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

[crappiekid]

Nate were you on the favorite lake???

[Rippinlip]

Out for just a few hours this morning and found a good batch of average sunfish and kept a dozen for dinner.

Started with Genz bugs and waxies, kind of timid biters, switched to a ratfinki w/waxies and still slow. Switched to a schrimpo and Wham Bam, that was the ticket.

Tossed back a few bigger ones and lots of smaller ones.

[Scott M]

Heard a good report from a local mom and pops bait shop...Northerns on Cedar, walleyes on Shields. Wish I could tell ya first hand, but I'm about to finally taste first ice tomorrow!

[Whisker Warrior]

Heard the same and had a buddy send some pics....i as well hope to test the waters Mon-Wed!!!!

[no bait nate]

CrappieKid- If the "favorite lake" is where I met you that day, then I haven't even fished out there yet this season. I believe there are much more promising options this year. If only my GPS worked I might be able to remember what lake I was fishing on.....

[simple1]

Heard a good report from a local mom and pops bait shop...Northerns on Cedar, walleyes on Shields. Wish I could tell ya first hand, but I'm about to finally taste first ice tomorrow!

There are NO walleye in Shields Lake. Say it with me. And if there were, they would be just west of the boat ramp in the 3fow. Correct da_chise31? hmmm.

Simple1

[crappiekid]

Thanks Nate merry Christmas and good fishin. I think i know where you are!! cya

[Wabamskee]

how thick is the ice around faribault? any problems fishing in these temps this week?

[Harpenter]

It was 5-7 on Roberds & 5-8 on French on Thurs/Fri when I was there. Saw a couple of guys on 4 wheelers.

[bigsam]

Heard from a reliable source that a big crack was made today due to the winds and warmth. BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!

[your_bobbers_down]

Which lake is the crack on?

[bigsam]

French.

[Matt C]

Put in an hour on the ice today. As soon as the sun started going down the feed bag was on! Iced a very fat 17 3/4" walleye, and brought home 3 crappies over 10 inches, one was 13.25.

I'll be setting up the portable tomorrow and putting in some quality time out there tomorrow.

Pink tipped with crappie minnow worked very well today.

As for that 'crack'...walked right over it, it was at best 1" wide.

[bigsam]

The "crack"....yeah, the guy who told me about that has a tendency to over exaggerate the size of things.

[LunkerLover84]

Fished a local lake near St.Peter today that had a cove/bay that kept the wind out pretty well. Between me and 2 other buddies we iced 23 crappies(all 9' or bigger) and 4 sunfish. I figured with the mix of sunshine, warm temps, and wind the fish might be turned off. Clearly i was wrong. White swedish pimple tipped with red spikes were the ticket today!

[Whisker Trout Slayer]

Put in an hour on the ice today. As soon as the sun started going down the feed bag was on! Iced a very fat 17 3/4" walleye, and brought home 3 crappies over 10 inches, one was 13.25.

I'll be setting up the portable tomorrow and putting in some quality time out there tomorrow.

Pink tipped with crappie minnow worked very well today.

As for that 'crack'...walked right over it, it was at best 1" wide.

Pics or it didn't happen!!!!

[Matt C]

Pics or it didn't happen!!!!

Bustin my chops man! lol

[BoneCollector9]

washington lake is slow caught about 7 keeper crappies between 10 am to 3 pm pretty slow but will catch a few

[no bait nate]

Fished a local lake this morning and afternoon. Fished a.m. from 7:30 until about 9. Bad day for the panfish when they are lighting up plastics with no regard to their own well-being. Fish were everywhere in 8 FOW. Caught more fish than I could keep track of, mix of gills, crappies, and perch. Could have had a few crappies for dinner but the majority were under 9" for the other fish. All C&R.

