st cloud St Cloud Fishing Reports

[dalejrjrjr]

Went to Pelican Lake south of Monticello for the first time today. Met my brother there. His first time on the ice in years. Must have been good luck; I landed my first fish in Minnesota in more weeks (months) than I care to share. Beginner here but loving it.

Anywho, for the report:

Caught this 23-incher about 2 p.m. (Not a monster by any means, but with my long drought, I was keeping it, no question.)

I was in about 6 feet of water. Sucker minnow on a tip-up about a foot off the bottom. This slimer was a shadowy one. Flag went up, and I went running. No spin on the top of my tip-up, but I know that's not the best indicator of things. Starting slowly pulling up line. More line, more line, then pop! Fish gave a tug, so I returned the favor. A great fight up to and through the hole. Easy hook removal, then a strike with my trusty kill log, and I had supper (corn breaded then fried, on a bed of spinach — a little boring, but tasty).

Had a few bites about 3:30 p.m. on a sucker minnow on my rod and reel. I won't share how I lost those ones.

Tried some jigging with fathead heads and green wax worms, too, but I didn't have any luck. Few nibbles on the minnow heads. Not sure what it was.

I enjoyed being out on this lake. Seemed like acres upon acres of weed beds to explore, along with some deeper holes (albeit only ~12 feet, according to contour maps) where something might be hiding. Lots of shacks, but lots of room everywhere. Bumpy road, but it was packed down and easy to traverse with my Subaru.

Went to Clearwater yesterday. No luck there. Tried minnow heads on glow jigs, wax worms, sucker minnows, full fatheads. Much better driving there than Pelican, though. Guess that's what $4 at BJ's for access helps buy? Didn't bother to put up my two-hub pop-up with how nice it was. With no wind, lakes seem like heaven.

As far as surface conditions go, the ice on Pelican today was about 1 inch from being too thick for my hand auger, for what that's worth. Never took a measurement. Darn thick, though. What a workout. Ha. Driving on both Pelican and Clearwater was easy peasy. I didn't do much adventuring off the roads, though. I did see a Geo Metro or equivalent today on Pelican — if you've got wheels, you can manage.

[Whiskerchaser]

Went out chasing some gills again today. Finally found a few for the pan after drilling a lot of holes and catching a lot of small ones. Was just about to call it a day but decided to try one last spot. Probably the deepest I have ever caught sunnies before. The were suspended at about 20' over 40' of water. Caught them on a small pink forage minnow tipped with wigglers. Bought a kastmaster earlier in the day I was using but unfortunately that got

tore of my line moving around at one point.

Not quite the fish rick g has been showing off but eaters none the less

[Rick G]

That looks like a heck of a good meal of fresh fish

[CForar]

Made it out to a St. Cloud area lake that I read about on this website... Everyone on here says it's been a slow year fishing for this lake but we seemed to have done well. Haven't gotten out in a few weeks it was good to finally catch something.

[Rick G]

Nice catch!!! Big Fish Lake?

[CForar]

Nope! I'll message you though!

[LPCrowRiverFisherman]

Very nice fish, but they look all too familiar. I'll be targeting those fish for the first time this year on Wednesday if my hunch is correct.

[Rick G]

Very nice fish, but they look all too familiar. I'll be targeting those fish for the first time this year on Wednesday if my hunch is correct.

Lol, I bet you won't be where those fish came from..... it's not where I thought either. My lips are sealed

[LPCrowRiverFisherman]

I'll post pictures of my very similar looking fish if I am able to find them Wednesday. Still think I am right.

[YB_Bassin]

Found some time to get out today after my morning classes and decided to go to the chains. Got there around 11:30. Was mostly on Krons Bay around the deeper area. First hole drilled was and first drop of a small spoon with minnow landed me a 26incher. He hit me hard! My heart was racing fast when he came up and I can see him down the hole. Gave me a good fight. Unfortunately he was the only highlight of the day. The rest of the day was just small perches nibbling and some baby saugers (I think). Wanted to stay longer but left at around 5pm. Good day though I'd say.

