st cloud St Cloud Fishing Reports

[Team Bobberdown]

Merry Christmas to you and your family's. 

From TeamBobberdown

[Rick G]

Made it out to the chain with Tom for a few hours today. Ice conditions are pretty inconsistent from what I saw. Found ice anywhere from 10inches of hard ice to 6 inches with half being soft and slushy. One bay we hit had several layers of crappy wet ice with just a couple inches of hard ice at the bottom 

Fishing wasn't the greatest, but with a bit of effort and a lot of holes drilled, we managed to put together an ok outing. We found a mix of gills, crappie and tiny perch in more than one area, depths we found them in were 8-20+ ft,  most consistent depth was 10ft close to the weeds. I had most of my better fish come from a 4mm wonderbread jig, tipped with a white mayfly.

[leech~~]

Thanks for the Ice report Rick. This winter is a big suk so far!

[IceHawk]

Ol Wonderbread been a good one this year. On my last outing it was killer strange color but does produce. Thanks for ice Report Rick . Been out there few times running around on wheeler it is very inconsistent for sure. 

[Tom Sawyer]

2 hours ago, Rick G said:

Made it out to the chain with Tom for a few hours today. 

 

We sure did cover some ice today. Various structure, depths, and vegetation. Along with several presentations over walleye ground, and gillville. 

I started off small, 3mm tungsten and plastics. Only because that's what was tied on my line from a previous tough bite. Fish on the chain usually have a good attitude, and today was no exception. Bumped up to a 4mm to cover more ground, along with better contact.  Gills were both deep and shallow, depending on where we were on lake. For instance, bays looks shallower.

One spot, an inside corner with scattered weeds that leads to a rocky point off an island, I was working a Northland Forage Spoon with a minnow head. Playing with small pods of walleye couldn't get any to commit. Tried a Clam Flutter Spoon and #5 Rapala JigginRap, no difference in attitudes. Put back on forage spoon, because had best response and soon connected with nice crappies mixed in with eyes, but way shallower on break. 

Best plastic today ended up being a discontinued, Gander Mountain red mayfly nymphs cut down, and legs removed. 

Always a fun day pluckin fish with ya Ricky....

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2019 by Tom Sawyer

[Huntin&Fishin]

Checked a few lakes around the area and seems like the average ice thickness is 15". Obviously this isn't everywhere, and I did find areas with 18".

[Huntin&Fishin]

Found a minimum of 15" on one local lake. Toping out to 19" in one spot. Average was 16". Bringing the wheelhouse out this weekend.

[Rick]

1 hour ago, Huntin&Fishin said:

Found a minimum of 15" on one local lake. Toping out to 19" in one spot. Average was 16". Bringing the wheelhouse out this weekend.

Thanks bud!

[IceHawk]

Fished this Morning on a area lake on the Horseshoe chain and it was a crappy kind of Day. Got out before daybreak to get setup to be in position as I found this pod aka school of fish couple days ago and the bite window is early and late. Midday bite has been non existent with this school of fish as they move into a different feeding area.  Cant stress enough how location plays such a huge role in a day of success. This summer walleye fishing I came across a  perfect transition area and I made a note and GPS it to investigate this winter. To my good fortune its been holding some nice pies recently .  Its a rock to sand transition are that is in located in around 20-26 foot of water. Zooplankton is thick early and late in the day and the crappies are actively on a tear feeding during this period roaming the area. Key lures were Clam drop kicks and Amped outdoors 4 mm tungsten heads with plastic bodies specifically Panfish Plastics Chigger Fry's. Hot Colors were white and firecracker. The Thorne Bros lineups sealed the deal especially the Power Noodle when they were aggressive and switching out to the Tripwire when they got a little more stubborn and bit softer.  Been using some of the Clam inline Gravity's and have been real impressed with them so far. Great real at a reasonable price.  3 lb Berkley micro ice solar green was line of choice. Caught many crappies from 10-12 1/2  inch range with two over 13 and the biggest measureing out at 13 1/2 inch all fish were released to fight another day. Looking forward to checking out another area soon I found this fall as I think there's a pot of gold wating for me under the hardtop!

[Wanderer]

Great report!

[Rick G]

Holy sh#% You posted pictures Good report!

[eyeguy 54]

15 minutes ago, Rick G said:

Holy sh#% You posted pictures Good report!

You need to teach him how to smile like you do in pics.

[IceHawk]

36 minutes ago, Rick G said:

Holy sh#% You posted pictures Good report!

You guys know me well enough to know I rarely take pics because commotion and boards bring friends and crowds especially on this piece of water. . Today was a rare occasion no one in sight so I was a little more forgiveing LOL!  I like stealth mode keeps a hot spot hot a lot longer  

[Wanderer]

Well I think that’s the first time I’ve seen yer mug @IceHawk!

[Rick]

2 minutes ago, Wanderer said:

Well I think that’s the first time I’ve seen yer mug @IceHawk!

A perty mug at that.

[Tom Sawyer]

I still need selfie practice, maybe Chris can teach me. Good info, on a crappy day Chris

[smurfy]

57 minutes ago, IceHawk said:

You guys know me well enough to know I rarely take pics because commotion and boards bring friends and crowds especially on this piece of water. . Today was a rare occasion no one in sight so I was a little more forgiveing LOL!  I like stealth mode keeps a hot spot hot a lot longer  

Can you say tracker!! nice fish bud.

