st cloud St Cloud Fishing Reports

[FishBanker]

It sure seemed to do the trick on Saturday for me Borch! This time of year, those places can be deadly if you hit them at the right time of day. The fish didn't move into our area until about 3:30, before that, I wasn't reading much for anything on the Marcum.

[1eyeReD]

A nice pinch point I like to call it Deep water on two sides and shallower water on the other sides.

You are too kind.

[Borch]

Got out for a quick outing last night with my wife, Wanda.

Fishing was slow for us with several fish marked but not a lot of activity. Wanda did pick up this fat 13.75" slab though.

Wished we would have got set up a little earlier but got stuck in a drift on the way out. A nice gentleman saw us and helped pull us out. Great to see folks like that on the ice.

[dalejrjrjr]

Went to Sylvia north of Melrose on Sunday. I had been there once before in the summer. Access parking lot was clear, but I just took the sled onto the lake (sled, not snowmobile, heh).

I stayed close to the south shore, near the creek at the bottom there and near the weed beds lining either side. Lots of spearshack markers in the ice (branches sticking up). Figured I might get on some northerns. Perfect.

But, alas, I only managed to entice this small smallmouth. "That's definitely a small (pause) mouth," my friend says after I reeled it up. I had a decent number of nibbles in the afternoon, 2 to 5 p.m. about. We were jigging with minnow heads and full fatheads, some waxies too, in about 25 feet of water. Caught this little one on a full fathead. Had a tip-up out with a lively sucker minnow for a time, too. Maybe we were too deep for northern, too shallow for panfish?

Anyone go out on Sylvia (or either of the Birches, I guess; I love the area — especially El Portal restaurant in Melrose ... mmm) and have some advice?

[LPCrowRiverFisherman]

The only experience I have with the lake in the winter involves catching mediocre crappies suspended 10-15 feet off the bottom over 50 foot of water.

[Rick G]

Have fished it a couple times over the years. Not much for numbers or size on the crappies, lots of sunfish, though most will be on the smaller side. Can be a fun lake if you hit the right time to be out there.

Borch, that is one heck of a nice crappie your better half is holding

[Borch]

She usually does catch the biggest one.

Just ask her, She'll tell you.

[Jon81]

What you do with the fish is up to you (as long as it didn't go to waste). I my-self have caught Walters almost 32" in length on local lake and have thrown them back and only two or three of them were for reproduction purposes, the rest were for a little one to catch it or a Grandparent with a little one with to catch a fish of a life time. with fish over 20" i usually clean it and cut it into one inch strips, wrap the strips in bacon, put on the grill in a foil pan and cook. Just before you take it off put it on the grill grates to crisp up the bacon. Plate, Eat , and be [PoorWordUsage] when it's all gone. Nice fish.

[Horseshoe_Don]

Have not fished in over 3 weeks. Got tired of the cold and all of the snow. Going to take out the snowmobile with the custom cart I built and give it a try this weekend. Maybe Krons bay? Should not be hard to find a secluded spot huh? Will give a report then.

Don

[Rick G]

As long as you dont burry it you should be fine, you will likley be one of the only people out there... except maybe the pepole who didn't get their houses off yet let us know what u find.

[Horseshoe_Don]

Got out today with the snowmobile. Was a pain in the butt to set up had to dig out a spot then the water came up through the ice to a height of about 2". Bite was slow and caught a 13" wally and that was it. Crappies would not bite, very fickle.

[Naturboy]

Thanks for the report Don, to bad for the 2" inches of water. One more thing to put with.

[Rick G]

Made it out to the shoe, there is a goat trail going back to where all the houses were.

After digging a secondary road back to the house we finaly got it free Figured since we got the house taken care of we would try our luck :)being we were at the lake and all

The bite was quite a bit better than I thought it would be

I ended up getting big crappie for the day, just shy of 13in. We got a few walleyes too, though all but two were small. Fun day on the lake

[eyeguy 54]

Pro Staff are not allowed to put sideways pics on here. Did you miss the meeting?

[JeremyCampbell]

Turned the smart phone sideways but the pictures follow.You did that to mess with poor Jeremy.

[Rick G]

Pro Staff are not allowed to put sideways pics on here. Did you miss the meeting?

