st cloud St Cloud Fishing Reports

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A FACE ONLY A MOTHER COULD LOVE!

Finally found a decent run of suckers today. Well, would not exactly call it a run, but came across quite a few and did not catch any carp. For what ever reason the rock bass were also going nuts, so in order not to get pecked away at all evening, I ended up using half a crawler and downsized the jig; maybe this was the reason I got more hookups? Lucky for the suckers, still have a bunch of smoked tullies in freezer. Also, lucky for me, am not cleaning fish right now If the weather keeps staying cool, you might want to rethink opener plans. The walleyes are just on fire this year in the rivers. Yet again, could not keep them off any big or small presentation, and catching a limit of nice eaters with normal tactics/gear would be very doable.

Also, finally got the dock and boat in the water yesterday. Did not bring the lowrance along, but did not need it to tell the water temp.....it is just still cold. The early warm up has fizzled and the lakes might end up kicking out on their normal spring patterns. Briefly stopped by a few early season shallow spots on the ride from the landing and nothing doing. If your looking for pannies right now, a majority will still be out in the deeper water/old weed lines/breaks close to where they will be crashing the shallows when the water warms. On the way back from the lake/ Easter dinner Jr. and I had to work off some of the chocolate bunny hangover, and hit up the Sauk. As with the last few weeks, not much for cats and more big slob carp....

[Tony N.]

Anyone finding any crappie spots yet this year?

[Rick G]

Great report and pic's PB, keep them coming . Chocolate bunny hangover, thats pricless

tOnywh1n, Welcome to FM/HSO, lots of great people and info on here. With the cool down we have had expect to find the crappies hanging on the first braek just outside of the normal shallow feeding bays/channels or in the deeper pockets located inside the bays.

[eyeguy 54]

Well, poutmaster IS a bit misleading. I don't catch them anymore on Mille Lacs, and all the ones I catch here are early in the season....and none are more than 14''. I love eating them, but these aren't even worth cleaning.

I'd go for "bassmaster," but that seems a bit....unoriginal.

hows about PML-Eater for a name (poormanslobster) heeheehee

[Rick G]

Made it ouf to the Briggs chain for a few hours this afternoon.With the cold weather we had the last few days I wasn't expecting much for a bite, I was pleasantly surprised in what we got Found some sunfish and a few crappies still in their normal early feeding areas. Water temp was in the upper 40s when we got there and climbed into the upper 50s by the time I left. As expected, the higher the water temp climbed the better the fish bit.

We started using Lindy Toads and Fat boys tiped with waxies for the gills and ended using 1.5in twisters and 1/16oz heads on the crappies and bigger bull sunnies. The larger profile of the twister and the fact we could work more of the hot zone with them made it the perfect choice for the papermouths

[Genofish]

Thanks for all the reports, been out of town working the past few weeks. Have the docks been put out on any area lakes yet?

[Rick G]

The few places I have been they have not been in. Landings are pretty shallow too with this dry spell we are having.

[sartellangler05]

Clearwater had one of two docks in at the access tonight by the restaurant/baitshop. Water level is fine for big boats. Since on the topic I'll post my results tonight. Fished from 3-730, found some sunfish in a spot I caught them last week, but was slower. Tried another spot and only managed one. Was fishing close to shoreline in 2-6 fow using waxies. Brought home 15 good sized sunfish for the pan. Where are the crappies?? Havn't caught one the last two times out on Clearwater.

[Stick in Mud]

I haven't found any crappies in any real numbers this year, either. They haven't been up shallow in my usual spots, but then again, I haven't been out much, and when I do get out, it's been after a night with the lows in the 20s or low 30s, so maybe they've moved out a bit deeper.