As for the afternoon I fished with a good friend and fellow HSO member and we put the hurt on them. Fish relatively the same area, but a little shallower, 6-7FOW. Started slow around 3:30 with more gills than others. We needed a little meat to entice them to bite tonight. Once the dinner bell rang at 4 o'clock the crappies were darn near jumping out of the holes on their own. My friend brought in a few more fish than I did but I don't think there was much time in between fish for either of us. Much better size on the crappies tonight and we could have filled a pail with fish over the 10" mark. Trick was tonight I switched up to a 3/16 oz. Buckshot spoon tipped with minnow heads to try to keep the little buggers from getting it in their mouths, and it worked well. Action was non-stop until about 4:45 and then slowed down, guessing we iced well over 40-50 crappies during that period. We also swung and missed on 4 flags, couldn't tell you what the deal was there...Couldn't have asked for a better way to catch up with a good friend than a couple Nordeasts and some tight lines. All fish were C&R today, can't wait to get back out....tomorrow

[Wabamskee]

i was out on washington on wednesday around the same time and i agree, it was slow. just a perch and a pumpkinseed, but 8 inches of clear ice.

i hit up french on tuesday, and was on a solid 6-7 inches of clear ice as well, the crack is well frozen over by now.

thanks for your reports, always nice to hear active chatter in weather like like it has been. hopefully we will be solid until march/april now

[harvey lee]

I hit a local lake this aft right after it was about done snowing.

One line was deadsticked with a venom bobber and the other was my trusty Lindy red rattlin Flyer.

In approx 2 hours, I iced 5 nice eyes from 14-19 inches and lost 2 in the hole and had a double but lost one. I also threw back 3 smaller ones.

I called them in with the Rattlin flyer, maybe called a fish killer and then hooked them with the deadstick. If the flyer did not get them, then the deadstick did but that Flyer called them in for sure.

Glo red was the go to color with the flyer and on the deadstick, I had a glo red #4 demon with a whole minner.

Had a few buddies out there and they also did pretty darn good on the eyes. Of the last 3 times and of those, 2 were for eyes with the Rattlin Flyer and the eyes popped both times. The other outing was last night on the Horseshoe chain for channels and that also went very well with the Lindy Rattlin Flyer.

Simply one awesome lure to say the least.

The ice may be questionable but the icing of fish has been the opposite.

[thore]

Fished the river tonight banged my six kept 2 for dinner and I was shore fishing. The fish are right where I left them this fall. Harvey Lee you are correct on the rattlin flyer its a walleye magnet. I havent used it ice fishing yet but it was fun this fall on the river vertical jigging it with a piece of meat. I might be doing that again by Friday if this weather pattern keeps up

[harvey lee]

It is a fish magnet.

This may be one of the best lures that has come out for quite some time.

The newer Lindy slick jig is also a very good eye bait.

[morepower02]

Congrats guys. The rattlin flyer is a great. When fishing Is slow I jig one on a second line and it seems to bring them in.

[TruthWalleyes]

Yep the flyer is typically on my rod when the first hole is drilled.

GOod reports. Keep them coming. I'm off to leech for a few days.

[Matt C]

Finally made it out for most of today after a crazy week at work. WHEW!

Crappies were hungry and aggressive today from 8am to 2pm, and then they really slowed down.

I landed a decent walleye right after the crappie bite ended, and then everything really shut down. All fish caught on crappie minnows.

The ice was in excellent condition, 6 to 8" of ice everywhere I drilled.

[pikerliker]

There are still a few of us dinosaurs that don't always photograph every catch or know how to post pics.

[Whisker Trout Slayer]

There are still a few of us dinosaurs that don't always photograph every catch or know how to post pics.

[lilgup]

Nice bundt2k!! What lake were ya fishin? I went out yesterday with my roomies on duck and only iced a few Crappies in 8-10 FOW. Fished the later bite 4-7 pm. We're gonna try out there again today a lil deeper.

[Jaspernuts]

I tried Duck the other day myself but all I caught were very small crappies and sunnies. Nothing worth keeping.