st cloud St Cloud Fishing Reports

[Nick Lang]

So I'm knew to the area, and I don't have a boat. I'm looking for some places in the St. Cloud area to shore fish for panfish. Went out in WI this weekend, caught about 50 walleye (though only one legal fish), a dozen or so nice keeper crappie and of course, hammer handle pikes a plenty.

[eyeguy 54]

welcome to the area and the sight. there re guys that will chime in soon.

[JeremyCampbell]

Welcome Nick Plenty of parks with the river running along them to try.Havnt heard much on panfish in the area rivers right now but might be worth checking the dams too and see if things are starting to turn on.

On a side note ,size hasn't been good for me with walleye as its been for some others on the river.

Checked many places for a week or so.The ones I been running into are pretty much the same around 14"-15" long.Just to keep the pics rolling I will post a couple of them anyways.

[monstermoose78]

Nice fish Jeremy!

[eyeguy 54]

looks tasty

[dalejrjrjr]

Hey, Nick (and others who are interested):

I know you said panfish, but I'm a catfish guy, so if you ever want to give that whirl, I'll add my two cents on a couple spots from shore on the river where I've had success:

- Below Riverside Park, east side of the river, along the Beaver Islands on the trails right along shore — I've caught and seen smallmouth catches here, too

- Under the Highway 15 bridge in Sauk Rapids, after the end of River Avenue North

--

As far as a report goes, I was out on the boat at a different spot somewhat near the St. Cloud Hospital on Saturday on the Mississippi with a friend, and we caught three kitties in about 90 minutes. (Nearly four, but the backup rod my friend was using had too weak of line; cat turned hard, and there it went.) We sat in about 5 feet of water, casting into 9-10 feet.

We were using medium sucker minnows cut in half, which has been a pretty darn trusty bait on the river for cats. (They don't seem to have a preference on head or tail half.) Barrel weights w/ some slack after landing, with a 12-inch leader for me; my friend just had a dipsey sinker on a snap swivel before a leader.

[Griffond]

There is fish lake down 94 just past clear water for panfish if they are still in there I don't know there are probably a few crappies at the bridge on the north end of little rock lake as well my guess would be they will be pretty small thou now that the water has warmed up a bit. Is it just me or have the water temps been taking longer to warm then I think they should.

[JeremyCampbell]

Went out to a lake near by and started shallow 7'-9'.Drift fished and did well with numbers on gills.

Used the ice rod some of the time with a tungsten jig.Red worms or waxies for bait.Size of fish were anywhere from 3" to 8.25".Can't complain. Plenty of weeds around with water temp at 60 deg.

This is the second time I had to edit this.lol

The uncle caught the biggest one at 9". Let him back in the water.

There I think I got it now.

[jskatt21]

Looking to take my 6 year old son out but we would have to fish from shore. Any tips on where to go? Also if we went to the rivers what is a good set up? Bobber? Jigs? I myself have never fished the river so I am clueless.

Last year him and I hit up Pleasant Lake and had ok luck with sunnies and a bass

[JeremyCampbell]

Looking to take my 6 year old son out but we would have to fish from shore. Any tips on where to go? Also if we went to the rivers what is a good set up? Bobber? Jigs? I myself have never fished the river so I am clueless.

Last year him and I hit up Pleasant Lake and had ok luck with sunnies and a bass

Welcome to Hso jskatt21.

I take my five yr old to Lake George once in a while.Seems most use bobbers for sunnies there.Sometimes we use a small jig with a slip shot for a little bass bite.

[Nick Lang]

Was out for a couple hours on the river by SCSU fishing from shore. Caught ten of these guys, nothing bigger than 14. No domination...but fun to catch all the same.

[Rick G]

Those river smallies sure are fun even th e little guys fight like heck....

Looks like I will be home for a few days mid week My plan is to hit the water every day

[pushbutton]

Jr. and I made it out to our annual Mem. Day weekend cast and blast. While I was setting up the blast, he was doing the cast. None of this would not be possible without all those that have given the ultimate sacrifice. Thankyou...........

[sartellangler05]

Tried to switch things up last night by trolling after dark on Koronis. Pulled new scatter rap and husky jerks in depths from 6-18 ft. Anyone know where a local walleye bite is going!?! I'm ready to give up to say the least...