[noska]

Tell me you didn't keep that 26 walleye

[expl]

Those are surely not saugers

[Naturboy]

I hope those crappie came off Grand, that's been the slowest lake for me this year.

On keeping a 26" eye, if its legal its ok. I know walleye spawn in the chain and when they get that big I worry more about toxins in the older fish than anything else. Those toxins can also be in the older and larger panfish people keep. But if someone doesn't get out much or catch much when they do go out if they want to keep a legal fish there's nothing wrong with that.

[Rick G]

Very nice walleye, did you get it on the liver? I see a tub of it in the pic

As far as keeping a big walleye like that, I would encourage catch, photo and release.... but in the long run, it is his fish to do with as he pleases, weather that be to throw back, eat or mount... his fish, his call.

Again, NICE FISH, Kou

[YB_Bassin]

Honestly, yes I took it home. Sorry if that offends anybody. But like Naturboy said, I haven't gotten out too much this winter and this was the only time I landed big fish. It was a hard decision but I decided to bring it home cause my roommates been asking bout where the fishes I caught are cause I always go out getting skunked. I'dd have to say tho, that if I ran into some panfish or cattys. I would rather take them. That's why I had the tub of liver, Rick. But I actually caught him on the spoon with crappie minnow. Again, sorry if taking home that big eye home offends anyone.

[noska]

It's ridiculous .... No offense, but that is 100% a catch and release fish...and the fact that u wanted to prove to your roommates that you caught it for the reason you kept it makes it even worse ... I just think our local lakes need to have reproductive fish like that alive and well, completely silly to me! I would agree with rick it's your fish, but keeping a fish like that makes no sense on multiple levels including a)your not mounting it it's not ideal for eating c) it is a reproducer in our area lakes

AND YOUR REASONING IS TO SHOW YOUR ROOMATES....LOL

NUTS TO ME

Just my opinion...

[JeremyCampbell]

Noska- You already made your point a few posts above.He knows where you stand.Find something better to do than bulling a guy whos had alot of bad luck this winter and keeps his catch.Catch and release is good too.If you been following the guys posts the last couple weeks like I been ,you may have a different view too.He kept a fish.Let it go!

[1eyeReD]

Nice eye Kou! Your fish, your call buddy. Should look great on the wall or make a great bowl of walleye laab! Or heck, now that you've got him. Make it worthwhile and make a sub length sandwich with the fillets and share with your roomies. If you end up keeping a good sized fish and decide to eat it, just cook it with love and it'll taste fine.

My fish sandwiches usually look like this:

Bread

Habanero Tobasco

Tarter Sauce

Tomatoes

Banana Peppers

Lettuce

Onions

Applewood Bacon

Battered fillet

Cheese

Bread

serve with home-made fries and a good IPA..

[osok]

Great post and beautiful catch Kou, if you decide you want to bake it, I have a great recipe I'll send you.

His fish, legally caught he can do what he pleases. I've been on a dry streak as well, I might have kept it too.

Some people don't keep big fish some don't keep little ones. I personally let both go and keep the "eaters" but that is just me. Thanks again for the awesome report and sharing your catch Kou!

[osok]

Noska- You already made your point a few posts above.He knows where you stand.Find something better to do than bulling a guy whos had alot of bad luck this winter and keeps his catch.Catch and release is good too.If you been following the guys posts the last couple weeks like I been ,you may have a different view too.He kept a fish.Let it go!

.

+1

[creepworm]

It's ridiculous .... No offense, but that is 100% a catch and release fish...and the fact that u wanted to prove to your roommates that you caught it for the reason you kept it makes it even worse ... I just think our local lakes need to have reproductive fish like that alive and well, completely silly to me! I would agree with rick it's your fish, but keeping a fish like that makes no sense on multiple levels including a)your not mounting it it's not ideal for eating c) it is a reproducer in our area lakes

AND YOUR REASONING IS TO SHOW YOUR ROOMATES....LOL

NUTS TO ME

Just my opinion...

Did you know that,

A 19 inch Walleye will release more viable eggs when spawning than a 28 inch Walleye. The 28 inch Walleye will lay more eggs, but less are viable and will be fertilized.