[Rick G]

Made it out to the HS chain today in serch of some panfish. The water is pretty low out there right now, most of my best bays were too shallow to hold anything. The key was to find a dard bottom bay that still had some decent depth. The bay we chose bottomed out at 9ft, found most of the craps/gills in 1-3ft holding just a few in below the surface. Best baits were 1/32 flu flu's in white or yellow or lindy toads with a waxie. Water temp was in the low 50s when we got to the lake and toped out at 57 by the time we pulled out. The bay we fished was clear this morning but got progressively muddie as the day wore on, I think this helped it warm A bit faster than some of the other bays we tryed. All in all it was a pretty decent day with plenty of gills in the 8-9in range and plenty of average crappies too . I am willing to bet it will be my last day on the lake for the next 4-5days with this cold front coming in , oh well at least today was good.

[pike79]

I went out sat. saw some early season issues at the accsess. One guy forgot to put the plug in, and another forgot to hook the chain when he left and his fishing partner stayed in the boat.Luckly she screamed loud enough for him to stop just in time to crank the boat back on the trailer and hook.No luck fishing, turned into a good boat ride with the youngsters.I recommend taking your time and being safe, its to early to end the boating season.

[Stick in Mud]

Ah yes, those wonderful early season things that SOME people (never me, of course) always seem to forget. Part of the fun of fishing opener on Mille Lacs for me is watching the circus that is people launching their boats for the first time. Some people hope for wind to help them catch fish...I always hope for wind to make the process more exciting to watch.

[pushbutton]

Yeah, I would never do anything as dumb as to forget the plug....well I guess I have twice....but would never do it three times......

[bluehat28]

And no matter how hard you stop the boat wont come off without removing the straps. Not that I would ever do this.

[Stick in Mud]

I think there's a video of the "great" Bill Dance making the same mistake, bluehat. Just so you know you ain't alone.

[Genofish]

There are a few of Bill Dance bloopers, great video

[Stick in Mud]

Yeah, I love those bloopers. My favorite is the one where he's fighting his own trolling motor.

Ok, so to post an actual fishing report in the "Fishing Report" thread, I'll say that I've caught more or less nothing but dinky sunnies in my usually good sunnie spots. I'm blaming the cold weather, but it just might be fisherman's error. And the fishing off the dock has been hot for anything but what I'm looking for. If you want to catch some rock bass or eel pout, dump your boat in north of the Sartell dam and find a drop off. You'll do find for either of the two species already mentioned.

Carmike

[Rick G]

Great report Carmike I think if anyone wanted some pout they would have hunted you down by now

Made it back out to the Hs chain today, water temp went down a bit since my last outing. I think 53 was about the warmest I got.

Fish were holding a bit deeper than they were last time out, same general area just out further. Magic depth was 6-9ft, tried real shallow only to find runt bluegills. Trick was to get out just off the first break outside the shallow feeding flat where the new weed growth is coming up.

Tried a few baits but had best results on a pink/white 1/64oz head and gulp alive minnow fry in the 1 in size or a 1/16oz head and the 2in Slurpies for the crappies .For the gills size 10 Northland Gill Getters in fire ant, and size 12 Mud Bugs in the woodtick color worked best tipped with waxies.

With the warm up we have coming the next few days I would expect the panfish bite to go back into full swing along the weed edges.

[Sergio M]

Made it out to the Chain yesterday, hit the water at 7 am and there was a slight drizzle. First spot I tried was a shallow bay and to my suprise the fish were stacked in there. I used a dry fly and caught everything from crappies to sunfish. I ended up taking enought for a meal, 17 nice sunnies and 8 slab crappies. Water temp was 50.2. I only fished a couple of hours.

[Stick in Mud]

Nicely done, duckslyer. Maybe I should learn how to cast a dry fly....

[Rick G]

Nice job Sergio, The morning bite was pretty good . Seemed like as the day wore on the bite slacked off.

