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

[AndyM]

Only got out for a few hours all together this weekend. Fought the wind yesterday for awhile, nothing. Decided to sit in a calm bay and catch some rays with a cold beer, started bobber fishing outside weed edges. Caught 2 eyes, missed a few more. Took the wife and kids back to the same spot today. Caught 4 eyes and a dandy northern. Only able to go out for 2 hours today, but well worth it, considering the results. Was fishing in 7' of water.

[TruthWalleyes]

Did fairly well fishing the windy side yesterday. Shallow bay 7-10'. Slow trolling #4 Salmo's. Got just about everything to participate. 5 walleyes, 15-20 northerns, 5 sunfish, 4 crappies, snagged about a dozen perch, and 1 pesky drum that bit on a crank! All released.

[MinnesotaMongo]

Northerns and Bass - lots of fun, but interfering with the walleye. heh...

[Matt C]

haha! get em Mongo!

I've been off work all day and decided it's to hot (only green carp bite in this weather anyways)to go fishing.

Please check me into the looney bin now!

[KyleM.]

haha! get em Mongo!

I've been off work all day and decided it's to hot (only green carp bite in this weather anyways)to go fishing.

Please check me into the looney bin now!

Actually yesterday took the kids and wife out, caught three decent northerns in the 30 inch class and on the way back to the dock wife caught a 23.5 inch eye trolling rapalas & cabelas floaters in 8-12 fow. The SouthEast wind really slammed against the NW shore so that's where we focused.

[Matt C]

Very nice! Bonus dinner fish

[AndyM]

Wind and weather conditions didn't affect the walleye bite once again this after noon. Caught a few more, missed some as well. Good afternoon of fishing.

[no bait nate]

R.I.P Grampa Bill. We'll remember you forever and the passion for fishing that you taught all of us.

after a family funeral today i went out on the lake tonight to wet a line for old times sake. needless to say i had one of the best nights i've had on a local lake in a long time. fished from 7-9 tonight in the bucking wind and decided i'd just troll all night. pulled #4 hornets and SR5's in 9-12' on the windy sides of the lake and couldn't keep the fish from biting. caught 3 nice pike, 4 eyes including one 25 incher, 2 nice bass, and more sheepies than any fisherman would care to touch. great night on the water even though my little boat took on quite a bit of water (most of which was dripping off the landing net!)

TK, if you check this out i was trolling the inside bend right infront of your cabin. good luck...

[Jaspernuts]

Hopped around a couple are lakes tonight and the panfish action was great. Probably caught 50 sunnies and kept 10 for a meal. The females are so full of eggs they look like they are going to explode. Caught some of the biggest fish I have in years. Released the females and kept some medium size for eating.

[therat]

The wind was a blessing...I've never caught walleye in a lake so shallow before.

[MinnesotaMongo]

Jaspernuts - I agree with the Panny action. Took my daughter out after she got off of her overnight work. Hot - and lots of pannies going in the weeds - cool site fishing...

No bait...

[KyleM.]

Just got off the lake and done cleaning fish

wind switched out of the West Finally!

Picked up 6 eyes with the wife... 2 17s 2 19s and 2 that were 25

also picked up 5 Northerns in the 25-30 inch class

3 white bass

couple jumbo perch

and I lost count how many Drum.

all in 6-10 fow trolling # 9 rapalas

[Thulie]

Slow on Tetonka tonight. Caught a few sunnies in shallow water, and nothing while trolling. Talked to 3 other guys who said about the same.

[love2fish4ever]

That's what I've found too & anyone I've talked to.

I have been able to get crappies pretty consistently, but only by working the weed edges. Definitely not concentrated in any one spot. 11-13 ft. Working the walleyes or decent pike has been nearly non existent. Guess were on the wrong lakes by the sounds of it. By the way, welcome to FM, it's a great site.

L2f

[Matt C]

Trolled 2 different Faribo lake last night. Nothin but sheephead biting salmo hornets.

[KyleM.]

Trolled 2 different Faribo lake last night. Nothin but sheephead biting salmo hornets.

I've had a lot better luck w/ lower profile baits recently, mainly Rapala original floaters and cabelas version, tried the larger profile baits with little luck.

Hope this helps.

