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Heading to faribault this weekend. Gonna try Fox and french lake again. Anyone been out there having any luck? Is the ice still drivable? Any information is much appreciated! Thanks again, tight lines all!!!

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

The ice is still drivable and they've been catching panfish. Shields has really been on fire. Lot's of houses on it though.

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Does anyone by chance know of any resorts that rent cabins this time of year on any lakes in the faribault area. I love white Russians while sitting in my ice tent. But not so much the drive back through town to a hotel. Oh and of course there's the Busch lattes!

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Hi @Rick, I'm also looking to take my family out this weekend. I  have a 3/4 ton with a 8x24 ice castle. Was looking at Shields or German. Is it pretty safe with my rig? I know some of these smaller lakes are aerated and can have some soft spots. Just want to be extra safe with the family. Also, the fishing been ok down there?

Thanks in advance!

Justin

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

I never guarantee safety.

Others in similar position are out on Shields.

I would assume German is the same.

I would do it just not telling you to do it. :)

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Hey Justin, if you see a 2004 burgundy 1500 Silverado with Iowa plates on shields, Yukon tent. That's the girlfriend and I. Stop by for a Busch latte, or a white Russian. I can't wait to get out of Iowa for the weekend. 4 am on the road!!!!!!!! yeah baby!!!!!! Good luck!!

 

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Fished shields lake yesterday from 900 am to 6. 12 fow caught 25 real nice gills 10 perch ,all dinks. And 2 crappie about 9 inches. Pretty steady fishing all day. We were about 50 yds from all the sleepers. Lots of traffic. At least 2 ft of ice. Used a little ant , orange and bright green with some white dressing tied to it. Got em from Nagel's. He said they were good, and he was right. Tipped with wax worm. Crappie came in at 530 caught the biggest on a glow blue angel eye with a minnow head. Snowing really hard so we packed up. Tent is froze. But we're going back out here in a bit. Gonna try roberds lake. I'll post later on that. Good luck all!

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Got a late start this morning so we didn't hit the ice until about 9:30ish. Roberds Lake. In 21 feet of water marked fish and had a few bites but only caught a few 4-5" white bass. We had some trouble with our auger and we were stuck in the same spot until I plugged the fuel line back into the primer and then it worked. Local guy came over and offered to drill some holes for me before i got it working. minn nice..and told me there was deeper water past a string of houses so we went there and found 32 feet. Marked fish and caught a few crappies that were suspended at about 15 feet on a pink and white glow demon, small demon with a minnow head. We had a better day at Shields Lake yesterday (thank you Rick!) but we wanted to try different lakes in the area. It was still a blast. Snow storm sucked but we had a great time. Minnesota is awesome. Good luck all.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Spent some time on Jefferson (east) and Francis. Ice is holding up well. Accesses are a bit beat up but manageable. still a bit of crusty snow on top and the ice is thick, didn't measure. Still trucks driving out. Fishing was very tough, was trying for sunnies  caught one small bass. Lots of lookers. Drove by Madison yesterday and saw trucks with wheel houses out.

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Thanks for the update. I live in Mankato and it's nice to get info without having to drive all the way out and back.

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Spent some time on on Francis today. Ice on the main part of the lake looks to be in great shape but the west access is pretty bad. Got the ATV out, Probably not getting a vehicle out though. Saw one car out, don’t know where they got on the ice. Shore isn’t pulling away yet (other than the access).

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I'm so jealous of you guys, I put my ice fishing gear away couple nights ago. It took 3 Busch lights and and one Keystone light tall boy to muster up the courage to pack it away till next winter. Sad day.

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  • 1 month later...

Been a long wait! Elysian last Saturday. No fishing report, just a boat drive but dang it felt good!

B64CBB08-793D-4EDF-9392-4228F0E69116.jpeg

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  • 3 weeks later...

9F88D1C2-2E12-448B-8D99-8B3208ED4B72.thumb.jpeg.b871691865d9eb38b3b33a782535f57b.jpegSpent a couple hours on German. Slow fishing, just a couple small sunnies, the boy and I where happy to be out though.  Water temperature ranged from mid 60s to mid 70s. No fresh vegetation and dirty water. Must still be running a bit behind despite the warm weather.

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The water in Cannon lake is the clearest I've ever seen it. You can see the bottom in 5ft easily. Caught a few perch and a striped bass. Also saw some big bass around the fishing pier by the beach.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

It clears like that every spring.

Nice catch. Any size to the striper?

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Spent a couple hours on Elysian this afternoon.  Drove around some shallow areas on the south east end of the lake with the trolling motor and only saw carp. Water is still unusually clear for this lake, at any time of the year, and 79 degrees near shore. May be a great opportunity for a bow fisherman, even in the daylight. Tried soaking minnows in a hole on the north end with no luck.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Went out fishing all over today and caught nothing but sunburn ?

Started off heading to the German lake pier only to find it unusable (see pic).

Headed over to Elysian lake pier and almost caught a bullhead. That lake was pretty green and murky already.

Then Tetonka pier where i saw lots of nice bass and a pike swimming around but they wouldn't bite. It looked like a nice spot for now with a gap in the weeds running right up to the end of the dock and very clear water.

Then back to Faribault where i tried the Fox lake pier, the Cannon lake bridge, and the dams in town.

 

20180604_082034.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

Hello to all I’m looking to get into a bass fishing ? club. I live in  Albert Lea Mn and I’m looking for something around Albert Lea-Austin-Faribault-Mankato-Northfield-Waseca,  surrounding areas. With in reasonable driving distance. any help would be very appreciated. Thanks and good luck on the waters. 

Edited by James Richardson
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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

A lot of great bass lakes in that region. Good luck.

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  • 4 months later...
  • 2 months later...

lake travel is still possible even with all this snow. Definitely need four wheel drive.  Snow is scraping the bottom of the truck, hope we can avoid any more snow. 17 inches of ice in the Mankato area

05F2F22F-D868-4390-BA16-10064A86E252.jpeg

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In north central MN there is no truck travel off road. I watched 3 trucks today get buried. Lakes have 12-18” of snow and 24-25” of ice. I use a long track snowmobile and haven’t had any issues. I was out riding the trails and lakes this afternoon and found slush to be VERY bad. I was cruising across the lake at about 40mph when I felt my back end sink and I went from about 40 to about 10 mph Instantly if I had my auger on the snowmobile and towing my otter sled I would have never made it. 

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Didn’t run into any slush while driving. Blocked the wheel house up, after an hour or so, the area around the house flooded slightly.

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