This was the first time anyone told me I was "pro-staff" .

Jeremy, no my stupid smart phone was turned the right way, not sure why my pics ended up sideways.

I will try harder next time

[ClamITup]

Seeing if anyone knows of any lakes that anyone has been plowing.just looking to get out of the house and fish for a bit

[Rick G]

Im on Clearwater right now. Bj's has a few plowed roads.

I will give a more indepth report when i get back home

[Brad B]

here are your pics. they are now the right direction.

[Rick G]

Gee, I Didn't know sidways pics were such a big deal

Like I was saying earlier, was out on Clearwater today. Unless you are using a snowmobile you are pretty much limited to the few areas bj's has plowed. Being it was a Monday it was pretty quiet out there, had the whole side if the lake pretty much to our self being we were alone I picked what I felt was the most productive area with our limited options.

I chose a sharp break just off a shallow weed flat as the area we would focus on. I drilled a series of holes from the top of the break to about 30ft off the break and a few holes across the top edge.

After letting the area quiet down for a bit I Broke out the Vexi and began to check holes. We marked the first fish just off the top of the flat, and had a few other maeks in the nearby holes. As soon as we got over 12ft the fish were no longer present.

Within moments of getting set up I had the first one of the day, the next couple hrs were hit and miss as the larger fish seemed to be on the move. We caught plenty of small-med fish, and about every 20min the school of bulls would come back through.

Aftet a while I got outside to try and stay on top of the bigger fish, the deep snow held me back though it was tough just to hop from hole to hole.... I did manage, but am sure I will be plenty sore tomorrow

Here are a few pic's of some of the gills

Best depth was 8-10ft. Caught everything on the Northland Mooska jigs tipped with the Impulse mayflies or Powerbait spikes.

[JeremyCampbell]

Cool ! The gill on top is a beauty.

[Rick G]

JC, I hear you were out and about in the Avon area yesterday??? What did you find?

[JeremyCampbell]

After spending an hour and a half drinking coffee and talking about river fishing from last year we finally just settled on going somewhere close to his house near St Johns instead of checking for plowed lakes in the area.Lazy we were.Walked out and stepped into some deep snow pockets .Wasn't fun.To tired to walk around in this deep snow,we stayed close to the shore in shallow water.Stayed in 5 ' of water- 8'. More shallow than we usually fish on this lake.To our surprise we found sun fish in 5' but not a lot.Moved to 8' and found a little more.So we didn't move around much after being that walking was a bit challenging.A couple of small Northern were hooked with euro larva too.Sometimes it can be a good call going out to this lake.Not yesterday.

[Rick G]

I take it you must be talking about Paul when u say "we" ?

[JeremyCampbell]

No .Larry a close friend of mine. I see Brad flipped the pics over lol.

[Naturboy]

Yea I haven't been out much, doing a lot of baby sitting the best grandson ever. Most times I can sneak out in the morning but I'm not much of an early riser when it's this cold.

[JeremyCampbell]

I plan on going out this Saturday to get my fishing licence.I Wonder if the regulation book is out yet.Then maybe stop at Clearwater and check out the snow situation and go fishing a little bit.Would be nice if I can get a licence at BJ's.

[Naturboy]

We'll went out to pearl this afternoon, still about 5 houses out there and a trail plowed towards them about 6 ft wide. Didn't catch anything but sm perch. I walked out from the access and walking was good until you get off the plowed trail. I usually don't shovel where I fish but it sure will be done from now on the snow is deep. Also it's possible to drill without a extension but I'll be putting mine on to make it easier.

Oh I called BJ's today and his plow truck hadn't been out yet but he said he was planing on it. He said Sunday the bait shop will be closed for the season so if you head to Clearwater I'd call first.

[JeremyCampbell]

Ah shoot I forgot about needing an extention.May have to figure out a different plan or just pick one up if I plan on fishing away from Avon area.Still had six inches of auger left when I was out in St Johns.

[Tom Sawyer]

Ah shoot I forgot about needing an extention.May have to figure out a different plan or just pick one up if I plan on fishing away from Avon area.

Just pick one up........ now that's funny. If you can find one in the Upper Mid West let us know. Maybe on e b a y for 80 bucks. LOL! They've been sold out for over a month everywhere.