[Comit 2]

I went out this morning looking for Bass. Boy did I see alot of them! All on nests! I tryed for them for a short time but they seemed to not be in a feeding mood. So I started fishing for the Crappies and Sunfish that were also on nests. It was a fun day sight fishing panfish. I boated a lot of Black Crappies and releast them all. The Gills were big as my hand and some took some line. The big surprise of the day was a Green Sunfish that was bigger then my hand. The only thing I cought to much of was the sun. So I packed it in at noon. When the Bass are off the beds I'll try for them again.

[basskiller]

Anyone have any luck on the largemouth in the fairbault area. introducing a friend to the wonderful world of bass fishing a would like to keep him occupied.Any info would be awesome!

[Comit 2]

I saw a lot of Bass in the shallows yesterday. They were on nests around Crappie nests. With the high pressure and clear skys the Bass didn't seem to want any thing to do with my lures. I'll throw in the full moon and say it must be a night bite. The good news is there is a front comming in and the bite will be better as it moves in. Don't think that you should stay at home with this bad weather comming in. Fish can't tell time and with the clouds comming in this could be a great bite.

Work shallow flats near deep water and look for holes in the weeds. Sand and gravel are the key.

[smnduck]

Bass, sunnies, sheaphead, and walleye are going gangbusters on the inside weedline. Find an inside weedline that is 4 foot or deeper on the windy side of the lake and slipbobber it with crawler pieces or small leeches. All the action you can handle and you don't know what is biting till you reel it in.

[Thulie]

Inside weedline? I couldn't find one on Tetonka. The weeds were pretty well solid from 2ft out to about 9ft before they dropped off.

Are there any lakes in the Faribault area that don't get overrun by milfoil as the summer goes on? I am used to Minnetonka where there is plenty of lake unaffected by the weeds.

[MinnesotaMongo]

The bass were going nuts today - my son and I picked up 8 in 2 hrs - the biggest being 19.5 - crankin'. The smallest went 14 and the rest were in the 16-18 inch range. Beautiful fat fish. Fun day...

[smnduck]

Lake near mankato. Spot on a spot type thing. Fishing a 1000 sqare foot area. My kids said that thier hands are tired. My wife said she has never caught that many fish. All I did was bait hooks and unhook fish. Non stop for 2 hours. The kids didn't even drink their juice until all the bait was gone.

[walleyehunter80]

and what kind of fish were you catching? not too impressive if it was bullheads, and sheephead. Fun but not impressive

[Morneau132]

Catching fish is fun! Sounds like his wife and kids had a blast also! Bent rod and tight lines, gotta love it!

[zepman]

Catching fish is fun! Sounds like his wife and kids had a blast also! Bent rod and tight lines, gotta love it!

[Comit 2]

Quote:

Inside weedline? I couldn't find one on Tetonka. The weeds were pretty well solid from 2ft out to about 9ft before they dropped off.

Are there any lakes in the Faribault area that don't get overrun by milfoil as the summer goes on? I am used to Minnetonka where there is plenty of lake unaffected by the weeds.

Tetonka doesn't have milfoil. Most lakes in the area don't have Milfoil.

I think what you are talking about is curly leaf pond weed. It is starting to flower (small green spikes above the water line) and soon after it will die off. Then we will have it floating around on the lake for a week or so then it well clear up.

What you need to do is look for areas where there are no weed in the shallows. They mark hard bottom. Fish the spot then look for another. You will find fish doing this. Also look for water 3foot or less for spawning panfish, you will see ther nests. Sunfish nest will be next to each other and Crappies will be just out of sight from the next nest. You want deep or moving water nearby.

[rosinjw]

Any tips on fishing Sakatah? I want to take my kids out to catch some fish.

[no bait nate]

fished a local lake tonight for a while. spent most of the night searching for buffalo and carp bowfishing with no luck, the rain must have pushed them out of their normal haunts.

should have been spending my time elsewhere. trolled the last half hour of daylight with hornets in 12' of water and picked up two decent "eater" walleyes. not a bad way to end the night after the rain today.

[harvey lee]

I had a good evening last night for the wally's.

I was working a weed line in 5' of water. I would either troll a Salmo crank or I was casting a floating Rapala to shore and retriving it.

Water temps were 69.5. Fish caught, 4 nice fat 15-17" fish and approx 20 smaller ones. All fish came from 6-8pm.