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Park Rapids area Fishing Reports


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I got out over the weekend and found plenty of fish and great weather. For the weekend I would guess we caught around 150 fish. Lots of sunfish and a few crappies. We did a lot of sorting but kept a meal's worth of 8-9" sunfish. Threw everything smaller back and a 9.5" also went back. Caught them on minnows and waxes in 9-17'. Ice was 24" but lots of water on top by Monday.

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  • 3 months later...

Who owns the cabin with the webcam on Ten Mile lake? I'm temporarily derailed in thought at work dreaming of the north country again.

I think he's got a bottle of Fat Tire and a remote here. Life is so unfair.

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  • 11 months later...

I was up at the cabin this past week. I made it out to Fish hook, Crow wing 6 and 3, and also Belle Taine. I caught my first few walley on Fish Hook in about 20-24 ft of water. On crow wing 6 and belle taine it was around 9 ft. Local reports stated that they were catching them in 4-10 ft of water. Each time I was using a jig with a fathead minnow, except on belle taine I used a jig and leech. Overall fishing was a little slow for me but still got the occasional walleye. Caught a few northern and bass as well. Water temps on fish hook were 49-51 degrees. The Crow Wings were around 58 degrees. Back up in a couple of weeks. Best of luck to all.

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I've been seeing some big eyes out of the crow wings as of the last week. I think they were all trolling cranks.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Water around 63 degrees 3 eyes yesterday lindy and slip bob. 10-16ft. Any thing else working for people.?

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Just got off the water at potato. Slightly lower temps, one walleye (10") lindy rigged minnow. One swing and miss this morning before the rain hit. Same depths, 10-14.

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hey crazyice dont catch them all. i am heading to northern pine tomorrow afternoon for 12 days of fun.... i will be the guy in the ranger with the 175yamaha see you at the lodge...

chris

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Looking forward to seeing a fellow fm'er! I'll be the guy with the 16' Crestliner and 90hp merc. In cabin 7. I'm still here for 6 more days, let's get them figured out! Today was an all day soaker. Couldn't convince the wife and kids to go out.

Andy

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we are going to be neighbors i am staying in cabin six with a buddy until friday then he goes home and my wife comes up for a week. had to get some fishing out of the way before she gets there...my guess i would focus some of your time in the west arm sounds like you got the depth down... we will chat more save me some room on the dock...

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We caught our share of eye's pretty shsllow a couple of hours before sunset, which is unusual for us. Left the spot when they were still active. My wife even got in on some of the walleye action.

Finally a decent weekend weather wise. Saturday was almost perfect!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Got back on Saturday from a 2 week trip to the Park Rapids area. Our best day of fishing was 30 walleyes in about 4 hours. We got our limit that day! Potato was on fire too. I couldn't believe how many 20" plus walleyes that lake can hold. Had to throw some back. It was hard gettimg the 15-19" fish. Normally we spend our time going to different lakes but we were always successfull on potato so we kept going back. Easily the best year for fishing walleyes I've had. Hopefully back up in July and in the fall. Best of luck!

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  • 1 month later...

Just got back from a long weekend at Eagle Bay Lodge on Eagle Lake. Fishing was just OK ...as expected for this time of year. This year we decided to try some different lakes in the area. On Friday morning we went to Big Mantrap to try for Bass. It looked like a perfect bass lake but fishing was not very good. We caught some bass and a few northerns but we could never put a pattern together. Some were deep, some were shallow, etc.

Decided to hit another small lake on the way home. Honestly can't remember the name. Bass fishing was slightly better with most fish in about 8' on the edge of the weedline.

Next morning we took the channel down from Eagle L. to Potato and fishing was slow there also.

Ended up having the best success on Eagle. Mostly Bass and a ton of small northerns. Most of the fish where on the weedline and a few up in the pads. Also caught enough crappies for a meal. The highlight of the weekend was my son catching his P.B. walleye (28") on a bass lure at about 10:30 in the AM. (it was released at the lodge for someone else to catch) smile

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Nels

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That's a nice lookin walleye your son caught, especially in August! Congrats and thanks for the release too.

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  • 1 month later...

