brainerd Brainerd Fishing Reports

[mnfathead]

Has anyone been on Round lately or heard anything off of there, was out last sat. for a couple hours and kept 4. Due to the recent snow and the fact i had to downgrade veh. to a minivan for the family i'm looking for a good access to drive out and not get stuck, am open to any of the lakes in the area, anyone have a direction to point me in??? thanks

[Crazy4 Ice]

looking to get out and catch some crappies. Anyone have any tips to where the action is in the area. I've had good luck on Gull however bringing kids so size is not the goal, just some good action

thanks

[rcatcherman]

Jason, what are the conditions like up your way? Ice and snow. Is useing a sled and portable good for now etc.

[buddha]

Are people driving trucks on all lakes now? Pelican, Gull, etc? Is it safe, haven't been up in a few weeks so I'm not sure what the ice is at now.

[late night]

People have been driving on most lakes that I have seen. I was on Pelican a few days ago and had 16 inches of ice. I drove all over SE Mille Lacs yesturday. Some people are driving out alittle on Gull but I would watch it out there.

[onthelakeBlake]

Crappies - JB Lures "Glitter Glows" were catching Crappies in 21-22 FOW suspended between 4-8' off bottom on minnows using anything from green, white, but the hot color always seems to be red. I also was using Gulp minnow heads in the neutral color and catching a few. But nothing seems to be quite as reliable as the "Glitter Glows" glowing red with a minnow.

And JB products are made right here in MN so you can find them at just about any bait shop, and a huge selection at Mills Fleet Farm.

This next week I'll be trying out their "Angel Eyes" will be sure to keep you all posted.

[Chode2235]

Fished hard over the holiday weekend for the crappies. Went to a few of my favorite spots, and marked a lot of fish, but they were tough to catch. The ones we did catch were nice fish.

I did the best with the smallest crappie minnows in my bucket rigged on a dead stick.

I talked to a few of the neighbors too, they were doing much better a week or two ago. You can still catch them but you'll work a lot harder. It felt a lot more like a late Jan than Dec bite.

I wish I had better news...

[smartguy]

ditto what Chode said. They are there, just haven't been biting too aggressively.

[Tisch]

Bluegill and Crappie bite has been really good. Alot of action with some very nice fish. All on small glow jigs tipped with a waxworm. Bluegills are biting all day with a few crappies mixed in during the middle of the day. Crappies are biting best early morning, late evening and night time after 7 P.M.

[MN_BEEF]

Anyone have a Round update? Ice conditions and tech for catching a few would be great. Thanks

[MN_BEEF]

Hey Sportland

We have got great advise & bait at your shop in the past and will again this year, just wondering if you could help me out with a Round lake report. Is it drivable are there plowed roads, bait to use, FOW would be awesome. Thanks

Beef

[Sportland_Bait]

Hi Beef, Ice conditions are great on Round. Quite a bit of snow but travel isn't too bad with 4 wheel drive. Not sure about plowed roads. Lots of storm fronts and cold front systems lately have had the fish very inconsistent. Fishing has been OK out there but the general report has been a couple of fish per evening. I think if an angler grabbed a good map and hit a couple of the spots that are void of fish houses you could scratch away a nice mess of fish, but it might take some hole drilling.

Jason Erlandson

[swampbuck]

I fished Round last night old standby spot, had a lot of fish come in on the camera but they were not agressive, never had a bump.

They would hang around and swim up to spoon but no biters maybe tonight

[MN_BEEF]

Cool thanks guys, might have to try N. Long and Gull as well. Thanks for the help.

[motley man]

Any word on northern bite in the area? Nephew is coming up and wants to catch northerns on tip/ups. Looking for action and eaters.

[Acemac]

Fished a mid lake hump about a mile out from hole in the day tonight.

Walleyes were there all day but did not seem interested until about 330pm then it was a flurry of fishing action for about 30 mins. Managed to pull 8 up in that window. Then it all stoped as fast as it started.

They hit everything during that window glow jig with a crapie minnow, rattling flyer with a minnow head, and had a few wallop my dead stick that I had set about 4 feet off the bottom. All the fish were belly to the bottom and flew off the bottom when they bit.