[Borch]

I haven't been out on Koronis yet. But if I make it out this weekend after dark I'd probably work a little bit shallower. If fact, casting shoreline is often a good tactic after dark this time of year.

[pushbutton]

Yeah, don't throw in the towel yet SA. Until very recently, many lakes have been cold, short on weeds, and gin clear, which is not a very good combination. Like Borch mentioned.... would play chicken with your lower unit after dark I fished very little this last weekend, but did get out a little after midnight and found a few hungry post spawn pigs up in 2 to 3ft. of water. From talking to folks on the lake, and Stick in Mud, who fished it a few days earlier, the smaller males/non breeders were still schooled up big time in 40 to 60 ft. A lot should change this week....

[Fish'nMan]

Been doing some fishing in a few local lakes. I have seen tons of crappie, sunfish, and bass on their beds. For the most part I have left them alone. We have caught so many snake northern that we lost count. Here are a few photos from the last couple of trips.

[Nick Lang]

Great photos Fish'n. I need to find some of these big sunnies y'all are posting. Where I'm from in WI a big sunny is quite a big smaller. Of course it's a lot easier to move around when you have a boat! I'll probably head out again this weekend to see what I can find, maybe try some of the lakes in the area that I can fish from shore.

[nater]

Nice fish fishnman. My wife and I fished the spunk lakes last night and found some active crappies staging off the shallows in 9fow. Surface temp was 73. Nothing big but lots of 9-10" fish. One crappie got t-boned by a nice pike so I clipped on spinnerbait and caught 3 more pike. Great evening.

[JeremyCampbell]

Nice panfish Fish n man.

It's cool to see multiple species of fish all in one post.You two make a good team.

[pushbutton]

It's cool to see multiple species of fish all in one post.You two make a good team.

No doubt, if you could have coaxed that loon a little more you two would have bagged a nice six pack

[Rick G]

Am in town for a few days, decided to hit the riv for some cats. Action is pretty slow.... We have one fish in the boat

Got this one about twenty min. ago. Will report back if we get any more this evening

[eyeguy 54]

no call and yer almost in my yard ... how are the skeeters???

[Rick G]

Skeeters are crazy.... had to put on sweatshirt. Now am sweating like a mad man fish are starting to bith though

Got this big boy and the runt since my last post

I am seeing quite a bit of lightning off to the West, might have to cut our night short

[pushbutton]

Welcome home! You must be going through a little withdrawal because tonight you were the bait......not to mention the irritating non biting light attracted bugs that just hatched. Glad ya got scratch the itch .....literally and figuratively.

[JeremyCampbell]

Good to see you back Rick.I've Been

Using coleman 40 deet for all this buggy stuff on the river but hasn't helped much.

Sheesh! That fish is a beast .

[Josh.P 86]

As far as depth to try for walleyes we were on osakis memorial weekend. We found the most action in 8 fow right on the edge of the pencil reeds. We trolled #5 shad raps but I seen people using slip bobbers doing good as well in the same location. All the fish we cought were small 14" to 18" but this weekend should start seeing some bigger ones.

[Rick G]

Took the 14ft "puddle jumper" out on the river today. Decided with the current being so strong a back water area would be our best bet.

no monsters today, we did have a pretty good time though

[Bryan P]

Nice photos Rick

[pushbutton]

Nice assortment of fish, Rick! We also had a pretty fun day.......

After all this rain, Jr and I Got up early and helped thin out the crawler gene pool by nabbing some of the dummies still on the sidewalk this morning. Next we hit the skeeter blood bank and loaded up on some oyster mushrooms. It is absolutely prime time in our area for this variety, but ....yeah .... the bugs are just nuts right now.....and talk about not being too bright

After cleaning and freezing the shrooms, we hit the Sauk and landed our first cats of the season. A little bummed the Shell is not carrying frozen suckers this year, was too cheap to buy real ones, so had to use some of our freshly picked crawlers. The size of the fish reflected this, but the action was still good, and he got to get, much to mom's chagrin ......some fish slime on his new white shirt

Jr. was struggling with our new underspins by trying to make it an overspin, but certainly missing our signature pushbutton ugly casts......lol

Something also rather interesting happened today....Mrs. P made an appearance. She happened to be in the area, stopped by, grabbed some of our picnic lunch, and joined in on the catfish festivities.