Just something to think about.

[MinDak Hunter]

"It's ridiculous .... No offense, but that is 100% a catch and release fish"

I don't ALWAYS do anything; most of the time I'd let that fish go but if I was interested in having a fish fry I'd more than likely keep it. I've ground swatted ducks and I've shot spike bucks with a rifle too but I don't do either anymore (except sometimes). I don't hold it against people who choose to do that either.

"I just think our local lakes need to have reproductive fish like that alive and well, completely silly to me!"

I'm guessing that this was on the chain so I looked up the walleye stocking for Horseshoe and found that "we" the citizens on MN have put over a MILLION walleyes into Horseshoe since 2005. I'm ok with the guy keeping a bigger fish...

[Rick G]

Guys, no more negativity in the posts, one way or the other Thank you

[YB_Bassin]

Sorry guys didn't think this post would bring so much negativity. All comments are all appreciated . The positive and negative. Thanks!

[Whiskerchaser]

Nice catch kou! That should free up some food for the delicious cats in there

Rick g, last time I was cattin we got 4 crappies 1 eye and 1 cat. Two lines down with liver two lines down with minnows. The cat was the only fish we caught on a minnow.

[THE_Cable_Guy]

Fished the chain Monday afternoon. Sat up in 40 fow. Found most of the fish in the 20 to 30 fow range. Started with a pink and white ice worm tipped with 3 waxies. That setup was fantastic for picking up some 7-9" crappies. I then switched back to a white Lindy spoon tipped with a minnow head. That worked ok. It worked fantastically when I downgraded the size of the minnow head. Ended up going home with my limit of 10-12" crappies. Bigger fish were a little harder to come by until I downsized the minnow head.

Finished out the afternoon drilling what seemed like 100 holes in search of some eyes. I threw every lure I had tipped with any combination of bait I could think of. Caught 15 eyes........all 6-9"!!

[walleyewess]

what's travel like on the chain? and possibly a place to start looking for crappies? Don't need an exact spot. Still have never fished it even though its less then 15 minutes from home For some reason I like burning gas and spending hours on the road lol. If you wish to PM me go ahead any advice would be greatly appreciated and I mean greatly.

[Dooley87]

Nice fish kou vue, I have kept walleyes that size out of other body's of water, I used to keep a lot of what I caught until recently, I caught some pig walleyes this spring and released anything over 20" can't explain how great it felt to slip those big fish back into the system to grow even bigger, guy watched me catch a 27" walleye from shore and release it, he couldn't have thanked me enough for putting it back, of course I was catching a few 16-18" fish for the pan as well.

[dalejrjrjr]

Went out to Little Rock today for the first time. A friend and I spent about two hours on the ice. Mighty cold, but pop-up kept that wind away. Borrowed another guy's MarCum and power auger. Living the high life, ha.

We entered the lake from the county park on the west side of Little Rock and drove down the path to the chunk of shacks overtop the deep "rut" on the west side of the lake there. Neat geography in that area. Big sunken island (I think) with the deep spot in a line to its west. I would guess about 16 shacks sat overtop the deep spot. And it being a Tuesday morning, we were one of two groups out there. Quiet lake.

After setting up a few tip-ups with sucker minnows, just in case (no luck there), we jigged with minnow heads and green waxies on a few different setups. Marked a ton of fish on the sonar. That was very neat looking. Lots of fish darting up from the bottom, lots hanging out near the top of the water. We were in about 12.5 feet of water, and our only success came with a little bit of aggressive jigging right near the bottom.

We pulled up three of these little perch (and tossed 'em all back in the hole, being as teeny as they were). Had a handful more bites and almost landed what felt to be a decent-sized fish at one point, but I lost it on the way up. All in all, a fun morning before an evening work shift. Well worth the drive up Highway 10. Nice to feel some action recently, with it being mid-February ( ) and all.

[Rick G]

I haven't fished Little Rock in about 3-4years, but do remember that there were always a lot of those small perch in the lake. They make good food for the football shaped walleyes that migrate in and out of the lake from the river