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

[PerchSlayer]

The drum bite on Mazaska is hot right now.

[Scott M]

Nice work truth! Cool graph screen grab. Thanks for sharing.

[TruthWalleyes]

Not much posting in the SC forum...Everyone must be out after the hot drum bite

[jed]

after spending last weekend wally fishing and catching everything but, i went out in pursuit of sheephead and could find any.............just walleyes!!!!!! hit up a smaller less travelled lake this weekend to avoid the crowds and couldln't entice a single drum but did manage to catch some walleys and bluegills. has anyone else noticed a "resurgance" of larger gills this spring?? i've had the pleasure of finding numerous gills that have ran 10+" this year, something i have struggled to find the last couple of years......

[TruthWalleyes]

Last june i had a good month of catching large gills, I haven't found them yet! Good to hear someone is...They're a blast to catch!

[luckycrank]

seen quite a few spawners yet as of saturday

[Morneau132]

seen quite a few spawners yet as of saturday

There are some big daddy gills still sitting on their beds on Kelly Dudley

[Comit 2]

On this page look at all the Walleye pics. Not the fish, The shadows and the water surface. Just a tip.

[Matt C]

Well guys, all I can say is....

I have NOT been fishing in over a month now. Busy work schedule and family vacations. I was actually home, and ready to fish during the 'hot spell' but decided heck with that!

I WILL be getting out on the local Farbo lakes in the next few evening and hope to have some positive reports.

Hope all has been well. Tight Lines! And lets see some pictures and read some reports for those of us that have been land locked.

[ted4887]

I'm heading out tomorrow afternoon for sure. Unfortunately, my reports are only going to consist of bass/pike reports. Sorry Matt

Hopefully you do get out these next few days and enjoy this "cool down". Heat indexes only in the 95-100* range tomorrow!

[Matt C]

**ss ALMOST sound good at this point .. keyword.. ALMOST

Go git sum pike buddy! Lemme know how ya do!

[pikerliker]

I would love to hear some reports on pike. I grew up catching those guys and loved it as a kid. I still would if I could find some consistent 3-8 lb action like the lakes I used to fish as a kid in the Buffalo Annadale area.

~piker I

[ted4887]

Sorry a bit late on the report, but fishing was slow for me anyways. Went down and fished a few lakes south of Mankato. Pretty nice weather though, so that made it tolerable.

Anyone been fishing bass/northerns lately? If so, still finding them shallow, or are you going a bit deeper? The few bass I had were all in about 5-6' water.

[Matt C]

**** dont count. Thats like putting food in a fish tank.

However, the pike are cool.

[kg2]

Why is it the high and mighty walleye fishermen that makes it out fishing once a month that try to pass on these negatives? Go figure...

[Matt C]

Once a month..if I am lucky

Just gotta talk trash man. All in fun.

[Matt C]

So I FINALLY went fishing today!!!!!

It was a 95% kids swim, 5% dad gets to fish.

So, I got 20 minutes to troll.

Hit Mazaska, south shore and trolled a Blue/Silver Salmo #4 @ 1.1 to 1.4 mph.

I could not keep the white bass off my line. Man they are fun. I did get a bonus 9" FAT Sunny.

8 to 13 FOW was the ticket for the whities.

Now, I did scratch my itch, however, after over a month of no fishing, getting 20 min....I have the fever BAD! I'll be out all weekend.

[GlassEyeangler]

you mentioned the white bass were biting. i'm curious if anyone eats them? i can remember as a kid a few of the bigger one's would always make it back to our house in the cooler. i think most everyone knows i don't like bass, but mainly referring to LM and those yucky red eye'd things; however, i cannot remember if the whites were any good to eat?

if i did any kind of bass fishing it would be for white bass.

i'm also asking because my Dad (77) now lives with us, and looking to get him into something he can handle throughout the summer. his favorite thing about fishing is cooking them up right after getting back to the house.

funny quick story...i took him musky fishing and after he hooked up with a decent-sized tiger...he has been laid up for three weeks with a pull in his lower back.

ultimately he will be back on the walleyes this fall.

[Matt C]

I have never had them, but I have seen some really good looking smoked recipes. They are a really soft fish. I'd assume if you are going to filet and not smoke, soak them over night in salt water.

[zepman]

My friends and I used to eat them all the time. They're not the best but if you cook them right they can be pretty good. We had access to a cabin on Lake Pepin and caught them like crazy all summer long...literally hundreds of fish a day.

Wish I still had access to that place!!

[GlassEyeangler]

thanks guys...we'll give a it try next week, and what the heck - another species to put on the tally...he he.

it's so funny when a fish doesn't taste good we always end up smoking it.

[KK]

White Bass are very good eating IF you cut off the dark red fat layer on the skin side of the fillet. Soak in salt water for a couple hours or overnight and the fillets are very tasty and firm. If you leave that layer of fat on they will have a strong fishy taste. I do this with all the fish I catch and have converted many fish haters. My son-in-law will only eat fish that I have cleaned and cooked.

[GlassEyeangler]

good to know about removing the red (fat) portion off the fillets. i'm actually thinking of smoking the fillets, letting them cool, then making a seafood salad out of it.

[ted4887]

Got out again today looking for bass. Not much to talk about except for one 19". There were a few small ones, and some small northerns took a few swipes at some cranks, but were missing. This warm weather spell has slowed the fishing down for me. Looking forward to some cooler weather!

[smeese]

The red area you refer to is the lateral line which also tends to hold more of the mercury then the white part of the filet...along with minimizing the fishy taste, you lose some of the local toxins

[mosquitoman]

went out today from 6am-noon. didnt catch anything until 10:30am. I did lose a nice bass in thick weeds earlier on aweedless frog. ended the day with 2 pike (22"/27"), 1 crappie(11"), and 6 drum which were very aggressive. all were on a jointed shad rap in 10-13 fow trolling abour 1.5 mph.

[Matt C]

I hit up French this morning for an hour or so.

Trolled at 1.1 to 1.4mph. Firetiger Salmo out preformed all other color Salmos. Caught a very nice 11 inch Perch, a few crappies (smaller) and 1 green carp. 8 to 16 FOW.

Water temp was ~ 81 to 83. Weeds seemed to have died off quite a bit.

[TruthWalleyes]

You tried all the Salmo's in an hour!!

[Matt C]

well...no. lol.

Had 3 lines out. Silver/Blue, bullhead, orange/green and Firetiger All #'4's and #3's

[TruthWalleyes]

So what your saying is that if i DON'T put on the firetiger, there's a better chance of me NOT catching one of those ugly green carp