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

[steiger]

Kind of my same story fished fountain for bass while dad was in the back chasing some bluegills. Started around ten fished until 5. Five bass two blue gills and a nice perch is all we could come up with.I still think last winter was harder on it then they proclaim.

[dan z]

Trolled around Madison lake yesterday evening 3 northern and a LMB. 13'-20' foot. Was a nice evening fishing.

[TrollnDrift]

Fished this evening, tried jigs and lindys from the weedline out to 16 FOW, no luck. tried casting to the weedline with a hand full of different lures still no takers. Finished out the night trolling from 10' out to 25' from 1-2.5 mph and still nothing. Anyone have any luck tonight?

[pikerliker]

Not me. I fished Saturday morning on Madison pulling spinners, slip bobbering. Tried several different depths and spots on the lake with a big fat 0 for any kind of fish. Went out Sunday morning on Mazaska with the same result. Nothing!!!

[zepman]

You're fishing too deep then...go in to 1-4 feet of water and just LOOK at all the baitfish in there...it's amazing at this time of year.

Madison has been a really good lake for us all year long....

[pikerliker]

I actually was going to try that Zepman after everything else was not working but ran out of time on my 2nd outing. I will have to give that a try next time out.

[TrollnDrift]

Fished circle lake tonight, jigged over a few sunken trees. Trolled 5-10 feet. Finished up casting at downed trees and around the grass islands. No bites.

[JosMN]

Fished mazaska yesterday morning. Got into a few eyes in 8.5-10 ft of water. Ended up with a couple 17s, and a 22. Also caught a lot of crappies and one big bull sunny. Flicker shads were the bait of choice. 2.0-2.3mph

[dan z]

Fished lake Washington Monday was very very slow. Tried trolling in my go to spots with no trips of the clicker. Did catch a nice crappie still fishing off of second point. Lots of boats in that area tons of fish on the screen.

Fished Madison lake yesterday and today and found that the local bait store spilled the beans on the trolling bite as there was a parade of boats around half the lake. Caught a 6# bass over by the church bar. Today the lake was less busy and the fishing was a little better but still no eyes. Caught a couple puke. With this lady taking the cake.

[dan z]

Fished lake Washington Monday was very very slow. Tried trolling in my go to spots with no trips of the clicker. Did catch a nice crappie still fishing off of second point. Lots of boats in that area tons of fish on the screen.

Fished Madison lake yesterday and today and found that the local bait store spilled the beans on the trolling bite as there was a parade of boats around half the lake. Caught a 6# bass over by the church bar. Today the lake was less busy and the fishing was a little better but still no eyes. Caught a couple pike. With this lady taking the cake.

[TrollnDrift]

Fished Shields this morning. 530-800. Found the panfish in 9' of water. Sheepshead in 15, and had a fish take my hook in 18' but no idea what it was. All on crawlers.

[pikerliker]

Found a few sunfish (enough for a meal) in only 4+ feet of water Saturday. They seemed to like small leeches the best.

[TrollnDrift]

Fished cedar by Elko last night. Not much action. Found panfish in 7 fow. Tried trolling only caught leaves. Used minnows and crawlers on jigs and lindys, cranks for trolling.

[dan z]

Fished Washington and east Jefferson on Monday trolling in 20' and moved into 10' with not much luck seen fish on the screen but only caught a pike on Washington later than supper time.

Fished Madison today and put walleyes and crappies in the box. 13-17 f.o.w and plenty of misses trolling my guess was crappies tripping the clicker and ripping lips off.

[eyepatrol]

Pannies are really starting to school up right now on most area lakes. Use your electronics and set the sensitivity up there as high as you can stand it without blotting out your screen. Drive around until they show up in solid numbers and you can really have a day of it. Walleyes are a bit tough to come by, but if you hit it right, they can be lights out. It's been a couple weeks since I've fished them, but last time out I was done by nearly noon with a limit by pitching jigs & live bait. Really hit or miss for me though.

[TrollnDrift]

Fished Fariboult area this morning. Found fish in 8-12 FOW. Jigs and lindys both produced however lindys were a bit better. All fish caught on crawlers. Brought in a few nice sunnies, a nice walleye and a couple large sheepshead.

