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

[Scott K]

Lets try to keep this on topic, and use this for Fishing reports.

[pikerliker]

Truth and da_chise thanks for your responses on the Blue Earth river. I have been wanting to do some more river fishing as I haven't done much but think I would like it. Also I went out on Lake Washington Thursday morning. Tried casting shallow for some eye's but mostly found Mr. Bass. 4 of them in the 14 to 16 inch range. Fun to catch at least. I started trolling a clacking rap around mid day and did manage one 18 inch walleye but that was it for the eyes for me. Water temps ranged from 56 on parts of main lake to 61 in shallower bay spots.

[TruthWalleyes]

I got to fish a lake i've never fished before (Cannon) and one that i haven't fished in 4 years (shields) this weekend. Gave the sheephead a workout

Crawlers, leeches, shiners, suckers... slow death, spinners, lindy rig'n....SHeeps and nords.

[Hoglips]

Went out on Washington in the rain yesterday, caught 2 nice sunnies, 1 little eye, a gorgeous perch, and a few bass. Also got bit off, assuming it was a big pike, it hit like a log...

[minnleu]

Has anyone been on Hunt Lake near Fbo this year? Just wondering how it is doing after freezing out some last year. I tried it last summer and it was hammer handles every cast and a few bass. Not nearly as productive as the past years for bass but I still like that lake.

[ripnlips99]

Hey guys i was just looking for some tips on where to start looking for walleyes in the morning on washington any help would be greatly appreciated any certain area doing well/depth/presentation/bait ?? Thanks

[Firsttime]

looking for a good place to take my kids this weekend roberds,shields, fox or circle lake. Looking for pan fish

thank you for the help

[luckycrank]

sheilds and or mazaska would be my first pick

[harvey lee]

Taking my granddaughters out Monday for some panfish action.

Any info on the local bite around Mankato for panfish?

I have noit been out for a few weeks and wondering if the crappie are done spawning and if the gills are in the shallow water

Feel free to e-mail me if you would rather not post here.

[email protected]

Thanks for any direction

[Rubber Ducky]

Firsttime,

Email me, Ill let you know were my buddies are hammering some nice pan fish.

[dan z]

Found eyes in water you could wad in. And to top it off if you were an Olympic long jumper you could probably jump across it. that's my report as I don't want to spill the beans.

[TruthWalleyes]

My eyes and bass last night were all caught in less than 4'. Sharp shoreline breaks, cranks and planers.

[pikerliker]

Fished Washington Friday and Sunday. Caught several walleye but they were all small like 11 inches and smaller. Caught a few pike with one pushing 30 inches and more sheepies than I care to mention. Also accidentally snagged a piggy carp on the dorsal fin with a floating rap while casting shallow. It pulled me around, back and forth and almost wrapped my line around a dock post at one point. About 15-20 min later I finally got it in the net. Just shy of 30 inches long and an 18 inch girth. That was fun!

[dan z]

Fished Madison today from 8a -1p and found out that the slimmers like white crank baits from 11'-22'. Did see a walleye on the line until it shook off boat side. Tried all different colors and depths in between my #'s mentioned. Great day on the water. Was trolling 3-4 mph trying to find the really active ones w/o much luck. May try jiggin Tommrow.

[therat]

Was on washington yesterday with a friend and found quite a few fish. Lots of species and a few big ones of each. They seemed concentrated. Only certain weeds were holding fish.

[7 grand kids]

Found the very same as therat on another lake. IMO weeds and dirty water (relative to the rest of the lake) were the key. Fished in less than 6' of water, twister tails and a slow retrieve, no live bait. Lots of minnows jumping in area. Walleyes were in the 3' range. Water temp 77 when we left.

[dan z]

Hit big Jeff up today with the crank bait box found fish in some deeper water was trolling 3-4 mph over 23'-30' and my clicker rang a few times but only a couple nice northerns hit the box. Was using a tail dancer that read 20' on the bill. Water temp was just shy of 80° found some great stuff while trolling and way pointed it to go back too. Great trolling session today

[dan z]

Big Jeff got my attention today trolled

In less than 15' and connected with countless nice pike. Me and and buddy left with our limit of 22"-24" fish. Water temp was 77°.

[dan z]

I'm no pro but I eliminated lake hanska off the list today. Water was GREEN! and we could not even snag a floating stick out there this am. Seen fish but none boated.

[pikerliker]

Big Jeff got my attention today trolled

In less than 15' and connected with countless nice pike. Me and and buddy left with our limit of 22"-24" fish. Water temp was 77°.

Dan can I ask what you were trolling with (spoons, cranks, etc)? Thanks

[slipbobbin]

Don't think it really matters. Was out there pan fishing yesterday morning and the northerns would chase your catch or even hit the bobber on the reel in. Daughter boated a couple smaller northerns casting a Dare Devil.

[mosquitoman]

did pretty well today. took my parents fishing and helped my mom land a 21" 5.5# largemouth! I got two nice pike (25/31")and 5 walleye and my dad had fun with a bunch of crappie, white bass, and sheephead.

all fish were in 10-13 fow trolling at 1.5-2 mph using salmo and rapala crankbaits.

[pikerliker]

Nice job mosquitoman! I love good multi species days like that.

[dan z]

Pikeliker, I think anything that runs in a 3'-5' range will put pike in the box. I can tell you we had a magic # of line out and it was way less than a hundred feet out.

[pikerliker]

Thanks dan.

I had the magic number out today on Mazaska but I was locked into Sheephead!! I had 5 of them smash a crank. 4 of them on a salmo and one on an x rap after my salmo got bit off by what I'm assuming was a pike. 2 of them almost had the entire crank swallowed (just the bill poking out) when I pulled them in! :0 I guess I've never had that happen before. I also had 2 very aggressive blue gills impale themselves one on the salmo and one on the rapala. Also got a couple pike. Seems like the only thing I couldn't catch was what I was targeting which was walleye. I did manage 1 small eye that I C&R'd but that was it for the eye's. I think I might try Jeff for the pike the next time out.

[JosMN]

I have been doing well out on Mazaska both on the weedline 6-8 ft on a #4 salmo and 10-12ft on the breaks with a #4 salmo superdeep diver. Havent been out there in a week or more, guessing things are getting a little more aggressive out there....

[Rubber Ducky]

Piker,

If you want pike we pounded them on Shields on Friday. Pulling #5 fire tiger Salmo's. Also managed some big Sheep's. We did get one over 38 off the rocks on the west side. Also seen a couple of old boys catching some eyes off the grass island. They were power corking with looked to be fat heads. We had our best numbers on the south point and on the end of the island next to it.

[dan z]

Was on big Jeff with the same results as previous report. Fun day!

[dan z]

I have an open seat for tomorrow any takers ?

[pikerliker]

Piker,

If you want pike we pounded them on Shields on Friday. Pulling #5 fire tiger Salmo's. Also managed some big Sheep's. We did get one over 38 off the rocks on the west side. Also seen a couple of old boys catching some eyes off the grass island. They were power corking with looked to be fat heads. We had our best numbers on the south point and on the end of the island next to it.

Nice fish Ducky! Even though the walleye is my favorite I grew up fishing pike mostly and still like to target them once in a while.