Just got back from a week up in PR. Made it out on the boat a couple of times before we put it away for the winter. Picked up a couple of scoops of fatheads from Kevin at Delaney's and headed out to Potato. Water temps on Potato were still right at 60 degrees last week. We caught a few northerns, crappie, and a couple of red-eyed crappies. Didn't have any action with the lindy rig. Everything we caught was on a jig. Everything we saw was in 12-14 ft of water. No walleyes this fall but that is ok as we really slayed them this spring. Best of luck to all.

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  • 8 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I agree, not many people are willing to share on this site. Hers my report.

Just got back from a week on potato. Fishing was not good to say the least. Cold front came through on Tuesday. Caught a couple of walleyes Sunday night in 17 feet with leaches and minnows under a bobber. Best was 24" which made it to the fry pan. Other than that fishing was not good. For being a great bass lake, I managed one LM all week and only a couple of SM's. And I fished every day but Tuesday. We tried big mantrap on Wed. That lake was disappointing. Not a single bass. Two northers. We tried boulder on Thurs and managed a couple bass after fishing all day. All in all a very poor week of fishing. I wish others could have provided some guidance on here but I would guess others were having similar experiences. The guy at the bait store on Main Street was even less helpful when I asked him for his thoughts on fishing potato and his response was to go out and fish. Very arrogant. Made me regret spending 30 some dollars on bait. The guys at a smokey hills were not helpful either. They didn't know anything or at least would not share. Overall I did not get good vibes from them or the area. Not the friendliest area we have vacationed.

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gp13581-

We have had a cabin on Eagle L for 12 years now. Unfortunately we hardly ever get up there anymore. Haven't been there yet this year even. When I do get up there, I've noticed that most of the lakes up there aren't very big and have resorts on them, therefore they get pounded pretty hard. On Eagle L, which is a fairly small lake, there are 3 resorts. I see more fishing boats on the lakes up there, then I do around St. Cloud. So that might account for less fish.

We fish mostly Bass and try to fish different lakes each time we are up there. Always in search of the "Gold mine". I will say that Big Mantrap was disappointing for us also. Granted it was Aug. This time of year, we catch most of our fish on deep weedlines. Sunrise and sunset are the best times. In the middle of the day we just relax and troll for Northerns. There is an abundance of small Northerns.

From my experience the best fishing up there is the last part of May and first part of June. Then again from mid Sept thru Dec. I will say that during the time that you were up there, the fishing was bad for us around St. Cloud as well. It might have been the weather.

In summary, the area is beautiful, the fishing is just average, and sadly, I have to agree with you about many of the locals.

Nels

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We had a pretty good week at our place last week. Sunday (6/29) and Monday were the best fishing with all of the westerly wind. Caught enough walleyes to easily feed the fam. Had some 15-19" Bass for sport, and could catch 22-27" norts almost at will while trolling. A pair of nice crappies were kept by a deep cabbage bed. Sunfish on slip bobbers on deep weed edge.

Tuesday was the clouds and rain, fishing was decent if you wanted to be in the mist. It shut off a bit on Wednesday with high pressure, but returned on Friday and Saturday. I was suprised we caught fish on Sunday morning after all of the storms and rain, but we did. Most of our fishing wss on 11th Crow Wing. Also visited a small lake south of Akeley, a very clear lake north of Dorset, and a small lake by Walker with my father in law's boat.

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I understand peoples frustrations, but that being said, there are lots of local people around here that are willing to share information and many knowledgeable guides who can help point you in the right direction. Frankly, most dont use this site.

As with any area around the state, the very best way to learn an area is to hire a guide for a day, plain and simple. If you try to do it on your own, you are probably going to have some bad days, THATS FISHING. The weather over the past month really hasnt helped much either (I generally fish between 20-40 days in May and June and i have been lucky to have half of that this year because of the non stop wind/rain combo).

Park Rapids has some of the very best fishing in the state but you have to put in your time on the water, and more importantly, put in your time researching before you hit the water. If anyone has questions, shoot me an email anytime at [email protected], I love to talk fishing.

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  • 2 months later...