[bigsam]

Fish are starting to switch to more fall-like patterns. Had been finding them in 10-12 FOW, this weekend was all about 16-18 FOW. Even got into a 24", which, given the put-and-take stocking system in our area(which I have NO problem with), is a dam fine fish!

Get out and enjoy the great autumn weather with a bucket of minnows and some 1/8th to 1/4 oz jigs!

[MattL]

The fall bite is heating up! I got out for a few hours this morning and found walleyes and crappies stacked up in 22-24'. Water temps were in the low 50's. I released this dandy that hit a jig and minnow.

[MattL]

I spent some time in the wind today rigging suckers looking for more piggies. Missed a few hits and hooked up with one good fish in 20' of water.

[Matt C]

I've been poundin the walleyes in the late evening. Very close to shore inside the weedlines. Jig and plastics and jig with a fathead. Also tossing husky jerks and salmos has been grabbing them as well!

[pikerliker]

Hey Matt is there a defined weedline still or more patches?

[eyepatrol]

Green weeds and rocks are holding real good numbers of eyes right now. 2ft - 8ft depth ranges are producing eaters and dandies. Jigs & minnows have worked well during daylight hours. Raps as shallow as right up by dry shore have produced at night.

[Matt C]

Hey Matt is there a defined weedline still or more patches?

Patches and just general knowledge of the lake and where the line should be.

[MattL]

The weather sure was nice this weekend considering we are in the latter half of October. I got out both days and targeted the same depth ranges as last weekend as I did not mark anything of interest shallower. I switched between jigs/fatheads and rigging bigger minnows (4-5"). The fatheads were bringing in the occasional crappie, but I was after walleyes. I had several hits on the bigger minnows, but almost every time I'd pull up a chewed up dead minnow. I did pull in one walleye about 23-24".

[Billy G]

Checked lake francis and cedar, about 2in of ice 100 yards from the landing

[Letsgofishin500]

Anyone been out to Lura Lake in Blue earth County? I was thinking about going this weekend and was wondering what ice might be looking like!

[On The Bottom]

Made it out on Fountain in Albert Lea, went out near the city beach and found 7.5 inches of solid ice!! The fishing was not as great.....

[bigsam]

Got into some nice ones with Rubber Ducky on the "pond" today.

[pikerliker]

Nice job guys! I tried the North side of Elysian last night. Ice was good about 6-7 inches. Fishing was not. Marked a lot of fish only caught 1 bullhead. I was the only one out there. Didn't look like many people had been out in that area.

[no bait nate]

I've been mixing it up on the Rice County lakes but I've been on the ice every weekend for a month! It has been a year of ups and downs so far with a few outings spent searching for nothing more than a goose egg, and other outings having it all come together.

I've been fishing each morning from about 6-11 am, starting fishing walleyes and then searching for other fish after the first hour or two of sitting. Have been getting more action jigging spoons over deadsticking baits but both have been pulling fish topside. Finding more fish in the 17-20' range than the 9-14' range that I started the year at.

I've also been trying to fish into the mud off the sand edges rather than over the sand. Seems like I'm getting a better mix of fish over mud and the bite is stable for longer, rather than such a short window of "primetime". Finding the schooling bait fish seems to be easier over that deeper water and we all know what the bait fish bring.

I've also been trying to fish farther into the flat of a feeding shelf rather than on the steep slope or right on the edge. I don't know if that's the difference maker but I'm going to keep doing it until it proves otherwise.

Color and presentation proved key on Sunday when I fishing directly next to two other guys who darn near got skunked... I had iced a nice walleye and had caught some crappies to start the day but then things slowed. I changed from red, to green, to orange. Then from flyers to rattlers and onto slender spoons. Finally my buddy hopped in my shack and I told him it was about to happen. I threw on a pink buckshot with a single hook dropper and bang! 18" walleye raced off the bottom and hit it on the way down. My buddy couldn't believe it until he sat there for a few more minutes and I stacked a couple more crappies and a nice perch on the ice. It was almost instant once I found what their trigger was that morning. Ended up being a great morning and an even better afternoon fish fry, Good luck guys and hope to bump into some of ya on the ice!