[Rick G]

Made it out to one of our local ponds for a few hours this afternoon. Starting to see some sunfish on beds while the crappies were still hanging on the first breaks close to spawning grounds. I opted to leave the spawning fish alone and instead work on some crappies. Most of the papermouth's were stacked in 5-8ft of water, suspended just 2-3 ft down. Tried quite a few things and found a 1/32 pink Chipawa Charlie jig tiped with a small crappie minnow to work best. It seemed that a nice fresh livley minnow was the ticket to catching the bigger ones.

Today was the first time this year that I sweat my tail off in the boat, man it was warm and humid, the lack of wind didn't help much. If it sounds like I'm whining, I'm not just not use to this warmth yet

[Stick in Mud]

Nice to hear you got into some, Rick....I was looking out the window enviously as I was working, figuring someone was out catching them. Shoulda known it was you.

[Rick G]

Found myself with a couple hours to spare again today. Went back to the same system as yesterday, heading over to where we got into them, going through the channel between lakes and noticed quite a few fish hanging around a couple docks. I figured they were mostly small but being I was there I decided to check it out. Found enough good size gills and crappies to keep us entertained for a few hours. The odd thing about this is that theese fish were not here Wed. Yest the fish we found were staging for the spawn, while the fish today were in more of a shallow feeding area. Just never know where you might stumble apon them from one day to the next this year . We almost went right on past this spot, glad we checked it out.

Water temp went up a bit from yest,58-60 was what I found. Today the fish bit best on the Lindy little Nippers, pink/white and a small crappie minnow or a gulp waxie was what the fish wanted.

[fischer69]

Found myself with a couple hours to spare again today. Went back to the same system as yesterday, heading over to where we got into them, going through the channel between lakes and noticed quite a few fish hanging around a couple docks. I figured they were mostly small but being I was there I decided to check it out. Found enough good size gills and crappies to keep us entertained for a few hours. The odd thing about this is that theese fish were not here Wed. Yest the fish we found were staging for the spawn, while the fish today were in more of a shallow feeding area. Just never know where you might stumble apon them from one day to the next this year . We almost went right on past this spot, glad we checked it out.

Water temp went up a bit from yest,58-60 was what I found. Today the fish bit best on the Lindy little Nippers, pink/white and a small crappie minnow or a gulp waxie was what the fish wanted.

Were you hitting up the lakes near my place by chance? I was thinking of hitting it up this weekend for the kids. Also thinking about hitting up Blanchard on sunday because I'm heading over to Sevs in Rice on Sunday morn. If ya have any suggestions about the dam, shoot me a text in the next couple days.

[Rick G]

Fischer, at 9:42 AM you should be hard at work not playing around on the computer Ya bud, got them out of that little lake in your back yard jk Briggs chain

[fischer69]

Fischer, at 9:42 AM you should be hard at work not playing around on the computer Ya bud, got them out of that little lake in your back yard jk Briggs chain

I was multi-tasking! It didn't hurt I was the only one there! Pretty much asumed thats where you were. Maybe by the end of summer I will have a stocked up pond, maybe we really can ice fish in my backyard!

[Rick G]

Back at the same lakes as the last couple times out. Lake went up a good 1.5ft since last time out, there was a 3ft gap between the dock and shore Water temp was 60-62 today, crappies are starting to show up on beds. Found females in 2-3 ft and then out in 8-10ft. Males were dark in color and holding in and around the bedding ares 2-4ft. The key to finding the males was finding rushes and timber in the right depth range. We also found good numbers around some but not many docks, the ones with lots of stuff below the water held the best numbers. Once again the lindy Nippers tipped with a crappie minnow out fished everything else we tried. One thing I noticed was the fish would not hit a dead minnow for some reason, they had to be fresh and swimming.

[pike79]

Kreamer Lake fishing caught two notherns, one 20 inch and picture is the 25 inch. Water temp was 63 degrees.

[aanderud]

Yeah, nice one! Puttin the kids on some fish! That's what it's all about.

Shorts on opener weekend! Doesn't happen too much, does it!