I wasn't quite in the right spots. (I was fishing the edge of the weeds just off of the fish hatchery.) I also saw a few bass and a dogfish on the camera. I had a tip-up down, but never had a flag at Frances or Tetonka.

[Bassboy1645]

Small crappies and sunnies on lil jeff by cleveland....Nothing that im looking for though. Taking a break here this am then heading out in 5 mins same lake to drill some holes to find something worth fishing. Really not into the whole panfish thing.

[no bait nate]

went out during mid-day today and found some perch to be pretty active. had to weed through them for any size though. did catch two smaller walleyes while i was at it though. very tough getting around out there, even with a wheeler