Had to leave in whole inside of the Eskimo had about 1/2 inch of frost and it never got warm inside

even with the sunflower and the latern on full tilt. Poles froze open when I was packing up, and I

Got stuck really bad on the way off the lake. Good thing for the traction plates I got for christmas!

Be careful out there this weekend it is very unforgiving!

Small but made a city boy smile

[shaunlenway]

Was up in the brainerd area for the extravaganza and a few days on area lakes.

Saturday: Set up in about 35 feet for the contest, ended up with a .12lb eye between the seven of us. Had a lot of fun as usual.

Sunday: Braved the wind and cold and went out to pelican. Drove out to rifle sight and popped some holes. Picked up a bunch of small eyes(nothing bigger than 10") and perch in 40ft, lost a heavier fish. Used forage minnows tipped with full minnows, heads and spikes or small jigs basically the whole weekend

Monday: Fished Nisswa. Caught smaller gills and crappies managed a few keeper gills. Got a few northerns too, couple small ones and a 31 inch chunk. Packed up and headed to Lower Cullen. Set up on the bottom side of a hump in 30 feet. It was SLOW. Brought back 1 crappie, 3 perch and 2 gills.

Tuesday: Fished hole in the day on gull for a while during the day, drilled holes all over and marked a couple fish ended up with nothing, at about 2pm couple of the guys decided we should head a little north to Leech. On the ice and fishing by 4. Set up on a hump in walker bay. Managed about 20 eyes nothing bigger than 11" besides a 26". Bite shut off shortly after dark.

Another annual trip in the books, can't wait til next year!

[Sportland_Bait]

Great report Shaun. Cool pics!

Jason

[shaunlenway]

Thanks. You guys have a nice place up there, thanks for the info and bait!

[NorthLongSlayer]

Just wanted to know if anyone has been hitting the crappies in shallow yet. I've been getting them in 33 fow on an area lake at sun down to around 9 at night. I tried close by up in shallow 7-10 weeds and nothing so far, just a few gills.

Anyone having any luck?

[Chad Peterson]

I would start looking for shallow weedlines and shallows that are next to a deep hole. They will start coming in soon. As the weather starts to change and ice beings to melt, watch for those crappies. They will be active and hungry.

Sniffer

[deerwoody]

Yes there are some crappies shallow the key is finding the right weeds

[thatoneguy]

what kind of weeds do they like? the bay i live on has lots of big 3-5' flats that drop off to 8-11'. the deeper water has lots of cabbage and some other weeds in the summer. i know crappies come into the bay when the water warms up post ice out, but is it possible they would be there late ice as well?

[Chad Peterson]

what kind of weeds do they like? the bay i live on has lots of big 3-5' flats that drop off to 8-11'. the deeper water has lots of cabbage and some other weeds in the summer. i know crappies come into the bay when the water warms up post ice out, but is it possible they would be there late ice as well?

That is the prefect and they will be there to feed. They will also start there staging there too. I would work that whole area, I bet you will find them.Keep in mind that as soon as ice is off,fish that flat in the evening and the bigger females come in to feed.

Sniffer

[Meat-Run]

TOG,

Are you talking about the area not far from your dock or down by the island....;o)

Meat-Run

[thatoneguy]

MR - I'm curious about trying where the river channel is on the east side of the bay, but SE of the island is the same kind of structure...big shallow flats that drop off to 8-11 FOW. I've never fished for crappies in my life, but I'd like to start. Sooooo....I may just have to start punching some holes this weekend and see what I can find!

[Meat-Run]

tog...email sent.

mr

[Getanet]

I'm toying with the idea of driving up for the day on Saturday to fish the lake my family has a cabin on. I haven't been up there in over a month. Is there still enough ice to walk out on area lakes?

[Biggerfish]

I saw 3 trucks on a small lake near deerwood?

Not saying they are safe to drive on but to walk on you should be OK.

Looks to be a little cooler later this week?

Good luck.

[Getanet]

Thanks BiggerFish. I assumed there was enough ice to walk on, but with gas prices what they are it sure would be disappointing to make the drive for nothing.