[gim]

11 hours ago, Tom Sawyer said:

I still need selfie practice, maybe Chris can teach me. Good info, on a crappy day Chris

 

I'd honestly rather not even take a photo than take a selfie.

[eyeguy 54]

Selfies with fish are fun. It help our hand eye coordination. Lol

[Tom Sawyer]

You and Ricky definitely have it mastered. Maybe one day I'll have some fish that are worthy of posing with me

[Rick G]

31 minutes ago, Tom Sawyer said:

You and Ricky definitely have it mastered. Maybe one day I'll have some fish that are worthy of posing with me

Good aditude Tom... don't ever give up. Someday you will get that picture fish.... someday

Edited January 29, 2020 by Rick G

[Tom Sawyer]

I think what helps me get through it, along with my attitude, is my network of friends that support me along the way, with my quest for the that (one).....

At least my odds should go up when I retire. Time on the water definitely helps. 

 

Thanks for being there buddy

 

 

Edited January 29, 2020 by Tom Sawyer

[eyeguy 54]

Subtle....  

[eyeguy 54]

Bring phone Friday. Rick will teach you how to do that selfie

[Tom Sawyer]

If your there, I want to learn from the master. Rick can teach the fish tickle, to get them to pose on the hand perch,

 

Grasshopper

 

 

[Rick G]

Had a few free hours this bright and cold afternoon. Decided to hit one of those comunity type lakes where you know the fish aren't real big, but they will be where they should be.

After scouting around for the first hour picking up mostly small sunfish, I stumbled apon a some better bluegills and a few nicer crappies mixed in. I was fishing the edge of a basin area, finding these fish in roughly 17-18 feet. Any shallower or deeper it seems I was finding only smaller fish. 

Most of my better crappies,  and I say better as in 10-11inch fish, versus the 6-8 in variety... anyway, my better crappies were coming in at 5-6 feet below my hole. I was using the vexilar to detect when they would come in, and then sight fish them by looking down my hole to watch my bait disapear

I found a nice bright bait with lots of action to be in order, the crappies seemed to agree with my selection. The 1.25in whipworm in pink rigged on a tungsten jig definatly outshined everything else I tried today.  

 

 

[Rick]

Nice...very nice! Well done @Rick G

 

Some of you ought to consider following him here on fm to see all of his reports. He's a good one.

 

Just click his name then the icon...

 

There are some other gems as well.

 

I will start pointing them out as we go along here.

[AlwaysFishing23]

It’s been a couple weekends for me due to busy life again. But when I was out 2 weekends ago the tullibee bite is definitely is full swing. Found them stacked in the 30-50 fow range suspended. The Basin crappie bite is also doing alright. Been finding crappie minnows and plastics have been best. I like fishing the break before the the basin part that's where I’ve been finding most of the active fish. All fish in the basin are more Sluggish it seems. Hopefully get out this weekend! 

Edited February 5, 2020 by AlwaysFishing23

[Rick]

Nice...very nice! Well done @IceHawk

 

Some of you ought to consider following him here on fm to see all of his reports. He's a good one.

 

There are some other gems as well.

On 1/28/2020 at 12:27 PM, IceHawk said:

Fished this Morning on a area lake on the Horseshoe chain and it was a crappy kind of Day. Got out before daybreak to get setup to be in position as I found this pod aka school of fish couple days ago and the bite window is early and late. Midday bite has been non existent with this school of fish as they move into a different feeding area.  Cant stress enough how location plays such a huge role in a day of success. This summer walleye fishing I came across a  perfect transition area and I made a note and GPS it to investigate this winter. To my good fortune its been holding some nice pies recently .  Its a rock to sand transition are that is in located in around 20-26 foot of water. Zooplankton is thick early and late in the day and the crappies are actively on a tear feeding during this period roaming the area. Key lures were Clam drop kicks and Amped outdoors 4 mm tungsten heads with plastic bodies specifically Panfish Plastics Chigger Fry's. Hot Colors were white and firecracker. The Thorne Bros lineups sealed the deal especially the Power Noodle when they were aggressive and switching out to the Tripwire when they got a little more stubborn and bit softer.  Been using some of the Clam inline Gravity's and have been real impressed with them so far. Great real at a reasonable price.  3 lb Berkley micro ice solar green was line of choice. Caught many crappies from 10-12 1/2  inch range with two over 13 and the biggest measureing out at 13 1/2 inch all fish were released to fight another day. Looking forward to checking out another area soon I found this fall as I think there's a pot of gold wating for me under the hardtop!

 

[Rick G]

Sometimes it's those brief moments that make a whole day.  For the most part todays fishing adventure was lack luster. While the fish were biting, it wasn't exactly fast and furious. Throughout the morning I was picking off a good one here and there, but working very hard for them. Around noon or a bit after I was starting to get a little hungry, about time to call it a day I was thinking. About then I noticed a couple snow flakes starting to fall.... figured I would give it 20 more minutesto see if I could scratch out one or two more keepers. Well, this brief snow fall kept me on the lake for well over an hour before hunger finally got the best of me. Turns out, those last "20min " was easily the best hour of the day. Ended up getting quite a few quality fish including a 12.5 and a 13inch crappie. 

Black 4mm tungsten rigged with a emerald mayfly turned out to be a pretty goid choice of baits.