Just got back from UP NORTH in PR. It was 82 on Saturday when I got there and freezing when I left. They had some light snow on Friday after I left. Water temps were around 65 degrees when I got there and 59 Thursday night. All I did was jig with a fathead or shiner. The shiners seem to do the best to pick up some action, but couldn't get any walleyes going. Most of the fish we were seeing on the depth finder were 13-15 down, although we would fish out to 20. Most days fishing were pretty slow except for Thursday. Went out on Potato in the AM and got hammered by northerns. I got a 16 inch small mouth that was an absolute pig! I love those things! That night we went out on Long and just fished the north end. Northerns were still going strong. My dad got bit off 2-3 times before landing a 27 inch northern. I caught some nice large mouth bass and we got a few crappie as well. All fish were returned to the waters. I think Long is the best large mouth lake in the area. There are a lot of 1.5 pounders in there but you always seem to get one around that 3 range. I've heard someone put small mouth in there some years back but have never landed any on that lake. Best of luck to all.

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  • 1 year later...

Hello Park Rapids!   How has your opener gone so far?  Let us hear your reports from around the area the opening week!

Hope to be up in the In A couple weeks,  good luck everyone!

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Fishing was cold saturday morning it was 27 degrees at 445 when we were launching our boat.  Fished for trout in the morning and ended up with 7 (20", 15", 5 12-14").  Very light bite not many people out fishing.  Water temp was 51 degrees.

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Looked a tad nippy when I checked weather and a couple of web cams Sat. Heading up that way myself the end of May staying at Evergreen Lodge on Big Sand. Guys and gals, save a few eater size eyes for my. Good luck you all. Jim

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Cold and windy! We caught 15 eyes, 8 in the box under 20". Coupe of nice ones released! Crappies were on a terror. Caught well over 100. Kept 15 or so for a fish fry. Bonus bass!

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What kind of structure were you finding the fish on??? I'm heading up to the park rapids area in the morning...Nice fish

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  • 3 weeks later...

I was up May 21st to the 28th.  Water temps were 55 degrees when I arrived and Just over 60 when I left.  My dad's fist cast landed him a 23.5 inch walleye on Potato Lake that he threw back (we like the 15-20 range for eaters).  Tons and tons of Pike biting.  Most were small.  Kept a couple of 3-4 pounders to have something to fry.  Walleye were slow for us throughout the week, but we were picking up 2-3 on the trips to Potato (a lot of mayflies, I think a partial hatch had happened).  Most fish came in the 10-13 depth range. Smallies were on their beds.    Went out on Fishhook once, Lake George once, and Potato the rest of the time.  Caught a lot of nice bluegills on George.  Mosquitos were not bad.  Back up again June 11th thru the 16th.  Best of luck to all.

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Sorry for the later post.  Went trout fishing on Saturday morning at the crack of dawn.  Got there around 5:15 and before I could get the other rod rigged up we caught two for the livewell.  We caught 9 lost four and one was huge.  We tried for two hours to get our tenth fish and didn't succeed.  So we switched to bass fishing and caught an easy dozen in an hour before it was getting too warm for us.  Biggest trout was 19", biggest bass was 17" and all bass were released.  The big bass had a crawfish sticking out of his gut.

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  • 1 month later...

Fished Potato late last week. Water was 5 degrees colder than other lakes (69 degrees) in the main lake.  Caught a mixed bag of bass and northern on the outside weed lines. Also had a bonus eye on a rock pile. Fish were caught on deep cranks, swims and a frog. 

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  • 10 months later...

I was up at the end of May and also June 11th to the 18th.  Water temps got warm really fast before I got back up there.  Shiner bite was almost non-existent.  Leeches were the way to go.  I have been following the new Delaney's owners on Facebook.  Jason Durham and others have been posting some nice reports.  I pulled more spinners on lindy rigs than I usually do.  Limited one day with my dad.  most days we brought home 2-4 keepers.  I caught and released a 28" on Potato but that was really about it for Potato for me this year.      

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  • 7 months later...

Just fished Potato for the first time this winter. Found walleyes in 15 feet of water off the mid lake humps during the day/late afternoon. Had the camera down and saw plenty of eyes but couldn't get them to bite. Was wondering if this lake is more of a night bite.

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