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

[Matt C]

tu chey. .. lol. Yes sir!

[Matt C]

Hit another lake today. Caught quite a mixed bag. Quite a few sumo sheephead, one popped the scales at 4.1 lbs. Lots of small crappies, a few gills, a couple bass, and one was a monster.

A few northern, one was a pig! We didn't measure it as it was a tough fight and wanted to get it back on the water right away.

Oh ya...and a few walleyes. 16"ers.

Salmo hornets baby

Great morning on the water!

[griffdus]

the big pannies should be showing up on main lake bars. anyone been doing any good with them on local lakes

[ted4887]

I picked off a few decent(7-9") pannies with the fly rod on frances today. Still shallow though. Otherwise, fishing was fairly slow once again. Did pick off a slob 19" bass.

[griffdus]

thats a dandy bass especially on a fly rod i was on francis last fri and fished northside where there is a rock point with a island of weeds or grass and picked up limit of 8-9 inchers along with few bass and one 22 in walleye right at dark.

[ted4887]

Oh sorry, I should specify, the bass wasn't on the fly rod. Just flipping jigs at docks.

[mnhunter79]

Gonna spend the wknd at bray park on madison lake, how has the fishin been lately? dont need specifics. just a yay or nay. maybe a depth if yay.

[Matt C]

If they hitting like the Farbo area...do not go deeper then 7 FOW.... Troll at 1.2 to 1.4, and make turns. very specific. Straight trolling wont get em.

[GlassEyeangler]

Got out on Mazaska yesterday afternoon with limited success. I was actually after white bass and ended up with only one. Threw him back of course. I was using #4 Hornets and smaller Rapalas, catching only 5 fish total...2 blue gills, 1 crappie, 1 white bass and 1 perch. i must have missed them, and i have to admit...i was fishing the wrong time of day as well. lots of boats out though!

[zepman]

Had a real fun evening/night out on Madison tonight...drop-shotted some docks mid-afternoon and had a blast with some real nice bass(18"+) ...numbers too. Trolled much of the evening using my favorite lure from Berkley and brought home a limit of crappie and a few real nice sunnies...no walleye to be seen. Always a bonus fish here and there on this lake...tonight it was a 8lb northern. Thought it was a big walleye...stayed really deep until it got to the boat and then it ran three times. Disappointing, but soo much fun. It was absolutely beautiful on the lakes last night.

I was trolling anywhere from 7-15 ft. of water...no special structure seemed to be the key...very random bite. They seemed to shut down as the clouds covered the lake...maybe they just moved shallower??? Great day to be out there!

[mosquitoman]

was out today with my dad. was out from about 6am-noon. brought home 3 crappie, 3 nice sunnies, and one 17" walleye. all fish were in 10-15 fow and we only used #4 salmo hornets (white, and yellow perch).

the sheriff was also on the lake checking boaters. i have been fishing for most of my life (30 years) and have never been checked while fishing. I was happy to see them out there!

[ted4887]

I got checked on Francis last week as well. It's the second time this year I've seen them out. The first time was on West Jefferson.

[JosMN]

We rented a cabin this past wkend since my inlaws were going to be out here, was a great time. Caught a lot of fish on salmos 6-12ft. Lot of little crappies, sunfish and an enormous amount of sheephead, one tipping just over 10 lbs. Fun to catch, but you know right after they smack your hornet that its a sheephead. All in all was a good wkend, didnt fish a lot, but was happy to see my father in law catch a few.

Went tubing a little for the first time in about 10 years, can't hardly lift my arms today.

"nobaitnate", was that you out there on saturday afternoon? me, my wife, and a couple friends were slowly cruisin the lake. You were on the east shore, we were in my buddies alumacraft tournemant pro just heading into the resort.

That water out there sure did a number on my boat hull. From sitting there on the dock, beneath the water line is almost black! Better give her another jjv's best treatment again before I put her away. Wish mine was painted underneath, that bare aluminum gets smoked by the lakes around here.

[no bait nate]

Yeah that was me in the 14' tan fishing boat. I was fishing the same pattern and lighting up the sheepies. I did get get into a lot of crappies out on a mid lake bar at about 8'. Fished sunday also with less luck but had my dad in the boat for the first time in a few years, always a good time. Next time ya see me out there don't be afraid to say Hey and see what the good word is. Ya never know, one of us might be on some fish if we're lucky...

[Matt C]

Had an EPIC time tonight fishing. 40 plus fish in a few hours. Perch and Crappies both inhaled! They hit the lures like they haven't been fed in months.

4pm, 4 to 6 FOW, after 6pm, 8 to 12 FOW.

1.1 mph at first then sped up to 1.7. Water temps at 82.3. Local Farbo lake.

What a beautiful night on the water.

[JosMN]

Yeah that was me in the 14' tan fishing boat. I was fishing the same pattern and lighting up the sheepies. I did get get into a lot of crappies out on a mid lake bar at about 8'. Fished sunday also with less luck but had my dad in the boat for the first time in a few years, always a good time. Next time ya see me out there don't be afraid to say Hey and see what the good word is. Ya never know, one of us might be on some fish if we're lucky...

