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

[Jesse Drummer]

mille lacs is different than lakes down here! perch and most of all fish in mille lacs move alot every day its a different location but usually not too far . sleepless dad, there is a reason why the gills were at that spot before. try to find the nearest spot from where they were previously that has the same or close to the same features! some times if i'm fishing a sand/ muck flat bang a heavy jig or the camera on the bottom a few times to make a "cloud" of debris. try to have one bait in the cloud and one just above the cloud. i have had great success doing this. espically when others are making noise .

[Team Otter]

South Central MN Weekly Fishing Report, 1-20-09

Ice conditions remain good on our area lakes but the snow cover that was manageable is becoming a little more difficult to deal with. Now, it is an issue of drifting. In many cases, 4-wheel drive is your only option, especially when accessing and leaving our area lakes. Walleye fishing is slow but those that have an opportunity to fish through the nights continue to be rewarded with identical presentations from what was working last week. 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 is slow too if you continue to pursue the same fish in the same locations that have been producing the past several weeks. Good opportunities for solid action still remain for those willing to move off the heavily pressured schools of fish and 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. If the pan fish are not using flats, focus on the basin areas nearby and be prepared to search out the entire water column when looking over deeper water. Pan fish traveling right under the ice this time of year, regardless of time of day, is not uncommon and often times, not tapped into.

[Cold_blood]

i was gonna post this same info TO lol ps ya got another believer on the horizontal jigs

[Jesse Drummer]

I went out to the perm again today, needless to say i came home with a pale full of fish! only caught 4 crappies though. 4 flags and no fish on tip ups. still nice to see the flag!

[riverrat56]

Got any more info Jesse? Depth? Structure? Lures?

[mnhunter79]

Those were probably sheepies or carp flippin your flags. LOL

[Jesse Drummer]

Got any more info Jesse? Depth? Structure? Lures?

should of been at the german get to gether. sorry lol

lures: think small and heavy

colors: shinny

depth: 11 fow (from bottom of ice)

structure: edge of weed line on break to 14 fow

[Jesse Drummer]

Those were probably sheepies or carp flippin your flags. LOL

I don't think so Ben, you were not with me this time! ha ha lol

[Cold_blood]

Originally Posted By: riverrat56

Got any more info Jesse? Depth? Structure? Lures?

should of been at the german get to gether. sorry lol

lures: think small and heavy

colors: shinny

depth: 11 fow (from bottom of ice)

structure: edge of weed line on break to 14 fow

the fish are around i was no where near his house and still managed to catch mine but for me it was more like this

lure:small and tipped

color:think christmas

depth:9

structure:flat w/ weeds

hey JD came lookin for ya afterwards but ya moved your house and i didn't wanna try and keep lookin lol

[Jesse Drummer]

cold blood, no i did not move, same spot all week. there was a red eskimo that went in between us and blocked our views.

[Team Otter]

FYI for all.

Fishing reports here; general dialogue elsewhere. Thank you.

[depopn44]

I was out for a long time on Sunday with minimal success. Tried Frances, Tetonka (For the first time) and Madison. Did manage to catch a few crappies and sunfish throughout the day but nothing great. Fish did not feel like cooperating, lots of lookers but couldn't get much to bite. Fished out on Washington on Monday evening and found some small perch over by grassy island with nothing pass sunset.

[eric29]

Went out yesterday and managed a few nice walleyes during the day. The biggest being a 24 incher. The walleyes all came off a deadstick. Marked alot a fish but not many bit. Was only able to get a small crappie jigging.

[Cold_blood]

was out on duck caught one sunnie that was smaller then the bait on my tip up talked to a guy spearing and he said he didn't even see a fish....zero zilch notta nothing

[charlie1959]

3 of us fished reeds all day 4 small gators 12-16 inches wow weedline 10 ft suckers/shiners made no difference,where to go tommorow ???????

[wplatehunter]

Got a few on Washington today. Better than last week.

[Cold_blood]

how deep on washington

[Cold_blood]

went out to german and franny today german was a lil slower specially since there was a lot more activity by where i fish and franny had limited success in bout 6' but didn't keep any and i never got a flag

[depopn44]

Had some good luck on washington today. I moved around a lot and after the third spot managed to find some panfish. Took a while to find them but it ended up being fun. Caught 30-40 crappies and sunfish. Some really nice sunfish too. all released

[Jesse Drummer]

Just got back from Loon. one bobber down and nothing when i set the hook. fished in 6fow.

[bigeyechaser92]

hey wanger do you ever fish above RAMSY dam?

[wanger29]

Sure, not too much over hardwater. Like to get into some of those daytime pike & big slabbers. Just never get around to it in the winter.

[bigeyechaser92]

from shore or you have a small boat there?

[wanger29]

Just shore, either near railroad bridge or retriever's.

[BezD40]

I went out all day today and was a little worried with this cold weather, but the fish were hitting for the most part. I had the best luck with a fast falling lure and then just letting sit in front of the fish with no jigging. For the 1st the fish wouldn't hit lures with plastic.

[Jesse Drummer]

Super P and I hit up my little "honey" hole today and caught a pile of fish again. a few people close to us were not having similar luck! We tried to hole hop a little but it was way too cold .

The first fish

Super P with a hog through the ice!

[zepman]

Picked up a few nice crappies on Washington tonight in @ 24 ft. of water. Really soft bites, will barely move a spring bobber on 2 lb line. Waxies/spikes tonight nothing on minnow heads or the dead stick. Need to find some more aggressive fish.

[butcher]

Has anyone fished Circle, just curious, and what you catching?

[AndyM]

Know of quite a few people that have fished Circle about 2 weeks ago, 2 perch and that was it. They started in the narrows and ended up on the east end. Fished for 5 days solid and that's all they caught. Ooops, they got 3 bullheads as well.

[BIGRED07]

was on elysian last night 0 bites marked fish but would not bite. not even sure what they were