Thought about yelling over and stoppin by, but wasn't possitive it was you. I'll make sure I stop if I see you next time. We also got on a ton of crappies, on the south bar, lower west inside turn, about 8 ft of water also. Lot of guys anchored up in that area fishing pannies. I hardly saw a walleye fisherman all wkend, most were fishing skies or pannies.

[JosMN]

Well, got out this morning, brought my Vizsla pup Ruby. Was on the road by 545, let me tell ya, it was a foggy one. Got to mazaska, and holy toxic waste dump! Did something happen out there? There were more dead sheaphead than I have ever seen. I'm not talking on shore, they were in middle of the lake also. About every 30-40 yards, there was dead fish all over. I was on the lake no more than 15 minutes, the smell was just too much to handle. Being it was flat calm, that didn't make it much better. Loaded up the boat, pulled weeds off the trailer another 15 minutes and headed to Fox, much cleaner. Was extremely hard to see with the fog till about 9. Ended up catching 15 sheepies, 3 largemouth, and no walleyes. Threw everything I had at um, but no luck. All in all it was great to get out, and other than the fog, the weather was beautiful. Still worried about Mazaska, been fishing it for years and have never seen it so bad.

[Matt C]

It was overly green, like worse then Shields the last week as well.

Surface water temps a few weeks ago in the mid to upper 80's.

Maybe shoot a call to the DNR - Waterville office tomorrow to tell them what you saw about all the dead fish?

[cribbageboy]

Hit Lexington (Clear) this morning. Surface temps were right around 80. Thought that was a little warm for a lake with so much green on the surface. Mostly did some trolling, but did snag some small crappies. We kicked the speed up to keep those little buggers away, and was surprised when we hooked into a bullhead on the north end of the lake. All in all, a slow but beautiful day. Battled the fog as mentioned until a little before 9.

On a side note...

We weren't originally planning on fishing Lexington. Pulled up to Gorman around 7 but took one look at the access and left. The weeds were terrible. I think we would have had better luck with an auger and jigglesticks!!! Don't know how the DNR doesn't notice that fishery is slipping FAST.

[IA4PATS]

We were out on Madison Sunday morning and saw about 5 dead sheepies. I just figured somebody was killing them when they caught them. Sounds like there is something else going on over there.

[JosMN]

Yes, it was very bad out there. What worries me is, what does the bottom of the lake look like? Are there fish laying there dead too? Sheepies have the bigger air sack dont they? Which also worries me because they are a rough fish, and I thought they could take depleting oxygen levels better than walleyes, northerns, etc? I'm going to drive out there after work and have a look. Maybe I'm over reacting, but there were not just a few fish floating, there were hundreds. And the shorelines, you couldn't go 20 yards with out seeing a few floaters. I did send an email to waterville DNR late lastnight, haven't heard back yet. I would think that some cabin owners have already informed, or maybe this is something of the norm that happens on Mazaska each year? I myself I have never seen it that bad, and I have fished it the past 5 years. But in reality, what can the DNR do?

[Matt C]

Thank you for e-mailing them.

[TruthWalleyes]

Very interesting reports about sheephead dead on the water. Lots....Lots of dead sheephead floating in washington, i figured it was just all the people fishing for panfish were killing them. Also saw a few on madison, but not many.

Still putting walleyes in the boat in 30 fow or deeper...Suspended @ 18'

[JosMN]

Thank you for e-mailing them.

Well I had to do something, it's the lake that I love to fish A LOT around here!

Took a drive past there lastnight after work. A few boats out there, all the dead fish are now on the shores. The southern shore is stacked with them. Looks like somebody, the DNR maybe, cleaned all of the weeds from the launch. The lake looked better from when I last saw it, dead sheepies doesn't bother me at all! Just hope everything else made out ok.

[Matt C]

Any new reports? I have been on a nasty work schedule again that has prevented me from fishing the past couple weeks.

[Eric_Kruger]

Any reports from the albert lea area?

[NEANGLER]

Fished German on tuesday in the rain and caught a few bass and northern on jig worms and few pike trolling raps. Wed hit Jefferson and marking a lot of suspended fish but no luck so moved in closer to shore and fished for bass, about 3-7 ft of water. Saw a lot of bass chasing minnows so decided to go w a smaller presentation. Went with a 1/8 jig and 3 inch gulp minnow and tore up the bass. Biggest was 18in - 4.5 lbs(fat!) and several in the 3-4 lb range. About 30 + in all between the 2 of us in about 2 hours. Then it just shut off again. Great time and hope to be back after the lakes turn over.

[Matt C]

Great report! Thanks for sharing!

[no bait nate]

Floated the Cannon river today from Faribault Woolen Mill to the Cty. Rd. 29 bridge with the girlfriend. Had a good time but didn't do as much fishing as I'd hoped. Spent more time controlling the canoe but did anchor in a few spots and get got out for some casting. Got a few smallies on cranks and missed a few fish on jig/minnow combos. Great day on the water, especially a different style from the lake, despite the few fish caught.

[mosquitoman]

went out this morning for a few hours. not many people on the lake today..... and people didnt miss much. managed four fish, a 10" crappie, 8" sunny, and two bass 14"/18". the bass were active and hitting top water baits like crazy which is always a good time. I missed about a dozen more but i guess they wanted to do more jumping than biting.